Australia's Regional Express will extend temporary schedule reductions until 10 October, due to lockdowns and border closures in the states of New South Wales and Victoria. A stand-down of about 500 frontline workers will likewise be extended, the operator said today in a disclosure to the Australian Securities Exchange. The Victorian state government is expected to announce further details on lockdown and restrictions today, Rex said. It also cites further extensions to lockdowns for Greater Sydney until the end of September and Regional New South Wales until 10 September. "Given this uncertainty, we are left with no option but to extend the suspension of our domestic services and reduction of our regional services until 10 October 2021 to provide some time for the advanced sale of tickets." Furloughs will also continue until at least 10 October, as "current conditions now deem it necessary". Rex disclosed in August that staff would be stood down from 16 August until 12 September. In today's statement, the company says it remains optimistic that travel demand will be strong post-lockdowns and border closures. "We are committed to ensuring Rex remains agile and ready to respond when flying resumes." The operator released its preliminary results for the financial year (FY) ended 30 June 2021 on 31 August. The report shows that core revenues – from passenger, freight, charter, and other operations, excluding government grants and subsidies – declined by 35% year-on-year to A$169 million ($124 million), though underlying operating loss before tax narrowed to A$18.4 million from a A$27.4 million loss in FY 2020. Rex's executive chairman Lim Kim Hai said in a 31 August statement: "The first half of the FY22 will continue to be dominated by rolling lockdowns and border closures. "It is possible that the second half will be struck by further waves of infection given the experience of other highly vaccinated countries. As such the outlook for the year is highly uncertain."

The Council of the European Union has removed the USA from its list of countries for which restrictions on non-essential travel should be lifted, 10 weeks after adding the country to the list. The EU also on 30 August removed Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro and the Republic of North Macedonia from the list of countries for which it recommends that member states should gradually lift travel restrictions at their external borders. World Health Organization data shows that the rate of new cases of Covid-19 in the USA, after a six-month decline, began increasing in late June, driven largely by the delta variant working in tandem with a stagnating vaccination rate. The infection rate per million population in the country has risen from 38 on 30 June to 475 on 28 August, the highest it has been since late January. The percent difference in US carriers' flights to Europe compared with pre-pandemic 2019 levels has been narrowing since late May, improving from down 73% on 27 May to down 55% on 28 August,

Thailand will lift a suspension on commercial passenger flights to and from high-risk areas, including capital city Bangkok, from 1 September. This comes amid a decline in daily Covid-19 cases. Commercial passenger flights to and from "dark red" zones were suspended from 21 July. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has set a 75% passenger capacity limit, it says in a 29 August statement. Passengers will be required to show proof of vaccination, a negative Covid-19 PCR or antigen test result, or any exemptions such as travel under Thailand's tourism-oriented “sandbox” initiative. Bangkok Airways and Thai VietJet intend to resume operations from 1 September. Low-cost carrier Nok Air will also restart flights from 1 September, from Bangkok's Don Mueang International airport to 17 domestic destinations. Meanwhile, Thai AirAsia will resume services domestic flights from 3 September, after it suspended all scheduled domestic flights since 12 July. The low-cost carrier will restart 11 domestic routes from Don Mueang International airport. AirAsia Thailand's chief executive Santisuk Klongchaiya states: "While AirAsia Thailand hibernated all its flights throughout August in accordance with government announcements, it remained busy at work, preparing to return to service. All aircraft undergo regular maintenance during the hibernation to ensure they are in top performance."