Ryanair branded “puerile and childish” over credit card charges January 4, 2010 BUDGET airline Ryanair has been branded “puerile and childish” for using a legal loophole to hit online customers with an extra credit card charge. Office of Fair Trading chief executive John Fingleton attacked the company for the £5 fee charged on all but one credit card. The fee has been added to payments with Electron [...]
Ryanair defies the downturn while BA’s passengers slump December 3, 2009 BRITISH Airways (BA) said yesterday the number of passengers flying with the airline had fallen yet again last month, as holiday-goers and business travellers continue to opt for budget travel. The number of passengers carried fell 3.4 per cent to 2.3m, the airline said, while passenger capacity fell 6.2 per cent through the reduction in [...]
Aer Lingus to cut more jobs December 2, 2009 AER LINGUS’ new boss stamped his mark on the ailing airline yesterday, announcing another round of job cuts after talks with unions to reduce the airline’s wage bill collapsed. Ex-package holidays executive Christoph Mueller, who took up the post at Aer Lingus on 1 September, is trying to overhaul a carrier which has resisted two [...]
Ryanair expands its destinations November 25, 2009 Ryanair said yesterday it will buy two new aircraft, open 13 new routes, bringing its total to 34, and deliver 2m passengers per annum at Trapani, Sicily. The move will sustain 2,000 local jobs, Ryanair said. Between two and three flights will go to Billund, Bratislava, Cagliari, Eindhoven, Genoa, Gothenburg, Ibiza and Karlsruhe, among others.
Supermarkets and food staples have a family feel November 24, 2009 BrandIndex asks general questions about brands, but sometimes it’s useful to look at more specific qualities. YouGov recently conducted research on the associations between brands and family values. The recent Family Brands report, conducted for advertising agency Isobel, suggests that association with family values is a useful differential by which we can measure different types [...]
Tax hits UK airports November 22, 2009 AIRLINEShave cancelled more routes out of London than any other city in Europe as a direct result of the British government’s Air Passenger Duty (APD) tax, according to figures released by insurers. APD will rise from £10 to £11 in November and industry insiders are worried it could add to the 76 routes already cancelled [...]
FIGHT FOR CITY OPENS UP WITH A GOOD CUPPA November 17, 2009 IF THERE’S one City high-flier who finds it hard to say no to a new opportunity, it must be Stuart Popham, the jovial senior partner of legal giant Clifford Chance. Popham – in addition to his role at the head of the world’s largest law firm, his chairmanship of the CBI’s London council, and his [...]
Pressure still on for BA, despite the Iberia deal November 16, 2009 BRITISH AIRWAYS’ agreement to a $7bn merger with its Spanish rival Iberia has highlighted just how much the airlines have struggled during the recession. A surging oil price ahead of the financial crisis had put pressure on costs, which saw both businesses and consumers tighten their belts, causing passenger numbers to slump. The merger, said [...]
BA AND IBERIA SEAL MERGER November 12, 2009 BRITISH Airways last night sealed a £4bn merger deal with Spanish carrier Iberia to create an aviation giant. The two loss-making companies said they had reached a preliminary agreement for the tie-up that will see BA shareholders take 55 per cent of the combined group, with Iberia holding the remaining 45 per cent. BA chief [...]
BA Iberia merger set for takeoff November 11, 2009 British Airways and Spanish airline Iberia could announce a long-awaited merger agreement as early as this week, Sky News reported last night. It said the two parties were gearing up for a deal to be announced by tomorrow. BA refused to comment, saying only that talks with the carrier, which started over a year ago [...]