In 2022, despite difficult years due to the coronavirus pandemic, the German airline, Lufthansa Group generated over 35 billion U.S. dollars in revenue. In that same year, Air France – KLM followed the Lufthansa Group with approximately 28.3 billion U.S. dollars.

Lufthansa Group's performance during the coronavirus pandemic Lufthansa Group was founded in 1953. It is the flag carrier and the largest German. The group owns Lufthansa German Airlines, Eurowings, SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Lufthansa Cargo with a total group fleet consisting of 710 aircraft at the end of 2022. The number of passengers transported by Lufthansa Group went up from 36.4 million passengers in 2020 to 101.8 million passengers in 2022. Consequently, the revenue of Lufthansa Group also went up from 13.6 billion euros in 2020 to 32.8 billion euros in 2022. Lufthansa Group reported an operating proft, which amounted to around 1.2 billion euros in 2022, the first recorded profit after the coronavirus pandemic.

The European aviation industry was hit hard by the pandemic Until the coronavirus pandemic hit, the European aviation industry was flourishing, carrying and connecting millions of passengers throughout the region every year. In addition to Lufthansa, other leading airline groups in Europe like Air France – KLM, International Airlines Group, Turkish Airlines, Ryanair, and so on were also impacted by the pandemic. Passenger capacity and traffic of Europe-based commercial airlines dramatically dropped in 2020. Therefore, commercial airlines in Europe reported net losses of 34.5 billion U.S. dollars in that year. However, the European aviation industry has been on its recovery path since the last months of 2020. Concerning the environmental footprint of the aviation industry, due to differences in fleet structure, fuel efficiency and cutting-edge maintenance of aircraft each airline emit a varying level of pollutants into the atmosphere. Ranking European airlines by carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, Ryanair was the least environmental polluting airline in Europe, with 66 grams CO2 per passenger-kilometer as of 2021.

The UK is one of the biggest aviation markets in the world, with UK airlines providing global connections for the nation's business and tourism hubs. Despite mainly being considered discretionary, passenger air travel has proven increasingly resilient to changing economic conditions in recent years, fuelled by the proliferation of low-cost carriers. However, the COVID-19 outbreak spurred a sudden collapse in demand for air travel, with restrictions on international travel leaving airlines helpless. Over the five years through 2024-25, scheduled passenger air transport revenue is slated to slide at a compound annual rate of 0.8% to £27.1 billion. The pandemic had a devastating effect on airlines. Strict public health restrictions decimated demand for air travel during the first quarter of 2020-21, with ongoing restrictions on international travel maintaining passenger numbers at less than 10% of usual levels until mid-2021. Despite recording a strong rebound in 2022-23, passenger numbers remained below pre-pandemic levels, as disruption caused by staff shortages compounded ongoing uncertainty surrounding international travel. Passenger numbers continued to rise in 2023-24, as consumers’ seemingly insatiable appetite for travel batted off the potentially damaging impact of the cost-of-living crisis. Revenue is set to grow by 2.2% in 2024-25, owing to higher airfares and strong demand. Revenue is slated to swell at a compound annual rate of 2.2% over the five years through 2029-30 to reach £30.2 billion. Growth will continue to be underpinned by strong demand for private travel, as business travel remains constrained by the switch to new norms focusing on virtual meetings and away from non-essential travel. Planned fleet expansion is also likely to fuel growth, while the industry will continue to ramp up investment in sustainable aviation fuels as the UK strives towards net-zero flying by 2050.

Since the early 1970s the European Commission´s Standard & Special Eurobarometer are regularly monitoring the public opinion in the European Union member countries. Principal investigators are the Directorate-General Communication and on occasion other departments of the European Commission or the European Parliament. Over time, candidate and accession countries were included in the Standard Eurobarometer Series. Selected questions or modules may not have been surveyed in each sample. Please consult the basic questionnaire for more information on country filter instructions or other questionnaire routing filters. In this study the following modules are included: 1. European Parliament Spring Eurobarometer 2019, 2. Passenger rights.
Topics: 1. European Parliament Spring Eurobarometer 2019: current and desired importance of the role of the European Parliament within the EU; voting decision in an assumed referendum on the own country’s membership in the EU; awareness of the date of the next European Parliament elections in the own country; interest in the next European elections; intention to vote in the next European elections; awareness of messages in the media encouraging people to vote; preferred issues to be emphasized in the electoral campaign for the next European Parliament elections; reasons for voting in the next European Parliament elections; reasons for not voting; assessment of the own country’s membership in the EU as a good thing; benefits from the EU membership; rise of political parties protesting against traditional political elites is a matter of concern.

1. Passenger rights: use of the following transport services during the last twelve months: local urban transport, rail transport, air transport, long-distance coach transport, ship or ferry services; awareness and information regarding passenger rights; place of information about passenger rights; sources of information on passenger rights; attitude towards the following statements on the level of being informed about passenger rights regarding air trips taken over the last twelve months: well‐informed by the airline before travel, well‐informed by the airline during travel, well‐informed by the airline after travel; experience of the following disruptions regarding air trips taken over the last twelve months: departure delay of 2 hours or more, arrival delay of 3 hours or more, flight cancellation, denied boarding, delayed / lost / damaged luggage, personal injury, other, no disruptions; compensation received for most significant disruption during the last twelve months: food and drinks, accommodation, alternative flight or other travel arrangements at no extra cost, reimbursement of the cost of the ticket, compensation for the disruption suffered, other, nothing; attitude towards the following statements on the level of being informed about passenger rights regarding rail trips taken over the last twelve months: well‐informed by the rail company before travel, well‐informed by the rail company during travel, well‐informed by the rail company after travel; experienced disruptions regarding rail trips taken over the last twelve months; compensation received for most significant disruption during the last twelve months; attitude towards the following statements on the level of being informed about passenger rights regarding ship or ferry trips taken over the last twelve months: well‐informed by the ship or ferry transport company before travel, well‐informed by the ship or ferry transport company during travel, well‐informed by the ship or ferry transport company after travel; experienced disruptions regarding ship or ferry trips taken over the last twelve months; compensation received for most significant disruption during the last twelve months; attitude towards the following statements on the level of being informed about passenger rights regarding coach trips taken over the last twelve months: well‐informed by the coach company before travel, well‐informed by the coach company during travel, well‐informed by the coach company after travel; experienced disruptions regarding coach trips taken over the last twelve months; compensation received for most significant disruption during the last twelve months; most likely point of contact to turn to in case of a complaint: transport company, national authority responsible for passenger rights, consumer association, lawyer, out‐of‐court dispute resolution body, claims agency, Europe Direct Contact Centre of the European Union, other, depends on transport means, none; means of transport the most significant disruption was experienced with in the last twelve months; satisfaction with the management of the complaint; satisfaction with the way the transport company informed about complaint procedures; complaint and reasons for not complaining; satisfaction with the management of the complaint by the transport company; use of a single ticket combining different modes of transport in the last...

The Inflight Catering Market report segments the industry into Meals (Bakery and Confectionary, Beverages, Other Food Types), Flight Type (Full-service Carriers, Low-cost Carriers, Other Flight Types), Aircraft Seating Class (Economy Class, Business Class, First-class), Catering Type (Retail on Board, Classic Catering), Flight Duration (Long Haul, Short Haul), and Geography (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and more).

Ryanair is the most polluting airline in the European Union based on verified emissions covered by the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). In 2024, the Irish low-cost carrier's reported ETS emissions were **** million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO₂e) for flights within the European Union Economic Area.All major airlines in the EU experienced dramatic emission reductions in 2020 due to outbreak of COVID-19 and its impacts on the aviation industry. Although total emissions from the most polluting airlines have increased since then, they have remained below pre-pandemic levels.

Amongst selected European airlines, Ryanair had by far the lowest average passenger fare in 2021, with approximately ** euros per passenger. The low-cost airline is followed by its rivals, Wizz Air and Norwegian, with an average ticket price of ** euros and ** euros respectively.

In 2024, the most valuable airline brand in the world was Delta Air Lines, with a brand value of roughly 10.8 billion U.S. dollars. The brand value of the second leading company, American Airlines, amounted to approximately 10.2 billion U.S. dollars. The rulers of the U.S. marketFour of the top five airline brands in the world were American in 2023. Between February 2022 to January 2023, these airlines were as well the leaders in their homeland market. During the same year, American Airlines, headquartered in Forth Worth, Texas, was the leader in the American market, with a domestic market share of 17.5 percent, followed by Delta, Southwest and United. Turbulent time for the aviation industryIn 2022, commercial airlines worldwide registered operating losses of around 9.3 billion U.S. dollars due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which paralyzed the commercial aviation market around the world. It was estimated that the air traffic will increase in 2023, but the recovery will not get closer to pre-pandemic levels when the number of flights worldwide almost was 40 million.

Given that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak intensifies, annual estimates for the aviation industry adjusted. As of April 2021, annual passenger revenue in the Asia Pacific region was forecasted to decline by approximately *** billion U.S. dollars from the previous year. COVID-19 and the global aviation Amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, countries and organizations began to implement precautionary measures to contain the spread of COVID-19 for a public purpose. Some of the preventive methods included imposing lockdowns or encouraging no travel unless necessary by governments. Similarly, businesses adopted a multitude of strategies to cope with the challenge, such as avoiding business travels or minimizing them. When aggregated, these measures by the governments and businesses affected the aviation industry adversely. Starting from February 2020, the year-on-year revenue-passenger kilometer (RPK) change on international routes continued to decline, reaching roughly ** percent of decline by April 2020. This decline implies an almost complete cancellation of air travel across the globe. Just like previous months, the enormous negative effect of COVID-19 on passenger aviation continues to persist as of September 2020. Consequently, airlines were desperately urged to request government aid. For instance, Lufthansa Group received over ** billion U.S. dollars and Air France – KLM roughly **** billion U.S. dollars in government bailout package. Despite all, the vulnerability of airlines perseveres as the coronavirus pandemic exposes the globe to the second wave of infections across countries. Financial performance of airlines amid COVID-19 Due to the nature of business activity involved, airline groups usually hold fewer liquidity accounts in their asset portfolios. This tendency is especially the case for traditional airlines, although somewhat less true for low-cost carriers (LCCs). While analyzing the 2019 financial balance sheet data of European airlines, Lufthansa Group held only ** percent of its global revenue in liquid assets, such as cash. Similarly, Air France-KLM around ** percent of its revenue in liquid accounts. On the other hand, Wizz Air and Ryanair demonstrated the best liquidity accounts amongst all European airline groups, with over ** percent of 2019 total revenue as liquid assets. The importance of liquid assets emerges when a business is in unexpected need to finance itself but does not have access to immediate finance capacities. For instance, a company with high illiquid asset portfolio firstly needs to liquidate its illiquid assets and then only be able to meet due business obligations. According to another analysis, Pakistan International and Precision Air have a high risk of collapse as of November 2020.

DHL Air was the cargo airline in Europe with the highest number of departures in the first quarter of 2021. DHL Air reported a total of 17,842 departures in this period and were followed by ASL Airlines Belgium, who had a total of 6,154 departures.