Test flights to protest the European ban April 18, 2010 A RAFT of European commercial airliners launched test flights this weekend, despite flight bans, in a bid to protest against decisions to ground flights in the UK and most of Northern Europe as the Icelandic volcano continued to erupt. British Airways (BA), Air France, KLM and Lufthansa each flew a collection of test flights throughout [...]
VOLCANO CHAOS | AIRLINE UPDATES April 18, 2010 RYANAIR Ryanair has cancelled all Northern European flights until 1pm on Wednesday. It will continue to operate domestic flights throughout Southern Europe. easyJet.com All flights to and from Northern Europe, including the UK, are cancelled this morning until 1pm. easyJet will continue to operate a limited number of flights in Southern Europe. BRITISH AIRWAYS Flights [...]
Liverpool FC up for sale under Broughton April 16, 2010 BRITISH Airways’ head Martin Broughton has been appointed as the new chairman at Liverpool FC, as the club’s owners confirmed that it is up for sale. He will help owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett find buyers for the club at the right price. Meanwhile Barclays Capital has been retained by the Americans to lead [...]
Flight chaos in wake of volcano blast April 15, 2010 THE vast cloud of volcanic dust blasted into the atmosphere by a gigantic underwater eruption in Iceland was still causing flight chaos this morning. All commercial flights were scrapped yesterday after the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, situated under a glacier, sent a noxious dust-cloud drifting South across Europe. Flight delays are now expected to last for several [...]
Q&A: ICELANDIC VOLCANO April 15, 2010 Q. HOW MANY FLIGHTS WERE CANCELLED? A. Every single commercial flight out of the UK was grounded yesterday. At least 600 British Airways flights were included. Flights in Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Russia were also affected. Q. WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I AM FLYING TODAY? A. Airports owner BAA and airlines recommend [...]
Amadeus to raise €1.4bn in flotation April 14, 2010 TRAVEL and tourism technology firm Amadeus aims to raise up to €1.36bn (£1.20bn) when it returns to the Madrid stock exchange later this month in Europe’s largest IPO this year. Amadeus, with €2.46bn of revenues in 2009, was delisted four years ago when BC Partners and Cinven bought their stake from airlines Air France, Lufthansa [...]
Company pensions back in the black April 13, 2010 PRIVATE sector final salary pension schemes have moved into the black for the first time in almost two years on the back of rising equity markets and changing liability calculations. The 7,400 pension schemes run by UK companies had a combined surplus of £300m at the end of last month, up from a hole of [...]
IATA boss: airlines need more mergers April 12, 2010 CONSOLIDATION in the airline industry is essential to cut costs and improve competitiveness, according to Giovanni Bisignani, the director-general of the International Air Transport Association (IATA). During a trip to Japan, Bisignani said: “Mergers and consolidation is a must … I strongly support consolidation.” He also urged the Japanese government to “continue to push for [...]
BA strike takes its toll on traffic at London airports April 12, 2010 HEATHROW saw 180,000 fewer passengers in March due to the strike action launched by British Airways cabin crew, according to BAA. The airports operator, majority owned by Spain’s Grupo Ferrovial, yesterday said that Heathrow handled 5.2m passengers last month, a 0.4 per cent increase. But passenger numbers would have risen by 3.8 per cent if [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE AIRLINE MERGERS THE ONLY WAY THAT THE LIKES OF BRITISH AIRWAYS CAN SURVIVE? April 12, 2010 FRANK EGER | GLOBAL BULK CARRIERS “I think more mergers are inevitable given the increasing oil and transportation costs. Bigger is better these days, but it was a bad move for British Airways. They shouldn’t have merged with Iberia but somebody like Lufthansa, which is a profitable company. ” RYAN PIPER | GRANT THORNTON “Margins [...]