Virgin Atlantic to restart services in September, almost year after airlines suspended flights owing to Gaza war

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Major European airlines have started to resume flights to and from Israel, with Wizz Air, easyJet and British Airways all now flying to Tel Aviv, and Virgin Atlantic planning a resumption of flights later this year.

Wizz Air said on Wednesday it had restarted flights to Israel from six airports in March, with plans to resume operations on further routes during the next three months. This will include the resumption of flights from Gatwick to Tel Aviv, as well as 16 other paused routes.

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Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as investors await details of earthquake effects on chipmakers and tech suppliers

London’s FTSE 100 and Milan’s FTSE MIB are the biggest fallers of the main European stock market indices this morning. Both have lost 0.3%.

There are no major individual movers on the FTSE 100, however: the biggest faller is BT Group, down 1.7%.

EUROPE’S STOXX 600 UP 0.1%

FRANCE’S CAC 40 UP 0.2%, SPAIN’S IBEX UP 0.1%

EURO STOXX INDEX UP 0.2%; EURO ZONE BLUE CHIPS UP 0.3%

GERMANY’S DAX UP 0.2%

TSMC’s safety systems are operating normally. Preventive measures were initiated according to procedure and some fabs were evacuated. All personnel are safe, and those evacuated are beginning to return to their workplaces.

The company is currently confirming the details of the impact. Initial inspections show that construction sites are normal.

Enough votes had been cast as of Tuesday evening to put Disney’s board directors safely ahead of Trian’s two challengers.

10am BST : Euro area inflation rate flash reading (March; previous: 2.6% year-on-year; consensus: 2.6%)

10am BST : Euro area unemployment rate (February; prev.: 6.4%; cons.: 6.4%)

1:15pm BST : US ADP employment change (March; prev.: 140,000 jobs; cons.: 148,000)

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Airline may have to trim schedules as it awaits delayed delivery of new Boeing Max 737-8200s

Peak summer air fares in Europe are likely to rise again this year by up to 10%, according to Ryanair, as problems with aircraft at Boeing and Airbus leave customers scrambling for seats.

The increase would come on top of the sharp post-pandemic rise in holiday flight prices last year when pent-up demand met limited capacity in European airlines.

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