Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury has observed an easing of the airframer's supply-chain pressures. But he warned during a 11 January briefing on orders and deliveries that "the supply-chain situation is still tense" as Airbus works to increase production. "It's improving, it's getting better," says Faury. "But we are also flying higher as we continue to ramp up in 2024." An overall production target for 2024 has not been disclosed. Airbus delivered 735 commercial aircraft in 2023, slightly exceeding its target of 720. The effort represented a delay of one year in the company's production ramp-up plan. Airbus had aimed for 720 deliveries in 2022, subsequently revised the target to 700 amid supply-chain constraints and ended up delivering 661 commercial aircraft that year. Now, Faury asserts, the manufacturer is on track with its plan to reach a monthly production rate of 75 A320-family aircraft, 14 A220s and 10 A350s in 2026. As part of that plan, Airbus has previously said it will reach Rate 65 on the A320 family by the end of 2024. Output grew again in 2023, especially during the last quarter. Faury says the increase was "much smoother" than in previous years. "We could feel over the months of the year that we were on the trajectory, that the production was happening and that we were preparing well [for] the end of year. "We would prefer to be less backloaded. But it's a bit of scheme in that industry, to have a lot of planes at the end of the year." The backloaded delivery pattern is a result of increasing production, Faury adds. "That's something we will keep seeing for as long as long as we ramp up."

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.