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India's air travel chaos has eased, but IndiGo still leaves hundreds of people stranded
The crowds at Indian airports dwindled on Saturday, but hundreds of passengers gathered outside Bengaluru airport and Mumbai airports. 385 IndiGo flight cancellations were announced in the fifth day during a crisis that has affected the country's largest airline. IndiGo has cancelled thousands of flights this week, causing a major disruption in air travel across India. The government announced special relief to the carrier to clear the backlog and began operating some trains. The airline has been in crisis for 20 years. It was once known as a reliable carrier that offered low-cost tickets and prided itself on its on-time performance. IndiGo admitted that it did not plan well ahead of the November 1 deadline for implementing stricter rules regarding night flying and pilots' weekly rest. This led to issues with roster planning during this past week. More than 1,000 IndiGo flight were cancelled on Friday. Delhi Airport posted on X that flight operations were gradually returning, but IndiGo flights continued to be affected. According to airport sources, IndiGo cancelled 124 flights in Bengaluru on Saturday. IndiGo said that it would return to normal between December 10 and 15. Photographers on the scene said that hundreds of passengers were still gathered at Bengaluru and Mumbai airports Saturday. Some were unaware of their cancellations. Satish Konde was supposed to take a connecting flight from Mumbai to Nagpur, a western city, and was checked-in, but later told that the flight was cancelled. At the airport, he said: "I'm waiting for my bags to be returned." The new rules have not forced other major Indian airlines to cancel flights, such as Air India or Akasa. (Aditi Shah, Abhijith, Arpan, Dhwani and Aditi Pandya contributed to the report; Aditya Kalra wrote it; Sam Holmes edited it)
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Spirit Airlines cancels plans to furlough 365 pilots
Spirit Airlines announced on Friday that it had scrapped its plans to lay off up to 365 of its pilots during the first quarter of next year. It also scaled back downgrading of captains as part of a restructuring effort after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August. The ultra-low cost carrier did not give a reason for its cancellation, but the pilots union stated that management had revised their staffing model following discussions about attrition assumptions. A spokesperson for the company said, "We will no longer be implementing the furlough previously announced." It added that the number of captains downgraded to first officers has decreased from 170 to 25. Spirit has approximately 2,400 pilots. Spirit filed for Chapter 11 a second-time earlier this year as it struggled to deal with its dwindling reserves of cash and mounting losses. The airline announced that it would be laying off its pilots and attendants as well as shrinking its fleet to cut costs. The airline announced the latest furloughs in October. Air Line Pilots Association says assumptions behind carrier's announcement in October are no longer correct and attrition model has become outdated. The association responded to questions by email that "the business case for large-scale furloughs did not align with the current data." Spirit has not responded to our request for comment on the attrition rates in staffing. As part of its restructuring, the airline had previously laid off about 600 pilots. In November, the pilots' association announced that it had agreed with Spirit Airlines to cut the hourly wages of its pilots 8%. It also reduced its retirement contributions by half. (Reporting from Doyinsola Oladipo in New York and Edmund Klamann).
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CANADA-CRUDE-Discount on Western Canada Select widens
On Friday, the discount between West Texas Intermediate and Western Canada Select futures (the North American benchmark) widened. WCS for Hardisty, Alberta delivery in January settled at $12.95 per barrel below U.S. benchmark WTI according to brokerage CalRock. This compares to $12.85 last Thursday. The WCS discount on increased Canadian oil production has recently widened after spending most of the year in historically tight levels. This is largely due to the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion, which has provided Canadian oil producers with additional export capacity. Enbridge's Mainline network, which transports Canadian crude oil to U.S. market, is allocated -- a term used in the industry for when demand exceeds pipeline capacity -- for December. The Trans Mountain pipeline is the only Canadian oil export pipeline that has direct access to overseas market. * Oil prices rose by nearly 1% on Friday, reaching a new two-week high, on the back of increased expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in the coming week. This could increase economic growth and fuel demand as well as geopolitical uncertainties which could limit supply from Russia and Venezuela. (Reporting and editing by Daniel Wallis in Calgary)
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Waymo issues recall for self-driving cars that drove past school buses stopped
Waymo announced Friday that it would recall its self-driving cars after Texas officials reported that the Alphabet Unit's vehicles illegally passed at least 19 school buses in recorded incidents. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which opened its first investigation in October of Waymo's vehicles near school busses, asked the self driving car company to answer questions on Wednesday about the Texas incidents. "Holding to the highest safety standards requires that we recognize when our behavior needs improvement. We have decided to file a voluntary recall of software with NHTSA in order to ensure that vehicles are appropriately slowing down and stopping when faced with these scenarios," Waymo stated, adding that it believes the software updates installed by November 17 had improved performance. (Reporting and editing by Diane Craft; David Shepardson)
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Spain investigates whether the outbreak of swine flu was caused by a lab leak
Catalonia's regional government announced on Friday that it would look into a research center outside Barcelona, after the Spanish Agriculture Ministry reported a recent swine fever outbreak A laboratory leak could have caused the problem. Spain, Europe's largest pork producer, is trying reassure its trading partners following the positive test results of 13 wild boars in the hills surrounding the city. The virus is not harmful to humans, but it can be fatal for wild boars and pigs. The ministry reported that a Madrid laboratory's genome sequencing revealed the strain to be "very similar" with one originally detected in Georgia in 2007. This strain is now widely used for research and vaccine development. The ministry said that other cases in Europe are from a different group of genetics. The Agriculture Ministry stated that "the discovery of a similar virus to that which circulated in Georgia does not exclude the possibility that it may have its origin in a biological storage facility." Catalan officials believed that the virus spread when a wild boar consumed contaminated food. It could have been a sandwich imported from abroad by a driver. The ministry stated that "the report suggests that there is a possibility that the virus' origin is not animals or animal products in any of the current countries where it is present." In its statement, it did not mention any labs. Oscar Ordeig said that the Catalan government will investigate the state-funded Centre for Research in Animal Health. The centre is situated next to the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and it falls within the confinement zone of six kilometers (four miles) imposed by the authorities following the outbreak. Ordeig stated that other laboratories may also be investigated. In 2017, the World Organization of Animal Health designated Cresa a research center into swine flu. The laboratory did respond immediately to a comment request, but told news verification website Maldita.es that it found no evidence pointing towards it being the cause of the outbreak. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, "Georgia 2007," swine flu spread to Armenia and Azerbaijan as well as Russia and Belarus and eastern EU states by 2014. In 2018, it reached China, causing massive losses. In 2019, the Chinese pork meat production fell by 27%. Reporting by Charlie Devereux and Joan Faus; editing by Mark Potter, Heinrich and Mark Potter.
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Delta resumes flights at Detroit after brief halt
Delta Air Lines announced on Friday that it has resumed its operations at the Detroit Airport after a short ground stop due to a connectivity issue. The airline issued a waiver of travel fees for Friday and Saturday passengers. FlightAware data shows that 36 flights were cancelled and 97 delayed. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport stated in a posting on X that the issue was specific to Delta. According to the website of the airline, the airport is one the largest hubs for Delta with flights to over 106 destinations worldwide. Ground stops are temporary air traffic control measures that stop flights from leaving for a particular airport or region. This is usually done due to safety issues, weather conditions, or operational concerns. Delta apologized to its customers for any inconvenience and thanked them for their patience while Delta teams worked to safely restore normal operations. (Reporting and editing by Anshuman tripathy in Bengaluru, Anil D'Silva, and Sriraj Kalluvila).
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Southwest Airlines lowers its full-year EBIT as bookings are hit by the government shutdown
Southwest Airlines lowered its forecast for 2025 of the key profit metric, EBIT. The airline cited lower revenues due to the recent shutdown and higher fuel prices. The company now expects to earn about $500 million in earnings for the full year before interest and tax, as opposed to its previous estimate of $600 to $800 millions. In premarket trading, shares of the company fell 2.3%. The longest government shutdown in U.S. History, 43 days, caused flight disruptions across the country, forcing thousands to work without pay. Flight reductions were ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration at 40 major airports due to staffing shortages. Some Wall Street analysts have cut their fourth-quarter profit forecasts for U.S. Airlines by as much as 30% due to the combined impact of both the shutdown and extreme winter weather. JetBlue said on Tuesday that Hurricane Melissa and shutdown-related cancellations in Jamaica also affected its operational performance. The airline expects to see a reduction of one point in available seat miles (ASM) during the fourth quarter. The impact was also felt on non-fuel unit costs. Delta Air Lines announced earlier this week that it expected to take a $200 million hit to its fourth quarter pre-tax profits due to the shutdown. (Reporting from Abhinav Paramar in Bengaluru, and Doyinsola Oladipo. Editing by Elaine Hardcastle).
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Asia spot prices fall to a new two-month low due to mild weather
The Asian spot prices of liquefied gas have fallen to their lowest levels in the last two months due to high inventories, mild weather and low demand. Average LNG price for delivery to North-east Asia in January Industry sources estimate that the price per million British thermal unit was $10.66, its lowest since early October, and is down from $10.90/mmBtu, last week. Klaas Dzeman, a market analyst with Brainchild Commodity Intelligence, said that "Asian Prices are on a slightly downtrend, as the economic demand has not surprised to the upside. China's Manufacturing PMI was disappointing at 49.2". He said that a weaker coal demand was weighing on prices. The weather is not the coldest for this time of year, and the mainland China could remain warm through the middle of October, while the South Korean cold phase has just passed. Dozeman said that "the relatively high shipping costs create an additional burden for Asian buyers who will need to bid higher than their European counterparts as long as the situation continues." Martin Senior, Argus' head of LNG pricing, said that spot prices have reached $10, which is the price point where buyers who are price-sensitive will consider imports. Gas prices in Europe continued to drop on the back of forecasts for warmer and windier conditions. S&P Global Energy's daily North West Europe LNG Marker price benchmark (NWM) for cargoes to be delivered in January, on an ex ship (DES) basis, was $8.787/mmBtu as of December 4. This represents a $0.45/mmBtu reduction from the price at TTF hub. Argus estimated the price to be $8.830/mmBtu while Spark Commodities put it at $8.827/mmBtu. Seb Kennedy, an independent gas analyst, reported that investment funds increased their net short positions in TTF futures as a result of the robust LNG supply to Northwest Europe, which offset concerns about EU gas storage depletion. Senior, Argus' Senior, said that Egypt and Turkey continue to be the main sources of demand for goods in the Atlantic basin. As a result, buyers in northwestern Europe had to increase their bids in order to remain competitive. The U.S. benchmark Henry Hub gas price spiked to its highest level in the last three years this week at over $5/mmBtu. This was due to a combination between cold weather in the Northeast of the U.S. and an increase in demand for feedstock from LNG plants. The spread between Henry Hub prices and TTF has decreased to its lowest level since April 20,21. Some long-term U.S. Liquefied Natural Gas contract costs are now higher than U.S. FOB prices. The stronger spot charter rates also decreased profits for U.S. Gulf of Mexico off-takers. "We are not yet at the point that any U.S. Cargo Turndown would be considered," Senior stated. According to Spark Commodities analyst Qasim Afghan, the U.S. arbitrage for the front-month to North-East Asia via Cape of Good Hope points marginally towards Europe while the arbitrage through the Panama Canal strongly points to Asia. Afghan said that the global LNG freight rate in the Atlantic has dropped for the first since October, to $130,000/day. The Pacific rates are also down, at $87.500/day.
FT reports that Revolut will move its headquarters to Canary Wharf, where Deutsche Bank will be based.
The Financial Times reported that Germany's Deutsche Bank chose to lease about 250,000 square foot of office space at London's Canary Wharf in a building with the Revolut logo.
Reports citing sources familiar with the situation said that the German bank would take up about twice as much room in the YY Building on South Colonnade than the Revolut.
Outside of business hours, Deutsche Bank and Canary Wharf Group have not responded to any requests for comments.
Canary Wharf Group - which manages the larger financial district, and is owned by QIA, Canada's Brookfield and Canada's QIA - was hard hit by the pandemic induced drop in office demand. Now, the area is enjoying a recovery as more companies encourage their staff to return to work.
Canary Wharf Group announced on Friday that Visa will relocate its European headquarters into the district.
JPMorgan Chase announced last week a plan to construct a tower at Canary Wharf. The company said that the project would create 7,800 new jobs and contribute $9.9 billion pounds to the local economy over the next six years, including construction costs. ($1 = 0.7502 pound) (Reporting and editing by Sam Holmes, William Mallard, and Angela Christy from Bengaluru)
(source: Reuters)