So far this year, US carriers have cancelled almost 3% of flights and delayed more than a fifth by an average of 48 minutes, according to data compiled by FlightAware. That compares with just more than 2% of flights cancelled by US carriers during the same stretch of 2019 and about 17% delayed — a reminder that flying wasn’t exactly ...
Read More »Malaysia labour abuse is a shot in economic foot
Malaysia should be booming as manufacturers exit China. But it isn’t, and its own short-sighted labour policies are to blame. For decades, Malaysia served as an export manufacturing hub, boosted by location and access to low-cost migrant labour. Those migrants haven’t returned as the Covid-19 pandemic eased. According to a recent analysis by Reuters, as of June the country ...
Read More »Europe’s natural-gas crisis at its worst now
European natural gas prices are still well below the all-time high set in March. Dig a bit deeper, however, and they are signalling a more protracted disruption than markets anticipated in the immediate aftermath of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. While the gas market then priced in a short-lived crisis, lasting perhaps a couple of months, it’s now flashing ...
Read More »Hong Kong’s nearly empty airport gets $18b expansion
Bloomberg It could be one of the world’s most expensive white elephants. Hong Kong opened its new, third runway at its airport, part of a HK$141.5 billion ($18 billion) project that will increase its footprint by 50%, adding 650 hectares (1,606 acres), equivalent to the size of Gibraltar. Also under construction is a HK$20 billion entertainment, retail and commercial ...
Read More »Wizz Air cuts 5% of its capacity in peak season
Bloomberg Wizz Air Holdings Plc is cutting 5% of its capacity over the peak summer travel period to reduce the impact of a staffing crisis that’s plaguing the industry. The low-cost carrier’s reductions, announced in a statement, will add to travel disruptions across Europe after companies including British Airways, KLM and Deutsche Lufthansa AG scrapped flights as demand bounced ...
Read More »Two of Europe’s biggest airlines scrap hundreds more flights
Bloomberg Two of Europe’s biggest airlines announced another round of cancellations, adding to the disruption turning the travel sector’s pandemic recovery summer into a nightmare. The Dutch arm of Air France-KLM plans to cancel as many as 20 round-trip flights to European destinations every day through the end of August. Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it will cancel 770 flights this ...
Read More »Inflation pushes butter price up in UK’s cost-of-living crisis
Bloomberg The cost of Lurpak butter is emerging as the new flash point in Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, requiring security tags in stores and spawning a controversy that’s placed its owner, Arla Foods, on the defensive. “We understand that recent inflation in food prices is hitting many households really hard,†an Arla spokesperson said by email after the dairy firm’s Lurpak ...
Read More »Spirit delays shareholder vote again to extend ‘talks’
Bloomberg Spirit Airlines delayed for a third time a crucial shareholder vote so it can continue discussions of its merger options with Frontier Group Holdings and rival suitor JetBlue Airways. The special meeting was delayed until July 15, Spirit said in a statement. While Spirit will continue to solicit shareholder proxies, there won’t be a vote or other business ...
Read More »Tesco, Heinz settle dispute on price hikes
Bloomberg Tesco Plc and food giant Kraft Heinz Co have settled a dispute over price increases which left the UK’s biggest supermarket chain without products including brand-name ketchup and baked beans. The full range of Heinz products will now return to Tesco shelves and its online shopping site in the coming days, the two companies said in a joint ...
Read More »Sri Lanka president to resign after protesters storm house
Bloomberg After months of persistent street protests over fuel shortages, surging prices and financial mismanagement, Sri Lankan leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa is finally on the verge of being ousted. The president fled to an undisclosed location shortly before demonstrators stormed his official seaside residence in the face of tear gas and rubber bullets. In dramatic scenes, they wandered through the rooms, ...
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