European budget carrier Wizz Air expects to fully recover from the coronavirus crisis as travel demand rebounds from the pandemic, its chief executive said on Monday, Reuters reported. Speaking at the virtual Paris Air Forum, Jozsef Varadi repeated recent comments that the Hungary-based airline would fly more seats this summer than it was flying two years ago before the pandemic struck. "From my perspective, 2022 should be a fairly robust year in terms of delivering not just the volume of traffic but also the financial performance attached to it," he said.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is targeting 99.7 billion euros ($114 billion) in additional borrowing next year to bolster the country’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The projected new debt represents a 22% increase from the 81.5 billion euros foreseen in an earlier federal budget plan, according to two senior government officials, who asked not to be identified in line with protocol. The borrowing would take the total for this year and next to more than 340 billion euros. German bonds fell, with 10-year yields rising two basis points to minus 0.18%.

A facility extended in the context of the COVID-19 crisis seems to have contributed to the insolvency request filed by Romania’s biggest independent power supplier, Getica 95, Economica.net reported. Under an emergency ordinance issued by the Government on May 20, last year, the energy suppliers are forbidden to discontinue deliveries even to customers with overdue bills during the state of alert. The state of alert has not been lifted yet, and many customers make use of this facility in more or less good faith. Separately, the implications of a deeper crisis at Getica 95 are investigated.

Lufthansa wants to repay state aid it received during the pandemic before Germany's federal election in September if possible, the airline's chief executive said on Friday, Reuters reported. "We were one of the first companies to be rescued by the federal government. We also want to be one of the first companies to pay back the rescue funds - hopefully before the federal election. We are working on that," Chief Executive Carsten Spohr told an aviation conference.

The European Union lifted travel restrictions for U.S. residents, in the latest step toward restoring lucrative transatlantic airline routes despite concerns over the spread of potentially dangerous coronavirus variants, Bloomberg News reported. Albania, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Macau, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Taiwan were also added to a so-called “white list” of countries from which non-essential travel is allowed. The new rules will take effect within days, as soon as they are published in the Official Journal of the EU. Some EU countries already allow vaccinated Americans to visit.

British retail sales fell unexpectedly last month as a lifting of lockdown restrictions encouraged spending in restaurants rather than shops, according to official data, Reuters reported. Retail sales fell 1.4% between April and May, the Office for National Statistics said. Food stores suffered the biggest hit, with a 5.7% drop in sales. Separately on Friday supermarket chain Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, reported a sharp slowdown in underlying UK sales growth in its first quarter.

British supermarket group Morrisons has rejected a proposed 5.52 billion pound ($7.62 billion) cash offer from U.S. private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R), saying that it is far too low, Reuters reported. Britain's fourth largest grocer by sales after Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, said it received the "unsolicited, highly conditional non-binding" proposal of 230 pence a share on Monday. The board of Bradford, northern England-based Morrisons rejected the proposal on Thursday.

European Central Bank policymakers meeting this weekend made “good progress” in reshaping the ECB’sstrategic goals, including the role it plays in fighting climate change and a revised approach to inflation, President Christine Lagarde said yesterday, Reuters reported. The 25 members of the ECB's Governing Council gathered in a hotel near Frankfurt to add impetus to the bank's first review of its approach to monetary policy in nearly two decades, which it aims to conclude in the second half of the year.

A group of creditors that bought Etihad Airways PJSC-linked bonds are preparing to auction $463 million of claims against insolvent airlines Alitalia and Air Berlin to recover some of their investment, Bloomberg News reported. The trustee of bonds issued by EA Partners I and II -- two special purpose entities set up by the Abu Dhabi-based carrier -- hired Barclays Bank Plc to arrange the sale, according to a statement. Potential buyers will be able to access documentation on June 21 and the auction will take place within two weeks, it said.

The Restaurants Association of Ireland and some individual members of the group have applied to the High Court seeking leave to challenge distinctions made between indoor dining in non-hotel commercial restaurants and indoor dining within hotels, the Irish Times reported. The challenge relates to recent regulations signed by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and claims the distinction drawn should be quashed on the basis of “irrationality, lack of proportionality and unjustifiable interference” with restaurateurs’ property and economic rights.