Flying start to 2023: Shares up after 16m passengers take to skies on Ryanair and Wizz Air February 2, 2023 Shares for low-cost carriers Ryanair and Wizz Air have gone up this morning after both reported a strong start to 2023, with passenger numbers well above 2022 levels. Ryanair’s passenger numbers soared to 11.8 million in the last month, 69 per cent up on January last year, while Wizz Air’s levels soared 73 per cent [...]
UK reinstates pre-Covid take-off slot rules and tells airlines ‘use it or lose it’ January 31, 2023 The UK government has reinstated its pre-Covid airport slot rules, telling airlines they will need to use their take-off slots 80 per cent of the time, or face losing them. Also known as landing slots, airport slots are the permission needed by an airline to land or depart from a specific airport at a specific [...]
Which? demands boost to aviation regulator’s powers as passengers fume at airlines January 9, 2023 Which? has called on the government to bolster the aviation watchdog’s powers as fresh data reveals that passengers are losing faith in airlines’ ability to provide good customer service. Data published today by the consumer champion found that 39 per cent of adults who flew between January and October 2022 didn’t trust that airlines would [...]
UK airlines and airports lag behind global rivals when it comes to being on time January 3, 2023 UK airlines and airports continue to lag behind international rivals when it comes to being on time, according to new research released today. No British airlines or airports ranked in the top 10 for on-time performance, according to data from Cirium’s On-Time Performance report. Cirium, an aviation analytics firm, considers an airline to be on [...]
Virgin Atlantic’s boss calls Heathrow’s proposed price cap ‘unacceptable’ December 8, 2022 The row between Heathrow and its airport customers has reached a new high after Shai Weiss, the chief executive of Virgin Atlantic, called out the UK aviation regulator over the airport’s interim price cap. Weiss has accused the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of “putting the interests of a monopolistic airport and its shareholders ahead of [...]
Willie Walsh: Airlines to post £3.8bn profit next year December 6, 2022 Global airlines are set to return to black next year, said aviation veteran Willie Walsh. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), carriers are set to post a collective net profit of $4.7bn (£3.8bn) as more than 4 billion passengers will travel worldwide next year. “That is a great achievement considering the scale of [...]
Wizz Air’s boss: Airline not good candidate for M&A December 1, 2022 Wizz Air is not a good candidate for M&A but it will focus instead on organic growth, boss Jozsef Varadi commented. The chief executive’s remarks came in response to a question on whether Wizz would ever consider acquiring rival Easyjet. Easyjet on the other hand recently said it would not rule out any potential takeovers [...]
Airline industry racked up £180bn collective net loss since pandemic December 1, 2022 The airline industry has racked up a collective net loss of almost $220bn (£180bn) since the Covid pandemic began, according to recent research. Analysis published today by analytics firm Cirium shows that revenues for the world’s airline groups went down by more than 50 per cent in 2020, ending 2021 still 40 per cent below [...]
Air France-KLM’s shares plummet as £260m+ bond issuance takes off November 16, 2022 The shares of Air France-KLM have sunk as low as 12 per cent after the carrier issued €300m (£262.5m) worth of bonds convertible into shares. Air France-KLM said the move would help it strengthen its capital and pay back the financial aid it received from the French government to stay afloat during the pandemic. Funding [...]
Misty Monday: Dozens of flights cancelled at London airports as fog engulfs capital November 14, 2022 Dozens of flights have been cancelled over the past few hours at London airports as the fog that engulfed the capital since yesterday continues to present a risk to operations. British Airways – which was forced to cancel 15 domestic and short-haul flights to Heathrow – said it was doing everything it could to get [...]