Aer Lingus bats away Ryanair as profits rise July 31, 2012 IRISH airline Aer Lingus, which is trying to resist a takeover bid by larger rival Ryanair, yesterday posted an 18 per cent boost in operating profits in the three months to June and said it would at least match last year’s profit performance. The former Irish flag-carrier said yields per passenger were up 5.3 per [...]
Ryanair profits suffer as fuel cost and Europe woes mount July 30, 2012 RYANAIR yesterday blamed the spiralling cost of jet fuel for a 28 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to €112.5m (£87.9m) for the quarter. The budget airline said its fuel costs had risen 27 per cent on last year to a whopping €544m, accounting for almost half of all operating expenses. Even hedging 90 per [...]
Recession bites Ryanair profits July 30, 2012 Ryanair, Europe’s biggest budget airline, undershot analyst forecasts with a profit slide of 29 per cent in the three months to June as it grappled with a toxic mix of austerity, recession and stubbornly high fuel prices. The Dublin-based airline said the weak economic outlook for Europe would continue to restrain fare growth for the [...]
BAA loses another appeal in its fight to keep Stansted Airport July 26, 2012 BAA has pledged to fight on in its attempts to keep Stansted Airport, despite losing a Court of Appeal hearing yesterday. Judges yesterday upheld the Competition Commission’s 2009 ruling that BAA exerted a dominant hold on airports in Scotland and south east England. BAA, which also owns Heathrow, sold off Edinburgh Airport in April but [...]
Aer Lingus snubs Ryanair July 18, 2012 IRISH flag carrier Aer Lingus yesterday urged shareholders to reject a takeover bid from Ryanair, its larger rival, saying the offer is “not credible”. Ryanair already owns 30 per cent of its rival and on Tuesday made an offer that values Aer Lingus at around €694m (£544m). Aer Lingus said any bid is likely to be blocked [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 16, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Greece cuts executive rewards Greece’s coalition government has stripped the executives of loss-making state electricity producer of a monthly €3,500 allowance paid on top of their salaries, in a move signalling their intention to cut wasteful public sector spending. Delancey bids to use park media centre as a data store Delancey, the property [...]
Airlines agree to axe confusing card fees after watchdog probe July 5, 2012 AIRLINES are to ditch hidden debit card fees next month following an investigation by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Twelve companies including Ryanair and Thomas Cook have pledged to declare any extra debit card charges in the headline price of a ticket, abolishing the practice of imposing surprise fees at the end of online [...]
EasyJet and Aer Lingus enjoy rise in low-cost air customers July 5, 2012 EASYJET carried almost a tenth more passengers in June compared to a year ago, figures out yesterday showed. The low-cost airline said it took 5.43m passengers last month, up 9.7 per cent on June 2011, while its load factor, a measure of how full its flights are, jumped 1.6 percentage points to 89.9 per cent. [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 4, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES VW to buy rest of Porsche for €4.46bn Volkswagen has agreed to buy the remaining half of Porsche’s carmaking operations that it does not already own for €4.46bn. The two car groups yesterday finalised plans to speed up the creation of the combined car group. The integration will take effect from 1 August. [...]
British Airways owner expects Olympics to hit premium traffic July 4, 2012 BRITISH Airlines owner IAG reported a six per cent jump in like-for-like passengers numbers for June yesterday. But the firm, which is running an advertising campaign urging Britons to stay in the country during the Olympics, repeated its forecast that the Games will dampen premium traffic figures during the summer. IAG said it carried 5.05m [...]