Boeing during October delivered 27 commercial aircraft and logged net orders for seven aircraft after factoring three cancellations. In September, Boeing had delivered 35 aircraft and booked 22 net orders. Orders placed during October were comprised of eight 737 Max aircraft for unidentified customers and orders for two 777 freighters placed by Danish shipping company Maersk. These 10 total orders twere partially offset by Air Lease, which cancelled orders for two 787-10s, and one Max order cancelled by Aviation Capital Group. Deliveries in October included 18 Max jets – two to Aeromexico, one to Air Canada, two to CDB Aviation, one to Turkish Airlines, two to United Airlines, six to Ryanair, two to AerCap, and two to Tui Travel. The airframer also delivered two 737NG-based military surveillance aircraft and two 737-800-based business jets. Five widebodies were delivered in October – one 777F and one 767F to FedEx, one 747-8F to UPS, one 777F to Eva Air, and one 767-based refuelling tanker to the US Air Force. Increasing 737 deliveries is a priority for Boeing after the US Federal Aviation Administration lifted its flight ban on the Max variant in November 2020. Boeing says it aims to increase 737 production to 31 per month by early 2022 and may further increase that rate "based on market demand and supply chain capacity". Its current 737 production rate is 19 jets per month. Meanwhile, the FAA and Boeing are still co-ordinating quality inspections for 787's, of which the airframer has paused deliveries. Boeing ended the third quarter with 105 undelivered 787s in storage. Boeing as of 31 October had 5,038 unfilled orders, along with 268 aircraft deliveries and 373 net orders so far during 2021.

Ryanair has established new bases in the Danish city of Billund, at Stockholm Arlanda in Sweden and at Turin in Italy. The Irish budget airline says it has stationed two aircraft at the Billund base to support the launch of 14 new routes, including eight summer and six winter routes. Destinations include Brussels Charleroi in Belgium, Memmingen in Germany, Gothenburg in Sweden, Lisbon in Portugal and Bari in Italy. Four aircraft stationed at the Stockholm Arlanda base will support the launch of 35 new routes, which includes 23 scheduled for winter and 12 for summer 2022, the airline says. Destinations include Barcelona in Spain, Liverpool in the UK, Vienna in Austria, Lulea in Sweden and Poznan in Poland. Ryanair has also deployed two aircraft at the new Turin base to support the launch of 19 new routes. Summer destinations include Copenhagen in Denmark, Malaga in Spain and Tel Aviv in Israel. New winter routes include Agadir in Morocco and Zadar in Croatia. The new Billund base will support 60 direct jobs, while Stockholm Arlanda and Turin bases will support 120 and 60 direct jobs, respectively.

Airbus has flown two A350's from Toulouse to Montreal to demonstrate the fuel savings that can be achieved through formation flying. During the 9 November trial, the airframer's A350-1000 flight test aircraft (MSN 59) followed its baseline -900 sibling (MSN 001) at 3km (1.6nm) distance in order to catch an updraft created by the lead aircraft's wake. Airbus says the trial confirmed that more than 5% fuel could be saved by follower aircraft in formation flight on long-haul routes. In 2016, the European airframer demonstrated the principle – inspired by large migrating birds, such as geese – with a pair of A380's, which were manually flown. For the A350 trial, aircraft were equipped with flight-control systems developed by Airbus that "position the follower aircraft safely in the wake updraft of the leader aircraft", the manufacturer says. It adds that the demonstration "proved that wake energy retrieval flight technology… can be achieved without compromising safety". Part of the airframer's "fello'fly" wake harnessing programme, Airbus notes that the trial was a joint effort with international air traffic management providers DSNA, NATS, Nav Canada, Eurocontrol and the IAA, and was supported by French civil aviation authority DGAC. "The next step is to get the support of the authorities so that this new operational concept can be certified," says Airbus. It views the formation-flight technology as an opportunity to reduce fuel burn and emissions "in the immediate term". Chief technical officer Sabine Klauke states that "collaboration across the industry will be key to making this happen". She adds: "We have received a strong level of support for this project from our airline and air traffic partners, plus regulators. The opportunity to get this deployed for passenger aircraft around the middle of this decade is very promising." Pilots of Scandinavian carrier SAS and Paris-based long-haul low-cost airline French Bee – both A350 operators that previously became partners in the fello'fly project – were on board the aircraft flown to Montreal, as observers, notes Airbus.