Emirates plans to recruit over 6,000 staff over the next six months as part of plans to rebuild capacity in response to a "sooner-than-expected surge" in customer bookings. As part of this, the Middle Eastern carrier has restored around 90% of its pre-pandemic network and plans to reach around 70% of capacity by the end of 2021. This "accelerated recovery" will entail additional frequencies, including its Airbus A380's. "By November, Emirates will offer more than 165,000 additional seats on its flagship A380 aircraft," says the carrier. It currently operates its A380s to 18 destinations, but plans to ramp this up 65%, to 27 routes, by end-November. The recruitment drive will seek to onboard 3,000 new cabin crew, 500 airport services staff, 700 ground staff, 600 pilots, and 1,200 technical staff. Emirates Group chief executive Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum states: "We have been prudently restoring our operations in line with the borders reopening and ease of travel protocols, and with the positive signs in the economic recovery and continuous growth of demand, we are hopeful to be back to where we were pre-pandemic, from mid-2022." Data shows that the carrier is continuing to expand capacity, with sharp gains recorded through October, even as flight activity has slowed elsewhere into the winter. Emirates operated a seven-day average of 272 flights on 24 October, for example, up from 245 on 1 October and 162 on 1 June. This remains, however, around half of the capacity it operated in October 2019, long-haul travel having been particularly hard hit by the pandemic.

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.