Western Europe

The Brazilian airline Azul filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States on Wednesday. This was despite its efforts for months to restructure debts mostly from the pandemic era. This move could scupper any merger plans with Gol. It is the latest Latin American airline to declare bankruptcy following the depressed conditions the industry experienced in the first months of COVID-19. According to Brazilian airline, the deal involves a commitment to finance of $1.6 billion throughout the entire process, the elimination of more than $2 billion in debt and a further commitment to up to $950 millions in equity financing...

Cebu Pacific, a Philippine budget airline, said Wednesday that it will lease two Airbus A320 aircraft to Saudi budget carrier Flyadeal in order to generate revenues from its excess capacity when the Southeast Asian nation's low-season begins. Cebu Pacific, in the "wet-lease" agreement, will rent its narrow-body aircraft to flyadeal, including the pilots, maintenance and crew, during the Philippines' slow months of July and August. This is a busy time for the Saudi carrier. At a flyadeal press conference, CEO Steven Greenway stated that "we have this natural synergy where my peak isn't his and vice versa." Cebu Pacific CEO...

Cebu Pacific, a Philippine budget airline, announced on Wednesday that it would "wet-lease" two Airbus A320 to Saudi budget airline flyadeal in order to generate revenues from its excess capacity when the low season months are approaching. Cebu Pacific, in the wet-lease contract, will lease its narrow body aircraft to flyadeal, including its crew, pilots and maintenance during the Philippines' lean summer months of July and August. This is a busy time for the Saudi carrier. Flyadeal CEO Steven Greenway said at a press briefing that "we have this natural synergy where my peak isn't his and vice versa." Cebu...

Singapore authorities announced on Tuesday that the weather radar system of a Singapore Airlines plane that was hit by turbulence last year, causing dozens of injuries and one death, is still being analyzed. The incident occurred after the flight SQ321 between London and Singapore experienced what the airline called sudden, extreme turbulence over Myanmar. Seatbelts were put in the spotlight after this first civil aviation death in 25 years. The airline industry also called for better turbulence prediction as experts warned that severe weather patterns caused by climate change may lead to more incidents. A preliminary update on the investigation...

These are the most popular stories from the Wall Street Journal. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch their accuracy. Southwest Airlines has announced that it will begin charging $35 for the first bag checked and $45 per additional bag. This ends the long-standing policy of "bags are free". The airline is also launching basic economy fares, which offer fewer benefits and do not allow flight changes. Volvo Car plans to cut 3,000 jobs, mainly in Sweden. The plan is to reduce costs and improve efficiency in a global auto market that's tough. EU regulators have warned...

Global Airlines has again suspended flights to and out of Tel Aviv following a missile fired from Yemen by the Houthi rebels on Israel's main airport in May. Israel is continuing to strike the Gaza Strip. After a ceasefire agreement with the militant Palestinian group Hamas in January, they had started to resume their flights. Israel resumed its military operations in the enclave beginning in March. In May, it increased them. The following airlines have cancelled flights in the last few months: AIRBALTIC AirBaltic, a Latvian airline, has announced that it will cancel flights to and from Tel Aviv up...

VietJet, a Vietnamese budget airline, announced in a release that it had placed a new order for 20 A330neo wide body jets with Airbus. The announcement came as French President Emmanuel Macron visited Hanoi, Vietnam to meet the country's leaders. VietJet said that the agreement, which follows a previous deal last year to purchase 20 A330neo aircraft, brings the total number of A330neos VietJet will be purchasing to 40. The company didn't mention any costs or give a schedule for delivery, but stated that the order was to "support strategic expansion in the next decade". VietJet chairwoman Nguyen Th Phuong...

The net loss of the Portuguese airline TAP in its first quarter increased by 20% compared to the same period last year, as aggressive competition at Portugalia and a strike of pilots at their low-cost carrier impacted revenue. The airline reported on Friday a loss between January and the end of March. This period did not include this year's busy Easter holiday. Luis Rodrigues, the Chief Executive of Portugalia, said that the beginning of the year had been "challenging". He estimated the impact of the strike of 20 days at Portugalia as well as the late Easter holiday to the...

The Indian Aviation Regulator said that both the Indian Air Force as well as Pakistan denied an IndiGo passenger flight attempting to avoid bad weather on its way to Indian Kashmir permission to divert to Pakistan. The flight from Delhi, the capital of India, to Srinagar in northern India was forced to fly during a hailstorm. No injuries were reported. The nose of the aircraft was damaged during a post-landing check, according to a statement from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. A photo shared by the Times of India on social media platform X shows a large hole on...

Safran, the chief of an engine manufacturer and a key Boeing supplier, said that after years of uncertainty about setbacks with its 737 MAX jet passenger plane, U.S. aircraft maker Boeing has returned to a "dynamic" production profiling. Safran CEO Olivier Andries said at a meeting that the production of the benchmark narrow body jet is almost 38 per month. This is the limit imposed by U.S. authorities after a door plug blew out on an Alaska Airlines plane last year. Doug Ackerman, Vice President of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Quality, told reporters Tuesday that the planemaker anticipates stabilizing 737 MAX...

EasyJet, a British airline, said that it is seeing a strong demand for flights, holidays and summer bookings, which are ahead of the previous year. It believes it will meet consensus estimates for its annual profit. EasyJet's pretax loss for the six-month period ending March, the quieter off-season of the company, was 394 million pounds (529 million dollars), which is in line with the expectations and better than last year, when adjusted to account for Easter falling later this year. EasyJet has said that it is seeing "positive build" in demand both for its flights and for its rapidly growing...

A spokesperson for the NTSB confirmed that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative recently assigned a review team to the National Transportation Safety Board. DOGE has assigned teams to several independent agencies, and sought to review recently agencies that are part the legislative branch. In early February, the White House dismissed three Democrats from the five-member Consumer Product Safety Commission. This was after a DOGE delegation visited the agency to ask to be detailed. The three commissioners filed a lawsuit on Wednesday to challenge the dismissals. Jennifer Homendy, chair of the NTSB, told reporters that in March it had...

Svenska Kraftnat, the Swedish grid operator, announced on Tuesday that it will invest more than four billion crowns ($420m) in order to increase north-south capacity by 800 Megawatts by 2029. This is to reduce congestion. The company stated that the investments would cover upgrading two substations as well as other power-increasing methods, and not construction of new powerlines. It can take several years to build new powerlines and there is often local opposition due to land ownership or environmental concerns. Sweden's energy system has changed fundamentally in recent years. Some nuclear power plants have closed in the south, and wind...

As part of its efforts to diversify Germany's energy supply, the state-owned operator Deutsche Energy Terminal announced that Germany launched a second terminal for liquefied gas imports at Wilhelmshaven, on Monday. Germany is now relying on LNG from the sea to replace Russian pipeline gas in response to Moscow's invasion. The country has also increased its imports of Norwegian pipeline gas. Peter Roettgen said, "We must reduce the risk of our industry and household being dependent on energy imports unilaterally," in a press release. Diversifying the gas shipping routes into Europe will help achieve this goal. Engie Deutschland and Tree...

The French police are investigating a possible arson as the cause of a power failure that hit the Alpes Maritimes region, in southern France, on Saturday. This includes Cannes where the world-famous film festival is being held. A spokesperson for the French National Gendarmerie said that they were investigating the possibility of the fire being deliberately started. At this point, no arrests have been made. RTE France is working to restore power in the west part of the region, which includes Cannes. This was announced by the local authority earlier that day. The Cannes Film Festival announced that the closing...

CPC, the operator of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium in Russia, said that a pumping station damaged in February has been restored to service. This route is Kazakhstan’s main way of exporting crude oil. It also transports Russian oil from the Black Sea to be exported by tanker. A drone attack was said to have damaged the Kropotkinskaya pumping stations. The General Staff of Ukrainian Armed Forces has acknowledged that Moscow accuses Ukraine of having struck the site. CPC delivered products while the pumping station is being repaired. The pipeline transports more than 1% daily oil supply in the world. The...

China's increasing natural gas production and pipeline supply is slowing down its liquefied gas imports in this year. This has capped prices in the area, but executives in the industry expect LNG demand to grow from the industrial and power sectors in China in the future. Customs data revealed that imports to the top LNG-importing country in the world fell to 20 millions metric tons over the first four month of this year. This is down from almost 29 million tons for the same period last year. The mild weather conditions and the buyer's resistance to higher prices were the...

MOL, the Hungarian oil-and-gas group, and MVM, the state-owned energy firm in Slovakia will charter tankers together to transport up to 160,000 tons of crude oil per year from Azerbaijan. This move is intended to diversify Hungary's and Slovakia's energy supply. Both companies will transport crude oil via the Baku, Tbilisi, Ceyhan (BTC), to the Ceyhan Terminal in Turkey, where it will then be distributed among MOL Group markets with an emphasis on Hungary and Slovakia. The companies stated that through this collaboration, MOL can increase the volume alternative crude oil processed at its refineries up to 160.000 tons per...

Thorsten Frei is the chief of staff to Germany's new chancellor. He said that Europe must step "outside its comfort zone" in order to consider more severe sanctions against Russia. These could include a ban on uranium or gas, or tapping into frozen Russian assets. The EU and Britain have announced new sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. They are focusing on the "shadow fleet" (oil tankers and financial companies) that has helped Moscow avoid other sanctions. Frei told an interviewer in his new office at the Chancellery that the next round of EU sanction measures, which are...

A letter obtained by revealed that Spain and Portugal asked the European Union (EU) to intervene to encourage the construction of more interconnectors between France and Spain after a major power outage in the Iberian Peninsula occurred last month. Spain and Portugal are only connected to a limited number of power grids in Europe. They claim that France is blocking new interconnections that could prevent power disruptions such as the one that affected the Iberian Peninsula. The strengthening of an existing interconnector that connects France and Spain is expected to be finished this year. A new underwater powerline that spans...

Austria's central hub for gas has seen increased trading volumes this year on its platform, as a result of the Russian gas flow halt through Ukraine. Since the Russian gas supply was halted, the virtual Central European Gas Hub has increased its intraregional role and is now handling more gas through Germany and Italy. Steiner said that it was a surprise to him that the removal of Russian gas transit through Slovakia had led to a greater level of liquidity at the Austrian hub. "We are a resilient hub for trading and transshipment." "The past...months have shown this." Austria re-exports...

These are some of the most important stories in selected Canadian newspapers. These stories have not been verified and we cannot vouch for the accuracy of these stories. THE GLOBE AND MAIL Canada Post has been notified by its union that it will be laying off 55,000 workers this week. TotalEnergies of France signed a contract to purchase liquefied gas from the proposed Ksi Lisims facility in British Columbia. However, the Nisga'a Nation's project must wait for the outcome of the pipeline associated with the project whose costs are estimated to have risen by billions. ** On Tuesday, the finance...

The Spanish telecom company Telefonica announced that Tuesday, after three weeks of a devastating power outage in Spain, it had been affected by the updating of its network. This caused communications to be disrupted for some fixed phone lines and internet connections. In a short statement, the company stated that its crews are working to restore the service. The 112 Emergency Lines have already been restored in the affected area after experiencing disruptions since early Tuesday morning. The communication outage follows a massive blackout that occurred in Spain and Portugal, on April 28. Its causes have not yet been determined....

Four people with knowledge of the matter have confirmed that the Dutch state-owned power grid operator TenneT began talks with investors to sell a minority stake of its German division. This could be one of the largest deals of Europe in 2025. Tennet Germany's regulated asset base, a key gauge of valuation for energy grids that is 27.8 billion euro ($31 billion), will grow at a rate of 25% per year until 2029 according to a presentation to investors on the company's website. Three people have said that the Dutch government could earn up to 12 billion euro from the...