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Europe's largest airlines are heading into winter with sharply diverging strategies, as the legacy groups rein in capacity to protect fares while the low-cost giants press on with aggressive expansion, in a split that will test which model best survives the fuel shock that has defined the year. Fresh analysis of fourth-quarter scheduling shows IAG and Lufthansa Group scaling back planned flying, even as Ryanair and Wizz Air continue to grow their intra-European networks. IAG,

Investigators have traced last month's dramatic in-flight window loss on a Ryanair Group jet to a fatigue-cracked engine fan blade, in a finding that revives uncomfortable echoes of a fatal 2018 accident and raises questions over why a mandated safety fix will not be compulsory across Europe's most common airliner until 2028. The US National Transportation Safety Board, to which Greece handed the inquiry under international rules, said in a preliminary report that blade numbe

Latvia's flag carrier airBaltic has torn up a decade of expansion ambition, unveiling a restructuring plan that cuts its Airbus A220 fleet by a third and seeks €225 million in emergency financing, in one of the starkest illustrations yet of how the fuel shock from the Iran conflict has exposed structural weakness at Europe's smaller airlines. The plan, approved by the airline's supervisory board and made public on 11 August, will reduce the all-Airbus A220-300 fleet from 54 a

Air France-KLM is positioning itself for the most acquisitive phase in its recent history, with a decision on its bid for TAP Air Portugal expected within weeks and its takeover of Scandinavian carrier SAS due to complete before year-end, in a twin push that would extend the Franco-Dutch group's reach from the Nordics to the South Atlantic. The nearer-term prize is TAP. Lisbon is expected to choose between Air France-KLM and Lufthansa in early September, having received bindi

Wizz Air plunged to a first-quarter loss as the fuel bill from the Iran war overwhelmed rapid passenger growth, laying bare a widening split in European aviation between resilient flag carriers and the budget operators struggling to absorb higher costs while still selling cheap seats. The Budapest-based ultra-low-cost carrier reported an operating loss of €183.3 million for the three months to June, against a profit a year earlier, and a post-tax loss of around €198 million,

Europe's two largest airline groups both beat second-quarter profit expectations but trimmed their growth ambitions for the year, as the fuel bill from the Iran conflict reshapes strategy across a sector now prizing yield over expansion. IAG, owner of British Airways and Iberia, reported on Friday a 16 per cent drop in second-quarter profit, dragged down by soaring fuel costs and softer demand linked to the war that erupted at the end of February. The result nonetheless came

Europe's two largest airline groups have laid rival binding bids on the table for a stake in TAP Air Portugal, setting up a decisive contest for what is widely seen as the final major flag-carrier consolidation prize left in Western Europe. Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group both submitted binding offers to Portugal's state holding company Parpública by Tuesday's deadline, entering the third and final mandatory stage of a privatisation relaunched by Lisbon in 2025. The field

Airbus reports half-year results after the European market close on Wednesday, in a release that will test whether the delivery recovery of recent months can carry the planemaker to an ambitious full-year target, and one now framed by a fresh capital-return pledge and open questions over who leads the company into its next chapter. The Toulouse group publishes its H1 figures alongside an analyst call at 19:30 CEST. Investors want confirmation that the second-quarter pace is d

Airbus heads into first-half results on Wednesday with its delivery machine visibly back in rhythm, even as the supplier bottlenecks that dogged the year's opening months continue to shape how far the European planemaker can push its production ambitions. The Toulouse group delivered 351 commercial aircraft in the first half, up around 15 per cent on the 306 handed over a year earlier and its strongest January-to-June showing since 2019. Momentum built through the period, wit

Brussels is preparing to tighten scrutiny of who really controls Europe's airlines, a move that has wiped billions from easyJet's valuation and injected fresh uncertainty into the largest private equity approach the sector has seen. An EU official confirmed the European Commission will conduct a review, likely in the autumn, clarifying which corporate structures satisfy rules requiring carriers holding EU operating licences to be majority owned and effectively controlled by E

Airbus has signalled it intends to set the pace of the next narrowbody cycle, with chief executive Guillaume Faury confirming the European planemaker remains committed to launching a successor to its best-selling A320 family in 2030, even as Boeing wavers over the timing of its own next aircraft. Speaking to Aviation Week, Faury said the programme, known internally as eAction, is on track for a formal launch decision at the end of the decade, with entry into service targeted

Europe's airline consolidation debate has flared again, just as a rare takeover opportunity comes to a head. With US private credit group Castlelake facing a 26 June deadline to declare its intentions toward easyJet, the structural obstacles to any cross-border deal are once again in plain view, and Brussels finds itself squarely in the frame. The complication is regulatory. Under European ownership and control rules, an American fund cannot acquire majority control of easyJe