Flights between the U.S. and Europe have not been this cheap in three years, when many countries were just lifting Covid-19 era rules.

Fares are low even for the traditionally slow late-fall and winter months outside of major holidays.

“It is brutal to fill seats during these times of year,” said Brett Snyder, who writes the Cranky Flier travel industry site.

According to flight-tracking company Hopper, “good deal” fares across the Atlantic to Europe are averaging $578 in November, down from $619 a year earlier.

It is the lowest deal fare for this month since 2021, when they were going for $479 and much of international travel was in a slump because of the pandemic, Hopper data shows.

In January, after the year-end holidays, 2025 fares are even lower: $558 compared to $578 for the same month in 2024, though higher than $488 in January 2022, according to Hopper.

U.S. domestic airfare, on the other hand, is more expensive compared with last year in every month from November through March.

Many airlines from financially troubled Spirit Airlines to profitable Southwest Airlines have cut flights or trimmed growth plans into next year, which has helped keep U.S. fares firm. Aircraft scarcity is also limiting airlines from adding many flights.

There are also some periods of weaker demand overall, executives at the largest U.S. carriers, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines have said, calling out the week before and after the U.S. presidential election on Tuesday.

Boeing and its machinists’ union have agreed on a new negotiated offer to raise worker pay and potentially end a crippling strike that began seven weeks ago with a vote on the new proposal set for Monday.

The union urged workers to approve the contract. Getting workers back into factories is urgent for Boeing as it faces mounting losses.

“In every negotiation and strike, there is a point where we have extracted everything that we can in bargaining and by withholding our labor,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 said Thursday. “We are at that point now and risk a regressive or lesser offer in the future.”

The new proposal includes 38% general wage increases over four years, up from a previous offer for 35%, bringing the compounding pay increases to close to 44%, the union said Thursday. It also gives workers the option of a $12,000 one-time ratification bonus or to choose a previous offer for a $7,000 ratification bonus and a $5,000 401(k) contribution.

The union said that asking its members to stay on strike longer “wouldn’t be right as we have achieved so much success.”

Boeing’s more than 32,000 machinists, mostly based in the Seattle area, walked off the job on Sept. 13 after turning down a tentative agreement. They rejected another proposal earlier this month, extending the strike.

Boeing said Thursday that at the end of the contract, machinist pay will average $119,309.

“It’s time we all come back together and focus on rebuilding the business and delivering the world’s best airplanes,” Boeing’s CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a note to staff on Friday. “There are a lot of people depending on us.”

He urged workers to vote “since the results of the vote will affect all of us.”

The Biden administration has gotten involved in negotiations during the strike, which has halted most aircraft production at Boeing, a top U.S. exporter. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su met with the company and the union this week.

The Boeing strike took a bite out of U.S. employment numbers in October, according to Friday’s U.S. jobs report, the last before the Nov. 5 presidential election.

President Joe Biden congratulated the union and Boeing for the new contract proposal.

“Machinists at Boeing have sacrificed over the years and deserve a strong contract,” he said in a statement on Friday, shortly after the jobs report was released.

Ortberg said on his first earnings call last week since taking the top job in August that the company has been “feverishly working to find a solution that works for the company and meets our employees’ needs.” Hours later, the workers rejected a negotiated proposal.

Boeing machinists have repeatedly pushed for higher compensation as the cost of living in the Seattle area — where technology giants like Microsoft and Amazon have ramped up staffing — has surged in recent years.

Under the new contract proposal, as in previous iterations, Boeing vowed to build whatever its next airplane will be in the Puget Sound area. One sore spot among workers is that Boeing moved 787 Dreamliner production to a non-union factory in South Carolina.

The strike has further pushed back Boeing leaders’ plans to stabilize the aerospace behemoth as it reels from the impact of production flaws and the fallout from safety issues, most recently a door plug that blew out midair from a Boeing 737 Max 9 at the start of the year.

Boeing lost more than $6 billion in the last quarter and warned it would continue to burn cash through 2025.

Spirit Airlines shares surged Friday after the struggling budget carrier said it would cut jobs and sell aircraft.

The stock closed the day 16% higher, at $2.79 per share.

The carrier late Thursday laid out a plan to reduce costs and raise cash by selling 23 older Airbus aircraft. That sale will bring in $519 million, Spirit said in a securities filing.

It also said it will reduce costs by about $80 million, mostly through job cuts.

Last week the airline again delayed a deadline to refinance more than $1 billion in debt until late December, giving it breathing room with its credit card processor.

Spirit has struggled to return to profitability in the wake of the pandemic, facing a shift in travel demand and the grounding of dozens of Pratt & Whitney powered aircraft.

Even with Friday’s jump, Spirit’s shares have tumbled more than 80% this year after a judge blocked its planned acquisition by JetBlue Airways.

Spirit didn’t immediately comment on how many employees it will cut but said its 2025 capacity will be down in the mid-teen percentage point range compared with this year. It started furloughing about 200 pilots in September. Flight attendants “are well-positioned” because so many crew members took voluntary leaves of absence, according to the company.

Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Spirit and Frontier Airlines have revived merger discussions, sending shares higher. The airlines didn’t immediately comment. The two budget airlines had a merger agreement that was derailed by JetBlue‘s April 2022 offer to purchase Spirit outright.

Late Thursday, Spirit forecast a third-quarter negative operating margin of 24.5%, better than a previous estimate for as much as a negative 29% margin for the three-month period.

Southwest Airlines and activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management struck a deal to avert a proxy fight in exchange for naming six directors to the airline’s board — short of board control — and an earlier retirement for Executive Chairman Gary Kelly. Southwest CEO Bob Jordan will keep his job as part of the deal.

“We are pleased to have come to an agreement with Southwest on the addition of six new directors that will enhance and revitalize its Board,” Elliott’s John Pike and Bobby Xu said in a statement Thursday.

Five of Elliott’s board nominees along with former Chevron CFO Pierre Breber will join the board, which will stand at 13 members, Southwest said.

The Southwest board will appoint a new chairman to replace Kelly, who will now step down next month instead of next year.

Elliott had called for both Kelly and Jordan’s ouster and criticized the airline’s leadership for not moving fast enough on sales- and profit-boosting strategies. The airline has made few changes to its business model in its 50 years of flying and is now planning to upend its long-standing policies like open seating and a single-class cabin for premium seats that more profitable carriers like Delta Air Lines offer.

Southwest’s shares are up less than 1% this year while the S&P 500 has risen 21%. The airline’s third-quarter profit, also announced Thursday, topped analysts’ estimates. Shares in the carrier were down roughly 6% in midday trading.

The Dallas-based carrier has been slashing unprofitable routes to cut costs. At an investor day last month, it said the new revenue initiatives and other changes put it on track to boost earnings before interest and taxes in 2027 by $4 billion. The airline also authorized a $2.5 billion buyback, the first $250 million of which was announced Thursday. 

Elliott and Southwest as recently as last week had been girding for a proxy fight. The activist called for a special meeting in December to vote on its slate of board nominees, which it had trimmed from 10 to eight.

Elliott’s campaign hinged in large part on the removal of Kelly and Jordan from their leadership positions.

With eight new directors joining as a result of the settlement and of Southwest’s earlier board refreshment, the deal is the largest board change Elliott has driven in a U.S. fight.

Southwest’s board said in September it would drop from 15 directors to 12. Thursday’s announcement notches the board back up to 13 members.

Also in September, Southwest said Kelly would step down next spring, but the airline’s board had staunchly backed Jordan. Both Kelly and Jordan have worked at Southwest for more than three decades.

“I believe Southwest’s best days lie ahead under the vision and leadership of Bob Jordan and the oversight of this reconstituted Board,” Kelly said in a release Thursday.

— CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to this report.

Correction: This story has been corrected to remove an inaccurate description for Pierre Breber, who will be joining Southwest’s board. Southwest previously announced its board would drop from 15 directors to 12. An earlier version of this story misstated that announcement.

Boeing and its machinists’ union have reached a new contract proposal, the union said Saturday, outlining a deal that could end a more than monthlong strike that has hobbled the manufacturers’ aircraft  production.

The ratification vote is set for Wednesday.

The new proposal includes 35% wage increases over four years, a higher signing bonus of $7,000, guaranteed minimum payouts in an annual bonus program and higher 401(k) contributions among other changes.

Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su met with both parties earlier this week. “With the help of Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su, we have received a negotiated proposal and resolution to end the strike, and it warrants presenting to the members and is worthy of your consideration,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 said in a statement Saturday.

“President Biden believes the collective bargaining process is the best way to achieve good outcomes for workers, and the ultimate decision on a contract will be for the union workers to decide,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement.

The strike began Sept. 13 after more than 30,000 machinists overwhelmingly rejected a tentative agreement that included 25% wage increases over four years. Boeing later made a sweetened offer but the union blasted it saying it was not negotiated.

“We look forward to our employees voting on the negotiated proposal,” Boeing said in a statement.

Boeing is working to stop bleeding cash as it grapples with a safety crisis stemming from a near-catastrophic door plug blowout on one of its 737 Maxes at start the year and challenges in its other programs.

The company earlier this month said it will report a deep loss and take charges of about $5 billion in its commercial and defense units. A ratified contract on Wednesday, when Boeing also reports full results, would be a victory for new CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the top job in August, tasked with reshaping the company.

On Oct. 11, he announced job cuts of 10% of Boeing’s workforce and that the company will stop making 767s when orders are fulfilled in 2027.

Brazilian plane maker Embraer is studying the market and new technology that could warrant it building an all-new jet, CEO Francisco Gomes Neto told CNBC.

A new airplane could help the airplane manufacturer compete with much larger rivals Airbus and Boeing, which deliver hundreds of jets a year compared with Embraer’s dozens of aircraft.

But Gomes Neto noted that no decisions have been made yet.

“At this point in time, we don’t have concrete plans to go to a big narrow body,” he said, adding that the studies for new engine technologies, avionics and potential demand are “to be prepared.”

In the meantime, Gomes Neto said Embraer is focused on improving results and selling its regional planes, which won orders earlier this year from American Airlines, manufacturing its E2 jet, and “delivering what we promise” customers.

Embraer said Friday that it delivered 16 commercial jets in the third quarter, up more than 5% from a year earlier. Including its defense and business jets, the company handed over 57 jets in the period, a third more than last year.

The Federal Aviation Administration approved a freighter version of its E190 passenger-to-freighter converted jet earlier this month, helping clear the way for its commercial introduction.

“This is maybe the advantage we have: We have a great product [that’s] available,” Gomes Neto said.

Both Airbus and Boeing are struggling to ramp up production and deliver aircraft on time in the wake of the pandemic. Boeing has the added challenges of a safety crisis and a machinist strike.

Boeing once had plans to take control of Embraer’s commercial jet business but ended those discussions in early 2020. Last month, Embraer said Boeing would pay it $150 million over the scuttled plan.

Like its competitors, Embraer is facing supply chain strains coming out of the pandemic, and the company is taking a more in-depth look at delivery capabilities.

Engines, hydraulic valves, cabin interiors and components for them are some of the areas where it has been difficult to ramp up production from suppliers, Gomes Neto said. He added that he expects supply chain problems will likely ease in 2026.

Spirit Airlines on Friday said it reached an agreement with its credit card processor to again extended a debt refinancing timeline to December, hours before it was set to hit its deadline.

Spirit said in a filing late Friday that earlier this week it drew down the entirety of its $300 million revolving credit facility and expects to end the year with just over $1 billion in liquidity.

“As previously disclosed, the Company remains in active and constructive discussions with holders of its senior secured notes due 2025 and convertible senior notes due 2026 with respect to their respective maturities,” Spirit said in a filing late Friday.

The deadline was previously set in September and had been extended until Oct. 21 before the Friday change. The airline’s stock closed at a new low Friday, down roughly 3%, at less than $1.50 per share.

The Miramar, Florida-based airline has furloughed workers, slashed its schedule and deferred aircraft deliveries to save cash over the past year.

Many of its planes have been grounded because of a Pratt & Whitney engine recall. It has also reported weaker-than-expected bookings and its planned acquisition by JetBlue Airways was scuttled after getting blocked by a federal judge on antitrust grounds.

Its shares have tumbled more than 90% so far this year and nearly 40% so far in October alone.

Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal said the carrier is considering a bankruptcy filing. Spirit and advisor Perella Weinberg Partners did not immediately comment on the matter.

Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems will furlough some 700 workers as a strike by machinists at the plane maker enters its sixth week, a spokesman for the supplier said Friday.

More than 32,000 Boeing workers walked off the job Sept. 13 after overwhelmingly rejecting a tentative labor deal with Boeing, deepening the aircraft producer’s financial strain and handing a new challenge to CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the reins just over two months ago.

The temporary furloughs account for about 5% of Spirit’s U.S. workforce, according to its latest annual filing.

The temporary furloughs will affect employees at Spirit’s largest facilities, in Wichita, Kansas, and account for about 5% of Spirit’s U.S. workforce, according to its latest annual filing. Meanwhile, Boeing and its machinists’ union remain at an impasse, and Spirit is considering deeper cuts.

“If the strike continues beyond November, we will have to implement layoffs and additional furloughs,” Spirit spokesman Joe Buccino told CNBC on Friday.

Ortberg, who faces investors in his first earnings call next Wednesday, last week announced a series of drastic measures meant to slash costs as the company’s losses mount, including cutting the workforce by 10%, or about 17,000 people. Boeing is also ending 767 commercial production when orders are fulfilled in 2027 and said its long-delayed 777X wide-body jet won’t debut until 2026, pushing it back yet another year.

Boeing is in the process of raising debt or equity to increase liquidity.

The roughly 700 Spirit workers affected by the 21-day furlough are assigned to the 777 and 767 programs for Boeing, for which Spirit has built up “significant inventory,” Buccino said. Spirit workers on Boeing’s bestselling 737 Max are not affected, he added. Work on all three programs, however, is stalled because of the strike.

Boeing agreed to acquire Spirit this summer, but the companies don’t expect the deal to close until mid-2025. Reuters earlier reported Spirit’s latest furloughs.

Boeing said Tuesday that it could raise as much as $25 billion in shares or debt over three years, a move to increase liquidity as the troubled manufacturer faces a more than monthlong machinist strike and problems throughout its aircraft programs.

“This universal shelf registration provides flexibility for the company to seek a variety of capital options as needed to support the company’s balance sheet over a three year period,” Boeing said in a statement.

Boeing shares are down nearly 42% this year as of Tuesday.

Bank of America aerospace analysts have estimated that Boeing will raise between $10 billion and $15 billion in equity.

“We expect Boeing to offer equity first, which should shore up the company’s balance sheet in the near term while maintaining the option to later issue equity debt with a lower risk of a credit downgrade,” BoFA analyst Ron Epstein wrote Tuesday.

Fitch Ratings said Boeing’s announcement Tuesday will “increase financial flexibility and moderate near-term liquidity concerns.”

Boeing is trying to shore up its balance sheet as it faces warnings from credit ratings agencies that it could lose its investment-grade rating.

S&P Global Ratings, one of the agencies that warned about a downgrade, last week estimated that the machinist strike is costing Boeing more than $1 billion a month.

The two sides have been at an impasse. On Tuesday, four U.S. lawmakers representing Washington state wrote to Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, Jon Holden, president of IAM District 751, and Brandon Bryant, president president of IAM District W24, urging the parties to come to a solution.

The lawmakers said they hoped they will “will expeditiously work out a fair and durable deal that recognizes the importance of the machinist workforce to Boeing’s future, the aerospace economy of the Pacific Northwest, and the nation,” in the letter, signed by Washington state Democrats, Sens. Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray and U.S. Rep. Adam Smith and Rep. Rick Larsen.

Earlier, Boeing separately said in a filing that it has an agreement with a consortium of banks for a $10 billion credit agreement.

“The credit facility provides additional short term access to liquidity as we navigate through a challenging environment,” the company said in a statement. “The company has not drawn on this facility or its existing credit revolver.”

On Friday, Ortberg, warned that the company plans to lay off about 17,000 employees, or 10% of its global workforce to cut costs.

“We need to be clear-eyed about the work we face and realistic about the time it will take to achieve key milestones on the path to recovery,” he said, adding that Boeing needs to focus resources on “areas that are core to who we are.”

The announcement came alongside preliminary financial results, showing mounting losses and $5 billion in charges in Boeing’s defense and commercial airplane units.

On Oct. 23, Ortberg will hold his first quarterly investor call since becoming Boeing’s CEO in August.