Malaysia has begun to ease restrictions on domestic and international travel for fully vaccinated travellers, which could allow some air travel to return. Prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the new measures, which are to take effect from 10 August, in a televised address on 8 August. Vaccinated citizens and permanent residents entering Malaysia will be allowed to complete their 14-day quarantine at home, regardless of their state of residence, according to a 10 August update by the Malaysia's National Security Council. Cross-district travel within states has also been allowed in nine states and territories, as part of Malaysia's four-phase plan to reopen the country. Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak, Penang and Sabah have been classified under "phase two" while Perlis, Sarawak and the federal territory of Labuan have moved on to "phase three". Data shows that Malaysian carriers flew over 80,000 domestic flights to these nine states and territories in 2019, representing about 40% of the country's total domestic flights. Malaysia has also granted permission for inter-district and interstate travel to enable spouses as well as parents and children under the age of 18 who are living apart to meet. In line with this, flag carrier Malaysia Airlines has offered flight bookings from 10 August to 30 September, for travel until 30 October. The move comes days after Malaysia's daily Covid-19 case count surged to new highs, exceeding 20,000 cases for the first time on 5 August and nearly 20,900 cases on 6 August, according to data from the health ministry. As of 9 August, Malaysia has vaccinated nine million people, about 39% of its total population.

Aer Lingus's UK subsidiary has been granted an air operator's certificate by the country's civil aviation authority, allowing it to begin scheduled passenger services from Manchester to the USA. "The UK Civil Aviation Authority is pleased to confirm that it has granted an airline operating licence to Aer Lingus (UK) Limited, part of the Aer Lingus Group", comments the CAA. In an updated provided in June, Dublin-based Aer Lingus said it was delaying plans to launch direct flights from Manchester to New York and Orlando to end-September. It had previously planned to launch the two routes on 29 July, but decided to postpone because of "international borders opening later than expected". The IAG-owned carrier will begin its Manchester-Barbados service on 20 October, as originally planned, adding services from the northern UK city to Boston in summer 2022. It will deploy its Airbus A321LRs for the services to New York and Boston, with A330-300s being used on the Orlando and Barbados routes. At a results call last month, chief executive Lynne Embleton commented that Aer Lingus has a "good opportunity" to combine its A330s and A321s to "test out some new markets" once it had secured a UK air operator’s certificate for its Manchester services. "If Manchester is successful there’s no reason why we couldn’t consider expanding into other markets – but it’s one step at a time," she added.

The administrators of Air Mauritius have agreed a deal with a number of pilots which will place them on leave without pay for five years. The island carrier entered voluntary administration in April 2020 and is preparing a restructuring plan to present to creditors. The Mauritian Airline Pilots Association (MALPA) says in a social media post on 8 August that administrators wanted to make 18 pilots redundant, but the deal has been agreed to save the jobs. The pilots will be placed on leave without pay for up to five years from 1 September, the administrators announced in a 7 August filing, with pilots being called back when operations require in order of seniority. If they do return, they will sign a new contract reflecting the company’s situation at that time. If they are not recalled during the five years, then their employment will be considered to be mutually terminated, with no further compensation due. MALPA says the deal means Air Mauritius will have to first rehire the 18 pilots before recruiting externally. "Our agreement comes after the necessary sale of A319 and A340 aircraft and the surplus of pilots at this time. Our aim is to reduce costs," the administrators state, thanking the pilots for their sacrifice and the union for its efforts. Air Mauritius is currently operating four flights a week to Paris Charles de Gaulle and one weekly flight to Reunion. The Reunion flight is due to move to twice-weekly from 15 August. The carrier also plans to restart weekly flights to London Heathrow and Johannesburg from early October.