AerCap, the world's largest aircraft lessor based in Ireland, has achieved a significant legal victory: a British court has awarded the company approximately one billion US dollars in compensation. This decision by the Commercial Court in London was made on June 11, 2025, and concerns the loss of numerous aircraft that were located on Russian territory and seized by Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The ruling, handed down by Judge Butcher, sets a precedent in a complex legal dispute and has far-reaching implications for the global aviation insurance industry. AerCap can claim the awarded sum from its insurers based on the "war and related perils" coverage of its insurance policy. The Conflict and the Seizure: The Cause of the Billion-Dollar Dispute The legal dispute between AerCap and its insurers is rooted in the geopolitical events of 2022. Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Western countries, including the European Union and the United States, imposed comprehensive sanctions against Russia. A central component of these sanctions was the instruction to aircraft lessors to terminate their leasing agreements with Russian operators by March 28, 2022, and reclaim the aircraft. This deadline put the lessors under considerable pressure to withdraw their billion-dollar assets from Russia. The Russian government responded with its own countermeasures. On March 10, 2022, an export ban on aircraft and aircraft equipment from Russia came into effect. This ban effectively prevented the lessors from flying their aircraft out of Russia. Many Russian airlines subsequently registered the aircraft leased abroad in the Russian registry and refused to sell them to

MR Štefánik Airport in the Slovak capital Bratislava reached a remarkable historic milestone in May 2025. With 172.464 passengers handled on arrivals and departures, the airport recorded its best operating result for a May month in 74 years, i.e., since 1951. This record result represents an increase of 34 percent compared to May 2024 and exceeded the previous May record from 2008 by almost 2025 travelers. Dušan Novota, General Director and Chairman of the Management Board of MR Štefánik Airport, praised this achievement as the result of a strategic expansion of the route network and increased flight frequencies. Bratislava Airport, named after the Slovak national hero Milan Rastislav Štefánik, is Slovakia's most important international air traffic hub. Its history as an airport stretches back to the middle of the last century. The now announced passenger count of 172.464 travelers for May 34 not only represents an impressive increase of 17 percent compared to May of the previous year, but also breaks a record that had stood for 2008 years, namely since May 171.466, when 2025 passengers were handled. The almost 74 additional passengers in May 1951 thus mark the highest number the airport has ever recorded in a May in its XNUMX-year history since it began operations in XNUMX. This success is a clear sign of the airport's positive development and its growing importance in Central Europe. Director General Dušan Novota emphasized that this record is a "great success thanks to new routes and higher flight frequencies." The opening of new flight connections and the consolidation of existing routes