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Air France-KLM withdraws from the process to purchase stake in Spain's Air Europa
A spokesperson for the Franco Dutch airline group announced on Thursday that Air France-KLM had pulled out of the deal to purchase a stake in the privately owned Spanish airline Air Europa. The spokesperson for Air France-KLM said that Globalia, the company that controls Air Europa and is controlled by Air France, could not come to an agreement. Globalia's spokesperson did not respond immediately to a comment request. German Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and IAG-owned British Airways have made bids to Globalia for a 20% stake in Spanish airline IAG. Air Europa, a Spanish airline that connects Madrid to large Spanish cities throughout Europe and Latin America and flies across Spain, is looking to raise money to pay back a loan from the government granted during pandemic. Airlines are under increasing pressure to consolidate their operations in Europe so that they can better compete against major global competitors from the United States or the Middle East. Many airlines are looking to expand on popular routes in Southern Europe. (Reporting and editing by Inti landauro, Bernadettebaum and Joanna Plucinska)
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Sources say that India's GMR Airports has finalized details for its largest bond issue
Three sources familiar with the development said that GMR Airports in India has finalised terms for what will be its largest corporate debt offering. The company aims to raise over 60 billion rupees (685.13 millions dollars). The second largest airport operator in the country will raise 18 billion rupies through 18-month bonds. The issue will be primarily placed with mutual fund. The sale of bonds for three years will raise an additional 42 billion rupees, and large foreign lenders are expected to absorb the supply. Sources said that the company would pay a coupon of 10.50% annually on both maturities and the fundraising was expected to be complete in the next couple of days. The sources all requested anonymity, as the discussions are private. GMR Airports didn't respond to an email asking for comment. Crisil has rated the bonds of this company A+. The company manages several airports, including those in Delhi, Hyderabad and Bangalore. $1 = 87.5740 Indian Rupees (Reporting and editing by Dharamraj Dhutia, Khushi malhotra)
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Heathrow airport in London is hit with more flight cancellations following an air traffic failure
On Thursday, at least 16 flights were cancelled to and from London Heathrow Airport. This was a day following widespread disruptions caused by technical issues with Britain's air-traffic control system. National Air Traffic Services, which controls air traffic for planes in UK airspace as well as the eastern part North Atlantic, announced on Wednesday that its systems are fully operational and capacity has returned to normal following the switch to a backup system. Cirium, an aviation analytics company, reported that the second NATS outage in two years also affected Gatwick Airport, near London, Edinburgh Airport, Scotland, and other locations. As of 1830 GMT, Wednesday, there were 122 cancellations. Heidi Alexander, Transport Minister, said that she would be meeting with NATS Chief Executive Martin Rolfe to "understand what happened and prevent a reoccurrence". Alexander, a social media user on X, wrote that NATS works closely with airports and airlines to clear up the backlog. Heathrow’s website indicated that 16 flights were cancelled Thursday, including those to and from New York, Berlin and Toronto, as well as departures. In March, the airport, Britain's biggest and Europe's busiest was also affected by an electrical fire in a sub-station, which left thousands of passengers stranded. Neal McMahon, Ryanair's Chief Operating Officer, called for NATS' Rolfe resigning. He said that no lessons were learned since the August 20, 2023 disruption brought about by a malfunction in the automatic processing flight plans. NATS did not respond immediately to an inquiry about McMahon’s remarks, despite apologising to those who were affected by the incident on Wednesday. (Reporting and editing by William Schomberg, Catarina demony)
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Air France-KLM and Lufthansa defy worries about a trade war with Q2 growth
European airlines Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and United Airlines reported higher profits in the second quarter on Thursday. This was despite concerns that U.S. tariffs and economic uncertainty could affect transatlantic travel. The transatlantic routes are the most profitable for airlines. In recent years, British Airways owner IAG has benefited from this as European competitors have struggled. Delta was among the U.S. carriers that abandoned their full-year forecasts in spring due to a weakening of travel demand. This followed President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which shook consumer and business confidence. However, European airlines are bucking this trend. Lufthansa reported on Thursday that demand for its premium products in the United States was strong, despite the weakening dollar. Air France-KLM also highlighted the strength of their premium offerings. Lufthansa announced a 27% increase year-on-year in its second quarter operating profit, which reached 871 million euro ($995 millions), exceeding the analysts' average estimate of 805million euros. In a press release, Carsten Spohr, Chief Executive Officer of the company said: "Despite the fact that the second quarter saw a return to geopolitical crisis and economic uncertainty, we confirm today our positive outlook for this year." CONTRAST WITH THE UNITED STATES Bookings for U.S. Airlines have improved since late June, after a sharp decline in March and April following Trump's trade war. Although demand has stabilised, airline executives claim that it is still below the estimates made at the beginning of the year. The spending of price-sensitive travelers is also down, despite the uncertainty surrounding the U.S. economic situation and rising costs. Europeans are often known to be more price sensitive than Americans and have less spending power. The wealthy Americans who are visiting Europe this summer are not poor. Delta and United Airlines have performed better despite the fact that domestic U.S. travel is struggling, affecting budget airlines. FIXING WEAKNESSES, NEW STRENGTHS In a client note, Bernstein analyst Alex Irving stated that the investment in Italy's ITA Airways contributed a "surprisingly large" profit to group's bottom-line. Since the pandemic, Lufthansa struggled to cope with increasing labour costs and a slowdown in traffic from Asia. The airline issued two profit warnings. The company stated that the decision to focus on Italy as a cost-savings measure was paying off. Rome is much cheaper to maintain than German base. Air France-KLM’s operating profit for the second quarter rose to 736 millions euros, up from 513million euros a year ago. This is in line with analysts' expectations. Air France has been able to capitalize on the strong demand for flights to Paris, and its appeal as a luxury French airline. KLM has had ongoing problems at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam.
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Heathrow airport in London is hit with more flight cancellations following an air traffic failure
On Thursday, at least 16 flights were cancelled to and from London Heathrow Airport. This was a day following widespread disruptions caused by technical issues with Britain's air-traffic control system. National Air Traffic Services, which controls air traffic for planes in UK airspace as well as the eastern part North Atlantic, announced on Wednesday that its systems are fully operational and capacity has returned to normal following the switch to a backup system. Cirium, an aviation analytics company, reported that the second NATS outage in two years also affected Gatwick Airport, near London, Edinburgh Airport, Scotland, and other locations. As of 1830 GMT, Wednesday, there were 122 cancellations. Heathrow’s website indicated that 16 flights were cancelled Thursday, including those to and from New York, Berlin and Toronto, as well as departures. Heathrow Airport, Britain's and Europe's busiest, has not responded to an immediate request for comment about the recent cancellations. Neal McMahon, Ryanair's Chief Operating Officer, called for NATS CEO Martin Rolfe's resignation. He said that no lessons were learned since the August 20, 2023 disruption caused due to a malfunction in the automatic processing flight plans. NATS did not respond immediately to an inquiry about McMahon’s remarks after it apologized to those who were affected by this failure on Wednesday. In March, Heathrow also suffered a fire in a sub-station that stranded thousands. (Reporting and Editing by William Schomberg.)
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After 25 people are injured by turbulence, a Delta flight is diverted to Minneapolis.
The airline released a statement saying that 25 people were hospitalized on Wednesday, after a Delta Air Lines flight diverted from Amsterdam to Salt Lake City due to severe turbulence. Delta Airlines said that flight DL56 had been diverted to Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport due to "significant turbulence". New York Times, citing airline, reported that the plane carried 275 passengers, and 13 crew. Delta said that medical personnel evaluated all passengers after the A330 900 landed safely at Minneapolis. Twenty-five people on board the plane were taken to hospitals in their locality for treatment and evaluation, it stated without providing any further details. After reaching an altitude of 37,000 feet (11 277.6 meters), the aircraft experienced turbulence. It briefly climbed to 38,000 feet, before descending to just under 35,800 feet. Flightradar24, a flight tracking service, reported that it stabilised at 37,000 feet. (Reporting and editing by Kate Mayberry in Bengaluru, with Disha Mishra reporting from Bengaluru)
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Rolls-Royce increases profit and cash-flow outlook after strong H1
Rolls-Royce, a British aero-engineer, raised its outlook for the full year in terms of both operating profit as well as free cash flow. This was after navigating supply chain challenges and overcoming tariffs. The company's operating profit guidance was increased by 400 million pounds (300 million pounds) to 3.2 billion pound and its free cashflow by 200 million pounds, to 3.1 billion pound. Tufan Erginbilgic is the chief executive of Rolls-Royce, and has been in charge since 2023. He said that his multi-year turnaround continues to produce results. He said that despite the challenges posed by the supply chain and the tariffs, "our actions have led to strong results in the first half of the year." He said Rolls has improved the time that its engines are on the wing, a demand of its airline clients. It also improved the profitability in its maintenance services. He said that the power systems division had grown as a result of gaining business from government and data centre customers.
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Safran invests heavily in France to develop new carbon brakes
Safran, the French aerospace company, announced on Thursday that it would build a carbon brakes plant in France. This is a significant investment in France after a highly-publicized competition against alternative sites in America and Canada. Once completed, the 30,000 sq. ft. facility in Lyon, a partially-state-owned company that builds jet engines, competes with RTX's Collins Aerospace unit to sell other equipment such as brakes and landing gear. The announcement confirms, along with higher earnings for the mid-year period, a report published on Wednesday, that the Paris-based company was set to choose France as its fourth plant, following a highly-sensitive contest, overshadowed in part by concerns about energy supply. In France, President Emmanuel Macron, who has made reindustrialisation a priority in his political agenda, is closely monitoring the outcome of this long-delayed competition. Meanwhile, U.S. president Donald Trump wants Europe to invest more money in the United States. These investments must be planned out years in advance due to the size of factories. However, the decision has been pushed back by energy and trade politics. The original plans to build the site in Lyon (France's third largest city) were scrapped due to the COVID-19 Pandemic of 2020 and the sharp increase in energy prices that followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Safran CEO Olivier Andries made a statement in which he acknowledged that the state-owned electricity utility EDF had supported the decision to locate the plant. The plant will be based on biomethane, and it will use low-carbon electricity. The cost of carbon brakes can be accounted for by energy. Industry sources claim that Safran and EDF had clashed over the supply of cheap supplies in the past, but tensions have eased since the recent change of management at EDF. Safran, the company that pioneered carbon brakes on jetliners and Formula 1 cars, claimed they were lighter, more durable, and allowed airlines to save fuel. Safran said that the new site in the Plaine de l'Ain Industrial Park will start operations in 2030. It will allow the company to increase its production by 25 percent between now and the year 2037, by joining a three-site network in France, USA and Malaysia.
EU wheat prices rise, supported by high Russian rates
The price of European wheat rose on Wednesday, after the session had seen a sharp fall. This was due to strong Russian prices as well as concerns over Germany's crop.
At 1335 GMT, the benchmark September milling wheat price on Paris' Euronext rose 0.4% to 197.50 euro per metric tonne.
A trader stated that "Euronext's not increasing because funds are selling", citing high Russian prices.
Russian farmers have started to sell their new crop more after a slow start. However, they are still demanding high price as many ships are waiting in export ports to load supplies.
In the next few days, a cargo of 63,000 tons wheat bound for Egypt is expected to arrive in French ports Rouen and La Pallice.
Egypt's State Grain Buyer said in late June that it expects wheat shipments to come from France and other European nations as it continues its efforts to diversify the supply sources and bolster Egypt's strategic reserves.
The traders were skeptical that large volumes of exports delayed had been shipped to other countries to supply.
Traders said that the repeated rains in Germany and Poland during this week have caused quality damage at the last minute to some wheat ready for cutting and disrupted harvesting.
One German trader stated that the quality of German wheat has suffered some damage. Rain almost every day is the worst thing you can imagine. There is still the chance of a good crop, if weather conditions change. After all, most German wheat is harvested in August.
In Germany, rain will continue to fall into the first week of next year.
Rain has also disrupted the harvest in Poland.
One Polish trader stated that "heavy rains in Poland and only a few sunny days have caused harvesting to be disrupted, and there is much uncertainty about the quality of wheat among farmers."
"I estimate that only 20% of Poland’s wheat has been harvested. The results vary greatly from region to region." Farmers talk about low quality criteria (low falling numbers) in wheat. This may mean that more than expected of Poland's wheat crop will only meet animal feed standards. Mark Potter edited the article.
(source: Reuters)