Jens Flottau/PHOENIX
The aviation industry should behave just like any other industry and abolish current ownership restrictions. That is the view emerging from international airlines at the eighth Annual Phoenix Aviation Symposium, held in Arizona in early May.
Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus, vice-president of international relations at Lufthansa, says the trend away from the concept of single airlines, to airline alliances, to the global airline, will inevitably establish itself in the long run.
Mergers among major carriers would, in his view, supplement alliances, but not replace them. Inherent limitations of alliances, according to Schulte-Strathaus, include the degree of cost-cutting, possible consumer confusion and difficulties in long- term planning.
Barry Humphreys, director government and external affairs at Virgin Atlantic Airways, is convinced that "the momentum will be impossible to stop". No consumer cared about who owned an airline, Humphreys says.
Virgin wants to set up a US subsidiary, but is hindered by ownership restrictions. In the USA only 25% of an airline may be in foreign hands - the European Union limits foreign ownership to 49%.
Fred Reid, Delta's chief marketing officer, admitted that the carrier is yet to establish a corporate policy on ownership rules, but sees no insurmountable hurdles for globalisation.
One possible first step towards the abolishment of ownership restrictions was the establishment of a common US-European market, within which the often pending traffic rights questions could be solved and citizenship laws harmonised in a liberal environment. René Ferres of the European Commission was optimistic that the first stage toward a common travel market could be set up in two years. KLM suggested that every country that participates in open skies agreements could be part of the deal.
Source: Flight International
