Air New Zealand is undertaking a strategic review aimed at further lowering its costs as continuing issues with engine availability across its Airbus A320neo and Boeing 787 fleets dragged it to a NZ$59 million ($35.4 million) loss before tax for the six months to December. That compares to a restated profit of NZ$144 million for the equivalent period in the year prior. Operating revenue rose 1% to NZ$3.44 billion, which the airline says was driven by international inbound bookings, particularly from Asia, while its domestic network remained soft. Across its network, RPKs grew 0.8%, outpacing a 0.3% rise in capacity that pushed load factor up 0.3 percentage points to 83.6%. The airline swung to a net loss of NZ$40 million for the period, compared to a net profit of NZ$98 million in the first half of fiscal 2025. While acknowledging the tough domestic market conditions and persistent cost inflation, Air NZ largely put the blame for the loss on the lack of Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan and Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines that have grounded multiple aircraft. It adds that while compensation of around NZ$55 million has been received, around NZ$90 million in earnings have been lost due to aircraft groundings, and it is "in ongoing negotiations with engine manufacturers to improve certainty around engine return schedules and appropriate compensation". "While we are disappointed that the engine availability issues have taken longer than anticipated to resolve, we are pleased with recent progress and now expect a total of four grounded Airbus neo and Boeing 787 aircraft to return to service throughout the 2026 calendar year," says Air New Zealand chief executive Nikhil Ravishankar. "We will also take delivery of two of ten new 787 aircraft later in the financial year, providing widebody capacity growth of around 20 percent to 25 percent over the next two years." Unlike its existing 787-9 fleet, which are powered by the Trent engines, the incoming aircraft will be powered by GE Aerospace GEnx engines. While fleet availability issues are expected to lessen over the next six months, the airline warns that it is " unlikely to translate immediately into earnings uplift", and that second-half results are expected to be " broadly in line with, or modestly below, the first half." Ravishankar adds that "we are undertaking a comprehensive review of all aspects of the business, with the objective of returning the airline to sustained profitability through enhanced operational performance, growth and further cost transformation initiatives".

Etihad Airways has posted surging full-year profits for 2025 as the Abu Dhabi-based carrier continues to rapidly roll out new capacity to destinations across Europe and Asia. EBITDAR earnings rose by 37% to Dh6.3 billion ($1.7 billion) and post-tax profit reached Dh2.6 billion, up by nearly half in 2024, while the profit margin stood at 8.4%, up by 1.5% on 2024. That’s nearly double the industry-wide profit margin of 3.9%, as compiled by IATA. Etihad’s growth has been fueled by an ongoing expansion of its capacity, up by more than a fifth in 2025. Meanwhile demand “remained strong”, it states, with the load factor rising by 2 percentage points to 88.3%. Strong sales have encouraged the airline to push more of its Airbus A380s back into service, having withdrawn the superjumbo from active flying during the pandemic. Data shows that it retains just two A380s in storage out of a fleet of nine jets, having returned two back into service within the past 12 months. At the same time, it has begun to introduce the smaller A321LR into its fleet, with 13 now flying with the carrier, data shows. These are being operated on what would normally be widebody routes such as to Thailand and northern Europe and are fitted with first and business class seats. Over the past several years Etihad’s business model has transitioned from one focused on rapid geographical expansion designed to attract transfer passengers to a more disciplined strategy, often targeting smaller, medium-sized markets. As part of this, new routes launched last year include Atlanta, Prague, Warsaw, Addis Ababa, Phnom Penh, Hanoi and Hong Kong. "2025 has been a defining year for Etihad, delivering our strongest performance across every key metric and marking our fourth consecutive year of profitability," states Antonoaldo Neves, chief executive. "These results confirm that our strategy is working – growing sustainably, strengthening our financial position, and continuing to deliver a high-quality experience for our guests." Having been burnt taking equity stakes in several airlines pre-pandemic, such as Alitalia and Air Berlin, the carrier has also initiated a strategy of increasing codeshares with other carriers, increasing its reach. This has seen it form partnerships with Ethiopian Airlines, China Eastern, and Air France-KLM.

Last year was the UK's busiest ever for air passenger numbers, as 302 million travellers passed through the country's airports, according to the latest data from the Civil Aviation Authority. Passenger numbers were up 2% on the 295 million of 2024, continuing a long-term trajectory that has tripled UK air travel since 1989. The figure surpasses that for 2019, when 300 million people passed through UK airports. CAA data indicates that 73% of flights operated on time in 2025. This is slightly below pre-pandemic standards but represents an improvement of six percentage points on 2024. "A record year for passenger numbers underlines the importance of boosting airport capacity as we progress our work to prepare for a third runway at Heathrow, and drive forward approved expansion plans at Gatwick and Luton," states UK aviation minister Keir Mather. The most popular destinations last year from the UK were Dublin, Alicante, Dubai, Malaga and Palma de Mallorca. The other destinations with the largest increases in passenger numbers were Milan Linate (453,000 more passengers), Krakow (326,000) and Malta (301,000).