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