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Four passengers were injured Friday at the Atlanta airport after a Delta Air Lines jet bound for Minneapolis aborted its takeoff. The plane had experienced an engine problem, Delta spokesperson Morgan Durrant said. The incident happened while a snowstorm was causing widespread cancellations and delays in Atlanta, the world’s busiest airport. But officials can’t say if the problem had anything to do with the weather. The 201 passengers, two pilots and five flight attendants aboard evacuated the Boeing 757-300 using inflatable slides and were bused back to a concourse. One of the injured passengers was taken to a hospital, while three were treated at the airport for minor injuries. Durrant said the flight crew “followed established procedures to suspend the takeoff.” “Nothing is more important than the safety of our people and customers, and we apologize to our customers for their experience,” Durrant said. “We are working to support our customers and get them to their destinations as safely and quickly as possible.”<br/>

Delta Air Lines said on Friday that departures and arrivals at its Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta hub have resumed after extreme winter weather forced the closure of all five runways for more than two hours.<br/>The carrier canceled approximately 700 flights across its network on Friday and warned that additional adjustments to its flight schedule are possible throughout the weekend. Recovery efforts are ongoing at other airports throughout the Southeast of the United States, the airline said.<br/>

Delta Air Lines has said it expects record profits this year as air travel booms and passengers are increasingly willing to pay for premium seats. The airline expects adjusted pre-tax profits to rise to $6bn in 2025, compared with $5.2bn in the year prior, CE Ed Bastian said. It anticipates earning $7.35 or more per share, up from the $6.16 per share it earned last year. The new year looked “relatively positive” for the big four US airlines, said Fitch Ratings analyst Joseph Rohlena. “It feels like we’re in a normal-slash-healthy environment after a lot of pandemic noise,” he added. Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s president, said demand was being driven by both leisure and corporate passengers, with Baby Boomers preferring first- and business-class seats. While some US carriers struggled last year as an abundance of seats and flights in the domestic market dragged on fares, airlines cut flights and reduced seat availability in the second half of the year. Last month, several airlines raised fourth-quarter guidance, including American Airlines and Southwest Airlines, two of the four largest US airlines. Delta’s revenue totalled $57bn last year, building momentum as the year drew to a close, and revenue growth from seats at the front of the plane outpaced the main cabin, Hauenstein said. Both corporate travel and transatlantic flights helped fuel sales. Tickets sold to big corporate accounts increased 10% in the fourth quarter of 2024 compared with the same period a year earlier, driven by companies in tech and financial services. Transatlantic travel between October and December also grew 4% compared with the fourth quarter of 2023, to $2bn. Raymond James analyst Savanthi Syth noted the strength of the US dollar was likely to continue to support demand for international travel outbound from the US in 2025, benefiting carriers with well-developed transatlantic routes such as United Airlines and Delta.<br/>

Italy's ITA Airways resumed direct flights to Libya's Tripoli on Sunday, the first airline from a major west European nation to do so after a 10-year hiatus due to civil war in the north African country, ITA and Tripoli's transport minister said. ITA said it would operate two direct flights a week from Rome's Fiumicino airport to Tripoli's Mitiga airport. “We are proud to inaugurate today our first direct commercial flight between Tripoli and Rome Fiumicino, strengthening commercial and cultural ties between Libya and Italy in support of bilateral relations between the two countries,” Andrea Benassi, ITA airways general manager, said in a statement. Many international airlines have suspended flights in and out of Libya since the civil war in 2014 that spawned two rival administrations in east and west following the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. Some airlines resumed flights to Libya after security was restored when major fighting paused with a ceasefire in 2020. But efforts to end the political crisis have failed, with factions occasionally staging armed clashes and competing for control over economic resources.<br/>

Korean Air is expected to reject calls to separate Air Busan ahead of its planned integration with Jin Air, despite strong opposition from the nation's southern port city, as the regional airline is on track to stabilize its earnings, according to industry officials on Friday. The national flag carrier is in the process of merging three low-cost carriers (LCCs) — Jin Air, Air Seoul and Air Busan — after completing its long-awaited acquisition of Asiana Airlines in December. However, the plan faces strong opposition from the city of Busan and regional companies holding a stake in Air Busan. According to a regulatory filing, Asiana is the largest shareholder of Air Busan, with a 41.89% stake in the regional LCC as of the end of 2024. The city government and local firms there also hold a 16% stake combined in Air Busan. This is not the case for Jin Air and Air Seoul, both of which are fully controlled by Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, holding a 100%f stake in each LCC, respectively. The Busan city government and local companies are urging Korean Air to either consider selling Air Busan or relocate the headquarters of the merged LCC to the nation’s second-largest city.<br/>