Budget airline Wizz Air on Wednesday lost its challenge against a capital increase for Romanian rival TAROM funded by Romania and approved by EU competition regulators, as Europe's second-top court dismissed its arguments. Wizz Air took its case to the Luxembourg-based General Court after the European Commission said the E2m in aid to offset the impact of travel restrictions linked to the COVID pandemic complied with EU state aid rules. The EU watchdog had declined to open a formal investigation into the case. "That aid, amounting to almost E2m, is compatible with the internal market," the Luxembourg-based General Court said. Judges said the Commission had correctly assessed the proportionality of the aid granted to TAROM. Wizz Air can appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union, Europe's top court, on matters of law. Airlines across Europe received billions of euros in state aid during the pandemic, triggering lawsuits from rivals such as Wizz Air and Ryanair.<br/>
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Korean Air significantly bettered its quarterly profit after “successful” passenger capacity expansion, with its cargo operations again providing a significant boost to its earnings. For the three months ended 30 September, Korean Air reported an operating profit of close to W619b ($443m), a 19% jump compared with the year-ago period. Revenue for the period stood at W4.2t, up 10% year on year. Korean Air notes both cargo and passenger revenues increased, with cargo increasing 19% compared to last year. “Despite typical seasonal headwinds, the business leveraged ongoing growth in China’s e-commerce sector to achieve strong results,” says Korean Air on its cargo business. Load factors were up 1.3 percentage points against the same quarter last year. On the passenger front, the SkyTeam operator saw revenue grow 2% year on year, as a result of what it calls “successful yield management through strategic capacity deployment”. It attributes strong traffic across its network during the summer peak period, with systemwide RPKs up 5.3% year on year. Korean Air also notes that passenger yields are essentially unchanged from a year earlier, and higher than pre-pandemic levels. Passenger revenue grew in the Southeast Asia, China and Japan regions, but largely held steady in North America and decreasing in Europe, according to Korean Air data.<br/>