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United Airlines is nearing an order for more than 100 widebody jets and is evaluating offers for Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and Airbus' A350, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people briefed on the matter. A deal could be announced by December although a timeline has not been finalized, according to the report, which added that United Airlines has been in discussions with the planemakers for months. United Airlines and Boeing declined to comment, while Airbus did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. News of the potential multi-billion dollar order comes at a time when international and business travel is recovering, though it will take some more time to reach pre-pandemic levels. Demand for widebody jets is also returning after years of a market glut, a boost especially for Boeing, which is in the midst of a recovery from successive crises.<br/>The planemaker handed over its first Dreamliner jet in August after deliveries were halted for more than a year. United Airlines CE Scott Kirby told pilots attending a Denver training session that the carrier is planning a "triple-digit" order to upgrade its fleet, Bloomberg News reported. The airline last year unveiled a large narrowbody order for Boeing and Airbus jets. The carrier had over 800 jets in its mainline fleet, with a majority of the aircraft from Boeing, according to its latest annual filing.<br/>

Air Canada will expand its international network next summer, launching new services to Europe, resuming some flights to Japan and increasing flight frequency to several destinations as the airline eyes a more fulsome recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Montreal-based airline announced on Thursday that it will launch new flights to Europe next summer, flying from Toronto to Brussels, Montreal to Toulouse and Montreal to Copenhagen five times a week starting in June. Air Canada will also resume additional service to Japan, flying from Toronto to Tokyo Haneda daily starting next May, and from Vancouver to Osaka four days a week beginning next June. It resumed flights to Tokyo's Narita airport in April. The announcement comes after Japan introduced new border measures this fall that allow all foreign nationals entry with proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test, easing two years of pandemic restrictions. Air Canada says it will also increase the frequency of flights on existing routes across its international network, including on various flights to Europe, the Middle East and Africa, South America, Australia and Asia. "We continue to pursue our disciplined approach of expanding our global network in response to anticipated demand," Air Canada's senior vice-president of network planning Mark Galardo said. "Customers can start planning ahead and book with confidence." Earlier this month, Air Canada announced new daily transborder flights between Halifax and Newark, and between Vancouver and Houston. The increase in the number of flights is part of Air Canada's response to a surge in demand for international travel in the post-pandemic recovery. While the expansion signals that the airline's capacity will increase next summer, it remains to be seen whether it will reach or surpass pre-pandemic levels.<br/>

Copa Airlines currently operates 18 flights per week between Panama City and Cartagena. The aircraft used are the Boeing 737-700 and Boeing 737-800, with capacity for 124 and 154 passengers respectively. Due to the start of the high season, the company will increase to 20 weekly services in November and 21 in December. The three daily operations will be in operation until late February. Copa Airlines offers 11 routes to Colombia from the Panamanian capital (Armenia, Barranquilla, Bucaramanga, Bogota, Cali, Cartagena, Cucuta, Medellin, Pereira and San Andres Island, Santa Marta). According to Cirium, the company operates more than 700 flights between both countries.<br/>

Scandinavian airline SAS said on Thursday it will defer interest payments due later this month on its perpetual capital securities as part of the carrier's restructuring and the ongoing chapter 11 bankruptcy protection process. "The deferral of interest payment is made in accordance with the terms and conditions for the respective capital securities," SAS said in a statement. The company had been due to pay 39.7m Swedish crowns ($3.52m) in interest on Oct. 24 and a further 153.1m on Oct. 26. Long-struggling SAS, ravaged by the pandemic and pressured by low-cost rivals, sought bankruptcy protection in the United States in July in a bid to restructure its balance sheet and cut costs.<br/>

South African Airways has finalised plans to add more capacity for the southern hemisphere summer, under which it is taking more Airbus A320s to increase its fleet to 10 aircraft. A slimmed-down SAA resumed flights just over a year ago, after 18 months on the ground during the pandemic and a formal restructuring process. In late September it took delivery of its third A320. Two more of the type will follow in October and November, to take its A320 fleet to five. They will account for half its overall fleet, alongside three A319s, one A330 and an A340 – the latter of which is used as a support aircraft during maintenance or for flights requiring more capacity. The move forms part of wider fleet development plans, with SAA chief commercial officer Tebogo Tsimane stating: “SAA is replacing its A340-300 with a similar capacity aircraft and will exit the A319 fleet in 2023. ”As we increase fleet size to match the needs of the growing network schedule, we are encouraged that our strategy to cautiously re-enter markets abandoned due to the Covid pandemic has served us very well during the past 12 months, and we will continue to follow that cautious risk-adjusted trajectory.” SAA management has been working on a strategy to ramp-up operations, while it continues to await completion of a capital restructuring from its strategic equity partner the Takatso consortium.<br/>

With a former Singapore Airlines executive at the helm of Air India, it comes with little surprise that the Singaporean airline could take a stake in the Tata Group-owned Indian flag carrier. Singapore Airlines disclosed Thursday that it was in “confidential discussions” with Tata to “deepen” the companies’ existing partnership, and a potential merger of Air India and Vistara. Indian carrier Vistara is jointly owned by Tata (51%) and Singapore Airlines (49%). Singapore Airlines did not say what that deeper partnership could be, but Reuters reported that it could include a minority stake in Air India. India, with nearly 1.4b people, is widely viewed as one of largest growth markets for aviation around the world. However, airlines have long struggled to penetrate the market that suffers from infrastructure and other constraints. Numerous carriers have tried — and failed — including Jet Airways (the first incarnation) and Kingfisher. Singapore Airlines described India, and its Vistara investment, as an “integral part” of its multi-hub growth strategy. A stake in Air India would give the Singaporean airline even deeper penetration in the market.<br/>