Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field (DAL)) has been awarded two slot exemptions by the US Department of Transportation allowing it to operate a new daily Houston William P. Hobby (HOU) - Washington Ronald Reagan National (DCA) flight. The DoT said the service will be the first non-stop service from Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport to Reagan National and will help foster airline competition in the Reagan National-Houston market where currently only United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)) provides flights, albeit to Houston George Bush Intercontinental (IAH). The slot exemptions became available when Spirit Airlines (NK, Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International (FLL)) moved its Washington area service from Reagan National to Baltimore Thurgood Marshall International (BWI) and returned the two slot exemptions that it had been using to serve Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International (FLL). Also applying for the exemptions at Reagan National were US Airways (US, Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX)), which proposed service to Oklahoma City Will Rogers World (OKC), and jetBlue Airways (B6, New York John F. Kennedy International (JFK)), which proposed service to Jacksonville International (JAX).

United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)) is to move forward its planned B787-8 service resumption, now slated to begin on May 20, with Houston George Bush Intercontinental (IAH) to Chicago O'Hare International (ORD). Thereafter, Houston - Denver International (DEN) will resume from May 21, with Houston - Los Angeles International (LAX) beginning May 24. Internationally, Dreamliner flights from Houston to London Heathrow (LHR) are planned for June 10, Denver to Tokyo Narita New Tokyo International (NRT) from June 10, Houston to Lagos Murtala Muhammad (LOS) from August 1, Los Angeles to Narita from August 1 and finally Los Angeles to Shanghai Pudong International (PVG) from August 2.

United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)) has inked a firm order with Embraer (São José dos Campos Professor Urbano Ernesto Stumpf (SJK)) for the purchase of thirty EMB-175s with options for a further forty. Should all options be exercised, the combined order for 70 aircraft has an estimated value of USD2.9billion at current list prices. The aircraft, which are a part of the US carrier's fleet renewal and modernization plan, will operate under the "United Express" brand, with the first one due for delivery in Q1 of 2014. No details have emerged yet on which United Express carrier will be operating the aircraft. Shuttle America (S5, Fort Wayne International (FWA)) currently already operates 38 EMB-170s for United.

Trans States Airlines (AX, St. Louis Lambert International (STL)) is to take delivery of six former Passaredo Linhas Aéreas (P3, Ribeirão Preto Leite Lopes (RAO)) ERJ-145s, the first two of which N834HK (c/n 145269) and N829HK (c/n 145281) are already in service as United Express operating feeder flights on behalf U.S. mainline carrier United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)). Trans States has recently stopped its flights that it had operated for competitor US Airways (US, Phoenix Sky Harbor International (PHX)) as US Airways Express with the three ERJ-145 jets it had still operated for US having been either repainted into United's livery or stored. It now exclusively operates for United.

Boeing (BOE, Chicago O'Hare International (ORD)) has had its plans for design modifications for the problematic 787 battery system approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration, paving the way for flights to resume in the coming weeks. During the course of this week, the FAA will issue instructions to operators for making changes to the aircraft and will publish, in the Federal Register, the final directive that will allow the 787 to return to service with the battery system modifications. The directive will take effect upon publication. Under changes to the system, said to have been designed to "address risks at the battery cell level, the battery level and the aircraft level," the FAA will require the installation of containment and venting systems for the main and auxiliary system batteries, and the replacement of the batteries and their chargers with modified components. Boeing is currently deploying 10 teams comprised of 300 specialists around the world to all Dreamliner operators (ANA - All Nippon Airways (NH, Tokyo Haneda (HND)), JAL - Japan Airlines (JL, Tokyo Haneda (HND)), Air India (AI, Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji International (BOM)), Ethiopian Airlines (ET, Addis Ababa Bole International (ADD)), LAN Airlines (LA, Santiago de Chile Arturo Merino Benítez International (SCL)), LOT Polish Airlines (LO, Warsaw Fryderyk Chopin (WAW)), Qatar Airways (QR, Doha International (DOH)) and United Airlines (UA, Chicago O'Hare International (ORD))) to perform the modifications on the fifty 787s that were in service when the fleet was grounded on January 16. All Nippon Airways is said to be "planning to conduct between 100 to 200 test roundtrip flights in May after corrections are made to the battery system before the Boeing 787 is returned to revenue service in June." Air India has already announced that it hopes to be able to resume scheduled services with its B787-8s in mid-May.