The reopening of the transatlantic market would be a major boost to the outlook for the Boeing 787, in the view of AerCap chief executive Aengus Kelly. During an analyst call on 29 July, Kelly described the North Atlantic route as the biggest widebody market in the world and said that a return to normal traffic would "be a help to the 787, no doubt". Noting recent relaxations of travel restrictions by European countries to allow non-essential travel by US citizens, Kelly adds: "We would be hopeful that in the near term the US administration will reciprocate... It will have a huge benefit on US industry to do it. It will improve demand for the aircraft as well." Kelly acknowledges that Boeing's 787 delivery process is "not going well at the moment": the US airframer expects to deliver less than half of the Dreamliners currently in inventory this year. Nonetheless, he hails the type as the "most popular widebody aircraft ever introduced" and declares AerCap's "tremendous confidence" in it. However, AerCap has no 787s to place until 2024, he notes. The lessor continues to deliver contracted aircraft to customers in co-operation with them and Boeing. Asked whether he agreed with recent commentary from Avolon that many aircraft values had now bottomed out, Kelly responded: "I certainly would." Kelly says the outlook for the market is now is much brighter than in December 2020 when AerCap was preparing its outlook calculations in relation to its proposed takeover of GECAS. At that time, the Irish lessor saw a "longer road before we would be able to sell significant amount of assets". That outlook had changed, and AerCap is seeing bids for assets coming in. Kelly is confident AerCap can de-lever its balance sheet ahead of its planned merger with GECAS in the fourth quarter.

Russian operator S7 Group is to establish a new low-cost carrier which will commence operations in summer next year. S7 Group says the airline division will exclusively operate Airbus A320neos, four of which are already due to be transferred to the carrier under a preliminary deal. It will serve inter-regional routes, primarily focused on central Russia., using a “classic” low-cost airline model. Ticket sales will commence in spring 2022. “Creation of a new airline is a logical step for us,” says Tatyana Fileva, one of S7’s shareholders. “We see great potential in the inter-regional transportation segment, which we cannot cover within the current S7 Airlines business model.” Over the first three years of operation the new carrier will increase its fleet by six to eight aircraft and S7 expects it to have more than 20 by 2024. It has not identified the source of the jets. “Low-cost transportation is still concentrated mainly in Moscow and St Petersburg,” says Fileva. She says the Russian government has a strategy to improve regional access and raise population mobility, and has highlighted the need for another budget airline to serve the central zones. Russian transport minister Vitaly Saveliev, formerly the head of Aeroflot, says a new carrier will help satisfy the demand for low-cost flights in the country. S7 expects the carrier – still unnamed – to transport around 1 million passengers in its first year and reach 6-7 million from 2024. It has yet to disclose details of the route network and base airports, as well as finalise a fare structure, but S7 is putting together a core group of staff to run the new airline.

LATAM Airlines has been given more time to file its Chapter 11 restructuring plan by a US bankruptcy court. The Chilean carrier now has up to and including 15 September to file its Chapter 11 plan and up to and including 8 November to seek acceptances of its plan. The group filed for bankruptcy protection in May of 2020 and has been aiming to exit the process by the end of 2021. The carrier has also received approval to enter amended lease agreements with Merlin Aviation and JSA International, according to court documents. The lease with Merlin, a vehicle of Aviation Capital Group, relates to one Airbus A320-232 aircraft (MSN 2734), while the lease with Jackson Square Aviation is for one Airbus A320-271neo aircraft, MSN 7126. LATAM has operated MSN 2734 since delivery in 2006 and MSN 7126 since delivery in 2016, according to data.