Category: 3. Business

Toulouse, France, 22 October 2025 – Airbus’ 2025 Cargo Global Market Forecast (GMF) shows the worldwide fleet of dedicated freighter aircraft rising to 3,420 in the next 20 years, equivalent to a 45% increase. This will be made up of 815 existing freighters and 2,605 additional ones. Of these additional 2,605 freighters, 1,530 will be replacements and 1,075 will be for growth. The additional 2,605 will be split between 1,120 small aircraft, 855 mid-size widebodies, and 630 large widebodies. Overall of the 2,605 additional freighters, 1,670 will be conversions from passenger aircraft and 935 will be new-build freighters.

World Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and trade remain the main drivers of air cargo. With long term trade forecasted at 2.7% CAGR, Airbus forecasts that air cargo will develop at a rate of 3.3% annually over the next 20 years, effectively almost doubling cargo volumes over the next two decades. Airbus forecasts significant air cargo growth as it has proved essential – not just to support economies, but also to connect remote communities, transport essential and health-critical goods, and enable local business development in emerging countries. 

After rapid cargo fleet growth during the pandemic, fuelled by an increase of passenger aircraft conversions into freighters and minimum retirement of previous generation freighters, Airbus forecasts that going forward, a large proportion of these older freighters will leave the fleet and be replaced by newer, more fuel efficient freighters such as the A350F or A320/A321 and A330 Passenger-to-Freighter (P2F) conversions.

Airbus also forecasts trade lanes, and therefore air cargo flows diversification, as more countries in the Asia-Pacific region become industrial centres. Likewise, GDP and demographic forecasts indicate that new countries such as Brazil, Indonesia or Vietnam will emerge as major consumer economies in the coming decades. This will initiate a gradual shift in air cargo geography and the global air freight map.

Of the total need for 2,605 freighter deliveries over the next 20 years, Asia-Pacific and North America will account for nearly two-thirds of demand, requiring 850 and 920 aircraft, respectively. 

Find more info on the latest Airbus Global Market Forecast and the Airbus family of freighters. 

#AIRBUS #A350F #FREIGHTER #CARGO #GLOBALMARKETFORECAST 

Sidley advised Xignux, a Monterrey, México-based leader in the energy and food industries, in connection with the US$5.275 billion sale to GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE: GEV) of its remaining fifty percent stake of Prolec GE, its joint venture with GE Vernova Inc., which was originally established in 1995. The deal reportedly marks the largest private transaction in México’s history, as reported by Reforma.

The sale will allow Xignux, which employs more than 33,000 people in México, the United States, and Brazil, to further invest in innovation, technology, and the expansion of its North American presence.

The Sidley team was led by Alyssa A. Grikscheit (Investment Funds and M&A) and Eduardo Marquez Certucha (Energy and Infrastructure), and supported by Mo Green (Private Equity), and Jessica Day (M&A).

Xignux received advice on legal matters from their in-house counsels Oscar Martinez Treviño, Teresa Villarreal Torres, and Federico de la Torre Herrera; with Creel, García-Cuéllar, Aiza y Enríquez, and Santos-Elizondo, providing local counsel in México, and Pinheiro Neto Advogados providing local counsel in Brazil; and on financial matters by J.P. Morgan Securities LLC.

Four key plasma proteins associated with potential causal roles in blood pressure (BP) regulation and increased risk of cardiovascular (CV) events, including coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke, were identified in a Mendelian randomization (MR) study published Oct. 10 in EHJ.

First, Devendra Meena, DPhil, et al., leveraged genetic instruments from 2007 plasma proteins measured in the UK Biobank study to determine their causal effects on systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) in an MR analysis. Then they performed Bayesian co-localization analyses to test whether identified associations shared causal variants. Last, they examined proteins showing strong associations in UK Biobank participants to assess relationships between proteins, BP and cardiovascular events.

Results showed that 242 proteins associated with BP (185 for SBP, 137 for DBP; false discovery rate [FDR] <0.05) were identified using proteome-wide MR. Of these, 48 were also linked to CAD or stroke. Four proteins (ACOX1, FGF5, FURIN, and MST1) were reported with potential causal roles and were supported by genetic co-localization analyses (FDR 5%; posterior probability ≥70%).

Findings also revealed that genetically predicted FURIN and FGF5 were strongly associated with BP and stroke risk, whereas ACOX1, FGF5 and MST1 might have causal effects on CAD. Notably, network MR indicated that a large portion of their impact on CAD and stroke (31%–78%) was mediated through BP regulation. These findings were further supported by observational analyses.

Meena and colleagues write that “these findings provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying hypertension-related [cardiovascular disease] and identify promising protein targets for further investigation.”

In an accompanying editorial comment, Patricia B. Munroe, PhD, et al., note that the study “provides a framework for exploring causal and mediator relationships between plasma proteins of risk factors and disease outcomes” and that the findings “provide a ‘snapshot’ of the role of BP proteins on cardiovascular outcomes, as datasets are limited to plasma and there is incomplete coverage of the proteome.”

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The UK financial watchdog has filed a lawsuit against the crypto exchange linked to Justin Sun, a Chinese-born billionaire who has invested millions of dollars in US President Donald Trump’s digital asset ventures.

The Financial Conduct Authority said that it had filed the lawsuit against HTX in the High Court this week “for unlawfully promoting cryptoasset services to UK consumers in breach of the UK’s financial promotions regime”. It is the first time the UK regulator has taken such action against a crypto company.

“This action is part of our commitment to protect consumers and uphold the integrity of UK financial markets,” the FCA said, without providing more details of its lawsuit.

“We have seen crypto firms react positively to our financial promotions rules and regulation, however where we still see poor practices we will not hesitate to take action where firms appear to be breaching our rules,” it said.

Sun is a well known crypto entrepreneur who has experienced brushes with law enforcement in the past. He is an adviser to HTX and runs the crypto companies BitTorrent and Tron, which has the TRX token. 

Sun spent $75mn on tokens issued by the Trump family’s crypto company World Liberty Financial shortly before a separate US lawsuit against him and three of his companies for alleged wash trading — a form of market manipulation — was paused this year.

He also flew on Jeff Bezos’ spacecraft in August and last year became infamous for buying and eating a $6mn banana as part of an art installation in Hong Kong. 

HTX did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

The FCA has included HTX, as well as its previous incarnation Huobi, on its warning list of companies that it believes are seeking to attract UK consumers without having the necessary authorisation. 

The UK regulator requires crypto companies to register with it before they are authorised to carry out business in the country — but HTX is not among the almost 50 groups to have done so. The registration process requires checks on financial crime and anti-money laundering controls.

In 2023, Sun and his companies were sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for alleged fraud, including for allegedly engaging in wash trading. In February, a federal court accepted the SEC’s and Sun’s request to pause the case. Sun had denied the allegations and had sought to have the case dismissed.

Sun has spent millions of dollars on buying the US president’s memecoin, becoming its top holder and securing an invite to the White House and Trump’s Virginia golf club in May. He later pledged to buy $100mn more of the memecoin. In June, World Liberty Financial began minting its token USD1 on Tron’s exchange, boosting its volumes and fees. 

Tron went public on Nasdaq this year in a reverse merger, and is buying and holding the TRX token, becoming one of hundreds of so-called crypto treasury companies. 

Additional reporting by Alistair Gray in London