The number of European passengers travelling to the USA continued to fall back through 2025, although this was partially compensated by strong outbound demand from the country. Data from the US Department for Commerce shows that 15.3 million European passengers arrived into the USA in 2025, down 3.1% from 2024 and 17% from 2019. This could reflect heightened trade and political disruption. Meanwhile, 23.3 million US citizens departed for Europe last year, a figure up 5% from 2024 and 22% from 2019. That means that whereas in 2019 the number of people visiting the USA from Europe broadly equalled those travelling in the other direction, at around 19 million, six years later the number of US travellers taking transatlantic trips was around 50% higher. The data shows some fluctuation across the year. Travel by Europeans to the USA was actually 8% higher in April compared with a year earlier, having been 14% lower in March. This could reflect the change in Easter's timing. For US travellers, the number of trips to Europe was particularly strong though the late summer and autumn: 6.4% higher in July and 6.8% in October. European carriers have noted some weakness in transatlantic demand in recent months, although premium travel, a key driver of profitability, has held up. Speaking in October, IAG chief executive Luis Gallego said his carriers had seen "lots of instability" following the announcement of tariffs by the USA in April, and that it was "difficult to see a trend" and "difficult to say" how this would change in 2026. Premium cabin sales remained "very strong", he added. Other airlines, notably Air France-KLM and Finnair, have expressed similar sentiments. US carriers, in contrast, have highlighted ongoing strong demand to Europe, and plan to increase their capacity levels for summer 2026. "Customers continue to tell us that Europe is where they want to go each summer," American Airlines said last summer as it announced a series of new routes to the continent. Reduced recorded demand from Europe to the USA matches with Cirium's own bookings data, which that shows that sales through autumn 2025 were significantly below those of a year earlier. Ticket sales from London to New York for September travel were down 11-14% in July, for example. Paris's figure was down 5%. There were similar declines to other US destinations. Early data for 2026 shows this trend continuing into the new year. Tickets bought in the week to 7 January for June and July travel from London to New York were 5% lower this year than last year. For Paris to New York, the decline was around 18%.

Ethiopian Airlines has officially begun construction of Addis Ababa's Bishoftu International airport, set to be the largest one in Africa. The ground-breaking ceremony, held on January 10, was attended by national prime minister Abiy Ahmed and the flag carrier's group chief executive Mesfin Tasew. The new airport is intended to overcome the constraints of Bole International, and should be completed by 2030, with annual capacity for 60 million passengers, says Ethiopian. Eventually, it will be able to handle 110 million passengers per annum. It will include four parallel runways and parking spaces for 270 aircraft. "This is truly a proud moment for Ethiopian Airlines and for all of Africa," states Tasew. "We are embarking on a new chapter with the groundbreaking of Bishoftu International airport that will redefine the continent’s aviation ecosystem." He adds that the project is "a major step towards addressing the infrastructural gap in Africa" and will facilitate trade across the continent. The project is estimated to cost $12.5 billion. Ethiopian is covering 30% of this, with the remainder sourced from international lenders, including the African Development Bank, which has committed $500 million.

South African carrier Airlink has acquired two Embraer 190s from lessor TrueNoord to provide spare parts for its in-service fleet. TrueNoord identifies the two aircraft as MSNs 19000055 and 19000070. Built in 2006 and 2007, the aircraft were previously part of the fleet of US carrier Breeze Airways and were transferred to Airlink in December, the lessor says. It adds: "Airlink intends to salvage parts from the E190 airframes and retain the engines as spares, but [is] also evaluating options for future operation of the aircraft." First-generation E190/195s are powered by GE Aerospace CF34-10E engines. Fleets data lists another pair of TrueNoord-owned E190s (MSNs 19000199 and 19000218) in Airlink's in-service fleet. These two aircraft were built in 2008. Airlink's entire Embraer fleet spans 74 aircraft: 30 E190s, six E195s, three E195-E2s, four E175s, three E170s, 17 ERJ-135s and 11 ERJ-140s. It additionally has two BAE Systems AvroRJ85s and two Jetstream 41s in storage, and seven E195-E2s on order. The airline manages 27 aircraft in its active fleet, including all the E140s. The rest are variously managed by Azorra (19 aircraft), Falko (16), Embraer (four) TrueNoord (four), AerCap (three) and FlyNamibia (one). Airlink chief de Villiers Engelbrecht describes the acquisition of the two E190s from TrueNoord as a "strategic move to safeguard the reliability of our Embraer fleet". "By acquiring additional engines and components, we can mitigate the impact of global supply-chain disruptions and maintain the high standards of service our customers expect," he states.