Cathay Pacific parent company Cathay Group has repaid a HK$19.5 billion ($2.5 billion) investment from the Hong Kong government after redeeming its remaining preference shares and paying the final dividends. The group states that it has bought back the remaining 50% of shares issued to the government as part of its 2020 recapitalisation, having purchased the previous half in December 2023. It also paid a HK$2.44 billion in dividends over the time the government held the shares. Cathay group chief executive Ronald Lam says that the repayment was an important milestone for the airline. "Our journey to rebuild Cathay for Hong Kong has been progressing well and this has enabled us to fully redeem the preference shares only 18 months after Hong Kong reopened," he says. In addition to the preference shares, the Hong Kong government also provided a HK$7.8 billion bridge loan facility that Cathay opted not to draw down. That facility expired in June 2023. The final part of the recapitalisation was an HK$11.7 billion rights issue to existing shareholders.

Virgin Atlantic will impose a carbon surcharge on all UK-departing flights from the start of next year, as it seeks to recoup some of the costs imposed by new environmental regulations. Customers booking from 1 January 2025 will pay £8 ($10) in economy, £12 in premium and £24 in 'upper', equivalent to 1% of the carrier's average fare, it says. This is a reaction to measures such as the SAF mandates and CORSIA offset costs, adds the airline, which has, in line with much of the industry, set itself a goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. The move follows Lufthansa Group’s decision, announced last month, to impose a similar surcharge applying to its European services. That charge, also coming into force from 1 January, will vary from €1 to €72 depending on the route. Core to airlines’ thinking is a need to cover some of the extra costs for SAF. The EU and UK are imposing 2% SAF mandates from next year, rising to 5% by 2030 in the EU and 10% in the UK. "As we take action to decarbonise long-haul aviation, we're committed to transparency and accountability in our efforts to achieve Net Zero 2050," states Virgin Atlantic's commercial chief Juha Jarvinen. "The introduction of a carbon surcharge reflects increasing regulatory and compliance costs and we want to be open and clear with our customers, while doing everything we can to keep these costs as low as possible. "But we can’t do this alone: we need government, investors and oil majors to do more to ensure we can scale the supply of SAF needed at a cost of production that does not penalise UK aviation and UK consumers." Virgin Atlantic warns that production of SAF in the UK is "lagging behind" the USA and EU, and will require a scaling up of up to 30x its current level to achieve the 2030 mandate.

Airbus posted a 46% drop in consolidated net profit for the first half as significant charges in its space business incurred during the second quarter offset a 29% rise in reported earnings from its commercial business. First-half 2024 net profit came in at €825 million, down from €1.53 billion in the first half of last year, as revenue rose four percent to €28.8 billion. For the quarter ended 30 June, the group posted a 78% fall in net income to €230 million as revenue rose marginally to just under €16 billion, reflecting those charges incurred by its space unit. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) at the commercial aircraft business rose 29% to €1.97 billion over the half-year period as revenue rose four percent to €21.2 billion as deliveries rose by seven units to 323 aircraft. Those were comprised of 28 A220s, 261 A320 family jets, 13 A330s and 21 A350s. The company reported 327 new gross commercial aircraft orders, compared to 1,080 in the corresponding period, maintaining an order backlog of 8,585 jets at the end of June. Airbus affirmed its June guidance that it expects to deliver around 770 aircraft this year, down from a previous forecast of approximately 800. "In commercial aircraft, we are focused on deliveries and preparing the next steps of the ramp-up, while addressing specific supply chain challenges and protecting the sourcing of key work packages," says chief executive Guillame Faury. The airframer continues its ramp up towards a rate of 75 A320 family aircraft per month, which it now expects in 2027, compared to 2026 previously. "The A220 ramp-up continues towards a monthly production rate of 14 aircraft in 2026, with a focus on the programme's industrial maturity and financial performance," it adds. On widebody aircraft, Airbus continues to target a monthly production rate of four A330s in 2024 and "rate 12" for the A350 in 2028. It says the war in Ukraine has increased its exposure to supply chain disruption risk, "given that part of the titanium used by the company is sourced from Russia, both directly and indirectly through the company's suppliers". "As a consequence, the company implemented and is progressing well on the de-risking plan to avoid any shortage in the supply chain. This has prevented the company from experiencing any production disruptions related to that matter in the first half-year 2024." It adds that it maintains compliance with all applicable regulations and sanctions with respect to Russia. Airbus forecasts an adjusted EBIT of about €5.5 billion, and a free cash flow before customer financing of around €3.5 billion in 2024.