US carrier Southwest Airlines intends to reduce the number of flights connecting with Atlanta's primary airport, as well as the staff size supporting its operation in that city in Georgia. Dallas-based Southwest says that booking patterns for flights involving Hartsfield-Jackson International airport do not support continuing its level of service. Southwest is set to operate 5,077 flights to and from Atlanta in October, the second-highest flight total among all carriers offering flights connecting with that city. Delta Air Lines has scheduled 51,119 flights connecting with Atlanta in October, while Frontier Airlines is set to operate 2,318 such flights that month. Fewer staff will be needed to operate its reduced schedule in Atlanta, Southwest notes, adding that changes to its schedule will not be enacted for at least six months. All affected employees will be given an opportunity to transfer stations, it adds. Southwest says that a scarcity of available aircraft has been "a driving force" in its decision to reduce its Atlanta operation. The all-Boeing 737 carrier is notably exposed to the US airframer's production woes, which have worsened with the strike called by its machinists this month. "We continue to optimise our network to meet customer demand, best utilise our fleet, and maximise revenue opportunities," Southwest says. "Decisions like these are difficult for our company because of the effects on our people, but we have a history of more than 53 years of ensuring they are taken care of." It notes that while it is "drawing down some in Atlanta", it is in April adding service in Nashville, with new routes connecting with Albuquerque, New Mexico; Albany, New York; Jackson, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; Providence, Rhode Island; and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Emirates Airlines plans to add a fourth daily flight between Dubai and Johannesburg, starting 1 March 2025. The carrier says the new service will be operated using a Boeing 777-300ER. The expansion brings Emirates' service to South Africa back to pre-pandemic levels, with 49 weekly flights across three gateways. The new service, Emirates adds, increases cargo capacity by 300 tons a week, supporting the transportation of goods such as fresh produce, meat, and flowers. This development follows the recent introduction of a second daily Airbus A380 service to Johannesburg.

Comac is conducting high-altitude tests with a C919 at Lhasa Kongga International airport. The Chinese airframer says the aircraft "smoothly" landed at the airport, which has an elevation of 3,569m, for the first time on 19 September. Noting the location's surrounding high terrain and "complex and changeable" weather conditions, Comac says it will test the twinjet's environmental control system, avionics and engines "to lay a foundation for subsequently meeting the operational requirements of high plateau routes and the development of plateau versions of aircraft". At Lhasa, the C919 met with an ARJ21 that has been carrying out demonstration flights around the Qinghai-Xizang plateau since 21 August. The ARJ has completed flight tasks on 25 routes and 55 flight segments over 62h, covering 11 high-plateau airports, including four sorties at Daocheng Yading airport, the highest civil airport in the world, Comac notes.