Ryanair plans to cut over a fifth of its capacity from Brussels for winter 2026/27 in response to higher aviation taxes in Belgium. It says this will remove one million seats, five based aircraft, and twenty routes from its base at the country's capital airport, representing a reduction of investment of $500 million. The move comes as the Belgian government doubled aviation tax to €10 ($12) per passenger from 2027, states Ryanair, which comes on top of previous tax hikes earlier this year. "These repeated increases to this harmful aviation tax make Belgium completely uncompetitive compared to the many other EU countries, like Sweden, Hungary, Italy, and Slovakia, where [governments] are abolishing aviation taxes to drive traffic, tourism, and jobs," says chief commercial officer Jason McGuinness. Ryanair is also warning that a separate proposed €3 departure tax from the Charleroi city council could force deeper cuts as early as April 2026. The airline's decision to cut services is the latest in a series of reductions that it has made in response to higher charges in Europe, as it has sought to concentrate capacity in the lowest-cost operating jurisdictions. As part of this it has pulled back from Austria, Denmark, Germany and Spain, while other lower-tax locations are seeing significant capacity hikes.

KLM Cityhopper is installing additional passenger seats in the cabins of its Embraer 195-E2s. The first reconfigured aircraft returned to service on 6 December with 136 seats, up from 132 previously. Space for the additional seats has been created by "reducing the size of the galley and optimising the way it is stocked", says KLM. It adds that a new catering process is being implemented to reduce weight and thereby fuel burn. The SkyTeam carrier estimates that this reduces per-passenger CO2 emissions by 3%. "KLM Cityhopper employees have been involved in this process improvement to ensure the new layout is practical for the crew," says the airline, adding: "Passenger comfort and the onboard catering offering will remain unchanged." Twenty-two E195-E2s in the fleet are scheduled to be reconfigured by June 2026. KLM says that aircraft currently parked in Twente will also receive the new cabin layout upon their return to service. Cirium fleets data shows that Cityhopper has 25 E195-E2s. The airline's latest E195-E2 was delivered in October, with 132 seats. It has no more of the type on order. The fleet is equipped with Recaro passenger seats. In addition to the E195-E2s, Cityhopper has 32 first-generation E190s and 17 E175s.

Travel group TUI reports that EBIT in its markets and airline segment fell to €217 million ($253 million) in its fiscal 2025, down from €304 million a year earlier. The German-based group says that it saw higher revenue because of stronger pricing, while booking volumes were flat year on year. Yet operating profit declined as a result of "the competitive market environment and investments in transformation and growth." TUI's market and airlines segment comprises a range of European tour operators and airline fleets stationed across Belgium, Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK. In the northern region (UK, Ireland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark), the segment's underlying EBIT declined to €140 million from €165 million, while in the central region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Poland) it fell to €98 million from €128 million. In the western region of France, Belgium and the Netherlands, underlying EBIT swung to a €21 million EBIT loss from €10 million profit last year. TUI says it is investing in IT systems, new sales channels and the ability to offer consumers more products with greater flexibility and combination options, something it terms a "curated marketplace". It states: "TUI is adapting to changing customer behaviour. We are increasingly focusing on dynamically packaged products. This gives customers more choice and the high level of protection offered by a package tour". The travel group cites an 11% increase in dynamically created travel packages in 2025. Across the group, which additionally spans hotels, resorts and cruise ships, underlying EBIT grew to €1.46 billion, from €1.29 billion last year. Revenue meanwhile grew at a slower rate, to €24.2 billion, from €23.2 billion.