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performance” in summer 2024, with delays above 2023 levels and “more than four times higher than the network capacity target”. Capacity and staffing caused


almost half (48%) of the delays last year and adverse weather 43%, adding “even more tension to an already saturated situation”. Traffic in Europe is


concentrated in 80% of the airspace available before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and “remains very unevenly distributed, with ASNPs in southwest, southeast and central Europe facing 30%- 40% more flights than in 2019”. Eurocontrol reported delays


in continental Spain, where air traffic has increased by 8% on 2024, are already up by two-thirds (67%) on 2024 and warned: “The efforts ASNPs are making to deliver capacity will not be enough to deliver adequate summer performance.” It blamed “serious structural


problems with capacity and staffing” and warned of “high delays” and “significant bottlenecks” in the regions of air traffic control centres in Zagreb, Marseille, Barcelona, Seville, Munich, Karlsruhe (Germany), Athens, Macedonia and Budapest. Director of network


management Iacopo Prissinotti said “capacity shortages” in these control centres mean: “We know this summer will be difficult.” Eurocontrol estimates air


traffic controller numbers are 10%-20% lower than they need to be in areas with high delays. It warned of “a very high daily delay average” and said: “Additional disruptive elements [such as strikes, severe weather or system failures] would strain the ability of the network to manage high levels of traffic.”


Expedia Q1 growth held back by ‘US slowdown’


Ian Taylor


An Expedia trading update last week provided confirmation that US government policies under President Trump are having an impact on travel. Reporting results for the three


months to March, Expedia chief executive Ariane Gorin noted “weaker-than-expected travel demand in the US and into the US” despite a 4% growth in bookings overall year on year and 3% growth in revenue in the quarter. However, while consumer


bookings were up just 1% on the previous year, B2B bookings, recorded mainly outside the US, rose 14%. Gorin said: “US demand was


soft, driven by declining consumer sentiment, which was a headwind given two-thirds of our business comes from the US point of sale, and we saw pressure on key inbound US corridors. “We also noticed softness in


demand for inbound travel into the


IAG hails 10% increase in Q1 revenue to €7bn


British Airways parent International Airlines Group (IAG) reported “continuing good demand for air travel across our core markets” in results for the three months to March, despite “recent softness in [the] US point-of-sale economy leisure” market. Capacity on North Atlantic


routes was up just 0.2% year on year 46 15 MAY 2025


Ariane Gorin


US, which was down 7%. Inbound bookings from Canada fell nearly 30%.” She reported “a slowdown in


the quarter, both US domestic and inbound” and said: “April was somewhat softer than March, especially in the US.” Easter fell in April this year but


March last year, making the slowdown in April even more striking. Gorin added: “We’re continuing


to see pressure on travel into the US, but we’ve also seen some rebalancing. Europeans are travelling less to the US but more to Latin America.”


in the quarter, but passenger unit revenue rose by 13%. Chief executive Luis Gallego


insisted bookings remain “resilient across all our markets”, but particularly in business and first class. He reported the closure of Heathrow on March 21 due to a substation fire which cut off power cost the group £40 million. IAG reported €7 billion in


revenue for the quarter, up almost 10% year on year, and a profit before tax of €239 million, against an €87 million loss last year. BA recorded an operating profit of £96 million, up from £10 million in 2024.


She said: “We’re also starting


to see a shift to lower rate plans – travellers going from refundable rates to non-refundable rates – and starting to see hotel partners providing more discounts. “Some of what we’re guiding is


also related to pricing. We saw ADRs [average daily rates] go negative in the first quarter. We saw air ticket prices go down.” Expedia’s losses in the quarter


rose by half on the previous year to $200 million. The company reported quarterly


revenue of almost $3 billion on gross bookings worth more than $31 billion, with a 4% increase in air bookings year on year to 14.8 million, although its air revenue was down 7%, and close to 108 million booked room nights. The OTA took $13 billion in bookings as an agent and $18 billion as a merchant or principal. US sales accounted for 61% of


Expedia revenue, and direct-to- consumer sales 65%.


Luis Gallego


QEmirates Group announced record-breaking profits of AED22.7 billion ($6.2 billion for the 12 months to March, up 18% year on year), and a AED21 billion ($5.8 billion) profit before tax, up 20%.


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