Europe’s Airline Supergroups Brace for a Crucial Earnings Week

By this time next week, all three of Europe's biggest network airline groups will have reported second-quarter earnings. Air France-KLM goes first on Thursday, IAG follows on Friday, and Lufthansa Group closes on Tuesday. They jointly carry hundreds of millions of passengers a year across more than 20 operating airlines and underpin much of the continent's long-haul connectivity, making these results an important gauge of the wider travel economy. The reports – covering the important April to June period – arrive midway through a turbulent year. The Iran war started in late February, bringing closed airspace and route suspensions that stretched deep into the second quarter. The impact of the conflict extended far beyond the Middle East. Soaring fuel prices led to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) slashing its 2026 global airline profit forecast in June, with net income to $23 billion, down from the $45 billion glo