BUSINESS NEWS
Lufthansa hails ‘best summer in the last decade’
The Lufthansa Group reported a €1.3 billion operating profit for the three months to September and forecast a “significant profit increase” for the year as chief executive Carsen Spohr hailed a “sustained improvement in cost control”. Lufthansa reported “stable
premium demand” and “high advance bookings” to the end of the year, with Spohr saying: “We’ve had the best summer [for] flight operations in the last decade.” However, Spohr noted German
domestic flights “have halved since 2019”, blaming regulatory costs. The group’s quarterly revenue rose 4% year on year to a record
Carsten Spohr
Boeing takes $4.9bn quarterly hit for delayed delivery of 777X
€11.2 billion but net profits fell 12% to €1 billion despite it carrying two million more passengers than last year. Lufthansa operated 4% more
capacity this summer than last, reporting a profit of €1.1 billion for
the nine months to September. Q Ryanair reported a half-year profit of €2.54 billion this week, 42% up on last year, with passenger numbers in the six months up 3% year on year to 119 million and its average fare 13% higher.
Boeing reported a near $5 billion hit on its finances due to delays in delivering the 777X aircraft – now scheduled for launch in 2027 – in results for the three months to September. The Boeing
Boeing 777X
leaving it with a net loss of $5.3 billion. Boeing delivered 160 commercial aircraft in the three months – its highest quarterly total since 2018 – and won Federal Aviation Administration
777X, a long-range, twin-aisle aircraft designed to compete with the Airbus A350, had originally been due to enter service in 2020. The company recorded a
$4.9 billion charge for the delay despite improved results overall and a 30% rise in quarterly revenue year on year to $23.3 billion,
approval for increasing monthly production of its 737 Max from 38 to 42
in October. Production had been restricted after a door panel blew out on a 737 flight in January 2024. Boeing announced the 777X
programme in 2011 and by last month had orders for 565. The aircraft made its maiden test flight in January 2020.
Europe flights ‘up 3.6% this year’ Ian Taylor
Europe is suffering increasing air traffic congestion over the eastern Mediterranean, Balkans, Turkey and Spain, exacerbating a shortage of air traffic controllers and increase in summer storms and leading to increasing delays. European air navigation body
Eurocontrol reported the number of flights in European airspace is set to hit 11 million this year, up 3.6% on 2024, with countries in southeast and southwest Europe seeing the highest growth rates. Eurocontrol noted this reflects a “shift in demand coupled with increased traffic to holiday destinations” as network carriers such as British Airways seek to compensate for “a dip in business travel”. It recorded sustained growth in
air traffic through last winter and this summer, with the volume of peak
travelweekly.co.uk
season flights recovering to 2019 levels due to “dynamic tourist flows to the Mediterranean and strong growth of intercontinental flows”. However, the number of
flights overall remained at 99% of the 2019 level and Eurocontrol reported: “The network remains heavily impacted by geopolitical conflicts that continue to disrupt airline plans [and] airspace usage”. It noted “strong demand” for
summer tourist destinations, “notably in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece”, and “strong growth” in central and eastern Europe “with major expansion by low-cost carriers”. Eurocontrol also recorded
“intercontinental flows well above 2019 levels despite the geopolitical challenges”. Traffic to and from Asia-Pacific
and North Africa saw the strongest growth year on year, with traffic
Air traffic controllers
between Europe and Asia-Pacific up 13% and North Africa flights up 11%. Services between Europe and the Middle East also increased by 8% on 2024 and 4% on 2019. In contrast, traffic across the North
Atlantic increased by only 3% year on year although it remained 16% up on 2019 and Eurocontrol recorded a decline of 1% across the mid-Atlantic – to and from the Caribbean and Central America – despite a 7% increase in South Atlantic traffic. International traffic within
Europe looks set to end the year just 1% up on 2024. But Spain and Portugal have both seen 4.4% growth, while Italy, Greece, the Balkans and Turkey have enjoyed a 5.3% increase in traffic. Growth in services to and from the UK, France, Germany and the Benelux countries has been lower at 3.1%, with 3.4% growth in eastern Europe and Scandinavia. However, traffic in UK airspace
has increased by 5% this year, in Spain by 6%, Italy 9% and Greece and Turkey 10%.
6 NOVEMBER 2025 47
PICTURE:
oro-photography.com
PICTURE: Shutterstock/Gorodenkoff
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56
