Strategy – Page 951
-
News
Meridiana seeks strategic partner after labour deal
Italy's second-largest carrier, Meridiana, has appointed the UK's Lloyds Bank to advise it on seeking a European strategic airline partner. The airline's president Franco Trivi expects a deal to be agreed within six to eight months. Long-established Meridiana had run the risk of losing market share to new rivals, ...
-
News
Routes
Down Mexico way Continental Express, the regional subsidiary of Continental Airlines, plans to start a service from its hub at Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport to San Luis Potosi, Mexico, next March, subject to government approval. By adding San Luis Potosi, Continental and Continental Express will serve 18 destinations ...
-
News
Virgin moves on Australia
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE Richard Branson's decision to launch a low-cost domestic Australian airline is the biggest threat yet to the Qantas-Ansett duopoly During a whirlwind tour of Australia, Richard Branson announced that Virgin Australia would start mid-year with five Boeing 737s that could quickly grow. Focusing initially on the busy ...
-
News
China tax threatens leasing company growth
A new Chinese tax on aircraft operating leases is emerging as a potential threat to leasing companies hoping to profit from expectations that China's airline industry will grow at a faster-than-average rate over the next 20 years. The new withholding tax was quietly introduced by the Chinese Government, effective ...
-
News
Investors emerge for Ansett New Zealand
News Corporation's efforts to sell Ansett New Zealand may have better luck with a new group of New Zealand investors than it has had over the past 12 years with Qantas Airways. News Corp and Qantas were unable to agree on a price, and there is no assurance the ...
-
News
In Brief
Asiana offer Asiana Airlines expects to raise 375 billion won ($325 million) through an initial public offering of 50 million shares. Shares were made available early in December ahead of a listing on South Korea's secondary Kosdaq share market at the end of the month. Public and institutional investors ...
-
News
Chicago revisited
KAREN WALKER CHICAGO Transport ministers from around the world joined airline and industry chiefs in Chicago in December to discuss how to shed the bilateralism legacy of the historic 1944 Chicago Convention and also move beyond the current open skies regime to multilateralism. US Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater lost few ...
-
News
Star wins battle over Canadian future
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE Star Alliance has won the battle with oneworld for control of Canadian Airlines. Under a deal hammered out between American Airlines parent AMR and Air Canada, American will retain certain codeshare rights, but Canadian will effectively withdraw from oneworld. This ends a five-month see-saw battle in ...
-
News
Catering - serving in the fast lane
Fast food may not be on the in-flight menu, but as consolidation takes hold of the airline catering business, speed appears to be of the essence. Last year saw a flurry of activity in the in-flight catering industry, including a host of joint ventures and two major acquisition deals. ...
-
News
Mexico's smaller players struggle to compete
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE Mexico's third and fourth largest airlines have both experienced problems that harm their ability to compete against the duopoly of Aeromexico and Mexicana. Taesa, Mexico's number three carrier, remains grounded for safety reasons following a fatal crash on 9 November. Mexico's communications and transport ministry says inspectors ...
-
News
The new leaders in handling
Ground handling is developing a higher profile in the industry, attracting a new style of leadership. Analysis is by Michael Bell, who leads the global aviation practice at executive search consultants Spencer Stuart.Recent years have seen the emergence of ground handling as an industry in its own right, and there ...
-
News
In Brief
US-Italy open skies The US Department of Transportation (D0T) has approved Alitalia's tripartite alliance with KLM and Northwest, paving the way to the signing of a fully fledged open skies bilateral between Italy and the USA. The two countries partially liberalised air traffic last year. Alitalia-Northwest will codeshare on ...
-
News
Japan to redistribute slots
NICHOLAS IONIDES ATI/TOKYO Japan's "big three" carriers could be in for a further wave of competition, as the Japanese Ministry of Transport (MoT) studies a controversial plan that would see slots stripped from them at congested airports and handed over to new operators. A senior member of the MoT's strategic ...
-
News
New Beginning
GÜNTER ENDRES ATHENS With the belated opening up of the Greek market, a clutch of independent operators is starting to mount a serious challenge to flag carrier Olympic Airways Until 1998, Greece had been virtually untouched by the European liberalisation process. Apart from a partial deregulation in 1991, which permitted ...
-
News
Airports and airlines join forces over ATC delays
GÜNTER ENDRES LONDON The Airports Council International Europe (ACI Europe) and the Association of European Airlines (AEA) have agreed to fight the growing problem of flight delays in Europe, targeting air traffic control (ATC) in particular. The joint resolution comes after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) put forward its ...
-
News
A sense of balance
CHRIS TARRY COMMERZBANK IN LONDON The traffic forecasting model developed by Commerzbank and Airline Business highlights the extent to which capacity ran ahead of demand in 1999. But the coming year could bring markets back to balance. If further evidence was needed over the pain that excess seat capacity can ...
-
News
Iberia sells Binter to local consortium
BARRY CROSS LONDON Parent state holding company SEPI has given Iberia approval to sell regional subsidiary Binter Canarias to a consortium of local businessmen. The price of Ptas5.5 billion ($35 million), plus Ptas800 million in dividends - the equivalent of 65% of the 1998 profit - is just ...
-
News
In Brief
Asiana offer Asiana Airlines expects to raise 375 billion won ($325 million) through an initial public offering of 50 million shares. Shares were made available early in December ahead of a listing on South Korea's secondary Kosdaq share market at the end of the month. Public and institutional investors ...
-
News
Cargo shapes up for rapid shake up
PETER CONWAY LONDON The year ahead looks likely to see dramatic changes in air cargo, with more and more carriers offering time-definite services, and the old wholesale-retail relationships between airline and forwarder becoming more flexible. Wilhelm Althen, retiring chairman of Lufthansa Cargo, which introduced time-definite services and a programme of ...
-
News
Air Malta prepares for Europe
GÜNTER ENDRES LONDON Increased tourist traffic, a programme of cost reductions and rationalistion of the fleet and route network have significantly improved Air Malta's financial and operating performance as it prepares to join Europe's aviation market. The Air Malta Group recorded a record turnover in the financial year to ...