British Airways plans to "further develop" its plan to launch a short-haul subsidiary at London Gatwick following the successful conclusion of negotiations with pilot union BALPA. The carrier said in September that it would suspend short-haul operations at Gatwick and pursue "alternative uses" for the relevant slots after disclosing its plans for a new, lower-cost subsidiary had failed to secure support from pilots. BA comments that the new unit will be a full-service operation that will offer "competitive fares" to customers. "We will continue discussions with our colleagues, trade unions, suppliers and other stakeholders, following this positive result, and if we can agree a way forward with all parties, we would hope to begin operations next summer." An agreement with pilots is just one hurdle to overcome before any unit could be launched, with BA facing pressure from unions representing crews and other staff. On 6 October, the Unite union accused the carrier of adopting a "fire and rehire" employment strategy that it vowed to oppose. BA's plans at Gatwick are understood to comprise the establishment of a carrier whose services are indistinguishable from the airline's regular offering, but with lower costs to the business. In this regard, the subsidiary would operate similarly to the carrier's BA CityFlyer unit. The Oneworld carrier stopped operating short-haul flights out of Gatwick amid the pandemic in 2020. In September, the airline entered talks with unions over plans to create a new subsidiary for future short-haul operations out of Gatwick, to enable it to better compete with low-cost rivals.

Air Seychelles has entered into reorganisation with the appointment of two administrators, Bernard Pool and Suketu Patel of Pool & Patel Chartered Accountant, who will consider what carrier says will be the "optimum ways" of restructuring the company and settling its debts. During the company reorganisation, Air Seychelles will continue to operate normally with the same management and board of directors under the supervision of the administrators, who will prepare and present a rescue plan to the creditors, the main ones being the bondholders and the government, the airline and the Ministry of Transport say in a joint press statement on 5 October. This process is expected to take three to six months. Meanwhile, all the employees of Air Seychelles will remain in post and the operations of the airline will continue as before. Data shows that the African carrier operates a number of small regional aircraft along with one Airbus A320neo leased from CDB Aviation and another A320neo leased from Air Lease. The Covid-19 pandemic presented significant challenges to the Air Seychelles' business over the past 18 months, however, the airline's financial difficulties arise mainly due to significant debt that was incurred during its stewardship by Etihad Airways. This debt comprises amounts that were owed directly to Etihad and also loans of almost $72 million that were funded by the capital markets and are now controlled by bondholders of EA Partners, the joint statement read. The government of Seychelles, which owned the remaining 60% of shares in the Air Seychelles, has bought out Etihad's 40% shareholding, becoming the sole shareholder in the airline today. The government also negotiated a substantial discount debt of $70 million that was owed to Etihad. The government and Air Seychelles have been discussing with representatives of the bondholders of EA Partners but could not reach an agreement yet on terms for settling this debt that Air Seychelles can afford. The government's ability to assist Air Seychelles financially is also limited by the capping arrangements recently agreed with the International Monetary Fund whereby no further subsidy by government to Air Seychelles is permitted, the statement read. Meanwhile, the EA Partners bondholders have presented a petition for the winding up of Air Seychelles in order to exert pressure so that the bondholders can maximise their recoveries on their debt.

British Airways is returning the Airbus A380 to its active fleet as part of its plans for a massive increase in capacity to the USA and elsewhere. This follows the recent announcement that fully vaccinated UK citizens will be able to travel to the USA from November. IAG-owned BA will initially operate its A380s on short-haul European connections in order to re-familiarise crew with the equipment, before rolling it out on routes to Los Angeles, Miami and Dubai in December. Additionally, BA will increase frequency between London and New York to five times daily in November, rising to eight times daily the following month. Double-daily services will also be operated to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, Dallas, Miami and Toronto, and there will be daily services to Philadelphia, Phoenix, Seattle, Atlanta, Denver, Houston and Vancouver. Through October and November, BA will restart services to Austin, Orlando, Tampa, San Diego, Las Vegas and Baltimore, followed by Nashville and New Orleans in December, "which both proved to be a hit with customers when they first launched". In total the airline plans to fly to 23 US airports this winter, with up to 246 flights a week – more, it says, than any other transatlantic carrier. Flights to popular luxury Indian Ocean destinations the Maldives and Mauritius will increase to 10 and six per week, respectively, over Christmas. Caribbean services will be bolstered to Barbados, Antigua and St Lucia, from Heathrow and Gatwick airports. Within its short-haul offering there will be an extra 13,000 seats to "holiday hotspots". Destinations such as Marrakech and Dalaman will feature in flight schedules for the October half-term school break. For the winter season, BA will restart several ski destinations including Innsbruck, Grenoble and Salzburg from December. Combined, the step-up in capacity will give BA its most extensive network since March 2020. “This is an exciting time for British Airways and our customers as we see borders reopening. With welcome news from the US, we are dramatically increasing flights and bringing home some of our A380s to give our customers as many options as possible," states Neil Chernoff, the airline's director of network and alliances. "Elsewhere across our network, we are also adding additional services to destinations all over the world, to ensure our customers can take advantage of a much-needed holiday."