Comair has voluntarily extended the suspension of its scheduled services its offers on its low-cost brand Kulula and British Airways until 31 August as South Africa continues to remain on an adjusted Level 4 lockdown for at least the next two weeks. The South African carrier says it had originally planned to resume operations from 30 July; however, it has temporarily suspended all scheduled flights from 5 July owing to the prohibition of all non-essential travel in and out of Gauteng, very little to no demand for business travel and international travel bans. The carrier also takes note of the uncertainty of the expected length of the recently adjusted level 4 lockdown and the "rampant transmissibility" of the Covid-19 "Delta" variant. The carrier intends to resume scheduled operations from 1 September after considering the potential variables. Acknowledging the opening of vaccine registration for the 35-to 49-year-old group starting 15 July, chief executive Glenn Orsmond states: "This is a crucial step towards ensuring the safety of our customers and our employees, as well as stimulating demand and the recovery of our economy and tourism industry. We anticipate the vaccine roll-out picking up pace in earnest and hope to see it reaching critical mass in the next month or two and look forward to welcoming our customers back on board on 1 September."

Thai airlines have suspended several domestic services until the end of July, amid tightened movement restrictions to combat a spike in infections in capital city Bangkok and nine neighbouring provinces. The measures include restrictions on inter-provincial travel and are in place for two weeks starting today, according to a 9 July report by state broadcasting arm National News Bureau of Thailand. Bangkok Airways has cancelled five domestic roundtrip flights from Bangkok from 13 to 31 July, to Chiang Mai, Phuket, Sukhothai, Lampang and Trat. Flights to Phuket and Koh Samui – where special travel arrangements, the ‘Phuket Sandbox’ scheme and the ‘Samui Plus’ programme, are in place – will continue to operate as usual. This includes a twice-daily Bangkok-Samui service, as well as thrice-daily special transit flights from Bangkok to Samui for vaccinated international passengers. The airline will also operate Samui-Phuket roundtrip flights from 16 July, four times a week, and from 1 August, a Samui-Singapore roundtrip service three times weekly. Meanwhile, low-cost carrier Thai AirAsia has suspended all scheduled domestic flights from today until the end of July, "in support of the [Covid-19] containment efforts by the government of Thailand"."[Asia Aviation] and Thai AirAsia will continue to evaluate the situation closely and we are prepared to reinstate our services as soon as the situation improves," the airline says in a statement today. Phuket has confirmed its second and third Covid-19 cases among tourists entering under the ‘Phuket Sandbox’ scheme, according to an 11 July update by the Phuket Provincial Public Health Office. Among local residents, the province confirmed its first case of the Delta variant and has closed schools until 23 July due to the surge in infections, according to a 11 July report by English-language newspaper Bangkok Post.

Ryanair Group is launching a recruitment drive targeting 2,000 new pilots over the next three years as it looks to rebuild its services following the Covid-19 crisis. Deliveries of the low-cost carrier's new Boeing 737-8200 Max aircraft will drive the requirements. Captain positions are set to filled with internal candidates, creating opportunities for replacement first officers and new cadets. "As we take delivery of more than 210 Boeing 737-8200 game-changer aircraft, Ryanair will recruit 2,000-plus pilots over the next three years to fill positions created by this growth," states Ryanair people director Darrell Hughes. "This is great news for experienced and aspiring pilots but also for our own pilots who will enjoy fast-tracked promotions . "Throughout the pandemic, Ryanair has worked closely with our people to save jobs and we are delighted to start planning for a return to growth over the coming years as we recover from the Covid-19 crisis and grow to 200 million guests by FY2024’’ The carrier expects to run training courses through 2021 in order to be ready for strong demand in summer 2022. It asserts that Ryanair pilots receive "great pay, industry-leading five-on/four-off rosters, outstanding career development, and world-class training".