All Strategy articles – Page 996

  • News

    Profits on a plateau

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Kevin O'Toole In the final analysis, the airline industry's financial results for 1998 were once again a mix of the encouraging and the depressingly familiar. Overall profitability came out at almost identical levels to the year before. The industry should perhaps take heart from that fact, given the dire ...

  • News

    Passenger seat restraint

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Kevin O'Toole Continuing fall-out from Asia's economic crisis reverberated around markets last year as is clear from the latest passenger airline rankings. But it is concerns over falling yields rather than traffic that are now taking centre stage. Last year posed something of a test of resolve for airline ...

  • News

    Management teams

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Carriers in need of change are looking to new boardroom teams for results. Analysis is by Michael Bell, who leads the Global Aviation Practice for senior-executive search firm Spencer Stuart The past few months have brought into focus a new form of leadership at troubled carriers around the world: management ...

  • News

    Raising the internet stakes

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Dennis Blank ORLANDO The explosion of online travel booking in the USA - stimulated by offerings of bargain basement ticket fares - is attracting the wrath of travel agents. But US major carriers cannot ignore this rapidly growing marketplace. This year, the customary late summer round of airfare bargains across ...

  • News

    KLM uk eyes low-cost route

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Lois Jones LONDON Fierce competition from low-cost carriers at its London Stansted base is forcing KLM uk to rethink its market position and restructure. Launching its own no-frills service is one possibility. The KLM regional subsidiary is to axe six unprofitable routes from 12 September and streamline its fleet. The ...

  • News

    Majors eye Kennedy terminals

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Delta Air Lines and United Airlines are weighing up major investments in new terminal facilities at New York's Kennedy Airport, already in the middle of a massive $9 billion redevelopment programme for new terminals and infrastructure. Delta and United operate from outdated and overcrowded facilities while many of ...

  • News

    A crowded market

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Lois Jones BEIJING & SHANGHAI Still shuddering from Asia's economic crisis, China's aviation industry is restructuring with domestic tie-ups and the home market high on the agenda. The Hainan Airlines aircraft took off and spread its wings over the sprawling mass of Guangzhou, south China - one of the most ...

  • News

    Controlling the future

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Peter Bennett VIENNA Commercialisation, privatisation and the empowerment of Eurocontrol are possible solutions to Europe's growing delays. The solution for Europe's air traffic delays is simple. First, look at the causes - a fragmented air system controlled by a patchwork of control centres that leads to the inefficient management ...

  • News

    PAL enters cargo venture talks with Lufthansa

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE Struggling Philippine Airlines (PAL) is talking to Lufthansa about a joint cargo service between Manila and Frankfurt, which could mark PAL's return to Europe after a year away. According to PAL, the proposed block space agreement will come into effect on 1 November, with PAL buying ...

  • News

    Brazilians refute merger speculation

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Brian Homewood RIO DE JANEIRO Brazil's four major airlines have described reports that they are considering merging into two as "mere speculation". But the Brazilian airline industry remains awash with rumours that Varig, Vasp, Transbrasil and Tam could join forces. Varig says that company president Fernando Pinto, who went on ...

  • News

    Union blues

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Jane Levere NEW YORK For all the talk of change in the airline industry, contentious pilot-management relations seem to many to be set in stone. Industry observers believe two imminent contract negotiations - at Delta and United - will set the benchmarks for labour relations generally. When the ...

  • News

    Consultants assess Malpensa

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Two UK consultancy firms are compiling a dossier on transport links at Milan Malpensa Airport to help determine whether most of the flights remaining at the city's Linate Airport should be transferred to the new hub on 31 October, as planned. The European Commission-appointed companies - London-based Alan Stratford ...

  • News

    Negotiating change at ALPA

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Karen Walker WASHINGTON DC ALPA's new president, Duane Woerth, says he is not afraid of change. But the US pilots he represents are beating the same drum: they expect to see their airlines' profitability reflected in new contract negotiations. If Duane Woerth is looking for a fight, he does a ...

  • News

    American opens door for Latin alliance

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    David Knibb SEATTLE A common alliance with a US partner has spawned a ground-breaking venture between two Latin American airlines. LanChile and Aerolineas Argentina have launched an air cargo joint venture, citing their common connections with American Airlines as a catalyst for the deal. "The relationship with American Airlines ...

  • News

    KLM, Alitalia produce the goods with cargo deal

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Peter Conway LONDON Airline alliances tend to generate much rhetoric about cargo partnerships, but little action. However, the tie-up between KLM and Alitalia, announced in July, looks set to be different. Cargo departments within the two carriers have already gone further in their planning than KLM's long-running tie-up with Northwest. ...

  • News

    Airports

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Brussels Zaventem Airport is planning to spend BFr1 billion ($26 million) to build a new air traffic control tower. This has become necessary because the view of one of the runways from the existing tower will be obstructed when terminal construction work is completed. The new 75m (246ft)-high tower will ...

  • News

    Aloha Airlines sets its sights on first services to US mainland

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Aloha Airlines plans to start services to the US West Coast next February, marking the first time in the airline's 53-year history that it has ventured away from its Hawaii-based Pacific inter-island network. The new services will include two daily round-trip flights between Hawaii and Oakland, ...

  • News

    Ottawa ponders Canadian Airlines rescue options

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Canada's federal government has been forced to intervene to avert a looming crisis at Canadian Airlines. Ottawa stepped in because of a growing threat that Canadian might not survive this coming winter. The beleaguered carrier has reported an annual profit in only one of the past 10 years, ...

  • News

    Star partners unite to repel oneworld bid for Air Canada

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    Brian Dunn/MONTREAL Chris Jasper/LONDON Air Canada and its Star Alliance partners are gathering their forces in a bid to fight off an attempted takeover of the flag-carrier masterminded by rival oneworld leader American Airlines, acting in tandem with the Toronto-based Onex conglomerate, owner of caterer Sky Chefs. The Onex/American ...

  • News

    Sun Air to close?

    1999-09-01T00:00:00Z

    A row has erupted over plans by South African Airways (SAA) to close down Sun Air, shortly after having agreed to acquire a controlling 75% stake in its domestic competitor. At the end of August, SAA apparently gained control of Sun Air and promptly announced plans to wind it ...