Divers

✈ Jesus Nuño de la Rosa, CEO of Air Europa, reveals the airline plans a capital increase with up to 20% new shares, aiming to close before summer. Conversations include "four or five airlines." Air Europa contracted PJT Partners for the capital increase, estimated at €240 million. Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, Etihad, and Delta Airlines are top contenders. Afterward, they seek €235 million from banks to repay early a €475 million state bailout.

✈ Vueling will add five new aircraft to its fleet in 2025, expanding after a two-year growth halt. Three aircraft will be based at El Prat Airport to strengthen key routes and pursue international opportunities. The other two will enhance national and international connectivity at other Spanish airports. This fleet increase will add one million seats for sale in the summer season, totaling 27.2 million seats, a 6% increase from the previous year. Barcelona’s main base will see a 9.1% increase in seats, offering connections to over 90 destinations. The airline will also boost seats by 30.9% between the Peninsula and the Canary Islands, 7.1% between Barcelona and the Balearic Islands, and 13% more at Santiago Airport in northern Spain. Additionally, connections with the UK will grow by 16%, Italy by 13%, and Portugal and the UK both by 17%.

🚀 Vueling's Airbus A320neo, operating from Barcelona El Prat to London-Gatwick, turned back due to a suspected hydraulic failure preventing gear retraction. The incident occurred shortly before entering French airspace. The aircraft landed successfully in Barcelona 59 minutes after departure. The affected A320neo, delivered to IAG's low-cost airline in January 2019, has been recently assigned almost exclusively to the Barcelona-London route.

🛫 A Boeing 737 cargo plane from Leipzig, Germany, declared an emergency en route to Barcelona due to flap issues. The Amazon Air flight, operated by ASL Airlines, was given priority for direct approach while other incoming traffic was held. The plane landed without further incident and was met by airport emergency services. Air traffic controllers managed the situation, sequencing the held traffic for approach afterwards.

🛫 Wizz Air announced it would resume all its routes from Europe to Tel Aviv, with the first flight from London Luton occurring at 7:25 AM on a Wednesday, amidst a critical peace agreement situation between Hamas and Israel. In 2024, only 79,000 tourists entered Israel, a drastic fall to just 42% of 2023's figures. The UK alone accounted for 235,000 visitors in the pre-Covid year of 2019. December 2024 saw 6,500 visitors, a 63% increase from the same month in the previous year. Previously, Israel's connectivity relied primarily on El Al and the growing Israir, as European airlines had stopped flying due to safety concerns.

🚀 SpaceX's Starship rocket explosion caused the diversion of several long-haul flights crossing the Atlantic due to the risk of falling debris, which eventually landed in the sea. Iberia's Airbus A330 from Madrid to San Juan and World2Fly's A350 from Madrid to Santo Domingo performed air holds but landed safely at their destinations. Air Transat, Spirit Airlines, JetBlue, and Amazon Air were also affected.

🌀 In Bilbao, strong wind gusts recently led to many flights being diverted to alternative airports. TAP and Vueling planes struggled to land; the TAP pilot's skill enabled a successful landing, whereas the Vueling aircraft had to abort its landing.

💡 A Boeing 777-300 from Air France, flight AF484, en route from Paris to Rio de Janeiro, was diverted to Pinto Martins Airport in Fortaleza due to a clogged toilet. Despite being close to the destination, the crew decided a detour was necessary for repairs, as reported by Airlive.net. The flight path is visible in the accompanying AirNav.Radar image.

✈ On the previous day, 28 Imserso travelers experienced the cancellation of their return flight from Palma Airport to Madrid. Air Europa was scheduled to depart at 12 pm, but the flight was called off without explanation two hours prior. The passengers were offered a rescheduled flight at 5 pm, five hours later, and given a five-euro meal voucher, which they deemed insufficient. The seniors criticized Air Europa for not considering their age when providing solutions.

✈ An impressive landing of an Emirates Airbus A380 at London's Heathrow Airport amid dense fog was captured and published on YouTube by user @elemer.aviation. The video demonstrates how the aircraft becomes partially obscured by clouds during the maneuver.