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Europe's automotive industry has a crisis and a potential lifeline, and they happen to share the same factory floor. As slumping car sales hollow out production capacity across the continent, a growing number of manufacturers are turning to defence contracts to fill the gap. Analysts at Citi have taken to calling it the "anything but autos" trade. Renault has moved furthest and fastest. The French carmaker confirmed earlier this year that it will produce long-range strike dro

Germany's state railway is carrying more passengers than ever and losing money at scale. Deutsche Bahn posted a net loss of €2.3 billion for 2025, the company confirmed in late March, a result that lays bare the tension at the heart of one of Europe's most ambitious infrastructure programmes. Group revenues rose 3% to around €27 billion and operating profit returned to positive territory at €297 million, but those headline figures were overwhelmed by a €1.4 billion writedown

The fragile US-Iran truce has failed to reopen the world's most critical energy corridor, leaving European carriers counting the cost Two days after Washington and Tehran announced a tentative ceasefire, the Strait of Hormuz remains, in all practical terms, closed. For Europe's major shipping lines, the diplomatic pause has done little to ease a crisis that has reshaped global trade flows since February. Nils Haupt, communications chief at Hamburg-based Hapag-Lloyd, one of th

A last-minute cabin crew walkout lays bare the depth of labour tensions at Europe's largest airline group The timing could hardly have been worse. On Friday 10 April, as thousands of passengers attempted to return home from Easter holidays, cabin crew at Deutsche Lufthansa AG walked out across Germany's busiest airports, cancelling more than 520 flights and stranding an estimated 90,000 travellers at Frankfurt, Munich and a string of regional hubs. The one-day strike, called

Europe's automotive industry, battered by Chinese competition and stalling electric vehicle demand, is seeking an unlikely lifeline: the arms industry. Analysts at Citi have christened the shift the "anything but autos" trade, and the name fits. Volkswagen, the continent's largest carmaker, is in advanced discussions with Israeli defense firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems to convert its Osnabrück plant in Germany into a production site for components of the Iron Dome air-de

Spain's state-owned rail operator Renfe has surrendered its capacity reservations on the Paris corridor, formally ending years of failed attempts to bring its Talgo-built Avril trains onto one of Europe's busiest high-speed routes. The withdrawal, confirmed to AFP and announced on 1 April, draws a line under an ambition that has defined Renfe's international strategy for the better part of a decade. The operator told the French news agency it could not establish a stable hori

The breakdown of one of Europe's most strategically significant aviation partnerships landed in Paris with predictable force. The United Arab Emirates has withdrawn from co-financing the Rafale F5 programme, leaving France to absorb a development bill that was always going to be uncomfortable and is now entirely its own. The immediate numbers are stark. The UAE had been expected to contribute roughly €3.5 billion toward a programme whose total remaining development cost stand

For the first time in modern maritime history, both of the Middle East's major shipping arteries are simultaneously closed to commercial traffic, and European supply chains are absorbing consequences that go well beyond elevated freight rates. The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively shut since late February, when US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered retaliatory action from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Within 48 hours, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM and MSC had a

Germany's state-owned railway has reported a net loss of €2.3 billion for 2025, widening from €1.8 billion the previous year, in results that lay bare the structural rot at the heart of Europe's largest rail network and raise fresh questions about Germany's ability to deliver on its green transport ambitions. A write-down of approximately €1.4 billion at DB Fernverkehr, the long-distance passenger division, drove the headline loss, with the company citing lower revenue expect

A year on from the first wave of US import duties, the true financial toll on Europe's automotive industry is coming into sharp relief, and the numbers are sobering. Combined tariff costs across the major German manufacturers alone exceeded six billion dollars in 2025, with no meaningful relief in sight as producers brace for a heavier bill in the year ahead. Volkswagen Group, Europe's largest carmaker by volume, absorbed approximately €2.9 billion in tariff-related costs las

The Italy question has finally been answered. On 1 April, ITA Airways officially joined Star Alliance, completing the most visible stage of its absorption into the Lufthansa Group and drawing a definitive line under one of European aviation's longest-running sagas. The ceremony at Rome Fiumicino was brief by design. Joerg Eberhart, ITA's chief executive, stood alongside Lufthansa Group's chief commercial officer Dieter Vranckx and Star Alliance chief executive Theo Panagiotou

The reckoning has arrived. From the start of this year, shipping companies operating routes that touch European Union ports are required for the first time to account for the full cost of their carbon emissions under the EU Emissions Trading System, completing a three-year phase-in that began at 40 per cent coverage in 2024. The shift is not merely administrative. Compliance costs for a single metric tonne of VLSFO consumption on an intra-EU voyage are expected to reach $319