Virgin Atlantic cancelled its remaining two Airbus A350-1000 orders with the airframer last month, during which it also disclosed a deal for seven additional A330-900s at the Farnborough air show. The two scrubbing of the two A350-1000s represents the European manufacturer's first widebody cancellations in 2024. The two orders were part of an eight-unit deal dating back to 2016, Airbus orders and deliveries data shows. Virgin Atlantic has 12 A350-1000s in service, Cirium fleets data shows. Six are managed by Air Lease Corporation. The airline's fleet additionally includes 10 A330-300s, five A330-900s and 17 Boeing 787-9s. It has another 12 A330-900s on order. At the Farnborough air show, Virgin Atlantic said it would have 19 A330-900s by the first quarter of 2028 – implying the addition of a further two aircraft to its existing A330neo orders – and use the jets as replacement for its A330-300s. Its 787 fleet will meanwhile be reduced to 14 aircraft, the airline indicated. In other changes disclosed by Airbus, an unidentified customer ordered 15 A321neos on 3 July. In addition to that deal and Virgin Atlantic's seven A330-900s, the manufacturer booked orders for 20 A350-900s and 11 A321neos from Japan Airlines and six A320neo orders from Libyan operator Berniq Airways at the Farnborough air show, giving a total 59 gross orders. Airbus has confirmed that VietJet Air is the customer for 20 A330-900s ordered in May. AerCap acquired 27 A321neo and nine A320neo orders from Spirit Airlines in July. Airbus's data shows that these orders were transferred from the US carrier to NAS Aviation Services, which is listed in an AerCap regulatory filing as a US subsidiary of the Irish lessor. Spirit Airlines still has 33 A321neos and 24 A320neos on order with Airbus. SMBC Aviation Capital has switched 20 A320neo orders to the A321neo. The change covers a batch of 15 A320neo orders placed in 2018 and another five from 2014. Aviation Capital Group meanwhile switched nine A320neo orders to the A321neo. Airbus had orders for 5,049 A321neos and 1,199 A320neos in its backlog at the end of July.

Japan Airlines and ENEOS have signed an agreement for the sale and purchase of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The carrier says ENEOS will become the first Japanese energy company to import SAF and supply it to JAL, which is actively seeking SAF both domestically and internationally. JAL has set targets to replace 1% of its total fuel with SAF by fiscal year 2025 and 10% by 2030. Meanwhile, ENEOS is working on developing an integrated system for SAF, covering raw materials procurement, manufacturing, and sales.

LOT Polish Airlines has taken delivery of the first of three Embraer E195-E2 aircraft leased from Azorra. The remaining two are expected to be delivered by October, says the Brazilian airframer. The delivery comes fewer than three months after the carrier inked a deal to lease three of the examples from Azorra, Embraer notes. The E195-E2 is intended to enhance operational flexibility and support LOT's network expansion. Embraer commercial aviation president Arjan Meijer states: "We welcome our long-term partner LOT as the 17th E2 operator 20 years after they inducted their first E170 as the global launch customer for the E-jets - in the last two years the number of E2 operators has almost doubled (88%). Along with our leasing colleagues at Azorra, we are proud to have been able to deliver these jets in double quick time to meet our customer’s needs."