general

Flight disruptions piled up at airports around the country ahead of the July Fourth weekend, but airline investors have largely shrugged them off. More than 63,000 flights operated by US airlines, or 30% of their schedules, were delayed between June 24 through July 2. More than 9,000, or 4.2%, were canceled. Both of those percentages are above disruption averages so far this year, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. On Tuesday, disruptions lessened with nearly 2,500 U.S. flight delays, half the number that were delayed on Monday, though thunderstorms continued to disrupt flights at major airports like Newark and Denver. The recent delays were driven mostly by a series of rolling storms coupled with other issues like a shortage of air traffic controllers in congested airspace around New York and other areas, derailing travel plans of thousands of customers. It upended what has been a mostly calm spring for travelers. But sky-high travel demand continues to keep airline stocks aloft, with several reaching multi-year highs. The TSA said it screened nearly 2.9 million people on Sunday, a record for a single day. It’s the clearest sign yet of unrelenting demand for air travel, as passengers book flights or cash in on rewards points and make up for lost time after the Covid pandemic halted trips. American Airlines and Delta Air Lines have recently raised their profit outlooks thanks to strong bookings. Lower fuel prices from last year continue to be a tailwind for the industry, too. Airlines release Q2 results and will offer a full-summer outlook starting in mid-July, reports that will likely include the financial impact of the late June and early July disruptions. United Airlines and Delta are each up 46% so far this year through Monday, while American Airlines is up 42%. For comparison, the S&P 500 has gained 16% over the same period. Delta and United recently touched their highest levels since June 2021.<br/>

Representative Blake D. Moore, Republican of Utah, is pushing for changes to federal law that would allow more nonstop flights between Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Salt Lake City. Those flights, he said, would increase tourism between Utah and the nation’s capital. They would also offer Moore a more efficient commute. When he heads home from Capitol Hill, Moore often waits for the only direct flight in the afternoon or evening from any of the three Washington-area airports that can return him to Salt Lake City in time to tuck in his children: a Delta Air Lines departure from Reagan National, also known as DCA, after 5 p.m. that lands around 8 p.m. An earlier departure would allow him to fulfill his duties as a legislator but also as a father, Moore said, letting him help his wife with dinner or attend Little League practice. “We need more direct flights out of DCA,” he said. In recent weeks, dozens of lawmakers have joined the push for 28 new round-trip flights per day at Reagan National. Pressing their case with opinion essays, tweets and proposed legislation, they argue that these additional routes — which would require tweaking a decades-old law that prevents most flights from traveling more than 1,250 miles to or from Reagan National — would meet pent-up demand, reduce airfares and create new jobs. Their push, fueled by a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign sponsored by Delta, aims to enact changes as part of legislation that would reauthorize the FAA for another five years. The effort to relax the so-called perimeter rule is caught up in battles for market share among airlines, local politics in the Washington area and friction over the FAA’s chronic and worsening problems managing air traffic and safety. But unlike many of the special-interest battles in Washington, this one has personal ramifications for lawmakers — or at least those who shuttle home each week to points west that cannot be reached easily from Reagan National, located just across the Potomac River from downtown Washington and a quick ride from Capitol Hill. (Another Washington-area airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, is about 25 miles to the west.)<br/>

Travelers to and within Europe this year should be able to avoid the levels of disruption experienced during last year’s summer of chaos, but higher ticket prices look set to stay. The aviation industry was left in disarray last summer as it struggled to ramp up operations after the sudden closures — and subsequent redundancies — triggered by Covid-19 lockdowns. A number of European airlines limited ticket sales, canceled flights, and adjusted timetables, as airports imposed passenger traffic caps. But the unique circumstances of last year’s travel chaos are “largely behind us,” according to Airports Council International (ACI). Heathrow Airport, Europe’s largest airport by passenger volume, said it is “well prepared to serve demand over the summer peak” this year. While Gatwick Airport, the U.K.’s second-largest, told CNBC via email that it’s “not anticipating the same issues airports encountered last summer.” “Airports have gone to extraordinary lengths this year to coordinate and plan all the many different operations present at an airport — to do … everything they can to minimize any disruption for passengers,” the ACI organization of airport authorities told CNBC via email. Travel is seen 'much more as a necessity' now than a luxury, says Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary. Overall European air passenger traffic is currently 7.6% lower than pre-pandemic levels, according to the organization’s data, although five European markets — Turkey, Cyprus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece and Albania — have fully recovered to their 2019 traffic figures. Air navigation safety organization Eurocontrol said that it was preparing for high levels of traffic this summer, noting that daily flights through European airspace were now at their highest level since the start of the pandemic. Popular destinations, however, “are always susceptible to unforeseen perturbation,” it added, including from weather and industrial action, which can impact air traffic flow management. <br/>

Amsterdam Schiphol airport said on Tuesday it would not be able to receive any flights on Wednesday between 0700 and 0900 GMT due to strong winds. Schiphol, one of Europe’s busiest travel hubs, said the situation would lead to cancellations and delays for both incoming and outgoing flights, without giving further details. <br/>

Swiss duty free retailer Dufry (DUFN.S) was the only bidder for a contract to run the shops at Spain's two largest airports in Madrid and Barcelona, operator Aena (AENA.MC) confirmed on Tuesday. Dufry, which already operates the shops in these two airports, offered to pay 185 million euros ($201.67 million) in rents for the retail space in the first year of the contract, Aena told Reuters, confirming earlier reports from Spanish newspapers Expansion and Cinco Dias. Aena did not disclose how much Dufry paid in 2022 and Dufry did not immediately respond to request for comment. The Spanish airport operator had granted contracts for retail space in its other airports in Spain to a series of companies including Dufry and France's Lagardere (LAGA.PA). Aena said it did not get a satisfying offer for the Madrid and Barcelona airports in May. Before Aena opened a second tender for the two big airports, Dufry insisted it found "the attractiveness of the Spanish airport operations", adding it would "consider any opportunities when they arise."<br/>

IATA has revised its recovery projections for Hong Kong, as the city sees a better-than-expected recovery from Mainland China’s reopening. In a statement issued on 4 July, the association says Hong Kong’s passenger traffic is now expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels by end-2024, bringing the city “ in line with expectations for a faster recovery in the Asia-Pacific region”. IATA director general WIllie Walsh had previously told Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post in June that Hong Kong would likely exceed pre-pandemic passenger numbers around 2027. Walsh, in his latest remarks, says: “The situation is looking bright for Hong Kong. China’s earlier than expected reopening is providing a much-needed boost to the passenger recovery.” He also welcomed measures by the city’s government to ease the labour crunch in the aviation sector, including a “labour importation scheme” covering 6,300 workers from Mainland China. “As we look ahead to the recovery and prepare for future growth, it is important that the entire Hong Kong aviation community, including airlines, airport, regulator, and government, work together to address the challenges and are well prepared to tap on future opportunities,” adds Walsh. His comments are a stark contrast to those made more than a year ago, when he labelled Hong Kong’s ‘zero-Covid’ travel restrictions “disappointing”. <br/>

Airbus is urging Chinese airlines to place orders for its biggest planes because huge purchases by other carriers and supply-chain disruptions are extending wait times in the post-Covid travel boom. “Slot availability is evolving very quickly, and we have tried to accelerate this discussion with our Chinese customers,” Airbus China CEO George Xu said in an interview at the company’s manufacturing line in Tianjin. Chinese airlines splashed out on 332 single-aisle Airbus jets last year, worth about $42b at list prices, but orders for widebody aircraft have fallen off — the backlog for these bigger twin-aisle planes is less than two dozen, Cirium says. Boeing Co.’s China orders largely evaporated in recent years in the wake of the 737 Max crashes and amid political tension between China and the US. Airbus has only a handful of delivery slots left for its A320neo family of narrowbodies before 2030, while Boeing’s 737 Max is effectively sold out into 2028. Airbus CCO Christian Scherer warned last month that wait times for twin-aisle jets are expanding as well. The European aircraft manufacturer has forecast that Chinese airlines will need 9,440 new planes between 2023 and 2042, about 15% of them widebodies. “Asia is half of the global demand for the next 20 years,” Xu told Bloomberg Television. “China is around half of the demand of Asia.” It takes several years for a purchase to materialize into actual deliveries. A record order for 500 Airbus narrowbodies at the Paris Air Show last month will join the fleet of IndiGo, India’s biggest airline, from 2030 to 2035, for example — and then only if production goes as scheduled. Airbus aims to deliver 720 aircraft this year as it works to increase output — a target it missed in 2022. As of May, the company had fulfilled about a third of its delivery goal, suggesting another dash to meet the annual deadline. In China, travel demand is returning now that the country has emerged from Covid lockdowns and restrictions on movement. Domestic air travel rebounded more strongly, but international services are also coming back. <br/>

Airbus is stepping up testing of radical new wing technology as the planemaker lays the foundation for a future successor to its best-selling A320 series, but faces a battle to bring down costs. British Industry Minister Nusrat Ghani inaugurated a wing technology plant in southwest England on Tuesday to help design and build wings that are longer, lighter, more slender and feature folding wingtips to fly more sustainably. "It's our programme to prepare technologies we are going to need for the next generation of Airbus aircraft, whatever that is," Sue Partridge, head of the company's Wing of Tomorrow programme, told reporters. The opening comes as Boeing (BA.N) researches an elongated, ultra-light concept called Transonic Truss-Braced Wings. The choice of wing design and production methods by either manufacturer, together with engine developments, will shape aircraft competition well into the second half of the century. Industry sources estimate Airbus is spending in the "high hundreds of millions" of dollars on Wing of Tomorrow. Officially, the research could benefit any project, but all eyes are on a successor to the single-aisle A320, which Airbus has said could be introduced between 2035 and 2040.<br/>