News from FlightGlobal – Page 2492
-
News
Stalemate in London talks
UK and US negotiators kept to uncontentious issues such as ground handling and customs procedures during the latest round of bilateral talks in London in December 1996. Any breakthrough seems unlikely before the UK Office of Fair Trading and US Department of Justice rule on the proposed British Airways-American Airlines ...
-
News
Struggle from the rubble
Kuwait Airways is banking on a successful programme of alliances and regional cooperation to reverse recent heavy losses. Doug Cameron reports from Kuwait City. Almost seven years after its liberation, Kuwait City retains an almost haunted look despite its renovation and its return as one of the major commercial centres ...
-
News
Twin sales with a twist
The sale of significant minority state holdings in two of Europe's leading carriers has caused consternation in financial markets, albeit for different reasons. At presstime, the German government was hoping to sell off its remaining 35.7 per cent stake in Lufthansa before the end of the year, while ...
-
News
Toughing out the boom
In 1997, can the major airlines improve on their performance in the boom year of 1996? Airline Business previews the main issues which will dominate airline executives' thinking in 1997. These are the good times, but life for the average airline manager does not appear to be getting any easier. ...
-
News
Asia rife with labour strife
Industrial unrest is spreading across Asia-Pacific as the region's carriers react to a worrying economic slowdown and stiff competition, compounded by the global hike in fuel costs. At presstime, All Nippon Airways was at loggerheads with its cabin crew unions after wage negotiations broke down: a 24-hour strike ...
-
News
Polls leave Thai with Bill
A change of government has rubbed salt into Thai Airways International's wounds. Lack of political clearance forced the carrier to postpone its US$4.7 billion fleet revamp and accept penalties of some $40 million. The latest setback for the mostly state-owned carrier comes on top of disastrous fourth quarter results which ...
-
News
Boeing pulls off twin coup
Boeing is turning up the heat on rival Airbus with two groundbreaking deals. The US manufacturer has signed American Airlines up to a 22-year exclusive pact and removed its only domestic rival by pulling in McDonnell Douglas to help in the design and development of future widebodies. Reaction ...
-
News
Harry heads to Air Afrique
Let's hope Sir Harry Tirvengadum is ready for a challenging 1997. The charismatic chairman of Air Mauritius faces a tough transition when he moves over to head up struggling Air Afrique on 1 January 1997. The west African carrier continues to suffer government interference and union pressures which ...
-
News
Alitalia pays a small price
Alitalia has been fined by the Italian antitrust authorities for bullying tactics against domestic competitors, and as it succeeds in removing one through a codeshare deal with startup Alpi Eagles, another potential threat appears in the form of Azzurra Air. The authorities found that Alitalia had 'impeded, blocked ...
-
News
The battle for AOM begins
Barely having caught their breath after the furious scramble to take over insolvent Air Liberté, potential bidders are now lining up in the race for struggling French rival, AOM. And potential political problems are already brewing. British Airways' recent acquisition of a 67 per cent holding in Air ...
-
News
United allies down under
The fierce fight for market share on routes in and out of Australasia is set to hot up even further following Air New Zealand's alliance with United Airlines and a new capacity-boosting bilateral between Australia and the UK. The fledgling partnership of Air New Zealand and Australia's Ansett ...
-
News
China puts on the squeeze
China is having mixed success in its aviation policy. Despite easing the moratorium on aircraft orders, Beijing is now having to curb international capacity growth for fear of Chinese carriers losing out to their foreign counterparts. But the authorities are having more success in their drive for domestic consolidation. ...
-
News
Beijing spurs triple listing
Three Chinese airlines are pressing ahead with plans for initial public offerings, but at presstime it was unclear whether they would beat the 1 January deadline. Missing that date would mean they would have to include another year's audited financial results in their share prospectuses. Following the Civil ...
-
News
Coded for no competition
A study on codesharing for the European Commission recommends ending the practice on nonstop routes and reducing the number of CRS listings for codeshare flights to one. These are two of the main findings of a study by Amsterdam-based consultants Strategem. Their report finds that codesharing by two ...
-
News
Global traders will win economic war
In the final years of this century, the new global 'geo-economics' has become the driving force of international relations and commerce. Autocratic regimes and domestically focused businesses are more likely to fail, or grow less slowly, than those which recognise the reality of the globalised economy. The days ...
-
News
Wheeling out the service
For major airlines seeking high-margin travellers, customer service will be a key to profitability. Still, Philip Festa says pressures within the industry are threatening to squeeze carriers' service levels. Customer service is now the norm throughout almost all sectors of commerce: supermarkets, hotels, banks and fast food chains vie ...
-
News
Is candid Crandall correct about IT?
When Robert Crandall, AMR Corp chairman, noted at the last Iata annual general meeting that 'there is no reason to believe that technology will make airlines more profitable,' there had to have been a few sets of raised eyebrows in the audience. Crandall, after all, is the one credited for ...
-
News
Airline news
Austrian Airlines and Swissair have confirmed taking a 18.37 per cent stake in Ukraine International Airlines through a holding company in which Austrian Airlines holds 77.78 per cent and Swissair 22.22 per cent. KLMwill inaugurate twice weekly services to Abidjan and to Nagoya via Sapporo from April 1997 ...
-
News
Delta dances Continental
The only certainty about suggestions of a merger between Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines is that it would create the world's largest airline. Beyond that analysts remain split as to whether such a deal would make strategic sense. The only clear winner is David Bonderman, who leads Continental's controlling ...
-
News
All aboard for the next recession
You've seen it all before. A recession coincides with the delivery of hundreds of new aircraft. Swamped with capacity, airlines seek to extract some revenue from their glossy new machines by placing too much capacity into the marketplace. Yields and load factors plummet, and the red ink flows. All future ...