Airbus reports that during September it delivered 40 aircraft to 25 customers, hitting the exact same mark as in August, while generating only one order that month from an undisclosed customer for an A319neo. This reflects a declining rate of deliveries for the European airframer, slowing from deliveries of 77 aircraft during June to 47 in July and 40 deliveries for both August and September. During 2021, Airbus has delivered a total of 424 aircraft to 74 customers. It has also logged 133 net orders for aircraft following cancellations of 137 aircraft orders. Orders have been inconsistent this year for Airbus, which received 102 orders in August following just two orders during July. The aircraft type ordered most often from Airbus during 2021 is the A321neo with 153 orders following 42 cancellations. United Airlines ordered 70 A321neos during June, marking the largest single aircraft order for Airbus during 2021. During September, Airbus also delivered more A321neos than any other aircraft, reporting 20 deliveries to customers including Sichuan Airlines, Frontier Airlines, and British Airways.

British Airways is resuming services and increasing frequencies to a number of destinations that are being removed from the UK government's Covid travel red list, which require passengers to enter quarantine on arrival. The Oneworld carrier says it will restart services to South Africa's capital Cape Town in November, initially operating three flights a week and then moving to a double daily service in December. The carrier also plans to offer daily services to Johannesburg by mid-December, it says. IAG-owned BA will restart flights to Mexico's Cancun from 22 October, offering daily services, while services to Mexico City will also be increasing to five per week from 6 November. Elsewhere, South American destinations Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires are set to return in time for Christmas, the airline says. Chairman and chief executive Sean Doyle states: "Once we have a firm date for the reopening of USA borders in November, we look forward to reconnecting our two countries, reigniting transatlantic businesses and reuniting families who have been separated for the best part of two years." The airline plans to increase flights to the USA from early November despite no firm date from government on the reopening of the country. BA plans to bring back its Airbus A380s to operate some of these services.

Executives from Indian conglomerate Tata Sons have confirmed that the group has won the bidding for struggling national carrier Air India. Bloomberg had on 1 October, quoting unidentified sources, reported that New Delhi had selected Tata ahead of a rival bid from Ajay Singh, managing director and chairman of SpiceJet. In a social media post from Tata Sons on 8 October, chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran says: “At the Tata Group, we are delighted to be declared as the winner of the bid for Air India. This is a historic moment and it will be a rare privilege for our group to own and operate the country’s flag-bearer airline.” Former Tata chairman Ratan Tata, in a social media post of his own, adds: “The Tata Group winning the bid for Air India is great news. While admittedly it will take considerable effort to rebuild Air India, it will hopefully provide a very strong market opportunity to the Tata Group’s presence in the aviation industry.” In winning the bid, Tata moves full circle on Air India, having started the airline in 1932 as Tata Airlines. The Indian government nationalised the carrier in 1953. Tata Sons is still heavily involved in the airline sector. It owns 51% of Vistara, with Singapore Airlines holding the other 49%. It also owns a 49% stake in AirAsia India. The company’s Tata Advanced Systems is a significant player in the aerostructures space, mainly with military programes.