Iberia could split with BA, oneworld

Spanish airline Iberia is thinking about ending its seven-year-old partnership with British Airways and the oneworld alliance. The airline's finance and strategy director said recently that Iberia didn't feel 'tied' to BA, stating that "In a marriage you need two parties and Iberia and British Airways' priorities have not always been the same...They [BA] have their priorities...and Iberia is not in first place." He also added that Iberia could potentially...

Read More

Use the bathroom before flying China Southern

China Southern has recently figured out that since it takes a liter of fuel to flush a toilet in-flight, passengers are recommended to use the bathroom prior to boarding the plane. That, according to a China Southern captain, is enough for "an economical car to run at least 10 kilometers". The captain, Liu Zhiyuan, also said that flying around one kilogram of items like pillows, blankets and magazine for one hour consumes 0.2 kg of fuel, meaning...

Read More

Radioactive 767s

This isn't really relevant when it comes to the airline industry, but it's still something you don't see everyday. Apparently British Airways is grounding three 767s - two at Heathrow Airport and one at Moscow's Domodedovo - indefinitely due to very low traces of radioactive substances.The groundings are happening as part of the investigation into the poisoning of ex-KGB man Alexander Litvinenko, and the two events might be related. Of course, the risk to anyone on board the planes was probably next to nothing, but people who flew on affected flights...

Read More

Possible takeover of Alitalia by Air France?

Air France/KLM, the airline group that's the largest in Europe, said yesterday that it was in talks with Alitalia about a possible takeover of the Italian flag-carrier. Alitalia is half-owned by the Italian government, and hasn't made a profit since 1998, but has instead remained flying over the past few years due to government bailouts. A potential problem that stands in the way of the airline's profitability is the fact that it has two main hubs: one in Milan and one in Rome. Most European airlines, by comparison, really have one main hub: British...

Read More

Could a United-Delta merger happen? It might

United will probably enter this merger madness that's gripping the industry at the time, some analysts predict. At a Citigroup investor conference yesterday, United's CFO, Jake Brace, said that "the industrial logic of mergers in the airline industry is so compelling... We believe mergers in the airline industry have significant synergies, and we believe the industry needs to consolidate." He also wouldn't say much about the subject of Delta, but wouldn't rule out anything in way of a merger. "We're going to do what makes sense for our company,...

Read More

US Airways/Delta merger update

Here’s a mid-day update (done during lunch break) about the possible Delta-US Airways merger. CNN talked to US Airways’ CEO Doug Parker, who said that his airline’s hub in Charlotte, North Carolina would remain if the two airlines were to merge. Delta’s hub in Salt Lake City would also stay, although each hub is rather close to an existing one: Delta’s in Atlanta and US Airways’ in Phoenix, respectively. Delta has stated that it wants to remain independent, at least during its stay in bankruptcy. Delta’s CEO said that his airline’s plan “has always...

Read More

US Airways seeking to purchase Delta

US Airways has just announced this morning that it would make an $8 billion bid (with cash and stock) for Delta Air Lines once the latter emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Delta creditors would get about $4 billion cash and and 78.5 million shares of US Airways stock which, based on yesterday's closing stock price, has a combined value of about $4 billion.There isn’t much information available at this time, since the story was just released about an hour ago, but US Airways said that the deal would ‘generate $1.65 billion in annual...

Read More

Austrian Airlines to start Iraq service

Austrian flag carrier Austrian Airlines said today that it would start flying scheduled flights to the northern Iraqi city of Erbil twice a week, starting December 11. According to the airline, the city is the 4th largest in Iraq and it is a logical new destination for its extensive Middle Eastern network - the airline claims that it is 'already the number three carrier in Europe when measured by services into the Middle East'.The flights are on...

Read More

Aeroflot lets 787 slots expire, retires Il-86

Russian flag carrier Aeroflot lost twenty-two production slots last week for the Boeing 787 aircraft because the government wouldn't approve its order. "The original conditions on the contract have expired... We will now be looking for other alternatives. We remain in contact with Boeing," said Aeroflot Deputy CEO Lev Koshlyakov. Originally Aeroflot remained undecided between the A350 and the 787 and seemed like it would split its order both ways....

Read More

Reactions to FedEx's A380 cancelation

After FedEx's decision yesterday (see previous blog post) to cancel its A380 orders because of prolonged delays on Airbus' part, there have not been any other cancellations by other airlines ordering the A380 - as of yet. Singapore Airlines, which will be the first airline to put the A380 into service, says that it has no plans whatsoever to scrap its order, although it will get its first A380 in October of 2007 instead of December of this year, as originally planned. The airline said that it won't be affected greatly by the delay because it's...

Read More

FedEx Dumps Airbus, Goes to Boeing

Cargo delivery giant FedEx announced today that it has canceled its order for 10 A380-800F planes and instead has ordered 15 Boeing 777 (777F) freighters. Notably, this is the first A380 customer that Airbus has lost.CEO Frederick Smith said, "The availability and delivery timing of this aircraft, coupled with its attractive payload range and economics, make this choice the best decision for Fedex." He went on to say, "Global demand for air cargo...

Read More