The business year 2016 and the first quarter 2017 at airberlin were dominated by the transition to a new business model at the airline, Aviation Tribune reported. Structural issues of the old business model and high restructuring costs have impacted the reporting periods. airberlin CEO Thomas Winkelmann said: “Old airberlin’s indistinct market position, the strongly season-dependent route network and the high operating costs have together led to highly unsatisfactory financial results. The new strategy we launched in autumn 2016 is a major step to turn around the airline’s fortunes.

Veneto Banca, the troubled Italian lender which is in the process of requesting state aid to secure its future, has liquidated its Irish wholesale banking operation, Veneto Ireland Financial Services, the Irish Times reported. The move comes as Dublin ups its efforts to compete with Paris and Frankfurt and attract more financial services companies looking to relocate from post-Brexit London to remain in the European single market.

British Prime Minister Theresa May pledged to protect workers against irresponsible practices over pensions on Sunday, promising new regulations on how schemes are handled during corporate takeovers. May's Conservative party will give regulators power to examine takeover proposals that threaten the solvency of a company pension scheme, and the regulator could be empowered to block takeovers if it is not satisfied with the arrangements, Reuters reported. May set out the policy ahead of an election June 8.

Air Berlin reported a record net loss of 782 million euros (654.10 million pounds) in 2016 as well as a widening loss in the first quarter of 2017, and said it was seeking new partners as it battles to revive its fortunes, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Air Berlin, 29 percent owned by Abu Dhabi-based Etihad, is already undergoing a restructuring that will see its fleet halve to about 75 aircraft and a focus on network flights rather than the tourist flights to Spain for which it became famous.

Italians are watching their flag carrier Alitalia go into yet another financial tailspin, and a growing number of them believe it would be better for the country if it crashed. Outraged at repeated state bailouts that have cost taxpayers more than 7 billion euros (5.88 billion pounds) over a decade, many Italians are taking to social media to urge the government to resist the political temptation to rush to its rescue again, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. "In electoral terms, Alitalia is worth nothing.

After a dismal fourth quarter, it seems that Europe’s investment banks have got some of their swagger back, the Financial Times reported. Switzerland’s UBS grew investment bank profits by more than 50 per cent in the first quarter, even though it is hard to imagine a recovery less well-suited to the Swiss bank which is short on the US exposure and the markets businesses that have driven the strong results of peers. Credit Suisse reported a 133 per cent rise in credit revenues in the first quarter, on a US dollar basis, and said it had led 19 IPOs “more, w

A closely watched measure of inflation in the eurozone has risen more sharply than expected, adding to the pressure on Mario Draghi to succumb to German-led calls to abandon the European Central Bank’s aggressive monetary easing, the Financial Times reported. The European Commission’s statistics bureau on Friday reported that the annual rate of core inflation had shot up from 0.7 per cent in March to 1.2 per cent this month.

ECB president Mario Draghi acknowledged that there was some difference of opinion over the strength of the eurozone’s economic recovery within the governing council this month, but he said there was “unanimity” over the central bank’s belief that risks are “still tilted to the downside,” the Financial Times reported. Mr Draghi said “some members had a more sanguine view on the economic situation”, while “others believed that such improvements would not warrant any change in communication as far as the balance of risks are concerned”.

The European Union's head office says Greece is delivering on its fiscal targets and that an agreement to hand more bailout cash to Athens could come next month, the International New York Times reported on an Associated Press story. EU Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said Wednesday that Greece continues to show progress on its budget targets and held out hope of an agreement between Greece and its bailout creditors from the 19-country eurozone and the International Monetary Fund soon.

French carmaker PSA Group said its first-quarter revenue rose 4.9 percent, as the first results of a new product offensive helped to overcome negative currency effects, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Revenue advanced to 13.63 billion euros (£11.62 billion) from 13 billion a year earlier, the maker of Peugeot, Citroen and DS cars said on Wednesday. At its core automotive division, revenue rose a more modest 2.5 percent to 9.02 billion euros.