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Polish air traffic control funding frozen over COVID vaccine decision
It was announced 'on Friday that the organisation in Poland responsible for air traffic control could lose airline fees amounting to more than 80% of their income as a result of a Belgian Court ruling on a case brought against Poland by U.S. pharmaceutical company?Pfizer over payment for COVID-19 vaccinations. The European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation in Brussels (Eurocontrol), informed the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency that it was owed money from airline fees. This is due to the April ruling. PANSA stated that it was preparing an official objection as the case was not related to its operations. However, PANSA was also taking steps to ensure financial resources to continue operations. The court ordered that Poland and Romania receive COVID-19 vaccines worth EUR1.9 billion ($2.2billion) made by Pfizer & BioNTech. Poland received EUR1.3 billion alone. Warsaw refused in April 2022 to honor the contract, citing a slowing pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine, as well as possible abuse by Pfizer of its dominant position. PANSA issued a statement saying that Eurocontrol's receipt of an enforcement order means it must withhold funds collected from PANSA for en route fees, both current and future payments, until Pfizer has satisfied its claim or the case has been resolved. Last week, Romanian air traffic controller Romatsa announced that Eurocontrol imposed a?precautionary seizure' on its account. The target was 3.4 billion lei ($743 millions) and recovery costs EUR18.5million. Romatsa, according to the government, will appeal this measure in Belgium. The seizure won't stop its operations. Eurocontrol had no ?comment. The Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk blamed the previous government, and said at a press conference that the government wouldn't leave PANSA unaided, but the overall situation was "quite ugli". He said: "Our legal fight is still ongoing, but the danger is evident." The Justice Ministry of Belgium did not respond immediately to an email request for comment. Pfizer stated?in an e-mail that "the Belgian court's judgment reflects on the importance of?contractual responsibilities that supported a successful European response to pandemics" and that it was taking the appropriate legal enforcement steps.
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Philippine Air orders 15 Boeing 787-10s and nine Airbus A350-1000s
Industry sources reported on Friday that PAL is expected to announce its first Boeing purchase in nearly 20 years. These orders will be announced this month at the Farnborough Airshow. The inclusion of the Boeing 787 in the competition will trigger a separate engine race between Britain's Rolls-Royce Aerospace and U.S. giant GE Aerospace. Airbus and Boeing refused to comment on the commercial discussions. Philippine Airlines stated that it was unable to provide any?information regarding potential fleet acquisitions. The airline's president announced at an industry summit in June that it planned to order "new planes" within the next two months. Bloomberg News reported this week that the airline had decided to split its order for 20 planes evenly between Airbus and Boeing. PAL has a wide-body fleet that is a mix of older-generation Airbus 777s, Boeing 777s, and a few of the more recent A350s. The 787-10 is most directly in competition with Airbus's upgraded A330neo. After a global showdown on?tariffs Washington is aiming to reduce its trade deficit, which was nearly $5 billion in 2024. The Philippines has committed to increasing?imports of goods from the United States. PAL, which is expanding due to the country's plans for a new airport, announced last month that it would join the Oneworld Alliance and end its isolation from the major airline groups. (Reporting and editing by David Goodman, Sharon Singleton, Karen Lema)
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UAE markets recover; E& surging on Vodafone stake sale
The stock markets of the United Arab Emirates ended a tad higher on Friday. They followed gains in global equities as investors recovered after two sessions of losses fueled by renewed hostilities between Iran and the United States. Globally, the Nikkei soared 1.2%, South Korea's KOSPI jumped 2.5% and pan-European STOXX was up by 0.1%. Dubai's main stock index rose 0.9% on the back of gains in financial and?industrial?stocks. Dubai Islamic Bank gained 3,1% while the top lender Emirates NBD Bank?added 1,4%. Taaleem Holding, which reported a 21% increase in its third-quarter profit of 105.6 million dirhams (28.75 millions dollars), rose 3.5%. Emirates Global Aluminium announced on Friday that it had restarted production of alumina feedstock in its Al Taweelah refinery located in Abu Dhabi. The facility would reach 50% capacity within a few days. Abu Dhabi's benchmark indices settled 0.5% higher, led by gains of 5.3% in the telecom operator E& Group as well as 0.8% in the energy shipping company Adnoc L&S. E& has recorded its biggest intra-day profit in more than three and a half years, after announcing that it would'sell its entire stake in Vodafone' to the investment vehicle of Xavier Niel family. The deal was worth $5.95 billion. The company stated that the deal will price Vodafone shares at 112.5 pences, which is a 15% premium over their last closing?pence of 97.76?pences, and result in an estimated net cash return of $1.3 billion. Prices of oil, which are a major driver for Gulf economies, rose 0.7% to $76.86 per barrel at 1136 GMT. ($1 = 3.6729 UAE Dirham) (Reporting and editing by Joyjeet Das in Bengaluru)
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Wall St Futures Mixed ahead of SK Hynix Listing; Middle East in Focus
U.S. Stock Futures were mixed Friday, after a strong Wall Street rally. Investors awaited SK Hynix's highly anticipated Nasdaq debut and weighed the impact of recent Middle East conflict escalation. Chipmakers' gains fueled the main U.S. indices to close higher during the previous session. The S&P 500, Nasdaq, and Dow were all on track to gain weekly gains as of Thursday's closing. The AI trade was also back on the agenda ahead of SK Hynix listing in the U.S. on Friday. Memory-chip maker raised $26.5 billion by selling American?Depositary Receivables' priced at $149. This is the largest share offering in history, surpassing SpaceX's record-breaking IPO. "SK Hynix's ?U.S. The listing is a few weeks too late, as memory chip suppliers' shares have fallen after a purple period earlier in the year," said Dan Coatsworth. The demand for U.S. shares has been higher than expected. This?implies that the memory chip rally may have taken a breather rather than reached its peak." The AI rally this year has been fueled by the expectation of large expenditures on data centers and AI Infrastructure. Recent volatility in the sector has been attributed to concerns about overvalued valuations and profit-taking. Semiconductor shares were under pressure during premarket trading. Intel fell about 3%. Micron Technology, a maker of memory-chips, eased by 1.3% following a 4.5% gain in the previous session. At 6:59 a.m. Dow E-minis rose 124 points or 0.24% and S&P E-minis gained 1.5 points or 0.02%. Nasdaq E-minis were down 88.25 or 0.29 percent. Investors were also on edge due to geopolitical risks after the Iranian military launched attacks against U.S. military facilities in Gulf states, on Thursday. This was following U.S. airstrikes on Iran's southern coastal and eastern provinces. The latest escalation has revived concerns over the inflationary effect of war. New York - Federal Reserve President John Williams said that he didn't expect Middle East hostilities would cause energy prices to rise for the remainder of the year. Kevin Warsh, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, is scheduled to appear before House Committee on Financial Services on Monday. According to LSEG, markets are?pricing-in at least a 25-basis point rate increase by the end 2026. Delta Air Lines rose by nearly 1% following a forecast of third-quarter profits that were?above expectation. Stocks related to crypto-currencies have risen in line with the rise of bitcoin. Strategy gained 5.6% while Coinbase, Riot Platforms, and Riot Platforms each added?3.9% or 2.3%. LSEG data shows that earnings are expected to pick up next week. Analysts expect S&P 500 earnings will rise by 24% compared to a year ago, with technology companies leading the way. (Reporting by Ragini Mathur and Avinash P in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Shinjini Ganguli)
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Spanish wildfire victims burnt in cars after roads became death traps
Residents in rural Andalusian towns around Los Gallardos, southern Spain, fled as flames approached and smoke filled the air. Some paid with their lives for this decision. On Friday, firefighters were still battling to put out?one of?Spain's most deadly wildfires. Eleven people have been confirmed dead and 19 others are missing. Residents of the mountainous area above Los Gallardos were advised to evacuate using a recommended route. Residents of the densely forested Bedar hamlet, meanwhile, were instructed to shelter in place. Antonio Rubio said that the smoke made it impossible for him to stay in one place as the flames approached. We left the house at 5 pm on Thursday afternoon. "The fire did not reach my house - it stopped a few feet short of it, but we could see smoke even though it was a distance away. We had to leave," said he. "We left of our own free will." Sonia, an English woman who lives in Los Gallardos and declined to reveal her last name, told reporters that she took in relatives because the authorities had ordered them to evacuate by 7 pm (1700 GMT). She explained that she was told to take a route up the mountains and avoid the main road out of Bedar. Then, they were instructed to return back down the coast. She said, "There are many homes in the middle countryside in the mountains. People would take whichever road they could." The road from Bedar to Los Gallardos had been blocked because the fire had crossed it and made it impassable. SHELTERING IN PLACE SAFELY SAVED LIFE Antonio Sanz is the head of emergency services in Andalusia. He said that residents in Bedar were told to either follow the recommended route of evacuation or stay at home because the fire was close. In situations such as this, it's important that everyone follows the directions. "Unfortunately, in this case a decision was made to use a different route which wasn't recommended for evacuation. Finding another route out via a dried riverbed proved to be a trap. Sanz stated that four people who appeared to be British, as their steering wheel was on the right, died in a vehicle. Seven others were found dead after abandoning their vehicles to run away on foot. He said that ten of the victims were foreigners, while one Spaniard was confirmed dead. He added that "the village of Bedar was not affected by flames in many cases, so the order to shelter-in-place avoided a more severe situation." As authorities searched for the missing and the dead in the early morning hours of Friday, relatives around the world posted messages to social media and local forums. A woman in the United States sent a message to local emergency services, saying that her brother was among 10 people who had?tried? to escape from a valley near a stream. She shared the coordinates with the emergency services and asked them to look for him. Juanma Moreno, the?regional president of?Moreno, said that it was understandable for people to want to run away. "When people see a burning building, they run away. They think they are familiar with the routes, but without the correct information, these routes can become deadly traps. Reporting by Corina Poons and Aislinn laing, writing by Aislinn laing; editing by Sharon Singleton
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Ryanair emergency landing in Greece due to a 'dislodged window'
Ryanair confirmed that one of its planes had to make an emergency landing in Greece shortly after take-off, due to a "dislodged" window. Two industry sources said a passenger may have been partially sucked from a window. The airline said that one person received medical assistance, but did give no further details. The plane was flying between Thessaloniki and Memmingen Airport in Germany. In a statement,?Ryanair stated that the 'aircraft landed normal and passengers returned to the terminal. Local media in Greece reported a broken piece of engine that caused a window to break, which led to a cabin decompressing and pulling a passenger out of the window. Two people who knew about the incident relayed to us the same information. Unverified videos posted to'social media from the inside the plane showed a cracked window and oxygen masks hanging 'from the ceiling. Reporting by Renee Maltezou and Michele Kambas; Editing by Edward McAllister & Susan Fenton
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Delta forecast indicates that airline fares can increase despite lower fuel prices
Delta Air Lines reaffirmed ?its full-year profit forecast and provided a stronger-than-expected third-quarter outlook on Friday, signaling confidence that recent fare gains can hold even ?as fuel prices ease from this year's highs. The first major U.S. airline to report its results,?the?outlook?, offers a?early read on whether airlines will be able to maintain fare increases that were pushed through in the spring fuel crisis as costs decrease. Delta Chief financial officer Erik Snell stated that the carrier recovered approximately 60% of the fuel price increase in the second quarterly, faster than they have historically done, and expects to recover even more this quarter. Snell, a reporter at the time, said that "Demand is strong" and that there were no signs of weakness. "We haven’t seen any elasticity." The spring of this year saw airlines raise fares due to a spike in jet fuel prices linked to the Iran conflict. Fuel prices have since fallen from their peak. However, airline investors are still watching to see if lower costs will boost profits or if carriers add too much capacity back after the summer. Delta projected 2026 adjusted earnings between $6.50 and $7.50 per common share. This range was first announced in January, but it had been left out of the first-quarter report released in April. The $7 midpoint is 17% higher than the $5.97 expected by LSEG analysts. In premarket trading, shares of the airline were up around 3%. Snell stated that fuel price volatility will be a major factor if Delta lands on the upper end its range. The airline expects revenue strength to continue until year's end. The carrier predicted third-quarter adjusted earnings of $2.00 to 2.50 per share compared to analysts' average estimate of $2.02. It is expecting a mid-teens revenue increase and an operating margin between 11% and 13%. Delta's main competitors, United Airlines (also known as American Airlines), Southwest Airlines and Southwest Airlines will release their results in the next few weeks. FARE GAINS HOLD Delta's results indicate that airlines generate revenue growth by pricing, rather than expanding capacity. The airline reported revenue increases of almost 14% in the second half on just a 1% increase in capacity. The second quarter saw a 11% increase in passenger revenue per seat mile, a measure that shows how much revenue Delta makes for every seat-mile. Snell stated that Delta's volume for the third quarter would be?roughly flat to slightly higher than a year ago, indicating its revenue growth will be driven more by fares as well as passenger mix rather than additional flying. Delta reports that its premium revenue grew by 17%, while revenue from main cabin tickets grew by 8%. This supports Delta's belief that "demand is still strong" beyond the highest-paying passengers. Post-Summer Test Analysts believe that the biggest test for airlines comes after Labor Day, in September when leisure travel is typically "softer". The biggest threat to the current strength of fares is their fourth-quarter plans. Carriers could lose the price gains they made during the fuel crisis if too many flights return at once. Snell stated that the airline can adjust its flying close in if the demand declines as it did during the second quarter. Fuel relief narrows. Higher fuel prices led to a 26% drop in Delta's adjusted earnings for the second quarter to $1.56 per shares from a year ago. The earnings per share still exceeded analysts' expectations of $1.48. Delta reported that it had absorbed its highest quarterly fuel expenses in history. This was up $1.9 billion from a year ago. Snell stated that Delta's fuel bill would be approximately $4 billion more this year than it was last year. It is assuming that the fuel price for?the third-quarter will be about $3.15 per gallon. U.S. spot Jet Fuel has risen to $3.18 per gallon. This is the first time since mid-June that it has been above $3, amid renewed hostilities in the Middle East between the U.S. Prices are still well below the peak in early April of approximately $4.88 a gallon.
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Thai court considers damages claimed by crew of ship attacked Strait of Hormuz
The lawyer for the three Thai sailors said that the?Labour Court of Thailand accepted on Friday a 'petition by the Thai sailors seeking damages after a fatal attack on their cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz during the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran in March. The petition seen by seeks at least one million baht ($30,000), per sailor, from companies and agencies connected to Precious shipping, the vessel's owner, and its captain. Kunpat Singhathong, their lawyer, told reporters that the sailors had accused?their employer of taking them to dangerous areas and putting their lives in danger. They also claimed they were unable continue working because of this. He said that all three had been diagnosed with PTSD and were unlikely to return to the sea as sailors. However, he did not release any medical reports. Kunpat has confirmed that the sailors have received compensation for their lost items and two months' pay. Precious Shipping, in a statement sent to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET), said that it had not received any court documents. However, it 'insisted on fulfilling its obligations towards the crew according to applicable laws and contract arrangements. The company said that it has been providing care and support for the crew members affected by the accident and their families. Two projectiles hit the Thai flagged Mayuree Naree, which was sailing through the Strait of Hormuz on 11 March. This is a crucial waterway for oil exports. Iran's Revolutionary Guards warned after the United States and Israel attacked Iran in February that any ship crossing through Iran would be targeted. Before the Mayuree Naree 'passage, several vessels were struck. Precious shipping said in a statement dated March 11, that its vessel had taken enhanced security measures and "maintained communication" with the "relevant maritime security coordination centers". Kunpat claims that the company informed him they had already paid the sailors' compensation and wouldn't take on any additional responsibilities. "They paid, and told us to not ask for more. What? we gave is already enough," said Noppadon, a 33-year-old former crewman. He called the compensation inadequate and did not meet international standards. A former crew member, Panithi Tumkaew (43), who worked for the company 11 years said that he needed medical attention because loud noises made him frightened and unable to do his job. "These days I take sedatives" Panithi said, "I take them to sleep."
Delta's outlook indicates that fuel prices can still be lowered and airline fares will continue to rise.
Delta Air Lines reaffirmed its full-year profit forecast ?and gave a stronger-than-expected third-quarter outlook on Friday, signaling confidence that recent fare gains can hold even as fuel prices ease ?from this year's highs.
The outlook of the first major U.S. airline to report results provides an early "read" on whether airlines will be able to maintain the fare increases that were pushed during the spring fuel crisis as costs decrease.
Delta Chief financial officer Erik Snell stated that the carrier recovered approximately 60% of the fuel price increase in the second quarterly, faster than they have historically done, and expects to recover even more this quarter.
Snell, a reporter at the time, said that "the demand continues to be strong." He added that there were no signs of weakness in the market or a change in demand patterns. "We haven’t seen any elasticity."
Carriers increased fares in the spring of this year due to a spike in "jet fuel" prices linked to the Iran War. Fuel prices have since fallen from their peak. However, airline investors are still watching to see if lower costs will boost profits or if carriers add too much capacity back after the summer.
Delta's forecast for 2026 is $6.50-$7.50 adjusted earnings per share. This range was first announced in January, but it was not included in its April release of the first quarter. The $7 midpoint represents a 17% increase over the $5.97 expected by LSEG analysts.
Snell said that fuel price volatility will be a major factor if Delta is able to land at the upper-end of its range. The airline expects revenue growth to continue until the end of the year.
The carrier predicted adjusted earnings per share of $2.00 - $2.50 for the third quarter, compared to an average analyst estimate of $2.02. It is expecting a mid-teens?revenue increase and an operating margin between 11% and 13%.
Delta's main competitors, United Airlines (also known as American Airlines), Southwest Airlines (also known as Southwest Airlines) and Southwest Airlines will be reporting their results in the next few weeks.
FARE GAINS HOLD
Delta's results indicate that airlines generate revenue growth by pricing, rather than expanding capacity.
The airline reported revenue increases of almost 14% during the second quarter, despite only a 1% increase in capacity. The second quarter saw an 11% increase in passenger revenue per seat mile, a measure of the revenue Delta generates from each seat-mile.
Snell stated that Delta's volume for the third quarter would be "roughly flat or slightly higher" than a year ago, indicating revenue growth will be driven by fare and passenger mix rather than additional flights.
The second quarter saw a 17% increase in premium revenue, while main-cabin revenue increased by 8%. This supports Delta's belief that demand is still strong, even beyond the highest-paying passengers.
Post-Summer Test
Analysts believe that the biggest test for airlines comes after Labor Day in September when leisure travel is typically softer.
They warn that the fourth-quarter plans for capacity remain the greatest risk to current fares. Carriers could lose out on the price gains they made during the fuel shock if too many flights return at once.
Snell said that the airline could adjust its flying close in if the demand worsens, like it did during the second quarter.
NARROWS FUEL RELIEF
Delta's adjusted second-quarter earnings fell by 26% to $1.56 a share, compared to the same period a year ago. The company's earnings still exceeded analysts' expectations, which were $1.48 per share.
Delta has reported that it has incurred the highest quarterly fuel costs in its history. This is up $1.9 billion compared to a year ago.
Snell stated that Delta's fuel bills would be approximately $4 billion more this year than last. It is assuming that the fuel price for the third quarter will be around $3.15 per gallon.
U.S. spot Jet Fuel has risen to $3.18 per gallon. This is the first time since mid-June that it has been above $3, amid renewed hostilities in the U.S. with Iran. Prices are still well below the peak in early April of approximately $4.88 per gallon. (Reporting and editing by Jamie Freed; Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh)
(source: Reuters)