Aviation

Bloomberg A wave of airline strikes and flight cancellations is deepening Europe’s transport crisis, disrupting travel plans just as the region’s peak summer season gets under way. Walkouts in coming days at Ryanair Holdings Plc, EasyJet Plc, British Airways and Aeroports de Paris (ADP) will add to the turmoil from staffing shortages that are leading to hours-long delays and thousands …

  Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG doesn’t expect flight operations to return to normal until next year, after cutting 3,100 flights from its summer schedule due to staff shortages. “Unfortunately, we will hardly be able to realistically achieve a short-term improvement now in the summer,” Lufthansa board member Detlef Kayser said in an interview with Die Welt. The only option for …

  Bloomberg Portugal’s state-owned airline Tap SA said a new investor would put it on a more solid footing as it pushes ahead with a restructuring program amid higher fuel costs and increasing geopolitical uncertainty. “It’s a very difficult market,” Chief Executive Officer Christine Ourmieres-Widener said. “Fuel costs are increasing. We could have wars, we could have pandemics, so being …

Bloomberg Deutsche Lufthansa AG cancelled 2,200 flights after a wave of coronavirus infections worsened staffing shortages, adding to Europe’s travel chaos as the crucial summer vacation period gets under way. Germany’s flagship airline scrapped both domestic and European routes for July and August, a spokesman said. That follows 900 cancellations announced earlier this month. Lufthansa fell as much as 3.3% …

Bloomberg South Africa’s government and national airline are being sued by a little-known investment firm, which wants the sale of a majority stake in the carrier scrapped and re-run due to a lack of transparency. This year’s acquisition of 51% of South African Airways (SAA) by the Takatso Consortium — made up of a local jet-leasing company and a private-equity …

Bloomberg British Airways (BA) workers at London Heathrow airport are set to strike in a dispute over pay, adding to a wave of industrial action across Europe that threatens to unleash travel chaos in the region this summer. The GMB and Unite unions said hundreds of BA check-in staff backed walkouts during the peak vacation period after the carrier refused …

  Bloomberg TUI AG Chief Executive Officer Fritz Joussen is set to leave after almost 10 years at the helm of the world’s biggest tour operator, having steered the company through the Covid-19 crisis. Joussen, 59, will step down at the end of September, according to a statement. Chief Financial Officer Sebastian Ebel will replace him and Mathias Kiep, the …

  Bloomberg South African airline FlySafair plans to add at least 10 new routes across sub-Saharan Africa to take advantage of a gap in the market left by the collapse of domestic rival Comair Ltd. The closely held carrier will fly to capital cities such as Nairobi, Lusaka and Maputo alongside holiday destinations including Victoria Falls, Zanzibar and Seychelles, according …

  WEST VIRGINIA / WAM A helicopter used for tourism flights crashed onto a highway in West Virginia state, killing six people on board, Reuters cited local media as saying. The helicopter, which was based at an airport in the state’s Logan County, crashed on State Route 17 and was on fire when rescue crews arrived, the WSAZ-TV reported, citing …

  Bloomberg London’s Heathrow airport lifted its full-year passenger forecast, citing updated information on schedules and bookings and the limited impact of capacity caps imposed to boost resilience as travel rebounds. The UK hub now expects to attract 54.4 million passenger in 2022, versus a forecast for 52.8 million travellers issued on April 26, it said in a statement. The …