Latest news with #InternationalAirlinesGroup
Los Angeles Times
22-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Airlines face climate reality check with green jet fuel
British Airways' parent company, International Airlines Group, surged ahead of other passenger airlines last year to consume the most sustainable aviation fuel, according to a Bloomberg Green review of corporate filings from dozens of air carriers. The company acquired 55 million gallons of cleaner jet fuel, which is derived from lower-emitting sources such as used cooking oil and animal tallow. That number exceeded the amount used by all U.S. passenger airlines combined. But the promising performance is overshadowed by a troubling reality for the industry: The shift to sustainable aviation fuel is still minuscule, while growth in passenger air travel is drowning out any climate gains so far. For example, despite IAG's world-leading status, cleaner fuel accounted for only about 1.9% of its overall fuel consumption last year, and its emissions from fuel combustion still rose by 5%. Globally, sustainable aviation fuel is expected to increase to 0.7% from 0.3% of aviation fuel this year. But the International Air Transport Assn. expects air travel to climb 6%, causing another jump in emissions. 'We're still at the very beginning of this market,' said Daisy Robinson, a BloombergNEF analyst who focuses on renewable fuels. 'It's going to take some time.' New rules are springing up in different parts of the world to spur more use of sustainable aviation fuel, which costs at least twice as much as conventional jet fuel. Starting this year, the European Union and the U.K. require jet fuel to include at least 2% SAF. Other requirements have been enacted or planned in Canada's British Columbia province, Brazil, Indonesia and Singapore. Such rules help protect first movers from being undercut on prices by competitors. 'As airlines, because of competition, we're not great at doing this voluntarily,' said Aaron Robinson, IAG's vice president for sustainable aviation fuels in the U.S. 'Mandates in different geographies can play a really important role in moving the whole aviation industry forward.' In the U.S., where no mandates are planned and where President Trump's recent tax bill reduced incentives for SAF, airlines have fallen behind the market leaders — despite some heavily advertising their pursuit of greener fuels. Alaska Air Group Inc. leaped to the front of U.S. carriers last year by increasing its SAF usage more than tenfold to 0.68% of its fuel. That's about double the percentage of several other big U.S. airlines, including JetBlue Airways Corp., United Airlines Holdings Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. It's nearly 10 times the percentage of American Airlines Group Inc., which used only 0.07% SAF. (When including cargo carriers, DHL Group led the world by using SAF for 3.52% of its jet fuel last year.) Businesses that spend a lot on corporate travel, such as tech firms and consulting companies, helped pay for more than half of Alaska's SAF last year. This enables companies such as Microsoft Corp. and Autodesk Inc. to claim a smaller carbon footprint. Microsoft shaved its emissions by 65,000 tons last year by helping cover the cost of greener fuels, including for some employee flights on Alaska. It's unclear, though, how many more companies will step up, especially given the high cost of cleaner jet fuel compared with other options to rein in emissions. Ryan Spies, managing director of sustainability for Alaska, estimates that businesses pay $150 to $300 for each ton of carbon dioxide that they avoid through SAF purchases. By comparison, carbon offsets sold for an average of about $6.30 per ton last year, according to Ecosystem Marketplace — though many offset projects have delivered fewer climate benefits than advertised. 'This pool might not be that deep,' Spies said. 'The only way to bring these [cost] numbers down is to invest in these technologies.' Global SAF production continues to lurch forward at an uneven clip. Although analysts say there's plenty of green fuel to hit the 2% mandates in Europe this year, vastly more will be needed for airlines to reach their widely held goals of 10% SAF by 2030. A couple of new plants began churning out cleaner fuels last year, including a large Texas facility from Diamond Green Diesel, which is a joint venture between Valero Energy Corp. and Darling Ingredients Inc. Meanwhile, World Energy's first-in-the-country SAF plant in Paramount, has been shut down for months after the loss of financial backing from Air Products & Chemicals Inc. A World Energy spokesperson said there's no timetable for restarting the plant. Perhaps the biggest disappointment for airlines has been the retreat of oil giants, which previously trumpeted massive commitments in this area. BP, for instance, said two years ago that it was pursuing five projects around the world that would produce 50,000 barrels of renewable fuels per day, with a focus on SAF. The oil major has since scaled back most of these plans amid a renewed focus on fossil fuels. BP didn't respond to requests for comment. 'We need to make sure that some of these bigger players are really investing in the new facilities,' said Hemant Mistry, director of net zero transition for the International Air Transport Assn. 'They're the ones who have the technical expertise, the experience, and they have the balance sheets, as well.' Passenger air travel is expected to double by 2050, which will probably cause emissions to soar. While airlines are counting heavily on cleaner fuels to save the day — IATA anticipates SAF could be 80% to 90% of the fuel supply by mid-century — others are more pessimistic. BloombergNEF, for instance, predicts that scarce feedstocks and a lack of new plants will limit these cleaner fuels to about 7% of the industry's propellant by 2050. Considering these challenges, some in the industry are pushing it to shift its focus beyond SAF and to address the thorny issue of ever-rising passenger numbers. 'Limiting or even questioning growth, that is difficult for airlines,' said Karel Bockstael, a former vice president of sustainability at KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, who retired in 2022 after 32 years at the company. Bockstael last year co-founded the group Call Aviation to Action, which has the support of more than 400 current and former aviation insiders, including from fuel producers, airports and airlines. They're urging the industry to set firm limits for its emissions and to support more aggressive policies to stay within these boundaries. This could include levies on frequent fliers or carbon taxes on jet fuel. 'We're not against the industry, we love it, we know all the benefits of it,' Bockstael said. 'But if we do not have a strategy — if we do not have a way out when planetary boundaries are forced upon us — then we will have serious problems, and our industry will have a tragic hard landing.' Elgin writes for Bloomberg.
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trending tickers: IAG, Novo Nordisk, Shell, Stellantis, LVMH
Airline stocks headed into the red on Monday as the conflict in the Middle East ramps up, with the US bombing Iran over the weekend to support Israel in its bid to cripple the country's nuclear programme. The Iranian military vowed a "decisive response" after the attack, which president Donald Trump said had caused "monumental damage" to the nuclear facilities. The UN has been unable to confirm the impact of the damage so far. Following the news, British airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG.L) said it would pause flights to Dubai and Doha. Singapore Airlines has also cancelled flights in the region. The stock was down around 1.3% at the open in London. Airlines stocks are selling across the board, with Lufthansa (LHAB.F) down 5.1% in early trade and Air France ( declining 1.9%. There has been no industry-wide response to the conflict just yet but cancellations so far may point to companies strategically wanting to get their planes out of Middle Eastern airspace to avoid them getting stuck there for an undetermined period, according to analysis on Bloomberg TV this morning. Shell and its oil producing peers headed higher on Monday as tensions continue to ramp up in the Middle East, building on gains from Friday. The moves follow a vote by Iran's parliament to shut down the vital Hormuz shipping channel in retaliation against Donald Trump's attack on the country. Concerns about disruption to supply as a result of the conflict have pushed oil prices higher, with Brent crude futures (BZ=F) up 0.4% at $77.49 a barrel on Monday morning, their highest point since February. Oil prices are now up nearly 20% month-on-month. Shell rose 0.5%, while BP (BP.L) rallied 1.5%. Around a fifth of the world's oil consumption flows through the strait of Hormuz. It is the entry and exit point to the Persian Gulf. The final decision to shut the pathway rests with Iran's supreme national security council, following the non-binding vote. Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk stock dipped more than 2.5% in early trade on Monday as market watchers reacted to promising data from rival Eli Lilly (LLY) as it tests an experimental weight loss pill called orforglipron. Eli Lilly said on Saturday that its new drug helped diabetics lose weight and lower their blood sugar. It is set to release its data for tests on overweight and obese people by the end of the year, as the market hots up for weight loss drugs such as Ozempic — which is manufactured by Novo Nordisk. Eli Lilly's drug showed in its phase 3 study that type 2 diabetes patients taking the highest dose of daily orforglipron lost nearly 8% of their body weight over 40 weeks. Patients taking Ozempic lost around 6% in the same period, comparatively. The company said the most common side effects of the drug included diarrhoea and vomiting. Eli Lilly's stock was flat in pre-market trade in the US. Fiat and Jeep-maker Stellantis stock traded lower on Monday following news of a top-level shakeup under the firm's new CEO Antonio Filosa. "The team I'm announcing today draws on all that is best in Stellantis, leaders from within who bring a people-first mindset, a profound understanding of our brands, our products and our customers, best-in-class expertise and an entrepreneurial spirit that will be vital to our success," Filosa said in a press released statement. Among the appointments Doug Ostermann was confirmed as CFO, taking responsibility for mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures. Heads of various regions and devisions were also laid out in the restructuring. The moves are a bid to revive the carmaker's shareprice, which has dipped more than 34% since the start of the year. Luxury goods house LVMH stock dropped in Europe on Monday as Morgan Stanley (MS) cut its price target from €560 to €510. The bank pointed to FX movements weighing on the company's expectations for earnings. The bank lowered its sales forecast for the first half of the year for the fashion and leather goods maker to -7.5% compared with the previous year. 'We think expectations here remain too high (double-whammy of operating deleverage and adverse FX),' analysts led by Edouard Aubin in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
23-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trending tickers: IAG, Novo Nordisk, Shell, Stellantis, LVMH
Airline stocks headed into the red on Monday as the conflict in the Middle East ramps up, with the US bombing Iran over the weekend to support Israel in its bid to cripple the country's nuclear programme. The Iranian military vowed a "decisive response" after the attack, which president Donald Trump said had caused "monumental damage" to the nuclear facilities. The UN has been unable to confirm the impact of the damage so far. Following the news, British airways owner International Airlines Group (IAG.L) said it would pause flights to Dubai and Doha. Singapore Airlines has also cancelled flights in the region. The stock was down around 1.3% at the open in London. Airlines stocks are selling across the board, with Lufthansa (LHAB.F) down 5.1% in early trade and Air France ( declining 1.9%. There has been no industry-wide response to the conflict just yet but cancellations so far may point to companies strategically wanting to get their planes out of Middle Eastern airspace to avoid them getting stuck there for an undetermined period, according to analysis on Bloomberg TV this morning. Shell and its oil producing peers headed higher on Monday as tensions continue to ramp up in the Middle East, building on gains from Friday. The moves follow a vote by Iran's parliament to shut down the vital Hormuz shipping channel in retaliation against Donald Trump's attack on the country. Concerns about disruption to supply as a result of the conflict have pushed oil prices higher, with Brent crude futures (BZ=F) up 0.4% at $77.49 a barrel on Monday morning, their highest point since February. Oil prices are now up nearly 20% month-on-month. Shell rose 0.5%, while BP (BP.L) rallied 1.5%. Around a fifth of the world's oil consumption flows through the strait of Hormuz. It is the entry and exit point to the Persian Gulf. The final decision to shut the pathway rests with Iran's supreme national security council, following the non-binding vote. Novo Nordisk ( Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk stock dipped more than 2.5% in early trade on Monday as market watchers reacted to promising data from rival Eli Lilly (LLY) as it tests an experimental weight loss pill called orforglipron. Eli Lilly said on Saturday that its new drug helped diabetics lose weight and lower their blood sugar. It is set to release its data for tests on overweight and obese people by the end of the year, as the market hots up for weight loss drugs such as Ozempic — which is manufactured by Novo Nordisk. Eli Lilly's drug showed in its phase 3 study that type 2 diabetes patients taking the highest dose of daily orforglipron lost nearly 8% of their body weight over 40 weeks. Patients taking Ozempic lost around 6% in the same period, comparatively.
Daily Mail
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Outrage as British Airways uses Argentinian name for Falkland Islands capital in 'disgraceful' move
British Airways has caused outrage after using the Argentinian name for the capital of the Falkland Islands on its in-flight entertainment systems. Veterans of the Falklands war have branded the decision 'disgraceful' after BA's screens displayed the name 'Puerto Argentino', despite the islands being in British hands since 1833. The UK's flagship carrier, which is owned by Spanish firm International Airlines Group, put the name in English in brackets underneath - something the airline is now urgently investigating. Argentina has long claimed sovereignty over the islands and famously invaded them in 1982 in a bid to end British rule. On the instruction of then-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, British troops were deployed to the other side of the world to defend the islands, which are still classed as a British Overseas Territory today. Falklands veterans said the fact the British name was not displayed was 'ludicrous' and 'disrespectful'. Former head of the Royal Navy Admiral Lord West, who won the Distinguished Service Cross during the conflict, told the Sun: 'It's disgraceful. The Falklands are a British overseas territory and 99.9 per cent of islanders want to stay British. 'We have said very clearly there will be no discussions about sovereignty. 'For the flag carrier airline to give Port Stanley another name is unforgivable.' And Lord West, whose HMS Ardent was sunk during the conflict, added: 'They should change it back as soon as possible. This is insulting to the population of Port Stanley.' Argentina has long disputed the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, which have been in British hands for almost 200 years. On April 2, 1982 a surprise raid on the capital, Port Stanley, saw Argentinian forces invade the territories and capture the city. It was the beginning of a 74-day war that would see 255 British personnel lose their lives defending the islands. The UK came out on top in the conflict, but Argentina still protests its ownership of the islands. In the light of continued calls from the south American nation, a referendum was held in March 2013 in which 99.8 percent of islanders voted to remain a British territory. In 2017, the county's senate voted to rename Stanley Port to Puerto Argentino and pledged to celebrate 'Sovereignty Day' there should they ever retake them. The British military has maintained a presence on the islands since the end of the war, with a 2,000-strong garrison of troops and transport aircraft based at Mount Pleasant. Last year, Argentina's President Javier Milei, an ally of Mr Trump, has said he will not relinquish the claim to sovereignty over the Falklands, but will not seek conflict with the UK. Claims from the country's government have increased once again since the UK agreed to give up the Chagos Islands. The Argentinian Foreign Minister Diana Mondino said in October: 'With concrete actions and not empty rhetoric, we will recover full sovereignty over our Malvinas Islands. 'The Malvinas [Falklands] were, are and will always be Argentine.' The UN has also called on the UK and Argentina to resume talks about the future of the islands, led by the Special Committee on Decolonization. A British Airways spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We're grateful this has been brought to our attention, and we are reviewing it with the third party supplier that provides the in-flight map service.'
Telegraph
30-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Burberry boss paid £400,000 to move house after sacking 1,700 staff
Burberry's new chief executive has been handed a £380,000 allowance to help fund his move from New York to London. Joshua Schulman was given the perk as part of his joining package last July, when he was parachuted in to help revive the ailing luxury fashion retailer's fortunes. This included £135,000 for temporary accommodation and £120,000 for 'home search assistance and transportation of goods'. He was also given access to a monthly £25,000 housing allowance that he can draw upon for 18 months. Five months of the allowance have already been used, according to company filings, amounting to £125,000. Since taking over at Burberry, Mr Schulman has been tasked with spearheading a radical turnaround aimed at restoring profits. This led to him unveiling plans earlier this month to cut around 1,700 jobs, accounting for 20pc of the company's global workforce. Burberry's annual report shows its workforce has already been shrinking. Over the last financial year it fell from 9,336 to 8,459. The Telegraph revealed in July that the business was preparing to sack hundreds of staff across its UK offices. As well as receiving a lucrative housing allowance, Mr Schulman has also been handed a £1.2m annual salary. In total, he received £2.56m during his first nine months in the job. He is not alone in receiving a relocation allowance after being appointed as chief executive of a London-listed company. Luis Gallego, chief executive of British Airways owner International Airlines Group, was previously given £500,000 to help him pay for his homes in Madrid and London. Trade war hits sales Mr Schulman's turnaround plan, which has been dubbed Burberry Forward, aims to focus the high-end brand on the 'spirit of Britain'. He said late last year that he would revive Burberry, which was founded in 1856, by emphasising its 'quintessentially British' heritage. However, Donald Trump's trade war and a slowdown in China have dampened sales in recent months, with Burberry sinking to a £66m loss in the year to April from revenues of £2.4bn. Following the results in May, Mr Schulman said: 'While we are operating against a difficult macroeconomic backdrop and are still in the early stages of our turnaround, I am more optimistic than ever that Burberry's best days are ahead and that we will deliver sustainable profitable growth over time.' Optimism surrounding Mr Shulman's turnaround plan has lifted Burberry's share price by 13c over the past six months, giving the company a market cap of £3.7bn. Burberry was contacted for comment.
