South Korea’s Jin Air has inducted one Boeing 737-900, which allows the airline to offer business-class seats. Eight of the aircraft's 188 seats are business-class seats, Jin Air says in a Korean-language statement dated 23 December. Starting 24 December, the aircraft will be deployed on Gimpo-Jeju and Gimpo-Busan services. Data shows Jin Air has 19 737-800 and four 777-200ER aircraft in its fleet. Apart from one 777-200ER that was remodelled for cargo-only operations, the aircraft are configured with one-class seating. Jin Air and flag carrier Korean Air are affiliates through Hanjin KAL. Korean Air has 12 737-900 jets in its fleet.

The US Federal Aviation Administration has proposed three airworthiness directives that would enable Pratt & Whitney PW4000-powered Boeing 777’s to return to service after they were grounded following an engine failure on a United Airlines aircraft earlier this year. Operators will be required to install debris shields around the engine inlet and thrust reverser as part of the proposed ADs, scheduled to be formally published on 28 December. The FAA notes that while a fan-blade failure during the United flight on 20 February was contained by the fan case, the event caused the engine inlet structure and fan cowl doors to separate, damaging the aircraft's wing and fuselage. The incident happened during climb out of Denver International airport, at approximately 13,000ft. Similar fan-blade failures had happened on a Japan Airlines 777 shortly after take-off, at about 15,000ft, in December 2020, and on another United 777 during descent in 2018. During both incidents, the failed fan blades were contained. But the fan cowl doors – and in the first United case the engine inlet too – separated and caused damage to the aircraft's horizontal stabilisers and fuselages. Under the proposed new AD’s, the FAA will require increased fan-blade inspections of the kind mandated under previous directives in the wake of the engine failures. The FAA says P&W determined it was necessary to "adjust the initial [thermal acoustic image] inspection threshold and lower the repetitive TAI inspection interval" for fan blades in order to return aircraft to service. Other action under the proposed new AD’s includes fan-cowl door and engine inlet inspections for moisture ingression, and functional tests of hydraulic pump shutoff valves. The FAA notes that shut-off valves failed to close during the February 2021 incident and thereby led to an uncontained engine fire. The proposed ADs have been devised as interim action. Boeing is in the process of developing further action to address issues related to these engine failures, the FAA says. Some 128 aircraft, including 54 US-based 777’s, are affected by the grounding, according to the regulator. United is the only US operator of PW4000-powered 777’s. Data shows that 1,148 777’s were in service on 24 December – excluding test aircraft for the under-development 777X – with another 391 listed as being in storage. A majority of these aircraft are powered by GE Aviation GE90 engines. Rolls-Royce Trent 800’s were another option alongside the GE90 and PW4000 on first-generation 777’s.Beyond United and JAL, carriers that operated PW4000-powered 777’s before the grounding included All Nippon Airways, Asiana Airlines, Korean Air and EgyptAir.

Cathay Pacific is preparing a "consolidated schedule" for January 2022 that will "result in several flight cancellations". The Hong Kong carrier said on 22 December that "operational and travel restrictions continue to affect" its flight schedules. Hong Kong is continuing with its "zero-Covid" approach to managing the pandemic, imposing strictly enforced quarantines on arriving travellers. The government has stepped up these measures following the emergence of the Omicron variant. Earlier this month, the government announced that returnees from "enhanced surveillance" countries would have to spend the first week of their three-week quarantine in a government facility, before transferring to a hotel for the remainder. The length of time spent in a government facility was later reduced to four days, after the Food and Health Bureau said all of the imported Omicron cases so far had been detected within three days of passengers arriving in Hong Kong. On 20 December, the government announced additional measures to "further guard against the importation of cases". The "comprehensive tightening of inbound control measures" included tightening its "flight suspension mechanism" with immediate effect. This adds the condition that if four or more passengers on a flight are confirmed with Covid-19 upon arrival in Hong Kong from the same route within seven days, that route will be suspended for 14 days. It also shortens the timeframe in which passengers departing on a flight for Hong Kong need to get a PCR test to 48h from 72h, effective 24 December. Cathay did not specify in its 22 December statement which routes would be affected. Cirium has contacted the airline for more information.