All Strategy articles – Page 1010
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One Chinese merger plan fails, but another takeover is revived
NICHOLAS IONIDES BEIJING Merger talks between Air China and China Southern Airlines have ended in failure but supporters of consolidation in China's bloated airline sector will be pleased with another positive development: two other Chinese carriers have forged a tentative deal. Beijing-based industry sources say China National Aviation (CNAC), ...
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Asia stays cautious despite signs of recovery
The latest round of financial results from Asia's airlines show how far the bulk of the region has come over the past year. But faced with continuing depressed yields in many markets, executives across the region feel compelled to warn that a full recovery is still a distant prospect. Carriers ...
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Iberia faces attack as shares go on sale
BARRY CROSS LONDON Iberia's initial public offering is finally going ahead on 22 November, following the resolution of a dispute between 9% shareholder British Airways and major company shareholder Caja Madrid over voting rights. A 53% stake held in the flag carrier by state holding company SEPI will be floated. ...
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Births, deaths and marriages
Sifting the sands of global alliance networks is quickly becoming an art. Over the next year to 18 months this skill will be tested to the limits as exposed "independent" carriers seek shelter in global alliances. These are interesting times for alliance watchers everywhere. Swissair's long-running Atlantic Excellence alliance ...
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Delta buys Comair
Delta Air Lines is buying Comair Holdings, parent of Comair, in a $1.8 billion deal. Comair, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, is a Delta Connection regional carrier which feeds passengers from cities in the midwest and Florida to Delta's hubs in Cincinnati and Orlando. Comair chairman and chief executive David Mueller, ...
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More to come says Star, as it welcomes new members
BEN MCMILLAN/ATI TOKYO Singapore Airlines (SIA) took centre stage at the inauguration of Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) into the Star Alliance in Tokyo in October by confirming its widely anticipated entrance into the multilateral airline grouping from spring next year. ANA was to join Star on 31 ...
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New contenders join the contest in Peru
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE Substitute LanChile and Grupo TACA for Cintra and Delta Air Lines and a new chapter opens in Peruvian aviation. LanPeru and TACA Peru, backed by their main patrons LanChile and Grupo TACA, have replaced the fallen AeroPeru that was owned by Mexico's Cintra and Delta. Meanwhile, a ...
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A lesson in low cost
Debonair's demise has provided a salutary lesson to other of Europe's low-fares carriers not to stray too far from the low-cost formula. Conventional wisdom may be much maligned, but it is not always wrong. Almost from the day that Franco Mancasola sketched out his plans to launch a ...
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Expanded horizons
NICHOLAS IONIDES SINGAPORE Singapore Airlines emerged relatively unscathed from Asia's economic turmoil. Now the group's executive team, led by Dr Cheong, aim to ensure that growth gets back on track, with alliances which will increase the carrier's reach around the world. The executive team at Singapore Airlines (SIA) would seem ...
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Facing the markets
TOM GILL CASABLANCA Moroccan flag carrier Royal Air Maroc is preparing for privatisation and hopes to join Air France's global alliance. But it has not escaped the market turmoil hitting the rest of the industry. "When you make a lot of profit it is a bit worrying. You say ...
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Travelocity merger with Preview stirs on-line fight
JANE LEVERE NEW YORK Global distribution system company Sabre has merged its Travelocity unit with Preview Travel in a step-up in the battle for the growing on-line travel market. The new company, Travelocity.com, will have projected sales this year of more than $1 billion. Travelocity was already top-ranked in ...
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Forced marriages
PETER CONWAY LONDON The big three global alliances have produced few cargo synergies so far. Will they ever? Cargo departments could be forgiven for feeling a little excluded amid all the clamour surrounding global alliances. While vast amounts of management time have been focussed on cementing the right strategic relationships ...
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A year to forget
PETER CONWAY LONDON It took a while for the Asian downturn to affect the air cargo industry, but last year the bad news really hit home. There is little hiding from the fact that 1998 was a dismal year for the air cargo industry. And final figures from the ...
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Reworking the model
KEVIN O'TOOLE A new alliance study carried out by Gemini Consulting, in collaboration with Airline Business, suggests that global groupings may have to adopt more than one model for their relationships. The last time that the airline industry indulged in a bout of alliance-forming at the start of the 1990s, ...
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Continental boss hits out at Airbus A340/ETOPS campaign
Continental Airlines chief executive Gordon Bethune has hit out at Airbus Industrie over its advertising campaign promoting the safety of four-engined aircraft versus twins on Pacific routes. In a letter to Airbus managing director Noel Forgeard, Bethune accuses Airbus of exploiting "the unfounded fears of the travelling public on ...
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Star leaders seek to repel hostile bid for Air Canada
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Star Alliance leaders Lufthansa and United Airlines have sought to fend off a hostile bid for partner Air Canada by bankrolling a C$892 ($597 million) counter-offer. Though the deal would also see Canadian Airlines taken over by the flag carrier, the smaller airline would remain a separate ...
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Schreiner Group snaps up Air Holland
Dutch aviation company Schreiner Group has agreed to buy Amsterdam-based charter carrier Air Holland. The airline operates two Boeing 737-300s and four 757-200s. It is attractive because of its slot holdings at crowded Schiphol Airport, although the Schreiner deal should allow it to continue operations. Meanwhile, French regional ...
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Airbus sales irk US Congressman
America West Airlines has confirmed a deal for up to 77 Airbus Industrie A320 series aircraft. The move follows a Frontier Airlines letter of intent (LoI) for another 20 jets, rekindling US political criticism of the European manufacturer's growing success in the US market at Boeing's expense. Phoenix-based America ...
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Kenya Airways weighs options for long-haul aircraft renewal
Jens Flottau/NAIROBI Kenya Airways is preparing to undertake a long-haul fleet-renewal programme. The carrier has issued requests for proposals to Airbus and Boeing and to leasing companies. A decision on the new long-haul fleet could be made as early as January. Although the airline's new chairman Richard Nyaga ...
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SAA targets Nigeria for sub-Saharan alliance
Hilka Birns/CAPE TOWN South African Airways (SAA) aims to become the guiding force in an alliance of sub-Saharan airlines, as it negotiates to acquire a major shareholding in Nigeria Airways. The moves come as the South African carrier prepares to relaunch a competition to upgrade its short- and long-haul ...