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All News Analyses by this Author
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
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July 13, 2009
Iberia Chairman Tries to Seal the British Airways Merger | www.comparecarrentals.co.uk
Antonio Vazquez Romero has succeeded Fernando Conte at the helm of Iberia and his first public announcement was the proposed merger with BA. Mr. Romero has pledged to finalise the project soon and that all his efforts would go into sealing this deal. Willie Walsh has meanwhile pledged support for the new chairman. -
June 26, 2009
Qantas Cancels Orders for 15 Boeing 787s | www.google.com
The article details the first proper 787 cancellation, in this case by a prestigious customer, QANTAS. While the airline cites 'turbulent market conditions' for its decision, it adds its commitment to the 787 as the 767 replacement - the main job Boeing wants it to play eventually. QANTAS has 50 787 still on order, mostof which will go to its low cost arm Jetstar. -
June 23, 2009
Airbus Row Set To Escalate | www.thisismoney.co.uk
The old subisidies dispute is nearing the end and its decision by the WTO and no sooner will there be a judgement, Boeing and Airbus are already hitting out against each other with Boeing doing most of the hitting out at this point. It is a trade war that is set for heavy escalation when you factor in the potential repercussions. In the end, there may be no winner at all. -
Airbus' view of its role in the industry
June 15, 2009
Airbus Updates the Market | www.arabiansupplychain.com
The well-written article highlights the mainstay of Airbus vs Boeing from the Airbus perspective. Fittingly for a German venture, the emphasis was on product quality and a well-balanced order book and hence an optimistic outlook for years to come. It's all well-understood given the projects that Airbus has lined up: product improvements, new aircraft in the pipeline and for those hard to convince on mere sales talk, there are even aircraft comparisons rounding up a happy picture. -
May 25, 2009
British Airways Preliminary Results Announcement | www.bashares.com
BA has had a tough time last year. The results are dismal and a lot of industry speak will be painting a black picture. A record 3bn GBP fuel bill literllay pours oil into the debate of whether or not the airline has a future. In his calm and considerate ways, WW tries to point towards the future rather than look back. -
May 25, 2009
When Business Aviation Rebounds | www.aviationweek.com
The article discuess in depth the situation of the North American busness aviation market and its current status in the anglo-american-made worldwide recession. It provides a good insight into the opinions and backgrounds of this once booming market and also highlights its pitfalls quite openly. It is a good read. -
May 25, 2009
GE's GEnx and Leap-X engines | iagblog.podomatic.com
The article/podcast conveys a good picture of what it is like inside an engine manufacturer. The tedious yet costly development work and the patience of management and sales/marketing staff to wait for the - hopefully - positive reuslts. GE has deep pockets and vast amounts of human skill to last long in this game - very long. -
March 2, 2009
BA would accept 55 percent of merger with Iberia: report | www.reuters.com
The planned merger of British Airways and Iberia will likely be splut 55 to 45 respectively. The report suggests that the two companies have agreed on this percentage split of the new airlne company, as well as having London as the company's headquarters to make use of British company law. If true, this presents quite some concession by BA towards the shareholders of IB. -
February 19, 2009
Air France-KLM swings to loss | www.ft.com
AF/KL, Europe's largest airline has failed to repeat the positive year that was 2007 and had bad results to show for the first nine months to 31st December 2008. Its third quarter (Oct-Dec) came in with an operating loss of 194MEUR compared to a profit of 311MEUR of the same quarter a year ago. It also lost mobey on fuel hedging contracts to the tune of 649MEUR. The result is a heavily cut summer flight schedule while its year-round results may prove worse tan earlier expected. Overall expenditure will be cut by 1.2bn EUR to prepare for more bad news. AF/KL's performance may not be outstandingly bad, but the sharp decline does give rise to the question, why the largest airline in Europe with two strong hubs and positive branding apears to be so heavily affected. Is there an underlying home-made crisis by the carrier? -
February 18, 2009
Two groups pull out of Gatwick bid | www.ft.com
The article purports that it is bad news that two of the five consortia in the running for London's Gatwick airport have pulled out at this late stage. Interestingly, one of these ex bidders was led by Babcock&Brown, which by its very name would have been a prominent new owner for Gatwick airport. The other bidder, Canadian pension funds structured around 3i is another high profile quitter, citing Ferrovial's asking price of 2 two billion pounds as far too expensive. The three other groups still running are Global Infrastructure Partners around Credit Suisse and GE, Lysander Gatwick Investments, which inlcudes Citi Infrastructure and Vancouver Airport, and a consortia around Manchester Airport Group. All three in itself seem to be good choices, since BAA itself failed to secure financing for its second largest airport. -
February 4, 2009
British Airways-Iberia merger talks on the rocks | www.reuters.com
The article purports that the whole deal of a merger between British Airways (BA) and Iberia (IB) is highly unlikely due to the misproportions of the companies involved. The Spanish seem to favour a 1:1 merger, a merger amongst equals. This is the crux of the problem, as nothing could be further from the truth. BA is roghly twice the size in Available Seat Kilometres (ASKs) and roughly 80% bigger in revenues and still 25% bigger in fleet size, of which it also owns a major part. Should the Iberians insist on a 'merger amongst equals', then it is truly on the rocks, as the article states. -
November 28, 2008
Lufthansa launches Italia brand | www.breakingtravelnews.com
The continuing saga over the failure and future of Alitalia has left most people in Europe's other airlines with shaking heads. Now one of them, Lufthansa, is taking matters in its own hands by creating its own subsidiary, thereby further exporting its brand. -
November 19, 2008
AMR, UAL Struggle to Sell Idle Jets as Market Slides | www.bloomberg.com
Sitting on hundreds of inefficient used jet aircraft, the US mainline carriers have yet more bad news to stomach - and costly bad news these are too: storing all these aircraft in marketable condition will cost millions of USD. You may save that money by simply stroing them in the desert, but that would make you loose book value day by day. So how? -
November 17, 2008
Govt Clash With MPs Over Heathrow | news.sky.com
In the ever increasing competition of airports, it is vital to stay ahead of the game. In Europe, this means increasingly to deal with lefty opposition and other politics, both of which are costing time and money. -
October 1, 2008
Qantas devours its own | www.businessspectator.com.au
The author provides some good insights on the Australian air travel scene and how he feels things have shaped up as they did over the past years. In his sumary, Qantas appears to be on the loosing stream and it seems that its management is not aware of it. -
Biz or No Biz? That is the Question...
September 22, 2008
Analysts Warn of Rising Pre-Owned Business Jet Inventories | www.ainonline.com
In line with commercial aviation, business aviation has seen its high time and is heading downwards. The article purports bad times are to come for manufacturers and agents alike. Their indicators are all negative, including market prices, which are declining too, as a result of lower sales and more and more aircraft are being put on sale or being parked. -
August 12, 2008
Airbus is hampered by cultural differences | www.ft.com
Cultural differences at Airbus are being blamed for all or most its problems. Politicians in France are fuelling to the misunderstandings by loudmouth paroles, while doing nothing to solve the situation. In the end, it is the product that suffers, usually by adding delays to the production line. A costly misunderstanding. -
August 12, 2008
Premier Power solar panels take over Spanish rooftops | www.bizjournals.com
Premier Power Renewable Energy, an American solar system provider has entered the European market and aims to grow quickly. After barely two years in Spain, the company is pushing towards growth, trying to cash in on the governments' incentives. However, the company concedes that a move into Germany was shelved due to the highly competitive environment there. This is more like a strong sign that the Americans are competing not on quality, but on price and that their systems lack the technological refinement that German customers demand. -
Do you know your airport codes? How about LOL?
August 11, 2008
Ryanair interested in Stansted Airport bid | www.reuters.com
LOL could technically stand for London O'Leary Airport, if MOL gets his way and secures ownership of Europe's biggest low cost and charter airport and one of the UK's most important airports. The woes should be with the 31 other airlines serving this airport and some are in heavy competition with Ryanair and so are naturally worried about this whole scenario. It is not a good idea to tell BAA that its monopoly is weighing too heavy and is basically against good service levels and therefore needs to be ended, while then selling up to MOL, making him a quasi-monopolist by owning the airport where his biggest base is. Both the UK and EU monopolies & merger commissions should wake up now and take note. The problem is that his intended offer of GBP 2m (EUR 2,5m / USD 3,9m) would certainly be a fair price for the current arrangements of Stansted. It would be hard to match and it could become prohibitively expensive if you are trying to exceed it by so much, that MOL acknowledges defeat. -
August 11, 2008
Iberia y British Airways se fusionan | www.elpais.com
Consolidation in Europe is continuing. Air France and KLM started it for fear of loosing out in the end and Lufthansa has gained control of Swiss and brought some sparkle back to it. The other major in Europe who has been silent on the merger/takeover front was BA - much due to lack of a suitor. Enter Iberia! The only other big carrier in Europe, since SAS has a close co-operation with LH and Alitalia is not really tasty at the moment. BA/Iberia may well realise synergies within the same magnitude than AF/KLM or even greater, if they have watched the latter carefully.
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