Lufthansa Group has repaid €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) drawn from the ‘Silent Participation I’ of Germany's Economic Stabilisation Fund (ESF). The repayment was made following the completion of a €2.1 billion capital increase announced in September, the group says. The new shares started trading on the Frankfurt stock exchange on 11 October. Lufthansa notes that it intends to terminate the unused portion of ‘Silent Participation I’ and fully repay the ‘Silent Participation II’ of €1 billion before the end of 2021. The ESF, which now holds 14.09% of the share capital, has undertaken to start divesting its equity interest in the company no earlier than six months after the completion of the capital increase, Lufthansa says. However, the sale of the stake is to be completed within two years after the capital increase, provided that the group has repaid the silent participations. Lufthansa’s chief executive Carsten Spohr says: "We are very grateful that [Lufthansa] was stabilised with tax money in the most challenging of times. This has made it possible to preserve more than 100,000 jobs.

China Eastern Airlines' first carbon neutral flight took off on 12 October between Shanghai Hongqiao International airport and Beijing Capital International airport, carrying 278 passengers onboard. From 12 October until 10 December, China Eastern plans to undertake about 780 carbon neutral flights on 13 domestic routes, it says in a 12 October statement. The airline and its subsidiary Shanghai Airlines will operate carbon neutral flights from Shanghai to Beijing, Guangzhou, Xi’an, Chengdu, Urumqi, Shenyang, Dalian, Kunming and other domestic destinations during this period. The airline says it worked with Sinopec and COSCO Shipping for the aviation fuel. Carbon credits of China Eastern Airlines' carbon neutral flights are purchased from the China Certified Emission Reductions (CCER).

London Heathrow airport has posted data for September which shows a weaker recovery than its continental rivals, with passenger numbers below 40% of their pre-pandemic levels. The results stand in contrast to that of many European airports that have enjoyed a "stronger resurgence over summer", notes Heathrow. North American traffic at the UK hub was just a quarter of 2019's levels, it says. Meanwhile, cargo volume was down 8% on September 2019, "reflecting the way in which travel restrictions have been damaging UK exports and supply chains". The airport adds that the easing of testing requirements and the reduction in the red list will make travel "simpler, cheaper and less stressful for all passengers". It is optimistic that these changes, and the forthcoming reopening of the USA to fully vaccinated passengers, will provide a boost to travel figures over school half-term holidays and Christmas. Further data shows that 2.57 million passengers passed through the airport in September, more than double the level of last year. However, between October 2020 and September 2021 just 13.3 million passengers used Heathrow, 66% fewer than a year earlier. For cargo, in the October 2020 to September 2021 period the airport processed 1.34 million metric tonnes of freight, an 11% increase on the same period in 2019-20.