Europe

Air France KLM and British Airways, along with their peers, lost the fight on Thursday against EU cartel penalties totaling 776 million euros ($916 millions). This ended a saga that spanned more than two decades. The Court of Justice of the European Union, based in Luxembourg, ruled Thursday that the European Commission had the right to punish airlines who created and ran an air cargo cartel. The Court of Justice has rejected almost all of arguments presented by airlines. The Luxembourg-based court stated that only the appeal filed by SAS Cargo Group was upheld in part, due to errors made...

The European Court of Justice rejected on Thursday Air France KLM and British Airways, as well as almost all their competitors in their battle against fines totaling 776 million Euros that were imposed by the EU antitrust regulators nine years ago. The Court of Justice has rejected almost all of arguments presented by the airlines. The court in Luxembourg said that only the appeal filed by the SAS Cargo Group was partially upheld, due to 'errors committed by the General Court when calculating the fine imposed by this airline. In 2017, the European Commission - which is the EU's competition...

Alphabet’s Google will soon begin testing changes to its search results in order to give competitors more prominence. A person with first-hand knowledge of the situation said this on Wednesday. The company is trying to avoid a fine from the EU for allegedly favoring their own services when searching for hotels, flights, and restaurants. Since it was accused of violating the Digital Markets Act in March last year, Google has made a number of proposals to appease rivals and EU regulators. After rivals complained about the insufficiency of these measures, Google has not implemented any of its proposals. Google is...

Jet2 said that it expects to report an annual profit in line with the market estimates. It also noted that its capacity for Summer 2026 was higher than a year ago, thanks to new and newly established bases. Jet2 will launch new services next month from London Gatwick. The company is investing in the load factor, and focusing on attractive prices for holidaymakers. The company reported that the?on sale capacity for Summer 2020 is 20 million seats. This is up 8% compared to a year earlier. Winter 2025-26's capacity of 5.5 millions?seats, however, has increased 7.4% year-on year. The package...

Aena, the Spanish airport operator, said that it expected passenger numbers to increase a little slower this year than they did in 2025. The operator predicted passenger traffic growth of only 1.3% by 2026, compared to last year's increase of 3.9%. Aena's net profit for the full year 2025 rose by 10.5%, exceeding analysts' expectations after passengers using all terminals exceeded one million per day. Aena airports in Spain, the second-most-visited country in the world, saw 321.6 million passengers last year. This was a record for the third consecutive year. The company posted a net profit of $2.51 billion dollars...

The Trump administration's revised tariff regime, which was implemented on Tuesday, will benefit Brazilian planemaker Embraer as well as U.S. airlines and the commercial aerospace industry. Aviation attorneys and executives in the industry have urged caution as the White House's policy shifts continue to create uncertainty. According to the annex of President Donald Trump's Executive Order authorizing the tariff, commercial aircraft, engines, and?aerospace components?will be exempted from the temporary 10% worldwide import duty. He later announced that the levy would increase to 15%. It was announced as a replacement for tariffs which were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court...

The Pentagon announced?on Tuesday that U.S. forces had intercepted a sanctioned tanker in the Indian Ocean, after tracing it from Caribbean waters. This was the third interception in this region. Washington has stepped up its blockade of vessels going to or from Venezuela, a South American member of OPEC, after capturing 'Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro during a military savage last month. The U.S. Department of Defense announced in a post to X that its forces had boarded Bertha over night. The crude oil tanker was accused of trying to defy Iran sanctions. According to the Office of Foreign Assets Control...

The Trump administration's revised tariff regime, which was implemented on Tuesday by the Trump Administration, will benefit Brazilian planemaker Embraer as well as U.S. Airlines and the commercial aerospace industry. Aviation attorneys and industry executives warned that the White House's policy was still changing, creating uncertainty. According to the annex of President Donald Trump's Executive Order authorizing the tariff, commercial?aircraft, engines, and aerospace parts will be exempted from a?temporary? 10% global import duty. He later announced that the levy would increase to 15%. It was announced as a replacement for tariffs which were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court...

A company document shows that technical incidents, such as fuel and engine oil leaks, on Air?India flights, reached their highest rate for at least 14 month in January. This highlights the growing pressures placed on the carrier to revamp its operations. Since a fatal crash in which 260 people were killed, India's second-largest carrier has been under the scrutiny of India's safety regulator. Since then, it has reported many safety lapses, and admitted in December that there is a need for "urgent improvements in process discipline and communication as well as compliance culture". Air India reported 1,09 incidents technical per...

Etihad Airways announced a nearly 50% increase in 'net profit' to $698m last year. The 'carrier' said this on Tuesday. Increased capacity supported strong demand throughout markets and lifted the load factor. "We have invested a lot in our product and customer satisfaction. We've grown a lot and added capacity, ?...So, I'd say that it's the combination of all our efforts," CEO Antonoaldo Neves said. The Abu Dhabi airline reported that passenger numbers would increase by 21%, to 22.4 millions in 2025. Its fleet will grow to 127 aircraft, after 29 new jets have been added to the fleet during...

A company document shows that technical incidents, such as fuel and engine oil leaks, on Air India flights, reached the highest rate for at least 14 consecutive months in January. This highlights the growing pressures placed on the carrier to revamp its operations. Since a fatal crash in which 260 people were killed last year, India's second largest?airline is under the scrutiny of India's safety regulator. Since then, it has reported many safety lapses, and admitted in December that there is a need for "urgent improvements in process discipline and communication as well as compliance culture". Air India reported 1,09...

The director of an airline parts company in London who sold tens of thousands of engine parts using forged documents, causing planes to be briefly grounded due to safety concerns, has been?incarcerated?for four and eight months. Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala (38), pleaded guilty to fraudulent trading in December, admitting to defrauding AOG Technics customers and potential clients by falsifying documents regarding the source and condition engine parts between January 2019 and December 2023. The documents contained many parts for CFM56 engine parts that are used in some Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The discovery of the documents in 2023 caused planes...

Ukraine's president?Volodymyr?Zelenskiy stated on Wednesday that despite the requests of the?European Union? and the protests from Hungary, repairs to the Druzhba Pipeline, which transports Russian oil to Eastern Europe?cannot be completed quickly. Since January 27, Ukraine has said that a Russian strike on pipeline equipment in western Ukraine was responsible for the suspension of Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia. Slovakia and Hungary blame Ukraine for the extended outage. Zelenskiy, a reporter, said that the Russians had destroyed the pipeline connecting the Black Sea port Odesa to Druzhba. "This isn't their first strike. They continue to attack the energy...

The European Commission announced on Wednesday that Croatia is evaluating whether it can import seaborne "Russian crude oil" to supply Hungary and Slovakia, after damage to the Druzhba pipe supplying these countries via Ukraine. The European Commission said that Croatia is assessing whether it can import seaborne?Russian crude oil to supply to Hungary?and Slovakia after the Druzhba pipeline supplying them via 'Ukraine 'was damaged. A spokesperson for the European Commission said that Croatia has informed them it is assessing whether it can accept Russian crude in its ports, under both EU and US sanctions. The Croatian Government did not respond...

Two industry sources have confirmed that the Tengiz oilfield in Kazakhstan is recovering more slowly than expected due to a disruption of loading at the marine terminal operated by?Caspian Pipeline Consortium near Novorossiysk (Russia) caused by bad weather conditions and 'drone alerts. Kazakhstan is experiencing a perfect storm in its oil sector, due to Ukrainian drone attacks on CPC, the company that pumps 80% of?its exports. A power outage also halted Tengiz production, which accounted for 40% of Kazakhstan’s output. Kazakhstan is restoring production in the supergiant oil fields, the deepest oil field producing oil in the world. However, the...

E.ON, Europe’s largest energy network operator, announced on Wednesday that it will increase its investments to 48 billion euro ($57 billion) in the next five-year period. The investment is part of a drive to expand grids, and to prepare them for the construction of data centres throughout the continent. Grid operators are rushing to invest more in their assets due to the increasing demand for power infrastructure. This includes?renewables and storage, as well as an anticipated surge in electricity consumption to power artificial-intelligence projects. "The energy system is growing larger, decentralized and more complex. We are working to ensure that...

The UK Interior Ministry announced that, starting Wednesday, visitors from 85 countries will need to obtain a 'electronic permit' in advance of their trip or they may be denied entry. Electronic Travel Authorisation Scheme (ETA) requires that all visitors to Britain who don't need a Visa purchase a pretravel permit on the internet for a?cost? of 21.57 pounds (16 pounds). The law was implemented in 2023, and it was extended to European visitors in April of last year. However, the law has not been strictly enforced. From February 25, it will be mandatory that all visitors to the UK have...

Two sources with knowledge of the situation on Tuesday said that Russia's monopoly oil pipeline Transneft has cut crude intake by around 250,000 barrels every day following a drone attack from Ukraine on a pumping station servicing major oil hubs and ports on Monday. This reduction in oil exports could worsen Russia's problems, as it struggles with lower shipments of its key products to India and Turkey due to stricter Western sanctions designed to force Moscow to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine. Since the end of January, Russia has also suspended its remaining oil exports to Europe. These include...

In an email response to questions, the National Bank of Hungary said that it had launched a probe to determine if certain transactions involving shares in oil group MOL violated 'rules against insider trading. The central bank is investigating whether the provisions on prohibited insider trading have been violated in connection with certain capital market transactions linked to MOL Plc. The central bank is investigating whether certain capital market transactions involving the issuer have violated the prohibitions on insider trading. The NBH added, "As the official process is still ongoing, it cannot provide any further details." MOL stated in an...

In response to the Ukrainian 'attacks' that he claimed were carried out with the assistance of Western intelligence, President Vladimir Putin tasked the FSB to increase the protection of Russia’s energy & transport infrastructure. Putin said that Russia's enemies will regret pushing Moscow too far, as he spoke on the fourth anniversary. He told a group of FSB officials that the enemy was relying on individual and mass terror. This includes sabotaging the infrastructure and attempting to assassinate government and military officials. "It is absolutely necessary to defeat Russia. They will try anything. "They will push themselves too far and...

Sources and data indicate that trading houses and buyers of Venezuelan oil chartered the very large crude carriers to export from the South American nation since the Caracas-Washington deal was signed. This is expected to increase shipments to India and speed up the process starting in March. Trading firms Vitol & Trafigura export Venezuelan crude oil & fuels since January. This is part of the $2 billion deal that the U.S. & Venezuela signed after the capture of President Nicolas Maduro. According to data on vessel movements, the 'lion's share' of exports has been made by Panamax and Aframax tanks...

Ukraine's power plants, which have been severely damaged by Russian airstrikes, continue to import electricity from other countries, said the transmission system operator, Ukrainenergo, on Tuesday after Slovakia halted emergency supplies. Robert Fico, the Prime Minister of Slovakia, said on Monday that it would not accept any emergency requests from Ukraine until the Druzhba oil pipeline is restored. This runs through Ukraine and Russia to central Europe. Slovakia and Hungary are no longer able to access Russian crude oil through Druzhba due to damage caused by Ukraine last month. Ukrenergo announced on Telegram that "electricity is being imported by all...

Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, the national oil company, has begun early talks with potential investors about a $7 billion stake in its crude oil pipelines. This follows similar actions by Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. Sources said that BlackRock, Brookfield Asset Management and EIG Partners, as well as buyout group KKR, have all shown an interest. Sources said that Chinese state-owned enterprises China Silk Road Fund, China Merchants Capital as well as I Squared Capital, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners and Macquarie Infrastructure Partners are also showing interest. Three sources confirmed that the?transaction was structured so that around $1.5 billion...

According to the data released Tuesday, the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion by Moscow of Ukraine, the money Russia earned through oil and gas exports?decreased over the past 12 months, while the volume of oil exports increased. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT? Russia heavily relies on energy revenues to fund its war in Ukraine. This link has led Western nations to impose more and stricter sanctions on Russian fuel to try to weaken their military efforts. The Centre for Research on Clean 'Air and Energy, a non-profit organization, published an analysis that found Russia's revenue from oil, coal, and gas...