British Airways responded to the pandemic by using technology to deliver new products and services to the customer, in a bid to improve its offering, cut costs, and minimise the risk of infection. During the AIX online event on 13 September, the IAG-owned airline's director of brand and customer experience Tom Stevens said the mission was to "bolt new technology onto our existing infrastructure" in a bid to innovate. He cites a new initiative allowing travellers in the London area to check in their luggage the day before their journey and have it collected ahead of time. This allows them to head straight through security, reducing queues. Similarly, the airline is now offering passengers who travel on the Heathrow Express rail service from Paddington the opportunity to deposit their bags at the station platform, saving them time in the terminal. On board, passengers can now use the in-flight wi-fi to order food and refreshments to their seat, something that is helping the carrier to move away from its traditional trolley service. Likewise, allowing passengers to pre-order their purchases before the flight enables greater choice and the opportunity to reduce food waste. Stevens explains that such moves are about "customer choice, being flexible and constantly trying to adapt". The reaction, he continues, is "record customer satisfaction scores". BA, he adds, has worked hard to give customers the confidence to make bookings, and is also taking steps to maintain its premium brand position, such as by offering complimentary snacks and refreshments with its "Euro traveller" economy cabin. Stevens highlight that the carrier is seeing "huge pent-up demand to go flying again", especially for leisure and visiting friends and relatives, including in premium cabins. "What we are seeing is once customers have done it once and have got used to additional steps, actually they realise it's not that complicated and are prepared to go flying again and again", he suggests.

The US bankruptcy court for the Southern District of New York has approved Colombia flag carrier Avianca's disclosure statement describing the terms of its reorganisation plan. Avianca may now submit the plan to creditors for their approval. The court's approval is "a significant step for the company towards emergence from Chapter 11", Avianca states on 14 September in a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Avianca, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the USA in May 2020, on 10 August disclosed that its board had approved the filing of its reorganisation plan with the US bankruptcy court. The airline has also recently secured $1.6 billion in commitments to finance its exit from Chapter 11. On 1 September, Avianca disclosed that it had reached an equity conversion and commitment agreement with "a majority" of its Tranche B lenders, for which it was seeking bankruptcy court approval. Avianca's next step on the road to emergence from Chapter 11 is to solicit votes on the reorganisation plan "from certain classes of creditors". Creditors' votes in support of the plan must be submitted to Avianca by 14 October. The US bankruptcy court will consider approval of the plan on 26 October.

The Association of Asia Pacific Airlines has committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, with the bulk of efforts to focus on sustainable aviation fuel. AAPA director general Subhas Menon unveiled the net zero-emissions target at a media briefing on 13 September, describing it as a "challenging long-term goal" that exceeds the industry's existing target of halving carbon emissions by 2050. The target also builds on previous short- and mid-term goals that the industry has set, such as 1.5% fuel-efficiency improvement and stabilising net CO2 emissions through carbon-neutral growth from 2020 onwards, through ICAO's CORSIA programme. Of AAPA's 14 member airlines, ANA, Japan Airlines, Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific have already committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Its remaining members include Air Astana, Asiana Airlines, Bangkok Airways, China Airlines, Eva Air, Garuda Indonesia, Philippine Airlines, Royal Brunei Airlines and Thai Airways. The association is looking into four key areas to achieve the reduction, focusing mainly on commercialisation of SAF. This will require the production of SAF in "significant quantities" and in a cost-effective manner, to be used to cut emissions from flights of over 1,500km, which account for about 80% of the total in Asia-Pacific. “The Asia-Pacific region will constitute some 40% of global SAF demand, but production and supply facilities in the region are lacking," says Menon. "Allocation of sufficient resources to convert feedstock, like municipal or agricultural waste, waste oils from food production and other biomass for the production of SAF will make a critical difference." He estimates that the region will need to increase production facilities to about 2,500 to supply the region's SAF needs. "Support from governments and other stakeholders to commercialise SAF through research and development, subsidies, incentives, as well as the allocation of resources for its development and distribution, will be crucial to ensure adequate and cost-effective supplies to meet the needs of the airline industry," he says. AAPA is also looking to reduce carbon emissions in other areas. Menon expects that technological advancements on hydrogen and electric aircraft will contribute about 15-20% in carbon reductions in the region. These are set to affect flights of less than 1,500km but are unlikely to be ready before 2035. Another 10-12% reduction is set to come from operational and infrastructure initiatives, such as waste and weight management and route navigation economics to reduce carbon emission in operations. The goal also builds on existing global market-based measures, namely ICAO's CORSIA programme as the "agreed global mechanism for offsetting growth in international aviation CO2 emissions since 2020". "AAPA wholly supports ICAO’s efforts on this front, and will continue to encourage states to fully participate in the scheme. In addition, investment in emerging sources of energy such as direct carbon capture and carbon sequestration when these become viable, could complement the industry’s efforts towards achieving net-zero emissions.”