THE TIPSTER TURBULENCE MAY BE OVER FOR RYANAIR November 1, 2009 WE are still in earnings season, which means that shares and indices are subject to plenty of daily moves. Irish airline Ryanair had a turbulent time in October with its share price tumbling from €3.50 to below €3.00 so investors will be looking for some good news when it releases second quarter numbers today. The [...]
City Airport owner snaps up Gatwick October 21, 2009 THE UK’s second largest airport, Gatwick, is facing a massive shake-up after BAA yesterday sold it for £1.5bn to City Airport owner Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). The new owner said that it wants to challenge rival Heathrow by overhauling services and could add new destinations. Michael McGhee, the GIP partner leading the acquisition, said the [...]
RYANAIR’S CHIEF O’LEARY PROVES HIMSELF A SUCKER FOR PUBLICITY October 13, 2009 RYANAIR boss Michael O’Leary isn’t exactly renowned for taking criticism lying down, so the BBC’s Panorama programme will probably have seen yesterday’s tirade coming. After Monday evening’s programme on the airline, Ryanair unleashed a campaign to maximise publicity from the episode – offering 1.1m free flights, labelling the show a “hatchet job” and slamming 11 [...]
Skywest passengers fall in September after slump October 12, 2009 SKYWESTAIRLINES, the Australian budget carrier, said yesterday it had carried 8.55 per cent fewer passengers last month than it did in September 2008. The airline said 30,000 people flew in September, down from 33,000 in 2008, but its load factor – which measures how full its planes are – rose 1.4 per cent to 54.16, [...]
Aer Lingus cuts jobs and pay in a bid to save 97m a year October 7, 2009 AER LINGUS, the Irish airline, is axing around 800 jobs as it seeks to save €97m (£90m) a year by 2011. The shamrock-crested carrier, which has fended off two hostile bids from Irish rival Ryanair – one of the most cost-efficient players in the industry – said it could not survive “in a situation where [...]
Political polling produces instant public response October 6, 2009 THE big news here in Manchester is “daily polling”. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but never before have we seen the effect of the sound and fury at the party conferences producing, almost instantly, accurately recorded public response. The chart shows how Gordon Brown’s speech led to a very slight uplift, which disappeared the next [...]
EasyJet passenger numbers take off October 6, 2009 EASYJET, the budget airline founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, carried 5.3 per cent more passengers last month than in the same period last year, in the latest piece of data to show budget air travel demand taking off. The orange-crested carrier carried 4.42m passengers in September, up from 4.19m in 2008, and said its load [...]
O’Leary ready for departure October 5, 2009 MICHAEL O’LEARY, the ubiquitous boss of budget airline Ryanair, could stand down within a year, industry experts said yesterday. The news came as the airline dismissed reports that Ryanair could take control of Aer Lingus through a rights issue. “Our position on Aer Lingus was recently confirmed at the Ryanair AGM, which is that we [...]
BA September passenger figures dash hopes of a recovery in aviation sector October 5, 2009 FLAG carrier British Airways (BA) carried 0.8 per cent fewer passengers in September year-on-year, dashing hopes the commercial aviation industry was recovering from the deep slump caused by the global recession. The airline, whose alliance with American Airlines and Iberia is being scrutinised by Europe’s competition watchdog, said yesterday its premium, or business class, passenger [...]
BA shorthaul is threatened by the downturn September 28, 2009 FLAG carrier British Airways (BA) may be forced to slash some of its short-haul flights to restore earnings, an industry expert has said. “This is an airline that really has to bite the bullet on short-haul, looking long and hard at what it’s costing and whether they can ever get a decent margin out of [...]