IATA warns that governments are preventing airlines from repatriating nearly $1 billion in earnings, hindering their ability to bounce back as passenger demand returns. "Governments are preventing nearly $1 billion of airline revenues from being repatriated. This contravenes international conventions and could slow the recovery of travel and tourism in affected markets as the airline industry struggles to recover from the Covid-19 crisis", states IATA director general Willie Walsh. "Airlines will not be able to provide reliable connectivity if they cannot rely on local revenues to support operations. That is why it is critical for all governments to prioritise ensuring that funds can be repatriated efficiently. Now is not the time to score an 'own goal' by putting vital air connectivity at risk." IATA estimates that approximately $963 million in airline funds are being blocked from repatriation in nearly 20 countries. Four countries account for over 60% of this total: Bangladesh ($146 million), Lebanon ($176 million), Nigeria ($144 million), and Zimbabwe ($143 million). IATA highlights that there has been recent progress in reducing blocked funds from Bangladesh and Zimbabwe. "We encourage governments to work with industry to resolve the issues that are preventing airlines from repatriating funds. This will enable aviation to provide the connectivity needed to sustain jobs and energise economies as they recover from Covid-19," adds Walsh.

United Airlines has praised action taken by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) against some Chinese carriers after the Chinese government imposed limits on four United flights. "We are pleased to see this action by the US DOT in pursuit of fairness in this important market," United says in a statement. The DOT said on 18 August that it would limit some flights from Chinese carriers to 40% passenger capacity for four weeks, according to a 19 August Reuters article. China told United on 6 August it was imposing sanctions after it alleged five passengers who travelled from San Francisco to Shanghai tested positive for Covid-19 on 21 July, the report adds. Chinese authorities gave United three options: cancel two San Francisco to Shanghai flights; operate two without passengers; or operate four flights with up to 40% of passenger capacity. The action taken by the DOT will affect four flights over four weeks, one each from Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines, according to Reuters.

Virgin Atlantic has signed a memorandum of understanding for a large-scale direct air capture (DAC) facility, designed to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. The agreement with carbon capture company Storegga is part of the airline's plans to become net neutral by 2050. Storegga and its technical partner Carbon Engineering plan to establish a DAC facility in northeast Scotland that will be capable of removing one million tonnes of CO2 per year, and is intended to serve businesses that cannot capture or reduce all their carbon emissions at source. "Reducing Virgin Atlantic's carbon footprint is our number one climate action priority and the removal of CO2 directly from the atmosphere has the potential to become a powerful tool in reaching our target of net zero carbon emissions by 2050," states the airline's chief commercial officer Juha Jarvinen. "We hope that early adoption of this technology and development of a facility here in the UK will demonstrate the commercial potential of DAC and inspire other businesses to be involved." Storegga's planned facility will be the first large-scale facility of its kind in Europe and is targeting first operations for 2026. When combined with geological storage, Storegga says its DAC technology will be able to reverse the emissions process and deliver climate-stabilising quantities of permanent carbon removal for the world's most difficult sources of emissions. "The need for high quality, permanent, engineered offsetting is clear. To reach our net zero goals and prevent significant temperature rises, we need utilise all the tools available to us. Technical offsetting with DAC is urgently needed at scale to sit alongside nature-based offsetting," comments Storegga chief executive Nick Cooper.