Alaska Airlines on 16 August announced it will exercise its options with Boeing to add 12, 737 Max 9 aircraft to its existing order for a total of 93 jets scheduled for delivery by the end of 2024. The Seattle-based airline restructured its agreement with Boeing in December 2020 to acquire 68 Max aircraft by 2024, with options for another 52 deliveries by 2026. Alaska in May exercised its options to add 13 Max jets to its order. The airline as part of its deal with Boeing will add 25 options to its contract to backfill the options that have been exercised for the Max jets that seat 178 passengers. With the addition of these new jets to the backlog, Boeing is expected to deliver to Alaska 12 Max 9's during 2021; 31 during 2022; 31 during 2023; and 18 jets during 2024. Alaska said it has already entered into service five of those Max jets from the total order. Alaska plans to eventually transition its operation back to an all-Boeing fleet, as it was prior to inheriting an Airbus A320-family fleet through its acquisition of Virgin America in 2018. The airline aims to reduce its Airbus fleet to 10, A321neos by mid-2023. In addition to the 10, A321's in service, Alaska has 20 A320-200 jets in service, with 21 in storage, along with 10, A319's in storage.

Emirates has signed a unilateral codeshare agreement with South African carrier Airlink as it resumes flights to the African country. The Dubai-based carrier says the deal will provide travellers to and from South Africa with access to more than 40 domestic and regional destinations across 12 African countries. Through the new agreement, passengers can now transfer from Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban to destinations in South Africa including Bloemfontein; George; Upington; Nelspruit; Hoedspruit; Kimberley; Skukuza; Pietermaritzburg; Richards Bay; Sishen; Mthatha; and Port Elizabeth. Travellers can also connect to destinations in other African nations. These destinations include Gaborone; Kasane; Vilanculos; Lubumbashi; Dar es Salaam; Entebbe; Maseru; Antananarivo; Pemba; Tete; Maun; Victoria Falls; Walvis Bay; Maputo; Windhoek; Harare; Lusaka; Ndola; Bulawayo; and Livingstone. “We are committed to growing our operations in South Africa, and with the strong connection opportunities being provided collectively with Airlink we hope to help jumpstart the recovery of the local travel and tourism industry,” Emirates chief commercial officer Adnan Kazim states.

South African Airways (SAA) says that two Airbus A320s that were previously in storage are returning to service as part of the relaunch of its fleet. The carrier says the two narrowbodies arrived at OR Tambo International airport on 12 August, after being stored in Abu Dhabi. They have completed six-year maintenance C-Checks in Abu Dhabi during SAA's time in business rescue. Interim chief executive Thomas Kgokolo says: "This is another noteworthy milestone towards full operational readiness. The image of two SAA aircraft landing and taxiing to their parking bays is a tangible manifestation of the hard work the airline’s staff are putting in." Data shows that the Johannesburg-based carrier has two A320s still on lease from Goshawk. SAA has been making steps towards resuming operations after securing new investors. Earlier this month it received its renewed operating license from the South African Civil Aviation Authority. Gideon Novak has joined forces with South African investment fund Harith General Partners to take a 51% stake in SAA, with the government retaining 49%.