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☆ Strong bookings put easyJet on path to full-year profit
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Joanna Plucinska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Jan 25 (Reuters) - EasyJet (EZJ.L) on Wednesday said it expected to beat current market expectations for 2023 based on the strength of bookings into summer and was set to deliver a full-year profit, fueling cautious optimism for an aviation sector set on recovery. EasyJet Holidays also upgraded expectations from 30% customer growth to around 50% year-on-year and said the airline had almost 50% more customers than last year. Ryanair (RYA.I), Europe's biggest airline and a low-cost competitor for easyJet, said earlier this month it was expecting a very strong summer season with a reasonable prospect of average European short-haul air fares rising by a high single digit percentage. "Airline reporting season starts optimistically, and we expect easyJet to be the first of several strong prints. Earlier guidance looks overly cautious and numbers will need to come up," Bernstein analyst Alex Irving said in a research note.

"Our industry is still climbing out of - call it a 100-year event, call it a macro shock of epic proportions. "We are bullish and these are the reasons why I suspect there's a disconnect between the Davos in Switzerland and the Davos in Dublin," Cronin told Reuters. "It's a good time to be a lessor," said Tony Diaz, chairman of the smaller Zephyrus Aviation Capital. It's probably easy to take that second one too," Robert Korn, president and co-founder of fast growing Carlyle Aviation Partners, added. Additional reporting by Tim Hepher and Joanna Plucinska Editing by Mark PotterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Lufthansa has offered to buy an initial minority stake in ITA, Italy's state-owned successor to Alitalia, it said on Wednesday. "This may be the next step in European airline consolidation," said Bernstein analyst Alex Irving, citing Portugal's national airline, TAP, as a prime target. Lufthansa, Air-France KLM (AIRF.PA) and British Airways owner IAG (ICAG.L) are potential buyers, analysts said. "At the same time, however, we closely monitor consolidation in the European airline market." Michael O'Leary, the outspoken CEO of fellow low-cost airline Ryanair (RYA.I), also weighed in with his predictions this week.

[1/2] FILE PHOTO-Planes of German air carrier Lufthansa are parked as Lufthansa pilots start a strike over a wage dispute, at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, September 2, 2022. REUTERS/Kai PfaffenbachROME/FRANKFURT, Jan 18 (Reuters) - German carrier Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) said on Wednesday it had offered to buy an minority stake in ITA Airways, betting on reviving the loss-making successor to Italy's Alitalia and expanding its footprint in Europe. One of the sources said it was valued at 200-300 million euros ($540 million). The new right-wing administration in Rome passed a decree in December to initially sell a minority stake through capital increases, in order to speed up a full divestment in ITA. "Acquiring ITA is one of the most challenging propositions in European aviation: the airline has been persistently loss-making," said Bernstein analyst Alex Irving.

[1/2] FILE PHOTO-Planes of German air carrier Lufthansa are parked as Lufthansa pilots start a strike over a wage dispute, at the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, September 2, 2022. REUTERS/Kai PfaffenbachBERLIN/ROME, Jan 18 (Reuters) - German carrier Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) said on Wednesday it had offered to buy an initial minority stake in ITA Airways, Italy's state-owned successor to Alitalia. Lufthansa said Italy is the most important market outside of its existing home markets and the United States, noting its prominence as both a business and tourism destination. The move comes after the new right-wing administration in Rome passed a decree in December to initially sell a minority stake through capital increases, in order to speed up a full divestment in ITA. Beside its domestic German business, Lufthansa already operates the brands Swiss, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines.

Airfares from China are now 160% higher than before the pandemic, data from travel firm ForwardKeys shows, due to limited supply. Since Jan. 4, Air China (601111.SS), Hainan Airlines (600221.SS) and China Southern Airlines (600029.SS) have filed schedules with the U.S. Department of Transportation proposing to increase flights to as much as daily on some routes. Foreign carriers seeking to add flights to China require approvals from the Civil Aviation Administration of China, which did not respond to a request for comment. However, other flights were paused as it assessed market demand and government regulations. Many Western airlines parked large planes when international traffic plunged and production of new twin-aisle jets has been limited.

The International Air Transport Association, which represents global airlines, is predicting full recovery in 2024. The crippling impact of COVID-19 saw dozens of airlines go out of business and wiped billions of dollars off balance sheets. In public, airlines and leasing firms have deplored delivery delays and are seen likely to press aircraft makers for compensation. Inflation is driving up aircraft parts and prices, while raising questions over the resilience of travel demand. Overall, more than half of the world's airline fleet is controlled by global leasing companies rather than owned directly by airlines.

☆ Industry vs. Regulator - aviation heavyweights spar in Dublin
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Joanna Plucinska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Willie Walsh, outspoken head of the world's biggest airline trade body, IATA, joined the European Union's top permanent transport official Henrik Hololei on stage at the Airline Economics conference in the world's aviation finance capital. But Walsh wanted to know what could be done to lift that closure, which threatens to penalise some Western airlines at the expense of Chinese and other carriers that continue to fly over Russia. He added there would be no "business as usual" if Russian airspace did reopen. Airlines accuse airports of overcharging carriers, while airports say they have to fund huge capital investments. "We allowed those who wanted to find the poster child for environmental damage to pick on aviation," he said.

Lufthansa declined to comment on Rome's decision to offer an initial minority stake. Some of Italy's politicians consider ITA as the heir to cultural icon Alitalia, which they want to preserve. Some also say that ITA does not have to worry so much about losing its national identity should Lufthansa take over. The Certares-led alliance was willing to pay 350 million euros for a 50% stake plus one share of the state-controlled airline, sources had said. ($1 = 0.9412 euros)Reporting by Angelo Amante in Rome and Joanna Plucinska in London; additional reporting by Giuseppe Fonte in Rome.

However, the patterns suggest that sexual violence “maybe even more frequent” in territories that were occupied for longer periods, he added, without providing evidence. Widespread or systematic sexual violence could amount to crimes against humanity, which are generally seen as more serious, legal specialists said. Moscow, which has said it is conducting a “special military operation" in Ukraine, has denied committing war crimes or targeting civilians. Evidence that sexual violence was planned could indicate it was part of a systematic attack or that some level of command was aware, said Kim Thuy Seelinger, an advisor to the ICC on sexual violence in conflict and a research associate professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office said it has opened dozens of criminal cases involving sexual violence by members of the Russian armed forces against women, children and men.

☆ Nord Stream gas 'sabotage': who's being blamed and why?
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-30 | by ( Joanna Plucinska | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Russia's foreign ministry said on Thursday it was "unthinkable" that an investigation into ruptures on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines would proceed without Moscow's participation. President Vladimir Putin said on Friday the United States and its allies blew up Nord Stream. U.S. President Joe Biden said on Friday damage to Nord Stream was a deliberate act of sabotage. Map of Nord Stream pipelines and locations of reported leaksWHY SABOTAGE A PIPELINE? "They already succeeded in stopping Nord Stream 2.

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