All Europe articles
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AnalysisFailed marriages: Top 10 aerospace mergers that never were
From Textron-Bombardier to Lockheed-Northrop and EADS-BAE, we review industrial giants that might have been, had proposed or mooted unions over the past quarter century gone ahead.
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Interview
How Air Baltic is plotting a way through – and out of – the virus crisis
There are many data points that starkly demonstrate the airline industry’s massive challenges during the coronavirus crisis, but Air Baltic is still able to offer a particularly striking one: its forward bookings in early April were down 98% year on year.
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News
Europe’s airports to lose more than a billion passengers in 2020
European airports lost more passengers in March than in the whole of 2009 when the world was in the midst of a global financial crisis, figures released today by ACI Europe reveal.
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News
Pilots’ identical error shaved A319’s take-off distance margin
Investigators have determined that both pilots of an EasyJet Airbus A319 mistakenly selected the wrong intersection during take-off performance calculations at Nice, resulting in less runway distance being available than the crew had expected. The crew believed they had calculated take-off performance for runway 04R based on a departure ...
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News
Airbus chief: Crisis likely to be ‘a long one’
Airbus is expecting to review its production rates every month after reducing its output by a third in response to the coronavirus impact. Chief executive Guillaume Faury, speaking on 8 April, was unable to estimate when rates would be restored but said he thought the crisis would “probably be ...
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News
Airbus records 15 A350 cancellations but reveals order for 10
Airbus has recorded cancellations of 15 A350s as well as four A330neos during March, although it secured a firm agreement for 10 A350s from an undisclosed customer. Six A350-1000s and four A350-900s from Latin America’s LATAM are part of the cancellation. Five A350-900s ordered by Kuwait Airways have ...
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News
Airbus cuts aircraft production by a third as 60 jets stay undelivered
Airbus is cutting monthly production of single- and twin-aisle aircraft by about a third, slashing output of A320s to just 40 aircraft. It is taking monthly production of A350s down to six and A330s down to two. “With these new rates, Airbus preserves its ability to meet customer ...
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News
Norwegian shareholders to vote on crucial debt-to-equity scheme
Scandinavian budget carrier Norwegian has called a shareholders’ meeting for 4 May to discuss plans to convert debt to equity, in order to meet criteria for the Norwegian government’s state guarantee scheme. The airline is trying to secure NKr3 billion in funding but, while it has met the requirements ...
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News
A330-800 obtains ETOPS clearance beyond 180min
Airbus’s A330-800 has secured European approval for extended twin-engined operations (ETOPS) running beyond 180min. The clearance was granted on 2 April according to a certificate revision from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency. EASA certified the A330-800 – the smaller member of the A330neo family – in mid-February. ...
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News
European air navigation fee deferral aims to assist struggling airlines
Up to €1.1 billion in European air navigation charge payments is being deferred under an agreement intended to assist airlines struggling under the impact of the coronavirus outbreak. Pan-European air navigation organisation Eurocontrol says its members have agreed the deferral as part of a financial package to provide “liquidity ...
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News
Sweden’s BRA files for protection to buy time for restructuring
Swedish carrier Braathens Regional Airlines has filed for protection in order to undergo a restructuring exercise. It has suspended all services with effect from 6 April with the intention of gradually resuming flights “after the summer”, it says, when conditions are expected to have improved. BRA says the ...
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News
Airbus suspends A220 and A320 assembly at Mobile
Airbus is temporarily suspending aircraft production at its US assembly line in Mobile for about three weeks, and is adapting activity at its German facilities in Bremen and Stade. The airframer assembles A320 and A220 jets at the Mobile plant. Airbus says it will “pause” production this week ...
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News
HSBC expects European airline consolidation amid Covid-19 crisis
The coronavirus crisis will speed up airline-industry consolidation across Europe as less profitable carriers fail or are taken over by leaner competitors, according to an analysis by HSBC. “We expect financially weak airlines that survive to be… significantly smaller as they exit the outbreak,” the bank writes in an ...
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News
EasyJet borrows from UK coronavirus fund as part of liquidity plan
Budget carrier EasyJet has taken steps to borrow funds from the UK government’s corporate financing facility, established to assist companies during the coronavirus crisis. EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren says the airline’s “priority” is to “safeguard short-term liquidity”. He says the company has been successful in issuing £600 ...
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News
Business aircraft activity plummets in March
The coronavirus outbreak pummelled business aircraft activity in March across Asia, Europe and North America, according to German research company WingX Advance.
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News
Incorrectly-sized parts found after Icelandair 757 gear collapse
Investigators have found incorrectly-sized components on the landing-gear assembly of an Icelandair Boeing 757-200 which suffered a main landing-gear collapse at Reykjavik earlier this year. Icelandic investigation authority RNSA has recommended specific safety checks on four aircraft serviced by Landing Gear Technologies, to ensure that parts which have undergone ...
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News
EasyJet founder refuses to inject new funds as he directs ire at CFO
EasyJet founder and shareholder Stelios Haji-Iaonnou has refused to inject any fresh capital into the UK budget airline while a contract to acquire further Airbus jets remains in place, and is turning his wrath on chief financial officer Andrew Findlay. Haji-Ioannou has named Findlay as the second director he ...
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News
Icelandair Group studies options to avoid liquidity depletion
Icelandair Group has recruited advisors to look into options for reinforcing its capital structure, and explore possibilities for strengthening its competitiveness. It states that its liquidity position is still “well above” its minimum level of $200 million. But it adds that – given the assumption of “minimum revenue ...
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News
Trent 1000 fix progressing despite coronavirus disruption
Rolls-Royce is aiming to bring the number of Boeing 787s on the ground for Trent engine modification reasons to fewer than 10 by the end of the second quarter. While the manufacturer is taking steps to deal with the impact from the coronavirus crisis, it is maintaining efforts to ...
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News
Rolls-Royce shores up defences as airlines’ widebody engine activity drops
Rolls-Royce has disclosed that the primary impact of the coronavirus crisis on its civil aerospace business has been a reduction in widebody engine flying hours by 25% over the first quarter, including a 50% fall in March. It expects “further deterioration” during April, and beyond, given the increasing grounding ...
