BA and Iberia set to merge in £4bn deal July 30, 2008 BA’s Willie Walsh seeks to put the chaotic move to Heathrow’s Terminal 5 behind him British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia have started merger talks in a bid to create Europe’s third-largest airline, they announced yesterday. The two carriers, currently fourth and sixth in Europe by value, are working on a friendly all-share deal with [...]
How Obama is having an impact on our view of US brands July 28, 2008 There are still those who would separate business and politics. But they are intimately connected. In a study about a year ago using data from YouGov’s BrandIndex and our tracking of attitudes to America, we examined whether the two were correlated. We found that there was indeed a clear link: as opinions of the US [...]
BA warns it will cut flights as prices rise July 16, 2008 British Airways told investors yesterday it would raise prices, cut flights and would do well to break even in 2008. Speaking at the annual shareholders meeting in London, chairman Martin Broughton said: “It will be a considerable achievement for BA to break even this year.” He added: “With oil at $85 a barrel – a [...]
Public Sector must try harder to please consumer July 15, 2008 Public services have been having a bad time recently, with data disks going missing, concerns about MRSA in hospitals and intense dissatisfaction with the move to fortnightly bin collections by many local authorities. It’s hardly surprising then that only one in five people in the UK believe public services are generally well run. Most of [...]
BA snaps up French carrier for £54m July 3, 2008 British Airways struck a deal to buy French business-class rival L’Avion for £54m yesterday to boost its new OpenSkies subsidiary, which flies between continental Europe and America. BA will add L’Avion, which began flying between Paris and London last January, to its OpenSkies unit, which began operations last month. The flag carrier’s OpenSkies service is [...]
Growth fears as oil surges to fresh peak July 1, 2008 Motorists and business to be hit as oil hits a new record of $143 a barrel in New York Crude oil prices rose to a record high of over $143 per barrel yesterday due to tensions in the Middle East, stoking fears that the global economy is being throttled by a double whammy of sky [...]
Ryanair gambling on giving away its seats November 3, 2005 Fancy a flutter when you fly? Ryanair chief Michael O’Leary says the no-frills carrier is hoping to sign a partnership with a gaming company to introduce inflight gambling in a move which could mean passengers travel for free on Europe’s largest carrier. O’Leary said his bold plan to introduce an airborne Las Vegas could see [...]
Doing business out of the Third World November 1, 2005 Salman Rahman had to fight corruption, nationalisation and a cripplingly poor infrastructure as he established Beximco in his native Bangladesh. What do you do if you want a fax machine for your office? You get 113 signatures from various government departments, and permission from the security service. Sound absurd? That’s how it was in Bangladesh [...]
House price drop cannot be hidden October 24, 2005 Annual house price inflation was 1.8 per cent according to the latest analysis by the Nationwide Building Society. That is the lowest figure since May 1996, but it is still an exaggeration. Prices rose by 1.8 per cent in the six months to last April — but they have not risen at all in the [...]
BA: Ryanair passengers ‘like freight’ October 20, 2005 British Airways boss Willie Walsh has shocked the airline industry with an attack on Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary. Walsh slammed the low-cost airline claiming that it treats its passengers worse than BA treats freight. In an interview with CityA.M. Walsh said: “I think we actually treat our freight better than he treats his passengers.” The [...]