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 [...]
Ryanair chiefs get cold-shoulder September 27, 2009 Three Ryanair directors – Kyran McLaughlin, Michael Horgan and Paolo Pietrogrande – received almost double the level of dissenting votes usually seen in director elections for the Irish Stock Exchange’s top companies. Proxy voting company Manifest, which advises institutional shareholders on corporate governance issues, has already dubbed the airline ‘‘one of Europe’s most shareholder unfriendly [...]
Ryanair says rival needs a big shake up September 24, 2009 BUDGET carrier Ryanair is willing to “invest more money” into Aer Lingus, but is unlikely to make a third bid for its rival, chief executive Michael O’Leary said yesterday. The flamboyant boss, whose company is a 29 per cent shareholder in Aer Lingus, said the Irish airline will need major reorganisation. “They will come to [...]
C&W launches deal with Ryanair September 22, 2009 Cable & Wireless announced yesterday that it has signed a five-year, €15m (£13.5m) contract to manage budget airline Ryanair’s European telecoms network, which covers 180 airports, as well as bases, data centres and corporate offices in 26 countries. Ryanair’s self-service check-in kiosks will also run on the C&W network.
Budget carrier SkyEurope falls into bankruptcy September 1, 2009 SLOVAKIAN budget airline SkyEurope has filed for bankruptcy and suspended all flights, the firm said yesterday, after collapsing under the pressure of dwindling revenues in the economic slump. SkyEurope, which was launched in 2001 and served mainly continental Europe, had obtained a three-month creditor protection in Slovakia in June and was trying to restructure and [...]