UK sky marshal policy in a muddle 5 Jan 2004 The UK government still faces big questions about its sky marshal policy, namely how it will work and who will foot the bill. The answers are unlikely to please the likes of British Airways. No wonder the airline is speeding up its cost cutting.
Armed guards set to patrol UK aircraft 29 Dec 2003 The UK government s decision may be a sensible security step, but it's hard to see how it will make people more comfortable about flying. The move makes a recovery in the longhaul market for the likes of British Airways even more elusive.
BAA will struggle to fund London runways 16 Dec 2003 The government is trying to please everyone by proposing to build two runways first at Stansted and later at Heathrow. But it s hard to see how the airport operator will find the cash to pay for one, let alone two.
British Airways rains on own parade 9 Dec 2003 Oddly, the airline is talking about insolvency just as its shares are shooting back into the FTSE 100 index. One explanation is Rod Eddington wants to puncture the euphoria. After all, he faces weeks of difficult negotiations with the unions.
Business travellers slow to upgrade 3 Dec 2003 Both British Airways and KLM said longhaul business traffic was up in November. The snag is that prices haven't recovered. That means premium traffic may not quite be the shot in the arm airlines were hoping for.
Boeing drops CEO Condit 1 Dec 2003 The airplane group's recent Pentagon procurement scandals may be the trigger for Phil Condit's departure. But the bigger problem has been Boeing's management during the airline industry downturn it has let Airbus get the better of it.
Easyjet recovers altitude 18 Nov 2003 The nofrills airline had a hard time in the first half of the year with the war in Iraq and swallowing its acquisition of Go. But the worst is now over. Easyjet bounced back in the second half and should have an easier time of it next year.
Lufthansa should consider a spin-off 12 Nov 2003 Selling the noncore businesses at the bottom of the market wouldn t be a good idea, but spinning them off to shareholders might be. The German carrier thought diversifying away from its passenger business would make the group less cyclical. That hasn t really happened.
BA still faces headwinds 10 Nov 2003 The UK carrier says revenue decline may have finally bottomed out, and sees signs of life in the US. The snag is that volumes haven't picked up yet. But investors appear to have already priced in a recovery in the stock.
Brussels expected to get tough with Ryanair 7 Nov 2003 Although a pain, this wouldn t be disastrous for the nofrills airline. The EU will reportedly rule that Ryanair s subsidised airport deals are tantamount to illegal state aid.
Ryanair yields still on the decline 3 Nov 2003 After slashing fares to ribbons, the results could have been much worse. But the Irish carrier still managed to increase profits. Ryanair has so far proven a free seat is not necessarily a lossmaking seat.
Alitalia unveils restructuring plan 31 Oct 2003 The plan to turn around the lossmaking Italian carrier is largely sensible. But the trick is to actually deliver. Fear of being left out of European consolidation might just be the stick it needs to get its act together.
European airline stocks jump the gun 24 Oct 2003 The sector seems to have rebounded on hopes that rationalisation is finally underway. That may be an overoptimistic assessment of recent events.
Concorde says goodbye 24 Oct 2003 The supersonic jet has caused a lot of headaches at BA and Air France. But when the market returns, highflying executives will be looking for a classy way to cross the Atlantic.
Motorola to spin off chips division 6 Oct 2003 The spinoff should eradicate part of the US technology giant's conglomerate discount. But shareholders should not get carried away until they understand the funding requirement of the lossmaking chip business.
Investors see hurdles to Air France/KLM merger 3 Oct 2003 Even though the deal has been artfully structured from a regulatory standpoint, plenty of things could go wrong. And because there isn't that much upside in the deal for Air France, any one of them could derail things.
Alitalia wants to join Air France merger 1 Oct 2003 That looks a vain hope unless the Italian carrier solves its own problems first. Alitalia should focus on restructuring itself and not chase corporate deals.
Air France swallows KLM for E784m in stock 30 Sep 2003 On paper, the deal looks decent. Factor KLM's turnaround into promised synergies and the return on investment may be close to 11%. But the synergies are not high enough to bring the group's operating margins to where they need to be. And the execution risks are high.
BA should look at alliance with KLM 21 Aug 2003 KLM is in alliance talks with Air France after finding a potential tieup with BA unappealing. BA should lure the Dutch airline back into alliance talks by softening its uncompromisingly tough line on proposed flight and job cuts.
BA reports worst ever Q1 operating result 31 Jul 2003 BA says it has less visibility on revenues than it used to. At least the costcutting plan seems to be going well. Despite Sars and the Iraq war, the UK airline jacked up volumes. But that was only achieved by cutting prices.