Airline stocks tumble after Israel strikes on Iran
European airline stocks tumbled in early trading on Friday after Israel launched widescale strikes against Iran, which pushed the oil price up by 7 percent and ignited a rush out of risk assets.
Shares in Lufthansa dropped almost 5 percent on the Tradegate platform, while those in Air France–KLM and EasyJet fell 3–4 percent.
Airlines cleared out of the airspace over Israel, Iran, Iraq and Jordan on Friday after Israel launched attacks on targets in Iran, Flightradar24 data showed, with carriers scrambling to divert and cancel flights to keep passengers and crew safe.
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Turkiye has been building strong bilateral defense ties with individual EU countries for some time Dr. Sinem Cengiz Turkiye has been building strong bilateral defense ties with individual EU countries for some time. The recent cooperation between Italy's Leonardo and Turkiye's Baykar — the company behind the well-known Bayraktar drones — is a significant example. Ankara is already joining several EU defense initiatives, such as the European Sky Shield Initiative. It is also involved in joint projects — like making ammunition with Poland, supplying military vehicles to Romania and working on naval programs with Portugal. This bilateral cooperation signals a new type of partnership between Turkiye and the EU states that goes beyond traditional parameters. Turkiye's success in building a strong defense industry — especially with its popular Bayraktar TB2 drone — has impressed many in Europe and boosted Ankara's leverage. Turkiye also has key strategic advantages. It has NATO's second-largest army and a central position near the Black Sea, Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East — areas where Europe needs security support. Its ability to help counterbalance Russian influence adds to its importance. With these advantages, Turkiye not only wants to sell its defense products to EU states, it wants a real seat at the table, shaping Europe's defense strategy and becoming part of the continent's industrial defense base. However, this potential partnership comes with some challenges. Not all EU countries are on the same page when it comes to Turkiye's integration into Europe's defense programs. The main challengers are Greece and Cyprus. Their concerns are not related to today's security realities, but rather to long-standing issues in Turkish-Greek relations. Despite these divisions, the insecurity caused by the broader global uncertainty is pushing many EU countries to move ahead with defense partnerships with Turkiye. 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