Lufthansa Group has offered concessions to the EU's competition authorities as it seeks approval for its purchase of a 41% stake in Italian flag carrier ITA. The carrier confirms that it submitted commitments to the European Commission on 8 January, ahead of a preliminary deadline for a decision on 29 January. "As part of this review, we remain in close and constructive contact with all parties involved," states Lufthansa. "We are not disclosing any details of the commitments submitted." The Commission says it is now assessing the commitments as part of its examination of the competition implications of the deal. Commitments can be submitted to the Commission throughout the approval process to allay competition concerns, and are required to eliminate the concerns entirely and be capable of being implemented in a short period of time. The Commission was first notified of the deal on 30 November and subsequently invited interested third parties to submit their views on the transaction as part of its efforts to assess the takeover's implications. Lufthansa Group agreed the purchase of a minority stake of ITA from Italy's finance ministry in May last year, stating that it saw the possibility of acquiring a majority stake at a later date. It has said that by taking control of ITA it will be able to develop Rome Fiumicino into a new long-haul hub for the airline group, joining existing ones in Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich. The German group also believes that ITA can play a role in feeding traffic into its current network, as well as in cementing its presence in Italy – already its third most important market after its home countries and the USA.

Finnair has appointed the national postal chief to replace Topi Manner, who departs the flag carrier's helm on 15 January.
Turkka Kuusisto has led Finland's main postal service company, Posti Group, since 2020. Posti says Kuusisto has given notice of his resignation to join Finnair on 11 July at the latest. Until then, he will continue to serve as Posti's chief executive. Posti is a publicly owned company. Finnair is majority-owned by the Finnish state. Finnair notes that its current chief operating officer, Jaakko Schild, will hold the top job on an interim basis ahead of Kuusisto coming aboard. "Finnair has restored its profitability after the historic double crisis, and the company is well positioned to continue to build a sustainable future, offering excellent connections via its Helsinki hub to both Finns and to customers traveling between Europe and Asia, the Middle East and Americas," states Sanna Suvanto-Harsaae, chair of Finnair's board of directors. "Turkka brings to Finnair his strong understanding of complex industries and his proven people leadership and strategy skills, which will benefit Finnair as Finnair now moves to the next phase in its strategy," she adds. The surprise announcement last August that Manner was stepping down capped a tumultuous period for the airline. After the pandemic's devastating impact on the industry, Finnair's recovery was hit by the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, which resulted in a shutdown of Russian airspace to Western airlines including Finnair. As the carrier had made connecting Europe with Asia the core of its long-haul business model, it was forced to rapidly reorder its capacity, adding services to the Middle East as well as North America. It also sought to implement dramatic cost-cutting measures, reorganising its supply chain and slashing expenditure on its short-haul network. The carrier said during its last quarterly results presentations in late-October that it expected to return to operational profitability for the full year to end-December, forecasting a figure of €160-200 million ($170-$213 million). It since raised €570 million from investors as part of a rights offering in November. Much of this was used to pay back a Covid-era state loan.

Boeing delivered 157 commercial aircraft in the fourth quarter, up from 105 jets in the previous quarter and 152 aircraft delivered in the year-ago period. These include 110 737s, 23 787s, 15 767s and nine 777s, the US airframer says. For the full year, the airframer delivered 528 commercial aircraft, compared with 480 the year before. Boeing delivered 396 737 Maxes and 73 787 Dreamliners in 2023, hitting its delivery target for the year. Boeing revised its 737 delivery target to 375-400 in October from 400-450 at the start of 2023 after it discovered manufacturing flaws by supplier Spirit AeroSystems. It had also set a target of delivering 70-80 787s for the year. Besides the narrowbodies and Dreamliners, Boeing delivered 32 767s, 26 777s and one 747 in 2023. For the full year, Boeing received 1,314 new net orders for commercial aircraft after accounting for conversions and cancellations, compared with 774 the year before. According to the airframer, it logged 1,456 gross commercial aircraft orders – including 987 737 Maxes and 313 787s – compared with 935 gross orders in 2022.