Airfares in Europe and Asia are starting to plateau or fall in a sign that a prolonged post-COVID travel boom is waning, delivering a setback for airlines struggling with higher costs and limited aircraft availability. A global imbalance between supply of flights and pent-up demand as air travel opened up after the pandemic drove up ticket prices and passenger yields - a measure of average fare paid per mile by each passenger. But industry executives, investors and analysts said that the "travel at all costs" trend is balancing out, with some customers becoming more sensitive to pricing as they grapple with inflation that has driven up living costs. Budget carrier Ryanair's CEO Michael O'Leary this month warned ticket prices would grow less than expected, sending European airline shares down. "It is a bit surprising that pricing hasn't been stronger and we're not quite sure whether that's just consumer sentiment or recessionary feel around Europe," O'Leary said. Fares were flat across the bloc in the first months of this year compared with 2023, data from travel research group ForwardKeys shows. The picture is starker in Asia-Pacific where fares have dropped the most, down around 16% in the Jan-April period year-on-year, the data shows.<br/>
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The US Treasury Department has set a minimum of $492m in total it is seeking in next week's auctions to sell warrants to purchase shares in US airlines the government received in exchange for COVID-19 assistance. Congress approved $54b in COVID-19 air carrier bailouts in 2020 and 2021. Airlines were required to repay $14b of that total and Treasury received warrants to purchase stock at the share price of the time of the awards. American Airlines received $12.6b in government assistance, followed by Delta Air Lines $11.9b, United Airlines $10.9b, and Southwest Airlines at $7.2b. Seven other airlines received smaller awards, including $2.2b for Alaska Airlines. Treasury plans to auction its warrants in the 11 airlines starting Monday. The air carriers declined comment or did not immediately answer if they plan to take part in the auction. Treasury set reserve prices of $221m for its Delta warrants, $159m for United, $59m for American Airlines, $30m for SkyWest, $17m for Alaska Air, $2.9m for Hawaiian Airlines, $1.9m for Frontier Group and $1.7m for Southwest. The Treasury is seeking at least $50,000 per airline for its warrants in Allegiant, Spirit Airlines, and JetBlue. Those warrants and others are priced below the current trading prices of the carriers' stocks. The warrants expire between April 2025 and June 2026. The US government also extended $25b in low-cost loans to airlines. Treasury said "the proceeds of these sales will provide additional returns to the American taxpayer from the financial assistance and liquidity that Treasury provided to these airlines during the pandemic."<br/>
Charges levied by Dublin Airport on airlines face a possible shake-up after regulators upheld complaints by Ryanair. The airport intends charging airlines E13.05 for each departing passenger in summer and E9.30 in winter and E2.65 for each person transferring from one flight to another at the airport in summer and E2.10 for those transferring in winter. However, the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) has told Dublin Airport, run by State company DAA, to review those fees ahead of the winter travel season’s start date on October 27th after upholding complaints by Ryanair. The airline’s complaint challenged the gap between charges for departing and transferring passengers, saying among other things that the airport failed to provide transparent reasons for the differences, which amount to 80% in summer and 77% in winter. Ryanair also challenged charges for runway movements, based on aircrafts’ weight. Among other issues, the airline argued that larger aircraft flown by rivals paid less per tonne than the Boeing 737-800s that it operates. In a third point, Ryanair maintained that Dublin’s low-emissions aircraft discount, meant to cut runway and passenger charges by 25%, actually resulted in 12.5% discounts.<br/>
Incheon International Airport will become the world's third-largest airport once its fourth phase of development is completed by the end of this year, potentially accommodating over 100m international passengers annually, its operator Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) announced, Wednesday. According to IIAC, the airport’s second passenger terminal (T2) expansion, a seven-year-long 4.8t won ($3.5b) project that started in 2017, is 95.34% complete as of April. In November at its earliest, Incheon International Airport looks forward to holding the “second grand opening” since its establishment in 2001. With the completion of this expansion, the airport will be capable of handling up to 106m passengers annually across its two terminals. This will make it the third-largest airport in the world in terms of passenger throughput, just behind Dubai International Airport and Istanbul Airport. The figure represents a 37.6% increase from the current level of 77m. The development comes amid the expansion of neighboring international air hubs.<br/>
Russia’s government has reduced its forecast for the number of commercial aircraft its aerospace industry will produce by the end of the decade. The government had indicated in June 2022 that it would turn out 1,036 commercial aircraft, including 270 Yakovlev MC-21-310s and 142 of the domestically-modified SJ-100 variant. But a revised forecast for May 2024 shows that the total number of aircraft has fallen to 994, as a result of adjustments regarding the types being manufactured. While the number of MC-21s and SJ-100s remains unchanged, the schedule has slipped by around two years – the new forecast indicates nine MC-21-310s will be produced in 2025 while the first 30 SJ-100s will be built in 2026. The number of Tupolev Tu-214s in the plan has risen from 70 to 115, with yearly production increasing from 10 to 28 aircraft, and the list also includes 14 Ilyushin Il-96-300 widebodies. These aircraft will demand over 1,100 Aviadvigatel PD-8, PD-14 and PS-90 engines. But there is a reduction in Ilyushin Il-114-300 output from 70 to 51, with initial manufacture delayed two years to 2026. Serial production of two other under-development turboprops, UZGA’s 44-seat TVRS Ladoga and its LMS-901, have been pushed back respectively to 2028 and 2025. The 2022 forecast featured 178 Aircraft Industries L-410s but the programme has since been acquired by Czech interests.<br/>