Air traffic manager Eurocontrol has increased its projections for flight activity for 2023 and 2024 on the back of evidence for "vivid pent-up demand". It cites strong bookings and strong tourism flows, in particular to leisure destinations in southern Europe, fuelling a strong bounceback in capacity. To date this year, capacity, as measured by average flight movements per day, has recovered to 86% of 2019 levels across the continent. Last year it was 83% and in 2021, 56%. Eurocontrol expects the total number of flight movements in Europe to reach 10.3 million this year, rising to 10.9 million in 2024. In 2019, it came in at 11.1 million, which is Eurocontrol's expectation for 2025. However, the overall picture hides large regional differences. Some countries in southeastern Europe rose above their 2019 activity levels last year, as measured by services operating in flight zones. Greece was up by 1%, Macedonia by 5% and Albania by 13%. Croatia was level. Northeastern Europe has been hit by the lack of overflights from Russia, while Ukrainian traffic was down 90%, with activity having been relatively normal up until the point of Russia's invasion. In France, Germany and the UK, activity was down 12%, 20% and 17%, respectively. After 2025, growth in flight activity is forecast to slow down "owing to the greater uncertainties within the seven-year horizon", such as higher inflation, pressure on oil prices, and environmental concerns, Eurocontrol believes. It also notes that budget carriers are "consistently outperforming mainline and regional sectors" through the recovery, ending last year with a market share of 32.3%, just behind mainline carriers on 32.4%, and that load factors are rising back towards the levels seen pre-pandemic. The latest projection is part of Eurocontrol’s seven-year forecast to 2029.

Turkish Technic has signed a base maintenance agreement with Emirates for five Boeing 777s. The Istanbul-based MRO provider says it commenced work on the first aircraft at Istanbul Ataturk airport on 1 April and will service the other four in upcoming months. A photo provided by Turkish Technic shows an Emirates 777-300ER (A6-ENM) at the MRO company's facility. Data shows the aircraft was delivered to Emirates from Boeing in 2014. The UAE-based carrier is the largest 777 operator, with a fleet spanning 123 777-300ERs, 10 -200LRs and 11 freighters. In March, Jordanian MRO provider Joramco disclosed a contract with Emirates for 777 C-checks. The carrier completes most of its airframe maintenance in-house.

Lufthansa and the Italian government are making "further progress" in talks on the German group's bid to acquire ITA Airways, the country's finance ministry has indicated. Economy and finance minister Giancarlo Giorgetti met Lufthansa Group chief executive Carsten Spohr and ITA president Antonino Turicchi to discuss the takeover proposals on 30 March in Italy. "During the positive conversation, the shared industrial plan was illustrated which will determine the development of ITA Airways in terms of fleet, network and strategic objectives," says the ministry in a 30 March statement. "With today's meeting... further progress is made in the direction of the industrial partnership between the two carriers." Separately, ITA says its board of directors has approved the business plan shared with Lufthansa Group. In January, Lufthansa made an offer for a minority stake in ITA plus options to acquire the remainder at a later date. "The plan is to agree on the initial acquisition of a minority stake as well as on options to purchase the remaining shares at a later date," said Lufthansa. Talks are focusing on the possibility of an equity investment in ITA, as well as its commercial and operational integration into Lufthansa Group. ITA, which is the successor to former flag carrier Alitalia, on 29 March reported an annual net loss of €486 million ($527 million) for 2022. Revenue reached €1.58 billion last year, of which €1.27 billion came from the passenger traffic business. During the year, ITA operated some 97,000 scheduled flights and transported around 10.1 million passengers. The airline expects its revenue to grow substantially in 2023, driven by the expansion of its route network and fleet size.