Lufthansa

The biennial Dubai Air Show opened yesterday as airlines are poised to make major aircraft purchases after rebounding from the groundings of the coronavirus pandemic.

Boeing announced an order of 45 737 MAX aircraft from budget carrier SunExpress, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa on the first day of the event.

"Donald Trump and his team made big and innovative moves to bring Kosovo and Serbia closer together. We had an economic agreement that both sides pushed forward," said Grenell.

Ryanair delivered a petition signed by 1.1 million EU passengers to the European Commission on Wednesday, demanding overflights be protected from air traffic control (ATC) strikes, particularly in France, to help avoid travel disruption. 

Türkiye's mega airport Istanbul was the busiest one in Europe, with an average of 1,263 daily flights in March, according to EUROCONTROL.

Sabiha Gökçen, also in Istanbul, ranked 17th on the list with an average of 549 daily flights.

Istanbul Airport was followed by Heathrow with 1,190 flights and Charles de Gaulle in Paris with 1,135 flights.

SunExpress, a joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, will reach the largest network in its history this summer, adding 26 new routes, and plans to carry more than 12 million passengers by the end of the year.

Turkish Airlines carried a total of 71.8 million passengers in 2022, with the international passenger tally rising nearly 6 percent.

Last year, the carrier served 46.3 million international passengers, and the load factor on the international routes was 80.2 percent, Turkish Airlines said in a filing with Borsa Istanbul.

Istanbul's mega airport was the busiest in Europe last year, according to the latest data from Eurocontrol.

It was again a very close race for the top spot, with İGA Istanbul narrowly finishing the year on top with 1,156 daily movements. Amsterdam Schiphol takes the second spot with 1,140 daily flights, down 18 percent from 2019, Eurocontrol said in a report.

SunExpress, a joint venture of Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, expects to exceed its target of 10 million for 2022, Max Kownatzki, CEO of SunExpress, has said, also announcing plans for the upcoming winter season.

Lufthansa and a union representing its ground staff in Germany reached a deal on Aug.4 to end a pay dispute, a week after a one-day strike that forced the airline to cancel more than 1,000 flights.

German national carrier Lufthansa said Wednesday it was scrapping another 2,000 flights this summer because of staff shortages, adding to a chaotic travel season as the industry attempts to bounce back from the pandemic.

The cancellations between now and the end of August will affect Lufthansa's hubs in Munich and Frankfurt, a company spokesman told AFP.