US company Viasat's $7.3b bid for British satellite rival Inmarsat may reduce competition in the aviation connectivity market, EU antitrust regulators warned on Monday as they opened a full-scale investigation into the deal. The companies, which compete with market leaders Panasonic and Intelsat in the market for Wi-Fi on long-haul flights, announced the tie-up in late 2021. The EC said its concerns stem from Viasat and Inmarsat's standing as close competitors in Europe and globally for the supply of broadband inflight connectivity (IFC) services to commercial airlines. "At this stage, the Commission is therefore concerned that by acquiring Inmarsat, Viasat may reduce competition in the supply of broadband IFC services to commercial airlines in the EEA and/or globally," the EU competition enforcer said in a statement. It said there were few alternative suppliers while technological and regulatory barriers would make it difficult for any new players to enter the market. The commission said it would also investigate whether operators of non-geostationary satellites were likely to exert sufficient competitive pressure on the merged entity in the near future. It set a June 29 deadline for its decision. Viasat, which owns and operates four geostationary earth orbit satellites, and Inmarsat, which has 15, said they would continue to engage with the EU watchdog and were confident that the deal would boost competition in the satellite communications market.<br/>
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Airport operator Aena said on Monday passenger traffic at its Spanish terminals surpassed pre-pandemic levels for the first time in January. At almost 17m, the number of passengers at Spanish airports in January was 2.1% higher than in the same month in 2019. With the end of COVID-19 restrictions, tourism rebounded and passenger traffic has come back strongly since last summer. Last week, Spain finally scrapped the obligation to wear masks in public transport. Spain´s tourism industry has recovered faster than in other European countries. ACI Europe, the body that represents airports in the region, in December pushed back to 2025 the full recovery of passenger volumes from 2024, as previously forecast. Europe’s 2022 airport traffic jumped 98% year-on-year but it was still 21% below levels seen in 2019, the trade association reported last week. According to Heathrow Airport’s last data, over 55 million people have travelled through one of European busiest airports so far in 2022, which is still less than 70% the volume in 2019. The busiest airport in Spain was Madrid’s Adolfo Suarez Barajas, with more than 4 million passengers, 1.1% more than in January 2019. In the first month of 2023, 156,500 aircraft were handled, representing a 98% recovery compared to January 2019, and 74,547 tons of cargo were moved, or 96% of amount four years ago.<br/>
Heathrow airport had its busiest start to the year since before the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns in 2020 as travel restrictions continued to ease, according to data published on Monday. More than 5.4m passengers travelled through the UK’s and Europe’s busiest airport in January, double the 2.6m from 2022, Heathrow said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange. In January 2020 the airport had recorded its best ever start to the year, with 6.1m passengers, despite early signs that the virus was spreading rapidly from China, where it was first detected, to the rest of the world. The UK did not shut its borders officially until March 2020, when passenger numbers plunged.<br/>Barring pandemic years, Heathrow still counted the smallest number of passengers since January 2015. As coronavirus pandemic restrictions eased Heathrow struggled with rapid increases in flight numbers. In the summer it imposed capacity limits on airlines after failing to hire enough people in time to cope with extra traffic. As the February half-term holiday got under way over the weekend for many schools, Heathrow said on Monday it had been coping “very well” with the rush. The airport said it was supporting the UK Border Force’s introduction of eGates for passport control for 10- and 11-year-olds over half-term, a measure that could help to reduce waiting times for families arriving in the UK.<br/>