Airline Finance News - Europe

AirGuide Business, Sept 1, 2008

Lufthansa, Virgin Group, Brussels Airlines

Virgin Group is SNA's largest shareholder at 29.9% as a result of the merger of Brussels-based LCC Virgin Express with full-service competitor SN Brussels Airlines in 2006. Lufthansa's interest in Brussels Airlines coincides with its confirmed interest in bidding for the Austrian government's stake in Austrian Airlines Group. The German carrier also is talking with TUI Travel and Thomas Cook Group about a possible three-way combination of their low-fare subsidiaries. Aug 29, 2008

Norwegian Air

Norwegian Air said the July yield climbed 7% year-over-year to NOK0.61 ($0.11). It flew 884 million RPKs during the month, up 35%, against a 41% increase in capacity to 1.02 billion ASKs. The load factor fell 4 points to 87%. Aug 25, 2008

Ryanair

Ryanair confirmed that it responded to the European Commission regarding its policy of banning bookings made on "screenscraper" websites. "It is remarkable, but unsurprising, that a number of European government agencies and the European Commission have sought to blame Ryanair for blocking the illegal activities of these screenscrapers instead of tackling the real consumer scandal which is the hidden 200% or 300% markups being levied and overcharged on innocent consumers by these illegal screenscraper/ticket-tout websites," CEO Michael O'Leary said. According to the LCC, websites including Bravofly, Edreams, Volgratis and Wegelo are guilty of unauthorized and illegal access to Ryanair's site in breach of copyright and various terms and conditions of use. Aug 27, 2008

S7 Airlines

S7 Airlines flew 8.48 billion RPKs through the first seven months of 2008, up 18.1% from the year-ago period. Passenger numbers rose 20% to 3.5 million and load factor slipped 0.2 point to 79.2%. Aug 26, 2008

Spanair

Spanair flew 1.02 billion RPKs in July, down 0.9% year-over-year. Capacity fell 1.4% to 1.29 billion ASKs, lifting the load factor 0.4 points to 78.8%. Aug 25, 2008

Thomas Cook, Condor, TUIfly

Thomas Cook's charter airline Condor has joined "early talks" with TUI Travel's TUIfly Germany and Lufthansa's Germanwings unit over a possible three-way merger, the companies said on Thursday. They said no commercial terms had been agreed and there was no certainty of a deal. TUI Travel has been in talks with Lufthansa since the start of the year over a merger between its charter airline TUIfly and Germanwings. Thomas Cook joined the talks after German carrier Air Berlin scrapped plans to buy Condor, sources familiar with the situation said in July. Thomas Cook said at that time it was "pursuing a range of other available options" for Condor. Blue Oar Securities analyst Derren Nathan said on Thursday the airlines' announcement will "come as no surprise to the market". However, Nathan added that a three way tie-up is likely to be scrutinized closely by the German authorities and any deal is likely to be a lengthy process. Aug 28, 2008

Transavia.com

Transavia.com flight schedule will operate normally today after a judge prohibited the carrier's pilots from striking and ordered management and Dutch pilots union VNV to continue negotiations to solve their pay dispute. VNV had called for industrial action between 2 a.m. and 5 p.m. today, which would have led to the cancellation of some 70 flights affecting more than 20,000 passengers. Aug 26, 2008