European air connectivity flatlined in 2025, as high costs and regulatory pressures constrained growth, according to new data from IATA. The airline association says the total number of routes across the EU expanded by just 1% last year, below the 1.5% compound annual growth recorded over the previous decade. IATA data shows that 1,127 routes were cancelled in 2025, while 1,281 were added, resulting in a net gain of 154 routes. The overall network now totals 14,797 routes. "The growth of airline route networks reflects both developments in demand and the operating environment," says Thomas Reynaert, IATA’s senior vice-president for external relations. "That the European Union's air connectivity virtually flatlined in 2025 is no surprise. The regulatory burden is onerous, costs are high, and the EU's well-documented underlying competitiveness issues have not been seriously addressed." He adds that attempts to update pieces of legislation which would in theory make them more palatable to airlines "appear to be doomed to just make them worse". Reynaert's comments echo those of 35 chief executives from Europe's regional airline industry, who warned this week that a proposed update to EU261 passenger rights legislation, first promised in 2013, risks becoming "the last straw" for the sector, rather than the relief initially envisaged. Revisions to EU261 compensation legislation are intended to provide stronger passenger protection amid travel disruption while also regulating airline costs and clarifying legal definitions, according to the European Parliament. There will be a defined list of scenarios that exempt airlines from paying compensation, and potentially a mandate allowing passengers to carry one free personal item and one small hand-luggage item free of charge. Changes to the legislation were agreed by the European Parliament in January, but the EU Council, which represents member states, rejected these amendments in March. They are currently in a conciliation committee. "At a time of soaring fuel prices and geopolitical uncertainty," the executives wrote, the new rules "could simply push us to breaking point." IATA emphasises the economic importance of aviation, noting that more than 9.2 million jobs and €760 billion ($882 billion) in GDP are supported by air transport and related tourism across the EU. As well as reform EU261, IATA is requesting changes to passenger rights rules, to reduce the cost of sustainable aviation fuel, strengthen oversight of airport and air navigation charges, allow greater flexibility on airport slots during crises, and eliminate national passenger taxes.

Update (17:17 Pacific time, 22 May 2026): On 22 May, the US government expanded the ban mentioned in the third paragraph of this story to include legal permanent residents of the USA. US citizens are not subject to the ban. Measures taken by the US government on 18 May to "protect the health and safety of the American public" in response to Ebola outbreaks in Africa have already forced one flight by a major airline to divert. On 20 May, an Air France flight from Paris to Detroit, Michigan was diverted to Montreal after it was determined that one of the passengers was from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), according to a 21 May report by CBS News. Entry to the USA by non-US passport holders who have been in the DRC, Uganda or South Sudan over the past 21 days has been restricted by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for 30 days from 18 May. Subsequent to those measures, DHS said in a draft rule published to the Federal Register that all flights "carrying persons who have recently travelled from, or were otherwise present within" the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan must arrive at Washington Dulles. At that airport, the US government is "focusing public health resources to implement enhanced public health measures". CBS News reported on 20 May that it is "unclear how the new DHS rule impacts the CDC's order".Under the measures announced 18 May, the CDC and DHS will also co-ordinate with airlines, international partners and port-of-entry officials to "identify and manage travellers who may have been exposed to Ebola virus". Satish Pillai, the CDC's incident manager for Ebola response, said on 19 May during a call with media that the Ebola outbreak is a "fast-moving situation" and that the CDC had confirmed a case of an American infected with Ebola while working in the DRC. POTENTIAL DEMAND DESTRUCTION The restrictions on non-US passport holders could lead to some demand destruction on routes from Uganda, the DRC and South Sudan, as well as from other destinations to which persons who have recently been in those countries subsequently travelled. The latter case is tough to measure as it is difficult or impossible to track where those people went, but Cirium data can give insights into the former. The DRC, South Sudan and Uganda are all designated Level 4 by the US State Department in its travel advisories, indicating that people should not travel there. There are also no nonstop flights between the USA and Uganda, the DRC or South Sudan, Cirium fleets data shows, so only connecting traffic from those countries could be affected by the US government's measures. Some of the carriers that are exposed include Kenya Airways, which flies from Jomo Kenyatta International airport in Nairobi to John F Kennedy International airport, as well as Ethiopian Airlines, which dominates all three markets at the hub level, although its US services are routed via a West African tech stop, and so are not technically nonstop. Brussels Airlines, known for flying the DRC diaspora due to Belgium's historic links with that country, operates from Brussels to both John F Kennedy International airport and Washington Dulles International airport, the latter, of course, being the one to which DHS wants to route affected passengers. Those carriers could be forced to deny boarding to US-bound passengers that rub up against the CDC/DHS measures, possibly having to refund or rebook passengers. There may, therefore, be reduced load factors on their transatlantic legs while the measures are in place. UGANDA AND ENTEBBE INTERNATIONAL Uganda's main airport is Entebbe International, which serves both the town of Entebbe and the much larger capital Kampala. The airport offers multiple widebody and mid-gauge flights feeding potential US-bound itineraries. The below map shows to which African destinations Entebbe's passengers can fly with Uganda Airlines to connect onward nonstop to the USA. It excludes non-African connector destinations such as London and Dubai.

Air India chief executive Campbell Wilson has indicated that although he is eager to hand the reins to a successor, he is willing to wait for the right candidate. The carrier's recent difficulties have complicated its search for a successor to Wilson, who in April disclosed that he would be retiring from his role sometime in 2026. He joined Air India in 2022 amid the airline's privatisation under the Tata Group, after 70 years of government ownership. "In the last 12 months I had the occasion, for the first time in my 30-year aviation career, to learn that the collective noun for swans, black or otherwise, is a 'bevy'," Wilson said at a 21 May event at the Wings Club in New York. Nearly a year ago, on 12 June 2025, an Air India Boeing 787-8 crashed on take-off in Ahmedabad. It was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members, with only one passenger surviving the accident. The crash also killed 19 people on the ground. "It was a devastating event for their [the victims'] families, for their loved ones, for the aviation community, and for us," Wilson says, adding: "The official investigations continue." That tragedy has been just one of several challenges for Air India over the course of 2025 and 2026. "We've contended with a kinetic war between India and Pakistan [and] the subsequent suspension of overflight rights over Pakistan that forces a much longer routing to Europe and North America," Wilson says. He notes that nearly half of Air India's deployed capacity has been affected by the change in flight paths. Additional recent challenges include "50% tariffs in the US", as well as "severely curtailed" visas for Indian students and businesspeople coming to the USA. He adds: "There have been two armed conflicts involving Iran and neighbouring states causing massive aviation disruption, whether it be to airspace, or a doubling of fuel price, or a 10% depreciation in the rupee." Nevertheless, he argues, over the last four years leadership at Air India has "taken an iconic airline that was on the brink of collapse and given it a future". Wilson expects to be leaving Air India "in a couple of months' time". "I was always very clear that this was a four-year term for me, and I want them [Air India's board] to go through it [the selection process]," he says. He adds: "I'm going to be flexible for as long as it takes for them to find someone and make sure that we do a good transition. We've gone from rebuilding a platform of an airline, which is now done, to now supporting an induction of some 600 new aircraft. "The next four years is going to be just as challenging as the past, albeit in a different way. And so the person that takes over will have their hands full, but I want to make sure the right person is in place to carry that forward."