Malaysia has become the latest country to lift its operating ban on the Boeing 737 Max. In a 2 September safety directive, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) said it was revoking with immediate effect a directive issued on 13 March 2019 that prohibited operations of the 737 Max 8 into, within and out of Malaysian airspace. CAAM says it took the decision after reviewing "all applicable FAA and manufacturer publications on the Boeing 737 Max in relation to its return to service". Data shows that Malaysia Airlines has orders for 10 737 Max 10 and 15 Max 8 aircraft. Malaysia's announcement comes days after India cleared the Max to begin operating to and from its airports again. "To date, 176 states have revoked their airspace prohibition on the operations of Boeing 737 Max, of which 17 states reside in the Asian region," says CAAM. Absent from that list is China, which has yet to certificate the Max to fly in its airspace. Boeing chief executive David Calhoun expressed optimism in July that China's aviation regulator would clear the jet by the end of 2021. Chinese operators account for a third of about 290 pre-built Max aircraft awaiting delivery.

Free movement around Europe is being compromised by the failure of some EU member states to harmonise their Covid-19 entry requirements, holding back the travel industry's recovery, IATA has warned. The airline association's research finds that 30% of states using the EU's Digital Covid Certificate do not accept rapid testing, while 19% do not exempt children from testing, and 41% do not allow vaccinated travellers from non-EU 'white list' countries to enter. Additionally, 11% of countries only accept paper versions of passenger locator forms, while a similar proportion have no locator forms at all. “It's essential that European states come together on Covid-19 travel procedures," states IATA's regional vice-president for Europe, Rafael Schvartzman. "The good work done by the Commission and the states to develop the DCC is being wasted by a mess of unharmonised regulations." He adds: "How can passengers travel with confidence when the rules are so different in each country within the European Union? They can't be sure if their children need to be tested or not, or if they need to fill in a form on paper, online, or not at all. It's one Europe Union. People reasonably expect a united approach to managing travel." IATA is urging all countries to accept rapid testing instead of PCR versions, exempt children from testing, and allow passengers from low-risk countries to enter Europe. "The experience over the European summer shows that a standard digital certificate is not enough: the travel processes around Covid-19 must also be harmonised and smoothed out," argues Schvartzman. "We urge European states to sort out the current mess and give hard-pressed passengers greater certainty over their travel plans."

Ryanair group chief executive Michael O'Leary has highlighted increasing "strains" in managing pilots and flight attendants with separate UK and EU licences as a result of what he terms the "madness that was Brexit". During a 31 August press briefing in London, O'Leary noted that Ryanair needed to recruit pilots and cabin crew with UK Civil Aviation Authority licences for its UK-based operation, especially for flights to nations outside the European Union, such as Morocco and Tunisia. O'Leary describes the CAA licences as "not that valuable" compared with European Union Aviation Safety Agency licences, which are valid on aircraft registered in any EASA system member state. "We can operate with both," O'Leary says. "What we want is well-trained, hard-working pilots and cabin crew." But he adds that the process of recruiting crew members from different regulatory regimes and managing their deployment is "getting more and more difficult" across the airline's operations. "Increasingly, all of the Brexit strains that are emerging in various supply chains also apply over here [crew management]." He highlights concern that a divergence of CAA and EASA training regulations for pilots and cabin crew could further complicate the situation for the airline. O'Leary took the opportunity to express his wider view on the UK's post-Brexit situation. "We know Brexit has been a stunning success. All of the people over here, the leading political figures of the day who told you [that] you would get the money back from the European Union, and no barriers of trade, that it would be easy, have been completely vindicated," he says, sarcastically. Ryanair's group chief remains confident that the UK and EU will build again closer relations over time and overcome barriers that have emerged as a result of Brexit. He describes the UK's departure from the European student exchange programme Erasmus, which enables participants to study across the bloc without visa requirements, as a "huge loss for young people" in particular. "That's why I think ultimately [in 10 or 20 years] Brexit will get reversed. I don't think the UK will join the European Union again. But I think they renegotiate a deal where all the barriers come down, because I don't think the young people here in the UK are going to put up with the bullsh*t that we no longer have free movement between here and Europe. "I think they will want it back again. So I am ever optimistic that the madness that was Brexit and the stupidity of [prime minister Boris] Johnson, Gove and all the others will eventually be seen through and replaced with something less incompetent than they are."