Western Europe

Europe's largest tour company, TUI, ?posted a slightly narrower-than-expected second-quarter adjusted operating loss ?on Wednesday thanks to ?resilience in ?bookings. The?German tour operator reported a loss for the March 31 quarter of 188 millions euros ($221million), 9% less than the year before, despite the 40 million euro hit caused by the Iran War that forced flight cancellations and ship rerouting. Analysts surveyed by LSEG projected a loss of 194 millions euros. "The very good results give us confidence for the second half." Due to geopolitical challenges and dynamic operating conditions this will require a great deal of dedication and flexibility,...

Boeing announced on Tuesday that it had received a total of?135?net new orders during April. This is almost the same as its first quarter sales. Boeing booked 284 new orders in the first four month of this year after accounting for cancellations and convertions. This is the highest number of orders for this?period in 2014. Airbus has booked 405 orders after cancellations and modifications through April 30, but the U.S. rival is still behind. Airbus delivered 67 jets last month. Boeing delivered '47 jetliners in the month of April, an increase from the previous one. Investors closely track 'delivery', when...

The Lufthansa Group is exercising an option to increase its stake in Italy's ITA Airways from 80% to 90%, tightening their grip on the Rome-based ITA Airways as consolidation in Europe accelerates. Lufthansa announced on Tuesday that the German group will increase its holding in ITA by 49 percentage points, from 41% to 51%. This will be achieved through the purchase of a 2nd block?of shares next month for 325 millions euros ($382million). The majority acquisition is expected to be completed in the first quarter 2027, after approval from the European Union and the U.S. In many ways, Lufthansa said...

SES, a Luxembourg-based satellite operator, reported its first-quarter results on Tuesday. The results were in line with expectations and the company reiterated their yearly guidance. They also noted a strong performance in aviation and European infrastructure. The quarter's revenue was 847 millions euros ($996million), up 80% on the year at constant currency. Over the last three months, 306 million euros worth of new contracts and renewals were signed by the company. In a press release, CEO Adel al-Saleh stated that the aviation business had been a strong performer. More than 40 aircraft were committed to?Japan Airlines. SES and Boeing have...

Greg Abbott plans his summer vacation with a half-eye on the Iran War. He is planning to stay close to home, in Europe. The 54-year old Australian, who lives in Britain, is planning to go on a cycling tour with his friends in Austria. He also plans to attend a music festival in Barcelona as well as a possible yoga retreat in France. But he is not looking to travel too far. "We will almost certainly do short-haul Europe and almost certainly use trains because they are powered by electricity," said Abbott. The head of operations at a broadcasting firm...

Middle Eastern carriers increased capacity following the Iran War, and airlines outside the Gulf have rerouted flights between Europe & Asia away from major hubs within the region. The latest flight information is listed below alphabetically: AEGEAN AIRLINES On May 21, Greece's biggest carrier will resume its flights from Heraklion, Rhodes, and Larnaca to Tel Aviv. Thessaloniki-Tel Aviv flights are cancelled up until June 26. Flights to Beirut will resume on May 12, and flights to Riyadh, Amman and Amman are scheduled to resume May 21. Dubai flights are suspended until August 31 and Erbil, Baghdad and Baghdad flights will...

Swiss International Air Lines' CEO said in the NZZ on Saturday that the airline has enough jet fuel to last for the next six weeks. However, the company is exploring contingencies such as "tankering", amid industry warnings of fuel shortages linked to the Iran War. The newspaper Neue Zurcher Nachricht quoted SWISS CEO Jens Fehlinger as saying that "the current forecasts of our suppliers, oil companies and refineries, are good." European airlines are warning of possible jet?fuel shortages in the coming weeks due to the U.S. - Iran conflict, which has caused energy prices to soar and curtailed'supply. "If there...

The airport released a statement on May 9, stating that a Frontier Airlines passenger plane struck and killed a pedestrian?on the runway?at Denver International Airport?during a planned takeoff to Los Angeles late Friday night. Frontier reported that it had struck a person during takeoff, and the flight was abandoned. The unidentified pedestrian had jumped over the perimeter fence and was struck just two minutes after crossing the runway. The?statement' said that the individual was not believed to be a member of staff at the airport. A brief engine fire caused smoke to fill the cabin of an Airbus A321 carrying...

Analysts and industry executives say that the recent grounding by 'Spirit Airlines', a U.S. low-cost carrier, could ease shortages of RTX next-generation spare engines required to keep Airbus single aisle jets in service. Spirit Airlines ceased operations of its 'all-Airbus' fleet on May 1, due to high fuel prices. ?Its bankruptcies are leading to new cases of A320neos that were dismantled and sold for parts. This trend had been happening in the industry because of a severe shortage of RTX Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan Engines. Fuel-efficient GTF engines often make the A320neo aircraft more attractive than their aircraft. Austin...

European?shares fell on Friday, with broad losses, as a flare up in the Middle -East conflict impacted risk sentiment at the end of a geopolitical week. The pan-European STOXX 600 ended down 0.7%, at 612.14, but it recorded a small second consecutive weekly gain. The major regional markets also fell, led by Germany's DAX which dropped 1.3%. Washington expects an Iranian response to its latest proposal for ending the Gulf conflict as early as Friday, despite the fact that U.S. forces and Iranian forces are clashing and the United Arab Emirates is being attacked again. Richard Flax is the chief...

The aviation industry was blindsided by the sudden increase in jet fuel costs from $85 to $100 to $150 to $200 per barrel during the U.S./Israeli war on Iran. Fuel accounts for as much as a quarter or more of the operating costs, which has forced airlines to raise their fares and revise financial forecasts. Here is an alphabetical list of the ways airlines are responding to this issue: AEGEAN AIRLINES The Greek airline anticipates that the suspension of Middle East flights, as well as the spike in fuel costs will have "a significant impact" on its first-quarter earnings. AIRASIA...

The Spanish travel technology company Amadeus expects bookings for air travel to decline in the second quarter due to the war in the Middle East and the airline strikes in Western Europe, said its chief financial officer on Friday. Carol Borg, in a call with analysts after the earnings report, said: "We still believe we will continue to see negative growth in second quarter bookings." "April was better that March, but we are still in negative territory". She added that the improvement was due to the moderation of cancellation rates, the reopening airspace in the area, and the airlines' positive...

A notice published by the London Metal Exchange on Thursday showed that China's Tsingshan Group has applied to have aluminium produced at its Hua Chin joint venture in Indonesia?available for delivery?on the London Metal Exchange. Hua Chin - where Tsingshan and Huafon Group are partnered by fellow Chinese company Huafon Group - would be the only Indonesian brand of high-grade primary aluminum to be accepted by LME, after state-owned Inalum. * The application is being made as Indonesia ramps up production and exports, potentially compensating shortages caused by war in the Middle East. According to a LME notice, the second...

U.S. president Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will increase tariffs to 25% on?cars?and trucks imported from the European Union, claiming the bloc has not adhered to its trade agreement with Washington. In a post on social media, he said: "Based on the European Union not adhering to our Trade Deal fully agreed upon, I will increase Tariffs for Cars and Trucks entering the United States next week." It is understood and agreed by all that there will be no tariff if the Cars and Trucks are produced in U.S.A. Plants." Trump told reporters in the White House that...

Le president americain Donald Trump a ?declare vendredi qu'il allait porter ?a 25% les droits de douane sur ?les voitures et ?les camions ?en ?provenance de l'Union europeenne, expliquant sa decision par le fait, qu'a ses yeux, l'UE n'a pas respecte leur accord commercial. "Etant donne que l'Union europeenne ne respecte pas notre accord ?commercial, sur lequel nous nous etions pleinement mis d'accord, ?j'augmenterai la semaine prochaine les droits de douane imposes a ?l'Union europeenne sur les voitures et les camions entrant aux Etats-Unis", ecrit-il ?dans un message publie sur les reseaux ?sociaux. "Il est clairement entendu ?et convenu que,...

Standard Chartered Bank announced on Tuesday that it had successfully arranged a $2.33billion syndicated finance facility?for a Standard 'Gauge -Railway?Project?in Tanzania. The money will be used to finance two stretches on a planned 1,219 km rail line linking the port and commercial capital of Dar es Salaam with?the lakeside town of Mwanza. The bank said that Yapi Merkezi, a Turkish company, and China's China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation would be responsible for the work. The bank added that funding was obtained from commercial banks, export credit agencies and development finance institutions. The bank said: "The construction of the Standard Gauge...

British 'warehouse owner'?Segro has expanded its efforts into data centres. It is lining up new sites in France and Germany as well as in Italy and Poland to take advantage of the global boom in artificial-intelligence spending. David Sleath, in an interview on Thursday, said: "We think that there will be a very strong demand in the future in and around other large cities." We are working to secure planning permissions on some of these sites and power. Segro, which has around 10.9m square metres of space to its name, is betting that the?demand for AI-based data centres will continue...

Hyundai's CEO said that it will be difficult for the automaker, due to manufacturing constraints, to quickly reallocate sales to other regions, and thus make up lost sales. The CEO of Hyundai, Jose Munoz, revealed the?new?Ioniq3 EV at the Milan Design Week, in Italy. He said that the Middle East is the market with the highest margins for the South Korean carmaker, even though it does not bring "massive" profits. Hyundai's Spanish CEO stated that the conflict in the Middle East was having an impact on the company because cars produced for this region cannot be easily redirected to other...

The massive copper stockpile at the U.S. Comex exchange The CEO of German copper manufacturer Aurubis stated on Tuesday that the reserves should be drained 'in a few months' as local demand picks up. Comex has 532,000 metric tonnes of copper - nearly a quarter the annual U.S. demand - because traders shipped metal to America last year in anticipation of tariffs. The inventories have not fallen much since February when they peaked at 546,000 tons. Last week, arbitrage shipping copper to Comex was opened again. Toralf Haag, CEO of Aurubis, said: "I believe it's an issue with supply security."...

The LME announced on Wednesday that it had fined PAC Global Services Spain?250,000 pounds ($334,175) as a disciplinary action for violating its rules. In a notice to members, the exchange, which is the oldest and largest market for industrial metals in the world, listed eight PGS violations of its warehouse agreement. The most serious violations were found during an investigation at a PGS warehouse in Taiwan. Copper was discovered in a yard in the open outside of the facility. The notice stated that "the storage of metal outside an approved?LME shed is an egregious violation of the warehouse agreement... as...

Italy's tax authorities announced on Tuesday that they had seized 27,4 million euros ($31.8 million) from two French units of CEVA Logistics. This is a new chapter in investigations into alleged tax fraud, and illegal labor practices. This move, which targets the French multinational known for its partnership in Ferrari's F1 Team, is similar to other actions taken against Italian logistics and delivery companies, such as FedEx, DHL, Amazon, etc. Milan prosecutors accuse CEVA of issuing fake invoices in order to?mask cheap labour, bypassing labour laws and tax laws and avoiding?taxes and social security payments. CEVA Logistics?did not immediately respond?...

Mexico's government announced on Thursday that it had taken legal action to force Millon, a French auction house, to stop the planned sale this week of 40 precolombian artifacts Mexico considers to be its cultural heritage. Mexico has launched "appropriate legal procedures before?the?relevant?authorities", and reached out via diplomatic channels to repatriate the artifacts, Culture Secretary Claudia Curiel stated in a social media post. She said, "The protection of cultural heritage is the responsibility of the State and an act historical justice." Millon will hold an in-person sale of a precolombian collection entitled "Les Empires of Light" (The Empires of Light),...

The 'London High Court' refused to allow Indian businessman Prateek gupta, who was found guilty of defrauding commodities trader Trafigura by using fake nickel cargoes. The Geneva-based 'Trafigura' alleged that Gupta had been the mastermind behind a fraudulent "Ponzi Scheme" where he and his firms agreed to deliver high-quality nickel 99.8% but delivered low-value materials or even worthless ones instead. Gupta admitted he didn't deliver high-grade Nickel cargoes, but said Trafigura?staff designed the scheme. Former Trafigura head nickel trader Sokratis Oikonomou denies this. Last month, Judge Pushpinder Saini found that Gupta's companies and Gupta had induced Trafigura to sign contracts...

Swedish autonomous trucking firm Einride announced on Thursday that it has raised $113 million in private equity investment ahead of its merger with a blank check company and public listing of shares in the U.S. scheduled for the first half. The funding 'was committed by both new and existing investors, including EQT Ventures. It will 'help support the technology roadmap of the company and its global expansion across North -America, Europe, and the Middle -East. Einride stated that the?listing? now values the company as a $1.8 billion equity value, compared to the $1.8 billion valuation when the announcement was made?in...