Emirates plans to resume flights to seven African destinations from Dubai starting 29 January. Destinations include Addis Ababa in Ethiopia; Dar es Salaam in Tanzania; Nairobi in Kenya; Harare in Zimbabwe; and Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban in South Africa, the Middle Eastern carrier says. The airline will begin daily flights to Johannesburg on 29 January and increase the frequency to twice daily from 1 February. Daily services to Cape Town and Durban will also commence on 1 February. Emirates will operate 10 weekly flights to Nairobi from 29 January, while services to Addis Ababa will be operated daily from 30 January. Five-times-weekly flights to Dar es Salaam and six-times-weekly flights to Harare via Lusaka in Zambia will start on 30 January. Customers flying in and out of Emirates’ African gateways “can safely connect to Dubai and to an array of onwards connections to Europe, Middle East, the Americas, West Asia and Australasia”, the carrier says.

Singapore and Indonesia have agreed to realign the boundary between their respective flight information regions (FIR), which returns parts of its airspace over Indonesian territories to its control. Singaporean prime minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo signed the landmark bilateral agreement at the Singapore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat on 25 January in Bintan. The new agreement will enlarge the scope of the Jakarta FIR to cover "all of Indonesia's territorial airspace, particularly in the waters around Riau and Natuna islands", Widodo says at a same-day televised press conference. Widodo states: "Going forward, we hope that the cooperation in law enforcement and aviation safety as well as defence and security of the two countries can continue to be strengthened based on the principles of mutual benefit." Lee says the implementation of the agreement "will meet the civil aviation needs of both countries and uphold the safety and efficiency of air traffic in a manner consistent with ICAO rules". The two countries will need to jointly submit the FIR agreement to ICAO for final approval. Singapore's current FIR covers parts of Indonesia, including the islands of Batam, Bintan and parts of Sumatra and Natuna, according to CAAS' aeronautical information publication dated 2 December. The agreement will see Indonesia and Singapore cooperating to provide aviation services in areas bordering their respective FIRs, according to a statement by Indonesia's coordinating ministry for maritime and investment affairs. "Indonesia will provide a delegation of flight services in certain areas at an altitude of 0-37,000 feet to the Singapore aviation authority. In certain areas, altitudes of 37,000 feet and above remain under Indonesian control," the ministry says. The countries have also put in place arrangements for civil and military cooperation for air traffic management, including stationing Indonesian civilian and military personnel at the Singapore Air Traffic Control Center.

Boeing's commercial unit reported an operating loss of $4.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2021, improving year-on-year from a loss of $7.6 billion as 787 aircraft deliveries remain paused during inspections with regulators that are taking longer than expected. Boeing Commercial Airplanes during the fourth quarter took a $3.5 billion pre-tax charge related to the 787 programme as the company works with the US Federal Aviation Administration to restart deliveries of the long-haul jet. Boeing halted 787 deliveries for most of 2021 due to quality issues with some parts of the aircraft. For the full year 2021, the Chicago-based airframer reported a $6.4 billion operating loss, halving that loss compared with $13.8 billion for 2020. The costs of the 787 programme were partially offset by growing demand for 737 Max jets, as 737 type aircraft accounted for 750 orders out of the 900 gross commercial airplane orders during 2021. Airline demand recovered amid the availability of Covid-19 vaccines and Max jets are now permitted to return to service in more than 185 nations. With these considerations, Boeing chief executive David Calhoun said on 26 January during an earnings call that "2021 was a key rebuilding year for us". Remarking on the 787 costs and ongoing delivery delays, Calhoun adds "the work we’re putting in now will build stability and predictability going forward" as the airframer prepares for a recovery of widebody demand. An additional $2 billion in costs are expected related to the 787 programme by the end of 2023. The overall Boeing Company for the full year 2021 reported a $4.3 billion loss, nearly a third of the $11.9 billion loss it reported in 2020. Even before the start of the pandemic, the airframer also reported a $636 million loss in 2019 amid the grounding of Max aircraft following two fatal crashes. In a bright spot for the company, Boeing reported $716 million positive operating cash flow during the fourth quarter, despite having burned $3.4 billion in cash during the full year 2021. Annual cash burn decreased from $18.4 billion during the full year 2020. The company had previously not reported positive operating cash flow since the first quarter of 2019, just before the FAA and other regulators grounded Max aircraft in March 2019. Looking ahead, Boeing chief financial officer Brian West during the call forecast a "meaningful acceleration of cash flow in 2023" once the airframer is able to resume 787 deliveries and increase shipments of 737s and other aircraft. There are 335 Max jets in inventory with the aim of delivering most of those by the end of 2023, West says, adding the abnormal costs of Max jets are "largely behind us". Boeing delivered 340 commercial aircraft in 2021, rising from 157 in 2020. Delivering jets is a priority for Calhoun, who said he wants 787 deliveries to outpace the production rate increase of that type. Commercial unit revenue during the fourth quarter of 2021 was $4.7 billion, nearly flat year-on-year. Full year 2021 commercial revenue stood at $19.4 billion, rising 21% from $16 billion for 2020.