Uzbekistan Airways has ordered 14 Boeing 787-9s with options for eight more, with deliveries commencing in 2031. The order was announced in the presence of Uzbekistan's president Shavkat Mirziyoyev on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Boeing says, adding that it has signed a memorandum of cooperation to explore opportunities to further expand the country's aviation ecosystem. The carrier is an existing Boeing 787 operator, with seven -8s in its fleet that are powered by GE Aviation GEnx engines, Cirium fleets data shows. "The Boeing 787 Dreamliner family has proven to be the cornerstone of our long-haul operations," says Uzbekistan Airways chairman Shukhrat Khudaikulov. "With this new contract, we are further strengthening both our airline's and our nation's position as a leading aviation hub in Central Asia, while providing our passengers with greater global connectivity. This step reaffirms our ambitions and strategic commitment to sustainable growth." Uzbekistan Airways adds in a separate statement that the order "supports the airline’s strategic goal of positioning Tashkent as a leading international transit hub, fostering tourism, investment, and global partnerships". Fleets data shows that the carrier also operates six 767-300ERs plus one freighter variant and 22 Airbus A320 family jets, with 18 A321neos on order.

The families of four passengers who died in the Air India flight 171 crash in Ahmedabad have filed a US lawsuit against Boeing and Honeywell, alleging that a faulty fuel cut-off switch led to the fatal accident on 12 June. The Lanier Law Firm, which acting for the plaintiffs, says it has filed a "product defect and negligence" lawsuit against the two companies in the Delaware Superior Court, alleging that they knew the locking mechanism on the cut-off switches "could easily be turned off inadvertently or could be missing altogether". Benjamin Major of Lanier states: "This defect is comparable to an auto manufacturer putting an unprotected emergency brake control next to a radio volume knob in your car. And unlike a car, restarting jet engines takes minutes of time, not seconds. Once these engines shut down, that plane basically became a 250,000-pound lawn dart." Details of the accident released by India's Air Accident Investigation Branch's preliminary report, based on flight and cockpit voice recorder data, indicate that the cut-off switches, which control the flow of fuel to the engines, "transitioned" from 'Run' to 'Cutoff' position" briefly after take-off, before being pushed back. The engines could not be restarted and the aircraft crashed just past the airport perimeter. Honeywell has been contacted for comment. Flight AI171 was operated with a Boeing 787-8, registered VT-ANB. Cirium fleets data shows that the aircraft was delivered new to Air India in 2014 and had amassed nearly 42,000 flight hours and 7,784 cycles prior to the accident.

Oneworld is exploring the possibility of adding an Indian carrier as a member, the airline alliance's chief executive Nat Pieper has indicated. Speaking on 18 September at a Wings Club event in New York, Pieper noted that Oneworld lacks a partner based in India, a country served by 10 of its 15 member airlines. Oneworld carriers American Airlines, Finnair, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Qantas, Qatar Airways, Royal Jordanian and SriLankan Airlines in the fourth quarter of this year are set to operate a total of 10,670 flights to and from India, Cirium schedules data shows. "[It is a] super-important market, growing like crazy," Pieper says. "We will be interested in continuing to canvas and see if anybody does make sense." In the fourth quarter, IndiGo is set to be the top India-based carrier by capacity, with 27.9 billion available seat-miles scheduled, followed by Air India (15.9 ASMs), Air India Express (7.3 billion ASMs) and Akasa Air (2.3 billion ASMs). Air India is a member of the Star Alliance, which includes United Airlines, Air Canada, Lufthansa and Avianca, among other carriers. IndiGo is not a member of any of the three major global airline alliances, the third being SkyTeam, which includes Delta Air Lines, Air France, KLM, Virgin Atlantic, Aeromexico and China Airlines, among other carriers. Delta, IndiGo and European operators Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic disclosed on 1 June at IATA's AGM event in Delhi that they had signed a memorandum of understanding that establishes a codeshare linking IndiGo's domestic network with Delta's international network. IndiGo had partnerships already in place with Air France-KLM and Virgin Atlantic. A week later, speaking at a Wings Club event in New York on 11 June, IndiGo chief executive Pieter Elbers noted that IndiGo works with "different types of alliances". "It used to be, actually, mostly Turkish [Airlines] and Qatar [Airways]," Elbers said on 11 June. "But more recently we've added, for example, Japan Airlines, [which] flies to India and connects on our domestic network. And now if a quality airline as Japan Airlines is putting their codes on our flights, I guess that's a confirmation of the quality of the product [we have]. "And last week, clearly, we have added an arrangement here with Delta, where we start to codeshare beyond Amsterdam and Manchester on Delta and Virgin, to make sure that our flows to the North Atlantic – which is one of the largest Indian flows, clearly – between India and the US, could also connect on those sides. " At the Wings Club event on 18 September, Oneworld CEO Pieper noted that adding a new alliance member "is always tricky". "You've got to make sure that it makes sense for not only the group as a whole, but then [for] each of the 15," Pieper says, adding that there is always the possibility that "one or two of the members are really going to take a financial hit" if the alliance adds a particular carrier. "We wouldn't do that" if that were the case, Pieper says. If Oneworld is unable to add an Indian carrier, member airlines can still expand their presence in the Indian market if those members "co-operate", Pieper says, listing joint aircraft operations, joint lounges and "creative marketing" among the potential benefits. "It's easiest if you've got a home carrier there," he admits.