Daily Briefing – October 31, 2025
Welcome to today’s airfreightinsider.com Daily Briefing, your snapshot of the latest trends and key developments across the air cargo and aviation sectors. Here’s what’s shaping the industry as we approach November.
Korean Air Bets Big on Airbus A350F and Gains Industry Accolades
Korean Air takes a decisive step into the cargo arena by converting seven of its existing Airbus A350-1000 passenger aircraft orders into seven Airbus A350 freighters (A350F), making it a new customer for Airbus’ latest freighter. This move signals Korean Air’s intent to strengthen its air freight capacity amid growing demand, as confirmed by Airbus.
In addition, Korean Air was honored as the Asia Airline of the Year 2025 by the Centre for Aviation (CAPA). The award highlighted the airline’s strategic excellence, particularly its smooth integration of Asiana Airlines, positioning it as a leading carrier in Asia’s competitive market.
Airline Network Expansions and Route Adjustments
- LOT Polish Airlines will expand its European footprint by adding Porto, Portugal, to its route map starting in May 2026. The service from Warsaw to Porto will operate five times weekly during the summer season.
- Air Transat is resuming flights between Toronto and Berlin from June 2, 2026, with increased frequencies designed to tap into the growing transatlantic travel demand.
- American Airlines announced its first international route for the Airbus A321XLR: a seasonal service from New York JFK to Edinburgh beginning March 8, 2026. This is a key milestone in deploying longer-range single-aisle aircraft on thinner long-haul routes.
- Meanwhile, Gulf carrier Emirates will cease operations to Damaskus by mid-November 2025, discontinuing the Dubai-Damaskus route that currently runs five times weekly.
Operational Challenges and Fleet Groundings
SWISS will ground all nine of its Airbus A220-100 aircraft for up to 18 months starting November due to persistent engine problems combined with a shortage of spare parts. This affects Swiss’ short-haul fleet availability and could impact its network capacity in the near term.
Industry Insights: Innovation, Sustainability, and Strategic Outlook
The aviation cluster Hessen Aviation has released its “Trend Flight Plan,” outlining critical areas the industry must focus on—including the rapid rise of artificial intelligence, the evolving role of eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) air taxis, and the urgency of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs). This comprehensive view underlines how technology and environmental priorities are reshaping the sector’s future.
Financial Highlights and Market Movements
- Howmet Aerospace raised its annual revenue and profit forecast after a strong third quarter driven by increased production rates of commercial aircraft components for 2026 deliveries.
- Avolon, the global aircraft lessor, reported a 24% year-on-year rise in net profit to $149 million in Q3, reflecting robust demand for leased aircraft and positive cash flow performance.
- ANA All Nippon Airways posted record revenue of 1.9 trillion yen (approx. €7.08 billion) for the first half of its fiscal year, demonstrating continued strength in the Asia-Pacific aviation market.
Regional and Infrastructure Developments
- The former Swiss military airfield at St. Stephan in the Bernese Oberland has been officially approved for conversion to civil use. This redevelops the site into a new civilian airfield operated by Prospective Concepts Aerona, potentially boosting regional connectivity.
- Swedavia, Sweden’s airport operator, reports a rebound in passenger traffic following the removal of the national air traffic tax, with a 3% increase in Q3 passenger volumes across its ten airports.
- Jamaica’s Kingston airport has reopened after disruption caused by Hurricane Melissa, as reported by the country’s Ministry of Transport. Despite ongoing power outages across much of Jamaica, airport operations are back online, supporting recovery efforts.
Miscellaneous Industry Notes
- The head of Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) reaffirmed the importance of domestic flights within Germany, emphasizing that despite environmental debates, the need for inland air connectivity remains robust.
- Singapore Airlines has again been voted to have the world’s best cabin crew for 2025, continuing its dominance in global service rankings with only one European airline featuring in the top 20.
- A curious safety incident: a duo with a nut allergy recently left a KLM flight from Edinburgh to Amsterdam right before departure, citing concerns over in-flight service of banana bread as an allergen risk.
- The Lufthansa Group is reconsidering an old plan to deploy Eurowings aircraft more heavily in Geneva as Swiss faces financial pressure and continues to reduce its schedule in the Swiss-French city.
Career Opportunity
Flughafen Memmingen in Germany is hiring a Traffic Manager (m/w/d) to ensure safe and orderly airport operations. Details can be found via aeroTELEGRAPH’s job board.
That wraps up today’s Daily Briefing. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s video analysis and keep navigating this fast-changing industry with us.
Your editor,
airfreightinsider.com