BEST OF THE BROKERS January 24, 2012 RYANAIR Espirito Santo rates the airline “buy” and has a target price of €4.60. The broker is expecting the firm to post a net loss of €18m in its quarterly results next week, on revenues of €806m. It thinks Ryanair’s current trading is on track and that the firm’s decision to cut capacity over the [...]
Air Asia X axes only UK route January 12, 2012 EUROPE’S laws and taxes on airlines were brought into sharp focus yesterday, as routes were scrapped and Ryanair hiked its charges in response to regulations. Low-cost carrier Air Asia X ditched its Gatwick to Kuala Lumpur flight as part of its withdrawal from unprofitable routes over the next year. Its only UK route, which was [...]
Ryanair traffic dips after fuel cost grounds planes January 5, 2012 RYANAIR suffered a five per cent drop in passenger numbers in December compared to last year, after it grounded up to 80 aircraft to offset higher fuel costs. But the low-cost carrier’s annual traffic has risen 5.1 per cent to 76.4m in spite of the bigger-than-usual stoppages. Ryanair’s load factor, a measure of how many [...]
Margaret Thatcher’s legacy is that no-one tries to scrap what the Iron Lady achieved January 5, 2012 THIS isn’t a review of The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher and on general release in cinemas this week [For this, see p. 18]. I’m sure it’s a fine film and I’ll see it once I can scrape together the money from my dwindling pension for a pair of tickets and some [...]
Virgin vows to fight on as BA wins BMI December 22, 2011 SIR RICHARD Branson was left fuming yesterday after British Airways parent IAG pipped Virgin Atlantic to a deal to buy BMI for £172.5m. Branson said IAG’s purchase of the loss-making airline “simply cuts consumer choice and screws the travelling public. “BA is already dominant at Heathrow and their removal of BMI just tightens their stranglehold [...]
Bach, Goethe…and you: a weekend in Leipzig December 18, 2011 YES, Germany is well-known for its conference facilities and, yes, for weekenders, we British love the down and dirty vibe of the new Berlin and the madness of Munich’s Oktoberfest, but much of the country has lain forgotten by visitors in recent years, yet it’s only a 90-minute flight away. In the east, the fall [...]
Prices soar for basic services on board the no-frills Ryanair December 11, 2011 FAMILIES are most likely to be affected by Ryanair’s hiked prices next year as the Irish airline prepares to increase charges for many of its passenger services as of 15 December. Under the new rules, a 15kg bag checked in at the airport, without being pre-booked, will cost the customer £100 in peak season (June [...]
Airlines say air tax talks were a sham December 6, 2011 AIRLINES lined up to condemn the government’s stance on air travel yesterday, calling the government’s consultation on air passenger duty “a sham and a waste of taxpayers’ money”. The Treasury confirmed yesterday that the levy on passengers would jump by eight per cent in April, despite a massive lobbying effort by the airlines, who argue [...]
IAG traffic numbers rise in November December 6, 2011 INTERNATIONAL Airlines Group, formed by the merger of BA and Iberia, has posted a 2.1 per cent rise in passenger traffic in November, boosted by 4.6 per cent growth in premium traffic. Traffic, measured in revenue passenger kilometres, rose by 2.1 per cent versus November 2010, while passenger load factor – a measure of how [...]
Ryanair pushes Aer Lingus on EGM November 24, 2011 Irish airline Ryanair said yesterday it will pursue Aer Lingus directors for a breach of company law if the former state carrier refuses again to hold an extraordinary general meeting. Ryanair, Aer Lingus’s largest shareholder with a near 30 per cent stake, said it had the right to request a meeting at which it wanted [...]