Western Europe

Iberia plans to expand its fleet of long haul aircraft from 45 to 70 by the middle next decade. The Spanish airline announced this in a strategy plan published on Wednesday. Iberia, owned by International Consolidated Airlines (Ica), plans to invest 6 milliards d'euros ($6,90 billion) in the plan. Iberia CEO Marco Sansavini said to reporters that 70% the investment required for the expansion of its fleet will be funded by the company's own cash flow. He said that the company would also be adding four short-haul aircraft in 2026-2027. Sansavini stated that "all our fleet will be Airbus aircraft,...

International airlines have stopped flights to certain Middle East destinations following Israel's attacks against Iran. Here are some airlines that have canceled flights from and to the region. AEGEAN AIRLINES Aegean Airlines, a Greek airline, has cancelled all flights from and to Tel Aviv, including the early morning flight of July 12. It also canceled all flights from and to Beirut, Amman and Erbil, up until the morning arrivals on June 28. AIRBALTIC AirBaltic, a Latvian airline, has announced that it will cancel all flights from and to Tel Aviv up until the 23rd of June. AEROFLOT After Israel's attack...

Tony Fernandes - CEO of Capital A Group, said that AirAsia's owner is in discussions to purchase 50 to 70 Airbus A321XLR aircraft in the coming months. However, the priority for the group is to complete its restructuring. In an interview, he said that the Asian low-cost airline is still in negotiations to purchase 100 regional aircraft from Airbus A220 and Embraer E2. However, there will be no announcements on orders made at this week's Paris Airshow. "I don’t think an order will be placed at this airshow." We are still working with Airbus, and other manufacturers ).... Fernandes stated...

The United States to Europe airfares have fallen to levels not seen before the pandemic. Travelers from Western Europe are leading a decline in travel to America that is expected continue until at least July. According to preliminary data released by the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, overseas arrivals in the United States decreased 2.8% from a year earlier in May. Travel from Western Europe dropped 4.4% in may, while travel from Eastern Europe increased 4.6% during the same period. According to OAG Aviation (an analytics firm), forward bookings indicate that a...

Sean Duffy, the U.S. Transportation secretary, said that he wants civil aviation to go back to a zero-tariff agreement from 1979 but added that it was part of broader talks on trade. Duffy, speaking at the Paris Airshow said that the White House is aware that the U.S. has a large aerospace export market, but that it faces a complex tariff situation. Airline companies, plane manufacturers and other U.S. trade partners are lobbying Trump for the restoration of the tariff-free regime that was established under the Civil Aircraft Agreement in 1979. This agreement has resulted in an annual surplus of...

Tufan Erginbilgic, CEO of Rolls-Royce, said that it was "even truer" on Tuesday that the British jet-engine maker would love to re-enter narrow-body aircraft market. He claimed that he described the single aisle market as a business opportunity in the past and this was "even truer" now. He told reporters attending the Paris Airshow: "We're talking to many parties and they're also talking to us. We obviously engage with Airbus, because they are the ultimate customers and they welcome this." He said that a successful move into narrow-body vehicles could be the biggest boost for Britain's economy. Rolls-Royce and Pratt...

Airbus and VietJet, a budget airline, struck a deal for up to 150 single aisle jets on the second day of the Paris Airshow. The U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy gave a boost to industry hopes that tariff-free trade would return. Duffy stated that he would like to see the civil aviation return to the 1979 zero-tariff agreement. This is one of the most clear signs to date that the Trump Administration might be in favour of such a move. Duffy said that, while the White House is aware that the U.S. has a large aerospace export market, they are...

Wizz Air, a low-cost European carrier, announced on Tuesday that it had selected RTX Pratt & Whitney to be the engine supplier of 177 Airbus A321neo jets ordered. Wizz Air has shown its commitment to Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, despite the fact that issues with Pratt & Whitney GTF engines forced several airlines to ground aircraft. Wizz Air's total order of GTF-powered aircraft now stands at 453. The low-cost airline, which runs an all-Airbus-fleet, was forced to choose between Pratt & Whitney, its current supplier, and CFM, a joint-venture between GE Aerospace, France's Safran SA.PA>, and GE Aerospace. A...

Wladyslaw KOSINIAK-KAMYSZ, the Polish Minister of Defence, said that Poland had observed GPS disruptions in the Baltic Sea. He added that the sources indicate they are "related to Russian Federation actions, including sabotage". The Russian Embassy in Warsaw didn't immediately respond to an email request for comment. Russia has denied all wrongdoing. In the North of Poland, the Polish media has reported that GPS systems have malfunctioned in some cases. This includes private drones which fly off in an unknown direction or lose connection. A Bydgoszcz Airport spokesperson confirmed that a flight on Monday from Alicante, Spain, to Bydgoszcz, in...

The USO union announced on Tuesday that Easyjet cabin crews in Spain will strike on June 25, 26, and 27 for higher wages, as the holiday season ramps up. In a press release, the union stated that 657 flight attendants based in Alicante and Barcelona could be affected by this strike. According to the union, EasyJet crews in Spain earn less than their counterparts in other countries. The union stated that the strike aims to equalize the working and pay conditions of EasyJet crews in Spain, with those at other bases in Europe. EasyJet's spokesperson did not respond immediately to...

Sources in the industry said that Airbus is closing in on a deal with VietJet to buy 100 single-aisle planes. An announcement was planned for the Paris Airshow, barring any last-minute hiccups in negotiations. Airbus refused to comment, and VietJet staff at the airshow were preparing for an announcement but could not be reached. Sources said that the low-cost Vietnamese carrier was interested in buying the A321neo. Cirium Ascend estimates that a deal for 100 of these planes would be worth $6.3 billion. Bloomberg was the first to report on this potential deal. Airbus, the European planemaker, announced a series...

According to two industry insiders, Wizz Air has been moving towards a deal to buy engines for 177 Airbus jets that it already ordered. They said that an announcement could be made as soon as the Paris Airshow this week. It would also form part of a settlement reached with the engine manufacturer over groundings due to repair times. Wizz Air, RTX and Pratt & Whitney parent RTX both declined to comment. Last year, the airline that operates an all Airbus fleet said it had only two options – its current supplier Pratt & Whitney whose engines have been experiencing...

Separate findings have been released by the Spanish government and the grid operator regarding the causes of the massive blackout that occurred in Spain and Portugal, on April 28. The blackout caused gridlock and thousands were left stranded in trains and elevators in cities across the Iberian Peninsula. What caused the blackout? In a report published on Tuesday, the Spanish government stated that the grid operator Redeia had miscalculated how much energy was needed in the system. The Spanish government blamed some thermal power plants that use coal, gas, and nuclear for not maintaining an appropriate voltage. As a result,...

Redeia, the Spanish grid operator, disputed findings in a report by the government that claimed that the operator's failure to calculate the right mix of energy led to the massive blackout that occurred on April 28, both in Spain and Portugal. Concha Sanchez, the Redeia operations director, also said at a press briefing held on Wednesday that the company's own investigation revealed anomalies with the disconnections of power plants from the system on April 28, despite the fact that the voltage was within the legal limits. It also found an anomalous increase in demand for transport services. She said that...

The National Electricity System Operator of Britain said that it expected to have enough supplies this winter and gave an early forecast for the balance between supply and demand. There is more power available due to the growth of battery storage on electricity networks, the availability of more gas-fired energy generation, the use of renewable energy, and the commissioning the Greenlink electricity link between Ireland and Wales. Deborah Petterson is the director of resilience and Emergency Management at NESO. She said, "Our early outlook for the winter shows a good outlook with enough margins to last through the colder months."...

Finland banned the use of electric skateboards by children younger than 15 years old on Tuesday. Scooter rental companies must now obtain municipal licenses in order to continue providing their services. The legislation approved by the parliament on "micromobility" last month is part a larger ramping up on regulations for e-scooters, whose use has increased rapidly in Europe in recent years. Italy, for instance, requires that riders of e Scooters wear helmets and have insurance. Authorities in Paris and Madrid also banned the rental of e Scooters. Lulu Ranne is Finland's Transport and Communications Minister. She said: "This situation has...

Sara Aagesen, Spain's energy minister, said that the Spanish grid's inability to control grid voltage led to a chain of events that caused the massive blackouts that struck Spain and Portugal April 28. A detailed report of the investigation will be released on Tuesday. It found that power plants required by law, to regulate the voltage on the grid, failed to do this in the moments leading up to the blackout. Aagesen stated in a press briefing held in Madrid that "the system did not possess sufficient dynamic voltage control capability". The power plants "should have been able to control...

Uganda forecasts its economic growth will accelerate to about 7% in the coming year, indicating that officials do not plan on large-scale production of energy in the next twelve months. This year, growth was projected at 6.3%. The latest government estimate was that crude production would begin in the middle of the year. However, this date has been pushed back repeatedly due to disagreements between the government of President Yoweri Museeveni and international energy companies and the slow progress of building critical infrastructure. Companies including France's TotalEnergies, China's CNOOC and China's TotalEnergies are developing Uganda's oilfields near the border with...

Sara Aagesen, Spain's Minister of Energy, urged private electric companies to share information faster to determine the cause of the worst blackout ever to strike Spain and Portugal. The cause of the power outage that left 60 million people without electricity in two European countries has not been determined, and the blame-game has increased. Aagesen, who was in Nice, France for a U.N. Conference, told reporters that information arrived quickly at first. "Now, information is arriving in bits and pieces much slower." She admitted that the information needed was more detailed, and at times more complex. She said, "But I...

The British economy has recovered from the weaker end of the decade to 2024. However, the public is still unsatisfied with the slow improvement in living standards. This was the message delivered by Finance Minister Rachel Reeves on Thursday. She said that recent business surveys and the latest GDP (gross national product) numbers are all very positive. "That's good news, and it does show that we are starting to turn the corner." The purchasing managers' indexes, released this week, show a rebound in activity following a sharp drop in April as a result of the shock caused by President Donald...

Finance Minister Rachel Reeves stated on Thursday that more upbeat surveys of business as well as a strong first quarter gross domestic product indicate the British economy will recover from a weak finish to 2024. She said that the latest GDP figures, which showed a 0.7% increase in the first three months, the highest in the G7 and the recent business surveys are all very positive. She spoke at a dinner organized by the Confederation of British Industry. "That's good news, and it shows we're beginning to turn a corner." The purchasing managers' indexes, released this week, show a rebound...

The English Court of Appeal denied Russian tycoon Ziyavudin Magomedov, who is currently in jail, permission to appeal a ruling that dismissed his $14 billion lawsuit filed against Russian oil pipeline monopoly Transneft as well as other companies. Magomedov filed a lawsuit against the company, as well as several other defendants at London's High Court. He claimed that his arrest in 2018 on embezzlement allegations triggered a Russian government-supported scheme designed to strip him of valuable port operators. Transneft and the U.S. private equity company TPG, among other companies, were successful in their bids to block Magomedov’s London lawsuit. Transneft...

The city of Cologne, west Germany, evacuated thousands of people from the central area of the city on Wednesday after three bombs dating back to World War II were discovered. This was the largest evacuation since the end World War Two. A 1,000-metre radius evacuation zone was established at 8 am (0600 GMT) and affected around 20,500 people, including many hotel guests and workers in the old town of Deutz. On Monday, three American bombs with impact fuses were discovered during construction in Deutz, an area bustling on the Rhine's bank. Experts in bomb disposal plan to dearm the ordnance...

The city of Cologne, west Germany, evacuated thousands of people from the central area of the city on Wednesday after three bombs dating back to World War II were discovered. This was the largest evacuation since the end World War II. A statement by the authority stated that an evacuation zone of 1,000 meters radius will be cleared at 8am (0600 GMT), affecting around 20,500 residents, as well as workers and hotel guests. This area is located in the historic old town as well as the popular Deutz district. On Monday, three American bombs dating from World War II were...