Austrian Airlines sold to Lufthansa

Austrian Airlines takes off into new future with Lufthansa

The Supervisory Board of ÖIAG today agreed to sell ÖIAG’s 41.56 percent share in Austrian Airlines to Lufthansa. This was preceded by the agreement of the Supervisory Board of Lufthansa AG (“Lufthansa”) to this course of action on 3 December 2008. The signing of the contract took place after the meeting of the Supervisory Board of ÖIAG.

The takeover of the 41.56% share in Austrian Airlines owned by ÖIAG will take place for a price of EUR 366,268.75 with a debtor warrant. Out of this debtor warrant, Lufthansa will pay an amount of up to EUR 162 million, depending on the future economic development of Austrian Airlines and the outperformance of Lufthansa shares.

Execution of these contracts depends in particular on the suspensive conditions of their approval under Competition law, and approval by the European Commission under assistance law of a restructuring aid of EUR 500 million being paid by the Republic of Austria. Approval for part of this restructuring assistance to be made immediately, which requires a resolution by the Council of Ministers and Supervisory Board, is also still outstanding.

Within the expiry of takeover law, Lufthansa will submit a takeover offer to free float shareholders in Austrian Airlines. In accordance with takeover law, and subject to verification by the Takeover Commission, the offer price will be EUR 4.44 per share, and amount to an approximate total of a further EUR 215 million.

In the sense of the privatisation contract, it was agreed that Austrian Airlines should remain a legally independent company with its head office in Austria and its own brand. Lufthansa declared itself prepared to maintain Austrian air traffic infrastructure as it currently stands where possible, taking into consideration the needs of Vienna as a business location, as well as continuing to expand this wherever commercially viable in line with the needs of the market; the Lufthansa concept also provides for retention of the long-haul connections so important for the region as a business location. Apart from improved access to international passenger flows and joint international marketing, the benefits for Austrian Airlines will consist of using the cost advantages and economies of scale that will result from integration into the Lufthansa Group.

Source: Austrian Airlines

Lufthansa acquires budget arm Germanwings from Eurowings

German flag-carrier Lufthansa is to acquire the budget airline Germanwings from its affiliated regional Eurowings operation.

Terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Lufthansa describes the decision as an "organisational matter", pointing out that it will enable management to "better steer" the regional operation in its own market, and similarly for the low-fare division.

The new arrangement will come into effect from 1 January. Germanwings will be taken under an umbrella company called Lufthansa Commercial Holding.

Lufthansa is in the process of acquiring majority ownership of Dortmund-based Eurowings, although it already has management control of the carrier.

Eurowings, which developed Germanwings from its charter division in 2002, says that, with the sale, there are "no immediate changes" in the airlines' operational activities.

"After a successful start-up phase, the building work on the low-cost airline is completed," says Eurowings chief executive Friedrich-Wilhelm Weitholz.

"Eurowings can now focus increasingly on its core business in the regional segment."

Lufthansa has already agreed to acquire several Germanwings Airbus aircraft which are to be used for its new Milan-based operation Lufthansa Italia. Germanwings' fleet, as a result, has been reduced to 25 A319s.

By David Kaminski-Morrow (Flight Global)

Source: http://www.flyafrica.info/forums/showthread.php?t=15320

Canada reaches civil aviation pact with European Union

MONTREAL — Canadians could have more travel options when visiting Europe after the European Union and Canada reached a landmark deal to open up their air services markets to each other.

EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani says the pact will lead to more transatlantic trade and spur competition in the air services sector.

He says the deal, which removes restrictions on ownership and direct flights, makes "the EU-Canada market one of the most open in the world."

The first phase of the deal is expected to come into force in the first half of 2009 that will allow airlines based in the 27-member European Union bloc and those in Canada to operate direct flights between the two jurisdictions.

It removes restrictions on routes, prices and the number of flights allowed between the two sides.

It also foresees a phase-out of restrictions on investment and foreign ownership in airlines and could lead to European investors setting up airline operations in Canada.

Canada currently limits foreign ownership of airlines to 25 per cent. Raising that ceiling to 49 per cent could still take awhile.

Airline analyst Jacques Kavafian said the agreement won't mean much in the short-term since all profitable routes to Europe are already served from Canada.

Canadian airlines could face increased competition from European carriers but it's unlikely that Air Canada (TSX:AC.A) or WestJet (TSX:WJA) would suddenly expand their European interests unless as a defensive move on certain routes.

Kavafian said WestJet may be more interested in code sharing and marketing agreements with European carriers.

"It's going to help WestJet more than Air Canada," he said.

Air Canada said it will comment this afternoon once Transport Minister John Baird discusses the agreement at a news conference in Montreal.

WestJet spokeswoman Gillian Bentley said it will examine the agreement before commenting.

Source: The Canadian press

Delta resuming flights to Europe from Hartford

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Gov. M. Jodi Rell says nonstop flights from Bradley International Airport to Amsterdam will be resuming next year.
Rell and the state Department of Transportation say Delta Airlines, through its Northwest Airlines subsidiary, will operate the flights beginning June 2, 2009.

The flights will be made five times weekly between Bradley and Amsterdam using a 160-passenger jet, the Boeing 757-200.

There will be no flights on Tuesdays or Fridays, but the schedule calls for European-bound travelers to fly out of Bradley at 5:40 p.m. and arrive in Amsterdam just before 7 a.m. the next day.

Bradley in October lost its only nonstop service to Europe when Northwest Airlines Inc., ended its daily flight to Amsterdam, citing high fuel costs.

Source: USA Today

British Airways still losing thousands of bags a week

Statistics compiled by the Association of European Airlines (AEA) and obtained by The Daily Telegraph also showed that BA's punctuality, particularly on long haul flights, has been poor.

It had been hoped that the opening of the airline's £4.3 billion Terminal 5 would improve the airline's performance.

This, however has not proved to be the case.

British Airways, despite using what has been described as a "state of the art" luggage system at the terminal, came near the bottom of the table of airlines. It was 25th out of 29 airlines, with 18.9 bags per thousand passengers going missing.

Another British carrier, bmi, was named as the European airline most likely to lose a passenger's bags.

According to the statistics, 25.4 bags per thousand bmi passengers became separated from the owner, which meant it took 29th and last place in the league table.

The one crumb of comfort for BA was that its performance between April and October represented a marked improvement on the first quarter of the year – before Terminal 5 was opened.

Then it came in 28th place and was losing 28.9 bags per thousand passengers.

Its latest result at least brings BA within five bags of the European industry average of 13.8 and comes during a summer when European airlines as a whole lost fewer bags.

In the previous summer airlines mislaid an average of 17 bags per thousand passengers.

The figures compiled by the AEA record incidents where passengers arrive at their destination, but their baggage does not.

Even though in most cases the bags are eventually reunited with their owners, passengers can find themselves having to buy supplies to tide them over until their luggage reappears.

BA's efforts to reunite passengers with their bags – for example carrying them by road to a sorting centre in Milan – did little to enhance the airline's image.

It also attracted bad publicity when it emerged that those bags which could not be returned to their owners were being auctioned off for charity.

The latest figures show that BA is performing worse than Air France and Lufthansa and is also mislaying more than twice as many bags as its main long-haul rival in Britain, Virgin Atlantic.

Meanwhile the latest punctuality figures show that more than one in four British Airways long haul flights either arrived or left at least 15 minutes late.

This put BA amongst Europe's poorest performers, being ranked 22nd out of 29 for punctual arrivals and 23rd for departures.

However, this in part reflects the difficulties BA has operating out of Heathrow which says it needs a third runway to cope with the traffic it handles.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Lufthansa Set to Buy Struggling Austrian Airlines

Deutsche Lufthansa AG said its supervisory board approved a plan to buy ailing Austrian Airlines AG, potentially pushing Germany's giant carrier further along one of the most ambitious airline acquisition sprees the global aviation industry has seen in years.

The Austrian government as soon as Friday could approve the deal, which values the national carrier at as much as €377.4 million ($479.5 million) and aims to save it from collapse under mounting financial woes. A deal would require regulatory approval, in part because the Austrian government plans to spend €500 million helping to restructure the airline.

Source: The Wall Street Journal

Scheduled service back at airport

One of Europe's biggest low cost carriers is to start flying out of Kent International Airport from next summer.

Flybe will be operating weekly flights to Jersey - one of the largest and most southerly of the Channel Islands.

Matt Clarke, chief executive of the airport, said it would be the first scheduled passenger service since the airport came under Infratil ownership.

"I am looking forward to working with Flybe whose arrival is a major vote of confidence in the airport," he said.

Flybe operates more than 180 routes and carried more than seven million passengers last year.

'Hassle-free experience'

Mr Clarke added: "Flybe has been ahead of the game in recognising the benefits and growing importance of regional airports.

"We know from the excellent passenger loads achieved by charter operators that the demand for flights to and from Jersey exists.

"Now people in Kent and beyond will benefit from a scheduled service as well as the hassle-free experience of flying from Kent International."

In October, the airport announced a 25-year expansion plan which would see traffic levels increased.

Owners Infratil said they hoped a million passengers would use the site each year by 2011, rising to six million by 2033.

Source: BBC News England