Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co expects a rebound in domestic travel to carry into the summer, joining rivals predicting that consumers will shrug off worries about coronavirus variants, fork over higher fares and fill planes in the coming months. Southwest maintained a plan to restore 93% of its pre-pandemic flight capacity this quarter as robust leisure demand is joined by ...
Read More »Wizz Air extends halt to Ukraine, Russia flights
Bloomberg Wizz Air Holdings Plc extended its cancellation of flights to Ukraine and Russia through the end of October as the war started by Vladimir Putin in February shows no sign of abating. The move means Eastern Europe’s biggest discount carrier will have scrapped operations to the two countries for the whole of the summer timetable, which this year ...
Read More »In sanctions hitch, EasyJet exits leases on Russia-owned jets
Bloomberg EasyJet Plc terminated rental contracts on six Airbus SE jets owned by a Russian state leasing company in a rare example of sanctions depriving a European carrier of aircraft. EasyJet cancelled the leases on the A319 narrowbodies owned by a unit of state-controlled GTLK shortly after the UK and European Union acted to punish Vladimir Putin over the invasion ...
Read More »Amazon’s Covid-era buildout proves too much as demand cools
Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc acknowledged that a hiring and warehouse-building binge during the pandemic is catching up with the company as e-commerce sales growth inevitably slows from the torrid pace of the outbreak. That reality will weigh on revenue and profit going forward as consumers return to their pre-pandemic habits and inflation may cool their spending. Fuel and labour costs are ...
Read More »Russia may need half its planes for spare parts
Bloomberg Russia may be forced to ground between half and two-thirds of its commercial aircraft by 2025 in order to cannibalise them for spare parts, Kommersant newspaper reported, citing an unidentified person at the Transport Ministry. In the ministry’s base case, at least 70% of the country’s foreign-made planes will still be flying by the end of 2025, Kommersant ...
Read More »China faces bleak holidays over ‘Covid zero’
Bloomberg Chinese holidaymakers face another holiday season ruined by virus outbreaks and controls, with the government’s stringent Covid Zero restrictions and fears of infection expected to keep many people at home during the upcoming Labor Day break. Travel was already down in March, when the biggest Covid-19 outbreak in two years prompted officials to lock down major cities like ...
Read More »Alarmed by Russia’s invasion, Europe rethinks its China ties
Bloomberg Russia’s war on Ukraine has triggered a profound reassessment in European capitals of their individual and collective relations with China. Confronted by the need to rapidly unwind a dependence on Russian energy built up over decades, government officials from Rome to Prague are re-evaluating the extent of their economic and political ties to China. Senior lawmakers in Berlin who ...
Read More »Presidents of Ukraine, Russia accept G-20 invite from Indonesia
Bloomberg The presidents of Russia and Ukraine have accepted invitations from Indonesia, the current chair of the Group of 20, for a big ticket summit in November. The decision to invite both leaders shows the delicate balance the Southeast Asian country is trying to make as the G-20 host this year. Russia is a member of the G-20, and the ...
Read More »Sri Lanka leaders signal PM may quit as inflation surges to 30%
Bloomberg Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is willing to drop his brother as prime minister, according to a top leader, as a fresh surge in inflation threatens to renew calls for the family to resign. Rajapaksa has agreed to form an all-party government with a new PM, local media reported citing Maithripala Sirisena, a former president who was part of ...
Read More »Sinn Fein leads in poll ahead of election
Bloomberg Sinn Fein looks set to become the largest party in Northern Ireland’s assembly, potentially marking a historic shift in the region’s political balance, according to a poll ahead of next week’s election. The nationalist party, whose ultimate goal is a united Ireland, drew 26% support in LucidTalk’s final poll for the Belfast Telegraph ahead of the May 5 vote. ...
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