July 2009 Archives

During British Airways' first quarter conference call this afternoon, chief executive Willie Walsh said: "We are looking at opportunities in the future to raise revenue through very limited unbundling of our product."

While stressing that BA will retain a clear focus on being a premium airline, Walsh said there may be some changes to its "current customer proposition".

When asked for an example, he said this could include changes to non-premium customers' baggage allowances although silver and gold card holders would be exempted from the move.

"We would still offer a bag free of change, but looking at excess baggage charges, there may be some revenue opportunities for us there," he said.

BA recently revealed that it is scrapping all meals, except breakfast, on its short-haul flights.

While Southwest's initial $113 million bid for Frontier triggered a flurry of speculation over Frontier's future, and upped compeititon with the first bidder Republic, in reality Frontier's reorganization process has drawn lots of singificant interest.

Republic's CEO Bryan Bedford made that comment on an earnings call yesterday before Southwest dropped the news of its bid.

As Republic starts the process of evaluating a counter-bid Bedford had no illusions the acquiring Frontier would be easy. "I'm sure it will be complicated process," he said, depending on the bidders that emerge and their plans for Frontier.

While Southwest executives commend Republic for being a well-managed company, they feel Southwest is simply "a bigger airline than Republic", which translated into more resources "to bring to bear in the marketplace".

While Southwest is just starting due diligence on Frontier, what we do know is if Southwest is successful the Frontier brand, which is hugely popular in the local Denver market, goes away.

It will be interesting to watch the approach both the bankruptcy court judge and the creditors committee use when evaluating the best offers. How important is it to keep the current level of competition intact in Denver?

Whatever the outcome Southwest says it is "in it to win".   

Spanish budget carrier Vueling is embracing the emerging social media phenomenon head-on, calling on its Twitter, Facebook and website users to name five of the 18 ex-clickair Airbus A320s which have joined its fleet.

Quite a few airlines have jumped on the social media bandwagon, but it's the language that Vueling uses which is interesting. In a news release to launch the competition, it says: "The company has decided to use the increasingly popular social networks in order to communicate directly with its fan base."

Fan base?

To be a fan is to idolise someone or something, to be a devotee, an admirer. It takes someone from being a customer, to buying into the whole concept. If you're a fan of something, you think it's really cool and want to be involved.

And, perhaps more importantly, it means giving your support whether things are good or bad. After all, you don't abandon your favourite football team just because they're going through a rough patch.

Vueling is not alone in trying to engage its fans. Asiana is rolling out a quirky strategy this summer, as highlighted by airline marketing and branding strategist Shashank Nigam in his SimpliFlying blog.

His blog post says Asiana's crew members are ditching their regular uniforms and dressing up as pirates. Asiana is also rolling out some unlikely forms of in-flight entertainment, including live magic tricks, Tarot card readings, caricature drawing, face painting, origami sessions and on-board fashion shows.

Meanwhile others are engaging with their fans by being ultra-responsive.

Flight's Washington-based social media intern, Will Horton, recently drew my attention to an AirAsia blog post about a recent aircraft delivery. The post isn't too exciting in itself, but Will highlighted the comments at the end. I'd recommend a taking a look at the exchanges there. AirAsia X chief executive Azran Osman-Rani takes the time to respond, multiple times, to readers' feedback, giving a personal feel and sense of relationship with the man at the top.

Maybe that's exactly what it takes to turn passengers into fans.

[Photo credit: dheuer] 

With the finalisation of easyJet's fleet plan through until 2012, it appears that board relations are now returning to normal in the wake of the well-publicised spat between founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou and his fellow board members.

Last November easyJet admitted that a "far-reaching debate" had broken out over its strategy. Stelios urged the board to rein in its expansion plans, refused to approve the airline's accounts and called for a reversal its non-dividend policy by 2011. At the same time he stepped up his shareholding and threatened to appoint himself as chairman.

EasyJet chairman Sir Colin Chandler promptly rebuffed the claims, saying the board had adopted a cautious fleet strategy and taken steps to conserve cash, reduce its growth plans and dispose of surplus aircraft.

 

But with the release of easyJet's third quarter interim management statement this week, it appears that all is well again in the easyJet camp. The board says it has agreed a fleet plan which will deliver 7.5% average annual growth in seats flown over the medium term. It adds that this "prudent growth" will enable the airline to take advantage "substantial opportunities" in the short-haul market, while at the same time maximising margins.

"One of easyJet's strengths is the flexibility of its fleet planning arrangements and the board will continue to regularly review fleet planning decisions in the light of economic conditions, the market opportunities available and the financial strength of the business," notes the board.

An easyJet spokeswoman declines to comment on the dispute between Stelios and the board, simply saying "it's all sorted now".

Stelios' spokesman says the easyJet founder is "comfortable with the current growth strategy and fleet plan", but he stresses that the plan remains "fluid", depending on the macro environment.

He adds: "The recession hasn't affected passenger demand as much as Stelios and some other commentators had feared after the collapse of Lehmans last autumn, but consumer confidence is a fragile thing at the best of times."

The spokesman goes on to say that EasyJet's organisational revamp (with the appointment of Bob Rothenberg and Keith Hamill as a non-executive directors, Sir Mike Rake as deputy chairman and Sir David Michels as chairman) has "strengthened the board considerably over the past six months, so Stelios is now more relaxed generally about the company's strategy and its risk-reward equation".

It seems that analysts tracking easyJet's progress are pretty comfortable with the feud resolution. NCB Stockbrokers equity analyst Neil Glynn says: "The issue looks to have been resolved for now. However the dividend question may recur in less challenging times."

Glynn believes easyJet has no plans to issue a dividend, given current demand pressures, but he adds: "In the medium term, when easyJet's bottom line and balance sheet look healthier, it (or a share buy-back) will likely come back to the table."

Andrew Fitchie from Collins Stewart says: "My understanding is the new chairman-elect has worked closely with Stelios. Management has toned down medium-term growth plans, which could accommodate some form of capital return post 2011. That de-risks the business and aligns everyone's interests. Job done!"

Fitchie also hints that the recruitment process for easyJet's new commercial and finance directors are "well advanced".

Regarding the dividend issue, he says this may come back on the table from 2011 onward: "They've said they'll be cash positive post 2011. Which means they either (a.) pay down debt, or (b.) pay a dividend and pay down debt. I'll bet they do (b.)."

 

EasyJet's fleet plan, taken from its third quarter interim management statement: 

 

Fleet plan	Total aircraft
At 30 September 2008	165
At 30 June 2009 1	177
At 30 September 20092	181
At 30 September 2010	187
At 30 September 2011	196
At 30 September 2012	207

1 Includes 10 aircraft held for sale (5 A319 and 5 A321)

2 Includes 9 aircraft held for sale, (5 A319 and 4 A321) which are expected to be sold by 30.09.10.

EasyJet has joined the ranks of airlines sponsoring English football teams, and the difference between budget and full service carriers has perhaps never been so clear. So while Emirates and Etihad are supporting Arsenal and Man City's respective attempts for a seat at the English premier league's top table, EasyJet have opted to back its home-base club Luton Town in its attempts get back into the football league.

It has signed a two-year shirt sponsorship deal which the airline says enables to invest in the local community, help Luton in their campaign back in to the league and also enables the airline to reach tens of thousands of fans (this might be a bit optimistic for the visits of Barrow, Salisbury City and Forest Green Rovers!!!), and also judging by the colour of the kit, gives the team an added luminous advantage over the opposition during evening games.

As a follower of a similar once mighty football giant now suffering in the fifth division (as we like to call it), I have to applaud EasyJet's support of a smaller club.

And with the start of the new season less than a month away, I think its time to set up our own airline fantasy football league. By my reckoning there are now six English clubs sponsored by airlines (let me know if there are any I have missed!), so lets see which finishes highest in their respective leagues.

AIRLINE FANTASY FOOTBALL LEAGUE (Last year's position included)

FlyBe (Exeter - 2nd)

Emirates (Arsenal - 4th)

Etihad (Man City -10th)

Gulf Air (QPR - 11th)

FlyBe (Southampton - 23rd)

EasyJet (Luton -24th)

Long-standing African Airlines Association (AFRAA) secretary general Christian Folly-Kossi is to step down when his current term comes to an end in November.

Folly-Kossi has run AFRAA since 2000 but, after serving two consecutive five-year terms, he is planning to hand over to a new secretary general at AFRAA's annual general meeting in November.

Prior to joining AFRAA, Folly-Kossi spent 21 years with pan-African carrier Air Afrique. Here he held various commercial and financial management positions before ultimately becoming special advisor to the executive chairman, with responsibility for corporate strategy as well as board and member state relations.

Folly-Kossi has also been advisor to various African governments, including special advisor to the prime minister of Togo and the Cote d'Ivoire head of state.

An AFRAA representative says the body is seeking a replacement. The position is based in Nairobi, Kenya, and the deadline for applications is 15 August.

Take a look at our most recent coverage of the African market which we ran as part of a global round-up to coincide with our Top 150 airline rankings.

The decision by US Airways to potentially cut 25 Embraer E-190s from its fleet is a seemingly logical move by a carrier looking to trim capacity through the elimination of a small sub-fleet that also creates some efficiency gains in its fleet management.

But it's interesting to take a brief look at just how those 100-seaters ended up in mainline flying in the first place.

As America West Airlines and US Airways were merging in late 2005 management of the merged entity sent RFPs to regional carriers Mesaba, Republic Airways Holdings, and Mesa Air Group to operate the 25 E-190s once the merger was complete.

But mainline pilots balked, and an element of the pilot transition deal brokered by the two pilots group stipulated the 100-seaters would be flown by mainline pilots.

 

US Airways management remained bullish on the E-190s, at one point explaining they were flown at "competitive" JetBlue pay rates.

You have to wonder if the E-190s would have remained operating under the US Airways banner if the carrier were allowed to stick to its original plan and place them at one of its regional partners. Mainline pilots were moving to protect jobs, but ultimately staff adjustments will need to be made once the fleet type is elminated.

Only top airline executives can say for sure who can operate 100-seat lift in the most economical manner, and as each airline's cost structure differs, no definitive answer exists. But US Airways' decision regarding the 100-seater is interesting as other US mainline carriers are looking gain some relief from scope constraints in their current negotiations.   

Regardless US Airways should have no problems selling or subleasing the fleet as the E-190s are popular aircraft. One of its partners --Republic Airways Holdings--is looking to the used market to source E-190s for Midwest Airlines. Republic's acquisition of Midwest is set to close in the coming weeks.

Brett Godfrey, who heads Australian carrier Virgin Blue, is to leave in 2010 after a decade with the carrier which he co-founded.

Godfrey will "retire from the company during the course of 2010", says Virgin Blue.

"The board has ample time to manage the succession planning and is confident of appointing the right person to lead the company into the next decade."

News of Godfrey's planned departure comes as the airline braces to post its first annual loss.

Virgin Blue expects to report a loss of A$160-165 million for the year to 30 June 2009, down from a net profit of A$98 million a year ago. However, it expects to break even in the current financial year.

The airline has also detailed plans to raise A$231.4 million ($190 million) in fresh equity.

Airline Business did a cover interview with all of the Virgin's airline chief executives earlier this year. And here's a link to an earlier interview with Godfrey. 

Interesting insight into the long-term Ryanair thinking from deputy CEO and chief financial officer Howard Millar during a first quarter results press conference in London today (27 July).

 

Millar said the carrier had no intention of slowing its growth because of the recession - which it now expects to drive average fares down a fifth in its current financial year - and is on track to reach its long-term aim of doubling traffic and profits from 2007 levels of 40 million passengers and €400 million by 2012.  It expects passenger levels to grow 15% this year to reach 67 million by March 2010. "We have no plans to cutback in growth. We think it's the ideal time for growth," he says. (photo: Adrian Pingstone)

 

But Millar adds: "Beyond 2012, we think that average growth will be more modest. You can't forever grow at 15%. I think [after 2012] you will see more modest levels of growth, of between 5% to 9%. [Growth of] 15% is not sustainable for ever."

 

Among the other key points from Ryanair today:

 

• Millar says while the carrier has been talking to Boeing (and that Airbus doesn't want to talk to the carrier at the moment) about its long-term large aircraft deal -  no deal is done and the carrier is prepared to wait.
• Ryanair has completed a $1.5 billion aircraft financing for 55 aircraft covering its deliveries until the end of Sep 2010
• The carrier has extended its fuel hedging position and is now 81% hedged for the full financial year - which it estimates leaves it on track for fuel savings of around €460 million over 2008/09
• Miller believes any separate long-haul operation, previously promoted by Michael O'Leary, is "several years away".  He says: "You must have really cheap aircraft and relatively low fuel prices. So far that hasn't materialised."
• Overall the carrier still aims to double its profits for the full year, but its more pessimistic yield expectations - having earlier forecast a 15% to 20% fall in yields for the year it now expects this to be at least a 20% fall - has prompted it put its full-year profit forecast at the lower end of its previous €200-€300 million range.

"We only have a limited horizon, so we have to use our best judgement," says Millar "But we have taken the view it is going to be a pretty tough winter. We think there are no signs of a recovery anywhere within Europe. There are no signs of green shoots. This winter will be tough for everyone."

Former Virgin Nigeria chief Conrad Clifford is returning to the UK to take up the role of Emirates UK and Ireland vice-president from September. He is replacing Vic Sheppard, who is retiring after 13 years with Emirates.

Clifford, 51, has just spent four years with Virgin Nigeria, but 49% shareholder Virgin Atlantic is now looking to withdraw Virgin Nigeria's group branding and its day-to-day involvement with the African carrier.

Although Virgin Nigeria was due to drop its Virgin brand from 7 July, its website remains unchanged. Back in June several new names were being considered for the rebrand, inlcuding 'Nigerian Eagle' and 'Air Nigeria'. Clifford's successor at the Nigerian carrier is Dapo Olumide.

Clifford began his aviation career as a trainee with Cathay Pacific. He then joined Virgin Atlantic, where he held roles as UK general manager - commercial, and commercial director. In 2002, he became commercial director of Menzies Aviation Group, rising to director, Asia, South Pacific and Africa. He returned to Virgin in 2005 to oversee the establishment of Virgin Nigeria.

Emirates operates 14 daily non-stop flights from the UK to Dubai. It flies from Heathrow (five times daily), London Gatwick (thrice-daily), Manchester and Birmingham (twice-daily), plus Newcastle and Glasgow (daily).

A strong performance in the second quarter from Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling, marking its last quarter as a single entity with its first second quarter operating profit in its history.

  Vueling of course this month completed its merger with fellow Barcelona-based budget carrier ClickAir, but today's second-quarter operating profit of €13.4 million ($19 million) was for the old Vueling operation only. It marks a sharp turnaround on the carrier's financial problems of a couple of years ago - it made operating losses of €13.7 million and €11.3 million in the second quarters of 2007 and 2008 respectively - and the successful implementation of its restructuring and shift in emphasis to increase focus on business travellers. Vueling's second quarter operating profit was before restructuring costs, but the carrier says its profit over the last 12 months already offsets restructuring costs, enabling it to break even on a 12 month rolling basis.

Against this background and with the prospect of synergy savings from the merger - which new Vueling chief executive Alex Cruz, former head of Clickair, describes at its number one priority in the coming months - the airline is forecasting a full-year pre-tax profit for 2009 after restructuring costs

For more on the Vueling merger, check out our recent stories here.

And to read about another European budget carrier enjoying a record second quarter, see our recent blog about Norwegian. 

(Photo credit: 'The Art of Standing' by Material Boy)

As discussed in our earlier blog, Ryanair is polling its passengers on whether they'd be willing to stand if it meant a free flight.

And the results are in.

Two thirds (80,000 passengers) would be up for the standing challenge, but for a third this apparently takes price sensitivity to the limit.

But Ryanair passengers are a democratic bunch and 60% believed that standing should be an option on short-haul flights.

Unfortunately for Mr. O'Leary, this particular idea didn't originate within Ryanair. Chinese carrier Spring Airlines got there first and then the charismatic Ryanair chief jumped on the bandwagon.

To see the survey questions and results, read on.

 Our sister publication, Air Transport Intelligence, is reporting that Roman Pakhomov has been named as the new head of Russian carrier Rossiya.

There's a bit of background there because former director general, Sergei Mikhalchenko, resigned over a disagreement linked with the airline's change of status.

Russian Technologies has secured control of Rossiya, alongside assets in half a dozen domestic carriers, with the aim of forming aviation holding Rosavia.

"We've tried to present our arguments but Russian Technologies has its own vision of the matter and ignored them," said Mikhalchenko in an ATI story at the time. "I cannot continue working in these conditions."

Read on to see the full ATI story about Pakhomov's appointment.

While they don't coordinate marketing campaigns oneworld alliance members American Airlines and British Airways do share similar sentiments about business travel -- and its importance in a rebound.
BA has launched "Face-to-Face", a new campaign that features a contest awarding 1,000 travellers an opportunity to fly overseas from New York, LA or Chicago this fall to deepen relationships, forge contracts and generate revenue. In parallel BA  commissioned research by Harvard Business Review  to gauge the importance of business travel.  The results? About 87% of 2,200 respondents believe face-to-face communication is essential for sealing the deal.
BA executive vice president for the America's Simon Talling-Smith says companies for the time being are taking the short-term view, trading off in-person communication to cut expenses. But in the long run he says the individuals running those businesses are all too aware that if their employees are not meeting clients in-person, their competitors are likely courting those same clients face-to-face.
Chairman and chief executive of American parent AMR Gerard Arpey recently made similar comments during the company's second quarter earnings call. He says at some point companies realize "Well, your folks weren't out there goofing off, they were actually out there traveling to generate business for our company."
One thing all carriers need to brace for once premium travel does start its revival is an erosion of pricing leverage they had during the boom times. Talling-Smith believes loads should return with a strong showing, but yields won't show the same strength.  

In echoes of the great movie "Catch me if you can" starring Leonardo DiCaprio (seen below at the UK premier in 2003), a British 17-year-old has been caught trying to convince officials that he was setting up an airline.

Read the full story here from UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph.

This brings to mind another teenager, Martin Halstead, who tried to set up an airline in the UK flying on some regional routes a couple of years back. I wrote this blog about Martin after meeting him at the Routes event in 2005.

Unfortunately his venture - Alpha One Airlines - bit the dust.

Anybody got any other stories about teenage airline entrepreneurs?

What's the connection you ask? Well, the threat of machinists jobs at the carrier heading South is playing a role in decision by IAMAW today to endorse contract extensions and pension funding freezes necessary for Air Canada to regain financial strength and avoid heading into its second formal restructuring this decade.
Air Canada needs approval of the agreements from all five labour unions to achive the pension funding freeze and to secure $600 million in financing. The  IAMAW is the lone holdout after narrowly rejecting the deal earlier this month, and the union is holding a re-vote on the proposed deals today.
One sticking point is 1,400 mechanics based in Montreal doing work for MRO Aveos, which was previously Air Canada Technical Services (ACTS). Air Canada parent ACE Holdings sold a 70% stake in ACTS in 2007.
I apologize for the necessary digression there. But there's more -- ACTS in 2007 expanded its portfolio through the purchase of the Aeroman MRO in El Salavador.
Hence the El Salavador connection. Evidently some IAMAW members are concerned  the 1,400 jobs in Montreal will transition to El Salvador after the proposed contract extensions expire. Those technicians currently perform widebody work -- but no matter -- union members argue that even though Aeroman currently only supports work on narrobody aircraft, concern is mounting Aveos could build a widebody facility in El Salvador.
Keep an eye out for the results of the IAMAW vote tomorrow.  

In amongst the doom and gloom of the current airline market, Scandinavian budget carrier Norwegian is today highlighting record second quarter pre-tax profits of NKR245 million ($37.5 million). This compares to an NKR86 million loss at the same stage last year and comes off the back of revenues up more than a fifth to NKR1.9 billion.

Norwegian's CEO Bjorn Kjos says: "Despite operating in an industry facing large economic challenges, we deliver the most profitable second quarter in the company's history. Our competitive cost base enables us to be profitable across our whole route network. Despite the industry wide decline in traffic figures, both in Norway and Europe, Norwegian has experienced a significant passenger growth."

If you want to find out more about Norwegian, then click here to read our Airline Business cover interview with Bjorn Kjos from December (shortly after the carrier had moved into Copenhagen to exploit last year's collapse of Sterling). It also gives a great excuse to run one of the stunning photos (thanks to Tom Gordon at Billypix) we got of Kjos as part of the cover shoot. 

Passengers may be staying at home, but the summer months seem to have brought a flurry of high-profile airline executive moves.

The latest is the breaking news today that Iberia chairman and chief executive Fernando Conte has resigned and will be replaced by Antonio Vazquez Romero.

Iberia, which is in merger talks with British Airways, has yet to detail the reasons for Conte's decision.

Air France has today debuted its first A380, which is to be deployed on the daily Paris Charles de Gaulle-New York JFK route in November, detailing the aircraft will be outfitted in a 538-seat configuration.

This This marks the highest-density layout of any A380 so far put in service. Emirates opted 489 seats, Singapore Airlines 471 and Qantas 450. At the other end of the spectrum, Reunion-based carrier Air Austral is expected to take delivery of two all-economy A380s configured with 840 seats in 2014

You can find loads more on how the the early A380 operators configured their ultra-large aircraft in this article on A380 interiors by Max Kingsley-Jones from Flight International last September.

Recently-announced plans by Republic Airways Holdings of planned acquisitions of Frontier and Midwest airlines generated massive attention on the Indianapolis-based regional operator, and caused its competitors to pause.

Chief executive of Mesa Air Group Jonathan Ornstein recently told employees it's clear Republic would like to gain some independence. And while he says the move is somewhat risky, it is also creative.
"Let's keep an eye on what happens at Republic," he says.

Adding some context to Republic's strategy of buying its former partner Frontier and current partner Midwest, Ornstein warns of US regional industry looking to reshape itself as major carriers strive to survive in an anemic demand environment.

Ornstein and Mesa were early movers in creating business opportunities independent of the traditional capacity-purchase regional model. While it ultimately sold its stake in Chinese joint venture Kunpeng Airlines Mesa's Hawaii subsidiary go! recently celebrated its third anniversary.

Ironically enough go! now competes with Mokulele Airlines, another carrier with ties to Republic. Earlier this year Republic took a 50% stake in Mokulele after converting an existing loan to its Hawaiian partner into an equity stake. Republic Embraer E-170s flown under the Mokulele banner compete against go!'s 50-seat CRJ200s in interisland markets along with Boeing 717s operated by Hawaiian.

Will there be similar competitive scenarios created as the US regionals move to disperse some risk from their traditional models? Not all carriers have the cash war chests of Republic or SkyWest Inc, who recently expanded its stake in Brazilian regional carrier TRIP.
We'll soon see if the reward is worth the risk.

What? Airline getting more publicity than Ryanair for off-the-wall service idea. This will never do. Only a couple of weeks ago Michael O'Leary told journalists in London he would do his level best to find some ideas to match the carrier's fat tax and paying for the toilet initiatives, which generated waves of publicity over the winter months.

But since then Chinese carrier Spring Airlines hit upon its own publicity machine after reports it was considering offering standing room tickets onboard.

 

This has now been picked up by O'Leary, who told Sky News that having seen the idea, the carrier was looking at it themselves. "We might take out the last five or six rows and say to passengers 'Do you want to stand up? If you do you can travel for free', he tells Sky, adding he was looking at bar stools similar to those on a train buffet carriage.

Who could have guessed? Well maybe our colleagues on the excellant Asian Skies blog for a start. Back on 30 June in writing a blog about the Spring standing room story, Siva Govindasamy from our Singapore team, offered this prophetic view..

"And the more I read it, the more it sounds like this is coming straight out of the Ryanair and Michael O' Leary school of publicity stunts."

If you haven't seen it already, here's a link to the Asian skies blog - which as the name suggests, is a great stop to find out what's happening in the Asian aviation sector.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes this is the shock news that Ryanair and the UK's Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) at last agree on something. Both have welcomed news of the completion of the UK Office of Fair Trading's consideration of the ASA's referral over the clarity of Ryanair's website and advertisting - which has resulted in the Irish budget carrier taking a number voluntary steps to increase the clarity and transparency of its website (details here). Both welcomed it, but seem to have slightly different takes on it...

Here is the ASA statement:  "Following the ASA's referral of Ryanair in 2008 for repeated breaches of the non-broadcast Advertising Code and for refusal to co-operate with the self-regulatory system, we welcome the conclusion of the OFT's investigation and the progress that has been made."

While Ryanair says: "Ryanair welcomes today's OFT announcement which concluded this referral. We were happy to make the minor adjustments recommended by the OFT to improve our website and advertising.  Ryanair is pleased with the OFT's conclusion of this case which confirms Ryanair's belief that there was no substance to the ASA's original referral, and we welcome the fact that the OFT has dismissed the ASA's request 'to consider taking action against the budget airline Ryanair."

So lets give the last word to the OFT. "We welcome Ryanair's action which we believe will make it easier for consumers to access the information they need when choosing low cost flights," says OFT director of consumer markets, Mike Haley.

For more on the long-running spat between Ryanair and ASA, here's a story I wrote for out premium news service Air Transport Intelligence back in April last year...

Ryanair advertising spat heads for consumer-trading body
Graham Dunn, London (04Apr08, 15:04 GMT, 389 words)

 

 

Earlier this week the world's aviation technology community gathered in Cannes for the 2009 SITA Air Transport IT Summit, where the theme was IT - a force for change.

Topics at the top of the agenda included the growing use of passenger mobile devices and the need to continue investing in technology, despite the downturn and cost-cutting climate.

During the day we caught up with several of the key speakers, who shared their thoughts with us on the videos below:

 

 

 

For more information on the latest IT trends see the coverage from our July issue online:

2009 Airline IT Trends Survey: Overview

2009 Airline IT Trends Survey: Technology developments

 

On 1 July Lufthansa chief executive for group airlines and corporate human resources Stefan Lauer took over from Sir Michael Bishop as bmi chairman, moving the colourful story of the Lufthansa-bmi takeover on another chapter. Long-term shareholder and chairman Bishop is leaving the board.

Jorg Hennemann, who is Lufthansa manager for hub development and capacity management, Frankfurt, has also been appointed to the bmi board. Nigel Turner remains bmi chief executive, deputised by Tim Bye.

For our previous coverage of the Lufthansa/bmi takeover saga see:

Lufthansa settles BMI takeover dispute

BMI majority owner launches legal action against Lufthansa

Lufthansa secures European approval for BMI acquisition

UK's BMI turns in £100m loss  

Insight: The future of bmi

 

Wizz Air is heaping more pressure on its embattled central European budget rival SkyEurope by launching flights from Bratislava - home of, you've guessed it, SkyEurope. The latter is currently in the process of restructuring after filing for creditor protection last month, and Wizz has made its move by launching four weekly flights from Bratislava to Rome starting in September.

"Slovakia has always been on our horizon," says Wizz Air executive VP John Stephenson. "We believe that now is the time to step up and benefit from the arising opportunities on the market. This is the first step, many more to follow."

Here's the full story from our premium news service Air Transport Intelligence

 

Wizz entry to Slovakia set to heap pressure on SkyEurope
David Kaminski-Morrow, London (01Jul09, 14:40 GMT, 139 words)

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news

Wizz Air is heaping more pressure on its embattled central European budget rival SkyEurope by launching flights from Bratislava - home of, you've guessed it, SkyEurope. The latter is currently in the process of restructuring after filing for creditor protection last month, and Wizz has made its move by launching four weekly flights from Bratislava to Rome starting in September.

"Slovakia has always been on our horizon," says Wizz Air executive VP John Stephenson. "We believe that now is the time to step up and benefit from the arising opportunities on the market. This is the first step, many more to follow."

Here's the full story from our premium news service Air Transport Intelligence

 

Wizz entry to Slovakia set to heap pressure on SkyEurope
David Kaminski-Morrow, London (01Jul09, 14:40 GMT, 139 words)

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news