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Spain's tourism industry expects a slowdown in summer sales
The Spanish tourism industry is expecting a sharp slowdown in the growth of summer sales as uncertainty surrounding U.S. Tariff Negotiations threatens to reduce global consumer spending. However, it still expects record visitor numbers. The group anticipates that revenues from hotels, airlines and restaurants as well as other tourism-related business will grow by 2.7% on an annual basis in the third quarter of the year, which is the peak season for tourism. This compares to a 6.3% growth in 2024. Sales rose by 4.5% in the second quarter. The group predicted fewer arrivals in Germany and France. The group estimated that international arrivals from the United Kingdom (UK), the U.S.A., Japan and China will still grow, but at a slower rate. Oscar Perelli, Exceltur's Vice President of Marketing and Communications, told a press conference in Madrid that there has been a decline in U.S. tourism since the end 2024 because of a change in exchange rates. He expects this trend to continue into the current year. He said that "at the same time we are experiencing an acceleration of redistribution in travel to Europe as Europeans prefer staying and traveling within Europe and Asians looking for alternatives to the United States." Exceltur revised its estimate of tourism growth for the full year to 3.3%, down from 4% earlier in the year. This still beats out a projected expansion of 2.4% by Spain's economy. "At first, we thought that it would be an excellent year. Perelli stated that they now believe the year will be good. He added that "the uncertainty scenario has affected the confidence of tourism business owner". The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the private sector of the travel industry, anticipates 100 million record-breaking visitors by 2025. Exceltur estimates that tourism revenue will make up 13.2% of Spain’s Gross Domestic Product this year. (Reporting and editing by Andrei Khalip, Jan Harvey, and Corina Pons)
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Armenia and Azerbaijan have substantive talks but no major breakthrough
Their governments reported that the leaders of Armenian and Azerbaijan had substantive talks on Thursday in Abu Dhabi, which amounted to their most serious direct discussions yet in an effort to end nearly four decades of conflict. In March, the two sides announced that they had reached an agreement on a draft of a peace accord. However, progress has been slow and sporadic since then. The first official meeting between the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates was the first since the leaders approved the draft. The two foreign ministers of the two countries said in statements that Pashinyan, and Aliyev discussed issues including the delimitation their 1,000 km (621 mile) shared border and agreed to keep dialogue going at different levels. A senior Azerbaijani source stated that the discussions took place in "a highly constructive atmosphere." Armenia claimed that both sides had agreed on continuing bilateral talks and that the dialogue was "results-oriented". Peace could be achieved in the South Caucasus region, an energy producing region bordering Russia, Europe and Turkey, and crisscrossed with oil and gas pipelines. However, it is also riven by ethnic conflict and closed borders. Since the late 1980s, when Nagorno Karabakh, an Azerbaijani area with a majority ethnic Armenian population, broke away from Azerbaijan and received support from Armenia, Armenia has been at odds with Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan will retake Karabakh in 2023. This will cause 100,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing to Armenia. Since then, both sides have said that they would like to sign a peace treaty to end the conflict. There are still some issues to be resolved, such as Azerbaijan's request that Armenia amend its constitution so as to remove any indirect reference to Karabakh. The Russian government, which had previously sent peacekeepers to Karabakh in the past, has said that it supports the diplomatic process, and hopes it will bring "predictability and stability" to the region. (Reporting and writing by Felix Light, Nailia Bagirova and Lucy Papachristou. Editing and rewriting by Timothy Heritage.)
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Portugal launches a new privatisation of TAP airline, with aims to sell 49.9%
Luis Montenegro, Portugal's Prime Minister, announced on Thursday that the government had decided to restart a long-delayed TAP privatisation, with a goal of selling a 49.9% share of its capital. A 5% stake will be offered to TAP employees. In a short televised announcement, he stated: "We made this decision because we have already spent a great deal of money... We do not want to keep pouring money down a bottomless hole." Three major European airlines have already expressed interest in the airline's privatisation. These include Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and British Airways' owner IAG. They met with the government last year. Montenegro stated that "we are confident that there will many interested parties". The government also said that by selecting a strategic partner it "wants the company to be sustainable and profitable, as well as to be able contribute to the economic development of the country". The government is keen to keep and even expand TAP's key slots from Lisbon to Brazil, Portuguese speaking African countries and the United States. Montenegro said TAP was crucial for Portugal, as it brings in the majority of air travelers. This has supported the tourism boom that Portugal has experienced over the past few years. TAP suffered a loss of 1.6 billion euro in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This led to reorganization and a bailout from the state. However, the company has returned to profitability in the past three years. TAP, which employs approximately 8,000 people and has a fleet of 99 aircraft, will transport more than 16 millions passengers in 2024. This includes the 19 aircraft that TAP Express, a subsidiary of TAP, uses to fly short and medium distance flights. . TAP had been set up for privatisation since the mid-90s, but it was halted again when the centre right minority government fell in March. After a May national election, the coalition is back in power, but it still lacks a majority of parliament members, which would prevent TAP from being sold. (Reporting from Sergio Goncalves & Andrei Khalip).
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Operator says power line that caused major Czech outage wasn't overloaded
Grid operator CEPS confirmed on Thursday that a high-voltage line which snapped in the Czech Republic at the beginning of a major outage on Friday, was not overloaded at the time. It added that it is still investigating the cause. The outage affected about million customers and halted hundreds trains. It also shut down major industrial sites, including an oil refinery. This incident added to the concerns regarding the vulnerability of European grids following recent outages in Spain, Britain and France. CEPS, which provides details on the events that led to the power grid failure in central Europe, said the problem began at 11.51 am (0951 GMT), when a 400 kilovolt cable snapped along the V411 line located in the north-west part of the country. CEPS Chairman Martin Durcak said at a press conference that the reason is still being investigated, but that there was no interference from a third party. He said that the grid was designed to withstand such an event and shouldn't disintegrate. The incident was immediately followed by the failure of Ledvice unit 6, which had been running at 300 megawatts, in the north. Durcak stated, "We will investigate this matter with our colleagues from CEZ (the owner of Ledvice) to see if any causality exists." After the overloading of the 200-kilovolt high-voltage V208 power line, the eastern substation and the V401 high voltage link failed at 11.59 am. The grid was broken, resulting in insufficient electricity production in parts of the north-east and the centre of the country, followed by the outage. Nine of the 45 substations in the country and approximately one-sixth of all customers were affected. CEPS reported that all substations had been restored within three hours and the cable snapped by 10 pm. The grid carried large but routine cross-border flow as traders purchased power from abroad because of lower prices there. Reporting by Jan Lopatka, Editing by Mark Potter
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Maguire: Fossil fuels are still a major source of energy in the EU, even though clean energy production is declining.
Utilities in the European Union increased output of natural gas- and coalfired power stations during the first half of 2025. This increased power sector emissions, and reversed recent momentum on energy transition. The increase in fossil production comes after two years of sharp declines in fossil usage within the EU. This established Europe as a leader in global efforts to reduce reliance on polluting fossil fuels for power production. During January-June, however, the EU utilities were deprived of their main sources of clean energy due to the year-on-year decline in wind farm and hydro dam output. They had to compensate by increasing production from fossil fuel power plants. The sudden reversal of fossil fuel usage in the EU highlights how even modern energy systems are challenged when weather patterns prevent clean power supplies. It also suggests that fossil fuels could remain a part of global power systems for many years to come. CLIMATE CHANGES EU utilities produced 13% more electricity using fossil fuels from January to June than they did in the same period of 2024. This was the biggest annual increase for this period since 2017. The gas-fired production rose 19%, the most in three years. Coal-fired production increased by 2% and reached two-year-highs. If the EU maintains its current burning pace, the EU's CO2 emissions could reach 600 million tons this year. Since late 2024, the main factors that have contributed to the increase in fossil fuel consumption are steep drops in clean energy supplies and weather conditions throughout Europe. The output from wind farms, which will account for almost 20% of EU electricity supply during the first half 2024, has experienced the biggest year-over-year drop in history between January and June. It dropped by 9%, to 225 Terawatt Hours (TWh). Wind power production was hampered by low wind speeds, especially in Germany where over 30% of EU capacity is located. In Europe, the lack of snow and rain over the winter resulted in an annual drop of 15% in the electricity produced by hydro dams. These dams accounted for 15% or so of the EU's electricity supply last year. The approximately 164 TWh hydroelectric output from January to June was about 28 TWh lower than the same period in 2024 and the lowest for two years. SOLAR SHINES, BUT NOT ENOUGH Solar power in the EU has increased by 21%, or 32 TWh. This helped to cushion utilities against the decline in wind and hydro electricity generation. The 179 TWh electricity produced by EU solar farms in the first half 2025 was an all-time record. It marked the first instance that EU solar farms had produced more electricity during the window from January to June than hydro dams of the region. Solar-powered electricity will reach new heights in the next few months as the installed capacity of solar panels continues to increase. Clean energy advocates across the EU can celebrate this. The deep and persistent drops in wind and hydro output is also a cause for concern. This is especially true as climate trends suggest that weather patterns will continue to deviate from the average. The steadily rising temperatures in Europe are leading to a steady decline in snow cover at low altitudes, and are pinching the regional hydro dam production - even though hydro dam capacity reached a record in the EU last year. Climate change triggers more intense storms, but it also causes more wind droughts. This is because the temperature difference between tropical and polar areas is narrowing. The Global Stilling phenomenon is a major concern for energy planners, who had been counting on large-scale wind farms to play a reliable role in the generation of clean electricity over the next decades. Even if solar energy continues to grow, EU energy providers will still struggle to meet demand if wind speeds continue to slow down for months at a time and if hydro networks receive only a small amount of snow and rain during winter. This means that despite long-term plans to transition power systems away from fossil fuels, coal and natural gas will remain essential tools for EU utilities in the near future. These are the opinions of the columnist, an author for. You like this article? Check it out Open Interest The new global financial commentary source (ROI) is your go-to for all the latest news and analysis. ROI provides data-driven, thought-provoking analysis on everything from soybeans to swap rates. The markets are changing faster than ever. ROI can help you keep up. Follow ROI on You can find us on LinkedIn.
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Delta anticipates a profit boost through cost and capacity control
Delta Air Lines forecasted a higher-than-expected profit in the current quarter as well as for the full year, citing the industry's effort to align capacity to demand. In premarket trading, shares of the airline were up by nearly 8%. The Atlanta-based airline, like most U.S. carriers, pulled its financial forecast for 2025 in April, as the trade war between President Donald Trump and China weakened consumer and business confidence. Bookings were affected. Industry executives claim that travel demand has stabilised since then. Government data show that passenger traffic in the U.S. is still lower than a year earlier, resulting in a decrease in airfares. Delta's earnings report for the second quarter confirmed this view. Bookings are flat compared to last year, according to the company. However, its pricing power is still under pressure in the U.S. market. Carriers will reduce capacity in July to ensure that the supply of airline tickets matches demand and prevent further discounting. Delta expects the capacity rationalization to increase unit revenue in the second half of this year, which is a proxy for price power. To protect its margins, the company also relies on cost-controlling measures. The company expects that non-fuel operating expenses will be flat to down in the third-quarter compared to a year earlier. Ed Bastian, the CEO of the airline, said that the company was focused on "managing levers in our control to deliver strong cash flow and earnings." Delta expects a profit adjusted of between $1.25 and $1.75 per share for the third quarter ending in September. According to data compiled and analyzed by LSEG, the midpoint of forecast is $1.50 a share, compared to analysts' average estimates of $1.31. The company anticipates earnings adjusted for the entire year in the $5.25 to $6.25 per share range. Analysts had predicted a profit per share of $5.39. Delta Airlines and United Airlines have performed better than other U.S. airlines despite a decline in travel demand. Delta, for example, saw its premium ticket revenue increase by 5% on an annual basis in the second quarter despite a decline in revenue from main cabin tickets. Its loyalty revenue increased by 8% on an annual basis. A boom in aircraft maintenance and repair led to a 29% increase in revenue for its Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul division compared to the same quarter a year earlier. According to LSEG, it reported an adjusted profit per share of $2.10 in the three months ending June. This compares with the analysts' average estimate, which was $2.06, according to LSEG. (Reporting and editing by Matthew Lewis in Chicago)
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Delta anticipates a profit boost through cost and capacity control
Delta Air Lines forecasted a higher-than-expected profit in the current quarter as well as for the full year, citing the industry's effort to align capacity to demand. The Atlanta-based airline, like most U.S. carriers, pulled its financial forecast for 2025 in April, as the trade war between President Donald Trump and China weakened consumer and business confidence. Bookings were affected. Industry executives claim that travel demand has stabilised since then. Government data show that passenger traffic in the U.S. is still lower than a year earlier, resulting in a decrease in airfares. Delta's earnings report for the second quarter confirmed this view. Bookings are flat compared to last year, according to the company. However, its pricing power is still under pressure. This is particularly true in the U.S. Carriers will reduce capacity in July to ensure that the supply of airline tickets matches demand and prevent further discounting. Delta expects the capacity rationalization to increase unit revenue in the second half of this year, which is a proxy for price power. To protect its margins, the company also relies on cost-controlling measures. The company expects that non-fuel operating expenses will be flat to down in the third-quarter compared to a year earlier. Ed Bastian, the CEO of the airline, said that the company was focused on "managing levers in our control to deliver strong cash flow and earnings." Delta expects a profit adjusted of between $1.25 and $1.75 per share for the third quarter ending in September. According to LSEG, the midpoint of forecast is $1.50 a share, compared to analysts' average estimates of $1.31. The company anticipates earnings adjusted for the entire year in the $5.25 to $6.25 per share range. Analysts had predicted a profit per share of $5.39. Delta Airlines and United Airlines have performed better than other U.S. airlines despite a decline in travel demand. Delta, for example, saw its premium ticket revenue increase by 5% on an annual basis in the second quarter despite a decline in revenue from main cabin tickets. Its loyalty revenue increased by 8% on an annual basis. A boom in aircraft maintenance and repair led to a 29% increase in revenue for its Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul division compared to the same quarter a year earlier. According to LSEG, it reported an adjusted profit per share of $2.10 in the three months ending June. This compares with analysts' estimates of $2.06, which was the average. (Reporting and editing by Matthew Lewis in Chicago)
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Sources say that Indian investigators have told Congress that the black boxes in the Air India crash were not damaged.
Two people who were present at the meeting said that Indian investigators in the Air India crash, which killed 260 people last month, told lawmakers that the black boxes of the aircraft had not been damaged. Indian media reported that the devices crucial to reconstructing events leading up an air crash were damaged after the London bound Boeing Dreamliner crashed in June, erupting into a massive fireball. One source said that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau was also able to extract good data from the black boxes. Its officials had told the lawmakers during a panel discussion on aviation on Wednesday. The discussions were private, so both sources declined to identify themselves. AAIB or India's Aviation Ministry did not reply to questions. In the days following the crash, the plane's black boxes, the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recording, or FDR, as they are officially known, were recovered. One was found on a roof at the crash site on June 13 and the other in debris on June 16 According to previous reports, the preliminary report of the investigation into this crash will be released by Friday. Last month, the crash investigation focused on the fuel control switches and, in part, the engine thrust problems. Air India has been under intense scrutiny ever since the crash. One source said that Campbell Wilson, the chief executive of Air India, gave an update on the airline's efforts following the crash. Air India Express' budget airline will be investigated by the EU Aviation Safety Agency after it was reported that it had falsified documents to prove compliance and failed to follow an order to replace engine parts on an Airbus A320 within a specified time frame. India's aviation regulator has also issued a warning to Air India over the violation of rules in flying three Airbus aircraft with uncompleted checks on emergency slides. Reporting by Abhijith Gaapavaram and Nigam Prusty, Editing by Aditya Fernandez and Clarence Fernandez
UK's Ofcom revised Royal Mail delivery targets in order to manage delays
The British media regulator has announced that it has set new minimum delivery deadlines to Royal Mail in order to avoid long delays and altered some existing delivery targets, which could help the postal services save up to 578.3 millions pounds (425 million pounds).
Ofcom has fined Royal Mail $20 million for not meeting delivery targets over the past two years.
Ofcom announced on Thursday that Royal Mail is required to ensure that no more than 99% of the mail arrives two days late. Delivery targets for "First Class", however, have been reduced from 93% to 90 percent delivered the next day, and for "Second Class", from 98.5% down to 95% within three days.
(source: Reuters)