Ryanair is embarking on a new training initiative under which the airline will onboard 5,000 new staff over five years in order to increase its capacity to 200 million passengers annually by 2025. A deal has been struck with the Airline Flight Academy as that company unveils a new €50 million ($59 million) training centre near Dublin, allowing Ryanair access to the facility's flight simulators, cabin crew emergency evacuation device, classroom training centres and pilot briefing rooms. As part of the deal, Ryanair will exclusively use the AFA for its cadet training. The airline is increasing its training bandwidth to ensure it has the pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground staff to match its planned capacity increase over the coming year, especially given its order for 210 Boeing 737 Max aircraft. Deliveries began in June. "We have invested over €50m in this state-of-the-art training centre, and our agreement with AFA will deliver over 5,000 highly trained pilots, cabin crew, engineers and ground operations professionals over the next five years," states Ryanair chief executive Eddie Wilson. "Ryanair will create over 5,000 new jobs thanks to the expansion of our Boeing 737 fleet, with 210 Max Gamechangers to be delivered over the next five years which will enable Ryanair to grow to carry 200m passengers per annum by 2025." He adds: "The AFA team have been a recruitment and training partner of Ryanair for many years, and we look forward to continuing to invest in this agreement, which has to date enabled Ryanair to recruit and train over 18,000 highly qualified aviation professionals.” Low-cost competitor Wizz Air in recent days announced its own intention to take on an additional 2,000 pilots over the next decade, as part of its plan to triple its fleet size over the period.

Boeing during August logged 53 new aircraft orders and delivered 22 jets to customers as the tenuous recovery of air travel spurs demand for 737 Max jets and even 787s while shipments of the widebody are paused. The US airframer reported orders for 35 Max jets, eleven 777 freighters and seven 787-9s during August. Orders totalled 31 in July. This brought total new orders for 2021 to 683 aircraft. The final tally stands at 280 orders after factoring in commitments that were cancelled or converted to a different model. Boeing deliveries in August included 14 Max jets, a 777F for DHL Express, a 777F for FedEx, a 767F and five aircraft for military customers. Deliveries dipped slightly compared with 28 shipments in July. During 2021, Boeing has delivered 206 aircraft while Airbus delivered 40 jets during August for a total of 384 shipments so far this year. Airbus remains behind Boeing in aircraft sales during 2021, tallying 269 gross orders and 132 after cancellations. Boeing has shipped no 787's since May. The US Federal Aviation Administration is still reviewing a method proposed by Boeing to inspect 787's that would enable the airframer to resume deliveries of the widebody type.

British Airways responded to the pandemic by using technology to deliver new products and services to the customer, in a bid to improve its offering, cut costs, and minimise the risk of infection. During the AIX online event on 13 September, the IAG-owned airline's director of brand and customer experience Tom Stevens said the mission was to "bolt new technology onto our existing infrastructure" in a bid to innovate. He cites a new initiative allowing travellers in the London area to check in their luggage the day before their journey and have it collected ahead of time. This allows them to head straight through security, reducing queues. Similarly, the airline is now offering passengers who travel on the Heathrow Express rail service from Paddington the opportunity to deposit their bags at the station platform, saving them time in the terminal. On board, passengers can now use the in-flight wi-fi to order food and refreshments to their seat, something that is helping the carrier to move away from its traditional trolley service. Likewise, allowing passengers to pre-order their purchases before the flight enables greater choice and the opportunity to reduce food waste. Stevens explains that such moves are about "customer choice, being flexible and constantly trying to adapt". The reaction, he continues, is "record customer satisfaction scores". BA, he adds, has worked hard to give customers the confidence to make bookings, and is also taking steps to maintain its premium brand position, such as by offering complimentary snacks and refreshments with its "Euro traveller" economy cabin. Stevens highlight that the carrier is seeing "huge pent-up demand to go flying again", especially for leisure and visiting friends and relatives, including in premium cabins. "What we are seeing is once customers have done it once and have got used to additional steps, actually they realise it's not that complicated and are prepared to go flying again and again", he suggests.