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Brazilian airline Gol said on Monday it had struck a deal with investors in which they would purchase up to $1.25b in debt instruments, a key step toward the carrier's exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S.<br/>Gol's Sao Paulo-listed shares jumped 9% on the news, before paring gains to stand up around 5%. Under the deal, the investors committed to purchasing up to $1.25b of the $1.9b in debt instruments to be issued as part of the process, which will be used to repay Gol's obligations under a debtor-in-possession financing. Investment advisers Castlelake and Elliott Investment Management committed the funds on behalf of their clients, a court filing from Sunday evening seen by Reuters showed. The minimum commitment amount from the two comes in at $750m. The funds will also be used to pay transaction costs and provide working capital and other support for its business upon emergence from Chapter 11, Gol added. The carrier has been in bankruptcy proceedings since early 2024. It noted that in addition to the exit financing, it was weighing other options such as issuing new debt as well as looking for equity investments. The move would significantly deleverage Gol's balance sheet, the airline said, while also significantly diluting its existing equity.<br/>

Ryanair is to launch an annual subscription service that gives members reserved seating, insurance and access to monthly seat sales for 79 euros ($85) per year, it said on Monday. The Irish airline, Europe's largest by passenger numbers, will initially limit membership of the "prime" service to 250,000, which would earn it E19.75m per year if fully subscribed. Rival low-cost airline Wizz last year launched a "MultiPass" subscription service that locks in the price of one flight per month for a set price, with checked-in bag and priority status options. Spanish online travel booking firm eDreams ODIGEO also has a "prime" service, which offers discounts, ticket refunds and the ability to hold tickets at a given price.<br/>

Victims’ relatives traveled to the scene in the French Alps of the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 10 years ago Monday, while hundreds of people gathered in silence to mark the anniversary in a German town that was home to an 18-member school group on board the doomed plane. The plane took off from Barcelona, Spain on the morning of March 24, 2015, and was supposed to land in Duesseldorf, Germany. But it never arrived because, investigators said, the plane was deliberately downed by the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz. All 150 people on board were killed. The victims included a group of 16 students and two teachers from a high school in the western German town of Haltern am See who were flying home from an exchange trip to Spain. Also killed were two babies, a pair of acclaimed German opera singers and a member of an Argentine rock band, three generations of the same family, a vacationing mother and son, a recently married couple, people on business trips and others going home. Most came from Germany and Spain, though the victims came from 17 different countries in total. Many victims’ families traveled to the crash site in southeastern France. In the nearby village of Le Vernet, local officials and Carsten Spohr, the CE of Germanwings parent Lufthansa, laid flowers. In Haltern, students laid roses in the yard of the Joseph König high school, and hundreds of people who gathered in the rain in front of a plaque with the victims’ names fell silent at 10:41 a.m., the moment of the crash. The school’s principal, Christian Krahl, said it remains important to remember the tragedy even though today’s students didn’t experience it, German news agency dpa reported. “We want to be close to those who are infinitely sad to this day,” he said. Wreaths were laid at the town cemetery, where there is a memorial in the form of a schoolroom and some of the students are buried. Commemorations were also planned at the airports in Duesseldorf and Barcelona. At Duesseldorf Airport, a book of condolences was available in the so-called Room of Silence for employees and travelers. The crash caused shock and disbelief when investigators revealed that co-pilot Lubitz locked the flight’s captain out of the cockpit to deliberately set the plane on a collision course with a mountainside.<br/>

UK start-up carrier Global Airlines has signalled, through a promotional offer, that its initial transatlantic services will take place in May this year. Global Airlines has been planning to carry out flights using an Airbus A380 undergoing preparation work in Portugal, operated by wet-lease carrier Hi Fly. It has unveiled a promotion which refers to “special” inaugural UK flights from Manchester and Glasgow, serving New York JFK. The company says the first Glasgow-JFK flight will take place on 15 May, with a return four days later on 19 May. It will then offer a Manchester-JFK service on 21 May with a 25 May return. Global Airlines says the flights “will be on sale in the coming days” and is inviting interested parties to submit a reservation in order to be invited to purchase a ticket. “On board the cabins have all been overhauled to give a brand-new look and feel,” it adds. “The catering team has been busy preparing a new menu and there will be special ‘limited edition’ amenity kits in all cabins, for all passengers.”<br/>

Emirates has announced 17 additional flights to destinations in the Middle East to meet demand during the Eid Al Fitr holidays. More than 371,000 passengers are expected to fly with the Dubai airline between March 26 and April 6. Residents in the Gulf are expected to get up to four days of paid leave for Eid Al Fitr, with the festival expected to start on Monday, March 31, depending on when the Shawwal moon is sighted. Eid Al Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, coincides with the start of the Shawwal, the 10th month of the Islamic calendar. The exact start date of Shawwal will be determined in the final days of the holy month. Emirates is adding six flights to and from Amman, and another five flights between Dammam and Dubai. The airline will be running an extra four flights from Jeddah and the airline’s schedule from Kuwait will extend to another two services. During the holidays, Emirates will also be serving a special Eid menu across all travel classes on select flights to and from Dubai. The menu will include traditional favourites chicken madhbi; prawn matfi; chicken makloubeh; mixed grills such as chicken shish taouk and lamb kofta; halwa brownie; and pistachio cake. Last week, Emirates predicted more than 80,000 passengers a day would to travel through its dedicated Terminal 3 at Dubai International on March 28-29 and April 5-6 – the busiest dates of the Eid Al Fitr holiday.<br/>

IranAir (IR, Tehran Mehrabad) has filed a lawsuit against the Council of the European Union at the General Court of the EU, seeking the annulment of October 2024 sanctions that ban the airline from flying to the bloc due to its alleged support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Iranian state-owned carrier brought the action, T-676/24, on December 23, 2024, but the details of the plea were only published at the end of February 2025. IranAir argues that the sanctions violated multiple rights belonging to the airline, including the right to be heard, the right to defence, the right to access a file, and the right to the impartial gathering and assessment of evidence. It also claims that the EU misused its powers because IranAir "in all likelihood or at least predominantly pursued a purpose other than that officially provided in respect" of the sanctions. The airline recalled that EU officials themselves conceded that the measures "should be considered in terms of politically motivated collective responsibility" rather than IranAir's direct culpability.<br/>