Consolidation accelerates: easyJet is caught in a bidding war, with Apollo's £7.15-a-share (£5.7bn) offer topping Castlelake's £6.90 bid; both remain non-binding ahead of firm-offer deadlines (Castlelake August 3, Apollo August 7), complicated by an EU review of airline ownership rules. Separately, Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM are racing binding bids, due July 29, for a 44.9% stake in TAP Air Portugal after IAG withdrew. SAS CEO Anko van der Werff is departing for Air Canada's top job, leaving SAS a leadership gap mid-turnaround.
Farnborough underscores lessor-driven demand: SMBC Aviation Capital split a 200-jet order between Boeing (100 737 MAX) and Airbus (100 A320neo family), while AerCap added 15 more 787-9s. Emirates said it will refuse roughly ten early-build 777X jets over rework costs, and Turkish Airlines' anticipated 150-jet MAX order remains unfinalized.
What to watch: IAG reports Q2 results July 31, offering a read on Aer Lingus's restructuring and Heathrow charge-cap lobbying. Qantas's pilot ballot opens July 27; WestJet's cooling-off period could end in a strike by August 2. Castlelake's easyJet deadline falls August 3, Apollo's August 7. TAP Air Portugal's binding bids close July 29, with Lisbon's decision expected late August or early September.
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Brent crude surged 14% this week and now sits 45% above year-ago levels, with jet fuel up 4% weekly and 54% year-on-year — a sharply higher cost backdrop for carriers. Airline equities sold off broadly in tandem: easyJet led declines, down 11.8% on the day and 13.3% on the week, while American Airlines fell 8.3% daily and 13.1% weekly. Ryanair, Air France-KLM and Wizz Air each shed 8-15% over the week, and Delta, United, IAG and Lufthansa posted steadier but still notable declines of 3-6%, extending a sector-wide pullback as fuel costs climb.
Filed 24 Jul 2026
Shares vs jet fuel — indexed to 100, trailing 12 months
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