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After Silicon Valley Bank failed last month and raised fears about a wider banking crisis, bookings for last-minute business trips on United Airlines quickly dropped and remained depressed for about two weeks, underscoring how economic turmoil could choke off a strong run for the travel industry. United CEO Scott Kirby said Wednesday that business-travel bookings have since recovered, but the lesson was not lost. “It seems clear that the macro risks are higher today than they were even a few months ago,” Kirby said. He said United still expects a mild recession, “which is consistent with what we are currently seeing in our bookings, but we agree the tail risk is higher than normal.” Kirby said he still feels good about United’s forecast for full-year profit — which is higher than Wall Street expects. However, his remarks on a call with analysts exposed a crack in the airline industry’s otherwise solid front of rosy commentary about travel demand. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said last week that his airline saw no impact from the bank failures and other dire headlines. Consumers might be reducing their spending on cars and home-improvement projects, he said, “but they are certainly not pulling back on air travel.”<br/>

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa welcomed the interest expressed by Lufthansa in the upcoming privatisation of flag carrier TAP, but promised a level playing field and a transparent process for all contenders. Speaking to reporters alongside visiting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Costa said the government will "shortly start TAP's privatisation and several companies have expressed interest, one of them Lufthansa". Added Scholz: "My impression is that something does fit well together here, but let us see how it turns out." Reuters reported on Thursday that Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and British Airways owner IAG were laying the groundwork for potential bids for TAP, sounding out local communications agencies and legal advisers. Lufthansa's original interest in TAP dates back to before the COVID-19 pandemic, and Scholz said "there are reasons why Lufthansa had previously been interested".<br/>

ITA Airways has worked out the main elements of a partial takeover deal with Lufthansa and hopes to announce it soon, the chairman of the state-controlled Italian airline said on Wednesday. Sources have previously said the German carrier is negotiating with Rome over the purchase of a 40% stake in ITA, valued at around E200m ($218.82m), with the idea of buying the rest at a later stage. "The structure of the deal is defined and the fact that some of the details might change is part of the negotiating process," Chairman Antonino Turicchi told reporters. "The course is set," he added, speaking on the sidelines of a presentation of a new aeroplane at Rome's Fiumicino airport. A Lufthansa spokesperson said talks were "well on the way" but declined to comment further. The exclusivity period for talks between ITA, the successor to bankrupt Alitalia, and Lufthansa ends on April 24, although the deadline is not binding.<br/>

Lufthansa Group carrier Austrian is expecting to modernise its entire long-haul fleet with Boeing 787-9s over the next five years. It will introduce its first of 10 787-9s from next year, increasing the airline’s overall fleet to 66 aircraft for the 2024 schedule. As the remaining nine 787s arrive, they will replace the Vienna-based carrier’s Boeing 777 and 767 twinjets. This fleet replacement will be completed by 2028. Austrian will source the aircraft from orders placed by Lufthansa Group. “This will result in a significant rejuvenation of the [Austrian] fleet,” it states. CE Annette Mann says the modernisation “shows that we are fit for investments and the future”. She says the aircraft will offer 20% better fuel consumption than its 767s. Austrian has three 767-300ERs and six 777-200ERs, plus a short-haul fleet of Airbus single-aisle and Embraer regional jets.<br/>

Eagle-eyed travelers snapped up heavily discounted tickets in the fanciest cabins on All Nippon Airways after a currency conversion blunder, with one paying just $890 for flights in first class all the way from Jakarta to the Caribbean via Tokyo and New York, and back again. That 14,500-km journey would typically cost nearly 20 times as much in first class on ANA. Others grabbed tickets in business class for just a few hundred dollars instead of the usual $10,000 or so, with news of the glitch spreading on social media platforms. ANA Holdings said Wednesday the mistake stemmed from an error on its Vietnam website, which listed an erroneous currency conversion. It didn’t state how many people had secured discount tickets and said it was “investigating the cause of the bug and the size of its damage.” An ANA spokesperson initially said the airline would honor the tickets for those who bought them, but the carrier said later that a final decision hadn’t been made, adding that one would be reached before the end of the month. The discounted tickets will still be valid for the people who fly before that decision is made. Most of the tickets were for travel from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta to Japan and then to New York and back again to various Southeast Asia destinations, including Singapore and Bali. <br/>

Indian conglomerate Tata Group has sought the competition regulator's approval for a merger between its Air India airline and Vistara, the company's joint venture with Singapore Airlines. The merger, announced in November, will create a stronger rival to India's dominant carrier IndiGo and help SIA solidify its foothold in one of the world's fastest-growing aviation markets. Tata will hold 51% of the total issued and paid-up equity share capital of the merged entity while SIA will own a 25.1% minority stake, according to a filing on the Competition Commission of India's website on Wednesday. Air India, founded by JRD Tata in 1932 and nationalised in 1953, was returned to the control of the Tatas in January last year. Once known for its lavishly decorated planes and stellar service, Air India's reputation declined in the mid-2000s as financial troubles mounted. Tata Group Chairman N Chandrasekaran said in November that the merger was an important milestone in efforts to rebuild Air India into a "world-class airline".<br/>