Air Transportation

Airlines’ net-zero pledges fly on fumes

1 Nov 2021

Aviation accounts for only 2.5% of global emissions and technologies to help operators decarbonise appear numerous. Yet batteries, hydrogen, biofuels and e-kerosene all have big practical challenges and are too pricey. The risk for airlines is anxious states clipping their wings.

Cox: Arrivederci Alitalia, you won’t be missed

14 Oct 2021

After 74 years, Italy’s once-glamorous national carrier disappears for good tonight. The airline had become the butt of bad jokes and a dent to Italian pride. Poor management was a factor in its demise. But there are reasons to celebrate Alitalia’s end, and ITA’s new beginning.

Air India sale gives Narendra Modi reform miles

12 Oct 2021

The prime minister’s government will collect only $400 mln from selling the indebted national carrier back to the Tatas. If anyone can restore the company to its globetrotting glory, it’s them. Either way, the deal is a welcome symbol of India’s new embrace of private markets.

Capital Calls: Merck pill, Zoom deal

1 Oct 2021

Concise views on global finance: Investors are being stingy about the pharma firm’s new drug to treat Covid-19; the video-conference company and Five9 are dropping their $15 bln transaction.

Business travel fixes risk grounding recovery

27 Aug 2021

The $1.4 trln industry of selling expensive plane tickets and hotel rooms to itinerant executives faces a bleak future as firms like HSBC slash travel budgets. Making ordinary customers pay more would bolster margins. But raising prices may also dampen an already slow revival.

Capital Calls: Cook defeats Apple crumble risk

24 Aug 2021

Concise views on global finance: The CEO replaced the ailing Steve Jobs exactly 10 years ago. Despite fears at the time, Cook’s must be one of the most lucrative successions of all time for shareholders.

Capital Calls: Oatly, Sonos/Google

16 Aug 2021

Concise views on global finance: The Swedish oat milk producer’s decent results are only good in parts; Sonos gets a boost with a preliminary trade ruling that Google infringed its patents.

U.S. airlines serve investors before passengers

22 Jul 2021

Southwest and American have stopped burning cash. Both carriers turned a profit too, even though revenue is below 2019’s levels, and they have cash in case conditions worsen again. The risk is that customers – who helped fund airline bailouts – have their patience tested.

Great Wall Motor is all thrills, no frills

21 Jul 2021

The $54 bln Chinese automaker’s no-nonsense approach tripled earnings in the first half. Its affordable conventional designs are crowd-pleasers, while smart bets on battery technology are goosing the valuation. Shareholders in flashier rivals like Geely might take note.

European airlines’ CO2 pleas deserve cold shoulder

16 Jul 2021

Trade body IATA is moaning about EU plans to curb emissions by making jet fuel more expensive. Ideas that may add 3% to operating costs over several years aren’t a grounding order. And most of the changes would merely remove existing freebies to align aviation with other sectors.

Wizz Air CEO’s 100 mln pound bonus is aptly remote

6 Jul 2021

Jozsef Varadi’s payday could be even bigger than Michael O’Leary’s at rival Ryanair if his airline’s shares nearly treble. Linking such a big reward to stock performance looks crude but the target implies a fourfold revenue jump. Even Varadi can’t sustain that steep a climb.

Wall Street enlists Main Street for IPO advantage

29 Jun 2021

Clear Secure’s underwriters are allocating 1% of its offering to trading platform Robinhood. That tips bankers off if the airport security firm creates retail buzz. If so, it should enable them to leave less value on the table while also giving Robinhood traders a chance to play.

American Airlines pulls a Wall Street stupidity

21 Jun 2021

As U.S. air travel booms again, the carrier is cutting flights party due to labor shortages, something taxpayer bailouts were meant to prevent. As Merrill Lynch and other investment banks learned during previous crises, pulling the trigger too quickly on firing is a bad move.

Airport security fast-tracker jumps the IPO line

18 Jun 2021

Clear, the U.S. firm that allows people to cut security lines for $179 a year, wants to go public. With vaccine checks on the horizon and the U.S. government as a new client, it has a promising path to fly as a public company, so long as its valuation stays in the $2 bln range.

Capital Calls: JPMorgan, French SPAC, Jessica Alba

17 Jun 2021

Concise views on global finance: Jamie Dimon bulks up his nascent UK digital banking offer by buying Nutmeg; France boosts its lowly SPAC league-table position with two blank-cheque vehicles; the Hollywood star’s consumer packaged goods company Honest encounters growing pains.

Airbus sprints past Boeing in two-horse race

3 Jun 2021

The European plane-maker’s short-haul jet is flying off the shelves, helping Airbus close the revenue gap as Boeing’s 737 MAX woes drag on. Yet the U.S. giant’s valuation premium is as big as it has been. Airbus’s recent surge could last. It’s about time the market catches on.

Capital Calls: Airbus signals liftoff, Bill Gates

27 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: The global aircraft industrial complex got a boost after the European plane maker said it hopes to churn out more of its A320 short-haul workhorses per month than expected; Microsoft founder’s huge private investment vehicle under scrutiny.

Belarus plays airspace poker with a weak hand

25 May 2021

Irate western powers have banned flights over the Russian ally’s territory after it forced a Ryanair jet to land. Engaging in “air piracy” is easier for countries that can afford to lose overflight fees or are too big to fly around. Neither is obviously the case for Belarus.

Capital Calls: AT&T’s bankers, Blackstone in Italy

17 May 2021

Concise views on global finance: The U.S. telecom giant’s unwinding of its purchase of Time Warner is a gift for advisers on Wall Street; a court rules that the U.S. private equity firm’s 2013 purchase of Corriere della Sera’s HQ was valid.

Thruppence: Lessons from a few border crossings

19 Apr 2021

Lockdowns are easing in some countries as vaccination efforts pick up. But professionals eager to get back on the road still need to become quick studies on the fine print of pandemic-era international travel rules. Three itinerant Breakingviews columnists share their notes.