BAA to sell two airports after losing court ruling October 13, 2010 AIRPORT operator BAA is set to take its battle with the Competition Commission to the Supreme Court, after the regulator won a High Court ruling forcing it to sell off two more airports to satisfy competition concerns in the industry. BAA’s Spanish owner Ferrovial will now have to sell off Stansted and either Glasgow or [...]
Ryanair boss threatens French exodus October 10, 2010 RYANAIR, the Dublin-based budget airline, has threatened to pull out of its Marseille base in response to accusations that the airline failed to notify officials about French employees. The threats came as part of a letter written by the airline’s boss, Michael O’Leary and obtained by Le Parisien newspaper. O’Leary wrote that Ryanair will soon [...]
Why Gatwick Airport’s new chief has Heathrow lined up in his sights October 10, 2010 SOME people need to have a lot on their plates if they are to thrive – and Stewart Wingate, Gatwick’s newish boss, is clearly one of these. The 39-year-old took up his post last December when the airport was bought by US investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for £1.5bn from Ferrovial-owned airports operator BAA, which [...]
September traffic rises for Ryanair October 4, 2010 BUDGET airline Ryanair carried more passengers in September compared with the same period last year. According to the Dublin-based airline led by chief executive Michael O’Leary, it carried 6.84m people last month, marking a sharp 12 per cent increase from September last year when it flew 6.12m people. However, Ryanair said that it has flown [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES FOX SAVAGES TREASURY ON DEFENCE CUTS Liam Fox, the defence secretary, has launched a big assault on the Treasury’s attempt to slash his department’s budget, warning that “draconian” cuts to military spending cannot be implemented without “grave consequences” for the Conservative party and the government. In a head-on attack on chancellor George Osborne’s [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS September 23, 2010 LCCI The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry has appointed British Airways boss Willie Walsh as its new president following an election at its annual meeting on Wednesday night. Walsh, 48, will serve for two years, until after the 2012 Olympics in London. He has been chief executive of BA since October 2005, having also [...]
Aer Lingus looks to sell stake September 16, 2010 Aer Lingus can survive as a standalone airline but it might prefer to sell a stake to a larger player to take part in the sector’s consolidation wave, its chief executive said yesterday. The former Irish state airline has already fended off two hostile bids from rival airline Ryanair. Aer Lingus chief executive Christoph Mueller [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 13, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES CALLS FOR RYANAIR TO AXE BOSS Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary has for years endured complaints from passengers about his famously no-frills Irish airline. Now a senior Ryanair pilot has taken the rare step of publicly challenging his boss after the outspoken chief executive said he was trying to convince authorities to let his aircraft [...]
Ryanair boss mulls buying spree September 7, 2010 Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary has revealed he is considering buying up to 300 planes. The European budget airline boss says he is also writing to aviation authorities, asking for permission to have only one pilot per flight. The airline is preparing to pay its first dividend of €500m (£414m) next month – but a spending [...]
Budget airlines fly a higher number of August passengers September 6, 2010 A HIGHER number of travellers are turning to budget airlines easyJet and Ryanair according to August passenger figures published by the two carriers yesterday. The figures indicate a general move by air passengers towards low cost airlines, as each posted an increase in passenger numbers last month. EasyJet said yesterday that it carried 5.2m passengers [...]