The Indian government has signed a share purchase agreement relating to the sale of Air India with local conglomerate Tata Sons. "Share purchase agreement signed today by government with Tata Sons for strategic disinvestment of Air India," said the secretary of the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Tuhin Kanta Pandey in a 25 October tweet. Earlier, on 11 October, Pandey tweeted via the DIPAM account that a letter of intent had been issued to the successful bidder for Air India and that a share purchase agreement would be signed "soon". Before that, on 8 October, Tata Sons confirmed that it had put in the winning bid for Indian flag carrier Air India, after bids were received in mid-September.

Thailand will widen the scope of its 1 November international tourism reopening to 46 low-risk countries, up from 10 countries as previously announced. In a 21 October post on Facebook, Thai prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha says the country "needs to move faster" in its reopening in order to "attract more tourists" and "stimulate tourism and other business sectors". He argues that "to wait for everything to be perfect will make us too late", warning that "tourists may decide to travel to other countries first". The 46 countries comprise 10 in the Asia-Pacific region (Australia, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong), seven in the Middle East (Bahrain, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE), 26 in Europe (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK) and three in the Americas (Canada, Chile and the USA). To enter Thailand on the quarantine-free arrangement from 1 November, travellers must be fully vaccinated and will be required to undergo pre-departure and on-arrival testing. They will also have to apply for a certificate of entry, insurance covering up to $50,000 for healthcare and treatment expenses, and a hotel booking for one night at an approved hotel. Data shows that scheduled international flights to Thailand are set to increase in November and December compared with the first 10 months of this year. Airlines have pencilled in about 480 flights in November and nearly 800 flights in December, up from 200-330 per month in the January-October period.

Qantas has brought forward the restart of international flights from Sydney and Melbourne, and will launch service between Sydney and Delhi on 6 December. The carrier will operate three return flights per week on the Sydney-Delhi sector with Airbus A330 aircraft, and increase frequency to a daily service by the end of the year, it says in a statement today. This is Qantas's first commercial flight between these two nations in almost a decade, it says. The group states: “This is subject to discussions with Indian authorities to finalise necessary approvals. The flights would initially operate until at least late March 2022, with a view to continuing if there is sufficient demand." Flights from Sydney to Delhi would operate via Darwin, while flights from Delhi to Sydney would operate nonstop, according to Qantas. From Sydney, the mainline carrier will resume flights to Singapore on 23 November, four weeks earlier than scheduled, thrice weekly with A330 jets and eventually, daily from 18 December. The same aircraft type will be deployed on Sydney-Bangkok, resuming 14 January with five return flights a week. Sydney-Nadi flights will resume from 7 December, using 737 aircraft; Sydney to Johannesburg from 5 January 2022, with 787's. Jetstar will resume flying from Sydney to Phuket from 12 January; Singapore services from Melbourne and Darwin will resume from 16 December. Qantas states: “The faster ramp-up follows the federal and New South Wales governments confirming that international borders would reopen from 1 November and the decision by the NSW government to remove quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated arrivals, which significantly increases travel demand.” The carrier says these decisions support all Qantas and Jetstar workers based in Australia and New Zealand, who are currently stood down, to return to work by early December. This includes around 5,000 employees linked to domestic flying and around 6,000 linked to international flying. International services from Melbourne have also been brought forward, in line with Victoria's state government's decision to remove quarantine requirements for fully vaccinated travellers, starting November. Melbourne-London will relaunch on 6 November, six weeks earlier than scheduled. The service will be operated twice weekly with 787 jets and ramped up to a daily service from 18 December. Qantas's Melbourne-Singapore service restart will be brought forward by three weeks to 22 November, operated thrice weekly with A330 jets and from 18 December, daily. Jetstar will also service the route four times a week using 787 jets.