Italian carrier ITA Airways will boost flights on its connections to Miami and Male from Rome Fiumicino over the upcoming winter season. Starting 31 October, flights to Miami will increase from seven to nine per week, with the additional frequencies being operated using Airbus A330-900 equipment, the state-owned carrier says. ITA will also boost its service to Maldivian capital Male, operating up to six-weekly frequencies during the Christmas holiday period between 30 December and 5 January. Currently, ITA Airways operates eight connections to the USA and Canada, following its recently launched services from Rome Fiumicino to Chicago and Toronto in April and early May, respectively.

Iberia will configure its on-order Airbus A321XLR fleet with 14 full-flat business and 168 economy seats. The IAG carrier says that it will receive the first of eight A321XLRs by the end of October and likely deploy it on routes to Washington DC and Boston from Madrid during the winter 2024/25 season, following initial use on medium-haul routes. Iberia will be the A321XLR's launch operator, after the role had previously been assigned to IAG sibling Aer Lingus. The Spanish carrier says it will receive the remaining seven A321XLRs within months after its first delivery. The aircraft will be powered with CFM International Leap-1A engines.

Ryanair Group has warned that a recent trend of softer-than-expected pricing could continue through the summer on the back of shaky leisure demand in western Europe. Reporting profit after tax of €1.92 billion ($2.09 billion) for the year to end-March – a 34% increase – the low-cost carrier nonetheless notes that recent fares have been “softer than we expected”, as prices have been slashed to stimulate sales. Despite limited forward visibility, the Irish airline says it remains "cautiously optimistic" that summer fares will be "flat to modestly ahead" of last year. "We are surprised on [weak] pricing," group chief executive Michael O'Leary said during a results webcast. Ryanair had expected peak-season fares to rise around 5-10%, but this was hit by the early timing of Easter, which impacted performance into April and then continued into June. Although fares are rising for the later July-September period, the increase looks to be in the lower range of 0-5%. The recent decision by online travel agents to withdraw Ryanair flights from their sale platforms may play a role in this, O'Leary acknowledges, although he is "unsure they have the volumes" to make much of a difference. Following the signing of deals between Ryanair and individual OTAs, sales from these platforms are now starting to come back. He places greater emphasis on a "recessionary feel" to trading, as the market experiences generally weaker demand and "resistance" from consumers. "[Pricing] could go either way," says O’Leary. "It might weaken further." He adds that Ryanair has seen sales surge when it stimulate bookings, and believes it is in a stronger financial position than rivals to adopt this strategy. "We are going to be aggressive on pricing," he vows. "We will lead that trend." Although the change represents a deterioration on the company's previous expectations, it comes in a post-pandemic world of generally higher pricing, with a 20% year-on-year rise over the past two summers. This means that the company can continue to expand its market share without compromising on yields. City destinations have performed stronger than leisure routes. Weakness is concentrated in core western and southern European markets such as the UK and Germany to Spain, for example. In central and eastern Europe, as well as new markets such as Albania, it has been stronger. Expectations for an 8% increase in passenger numbers in the current year – to 198-200 million – are "subject to Boeing deliveries returning to contracted levels before year-end", adds Ryanair. It believes it will have around 20 fewer aircraft than contracted through the peak summer period, deliveries having been pushed later in the year. Although the jets, when they arrive, will enable the airline to boost its volumes, they will miss the peak flying season, so their impact on revenues and profit will be more muted. Across the wider market, because of the groundings of Airbus aircraft fitted with Pratt & Whitney geared turbofans for enhanced checks, plus the issues at Boeing, "we expect capacity in Europe to be constrained" going forward, notes O'Leary. Across its full financial year to end-March 2024, Ryanair Group saw revenues rise a quarter to €13.4 billion. It carried 183.7 million passengers at a load factor of 94%. Costs rose 24% to €11.4 billion, driven by a 35% rise in the fuel bill.