Word: lufthansa
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...Virgin Atlantic said it was in talks with Germany's Lufthansa over the future of BMI, a British airline that Lufthansa is currently taking over. This year the German carrier has taken a 42% stake in Austrian Airlines, with plans to pick up the rest later, and a similar share in Brussels Airlines, which handed the Cologne-based carrier access to west Africa. British Airways has been talking to Spain's Iberia and Australian carrier Qantas about a merger...
...that it can join forces with only one of them, and on Dec. 18, Qantas and BA said talks had come to an end after the airlines failed to agree on "key terms" of a deal. One of the problems in Europe is that few airlines - Ryanair and Lufthansa are exceptions - have enough cash on hand to simply buy smaller rivals...
Those airlines lacking resources and scale may have little choice but to yield to larger ones, analysts say. Alongside Air France-KLM - Europe's biggest airline and still a favorite to grab a minority stake in beleaguered Italian flag carrier Alitalia - and the ever growing Lufthansa, an enlarged BA and Ryanair would mean "for most of the smaller network airlines who have a very weak balance sheet, they're going to have to fold into one of those four groups," says Exane BNP Paribas' Van Klaveren. Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), for one, "will survive 2009, but I doubt it can survive...
More Fee Cuts. Following Qantas's lead, Air France, KLM, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airways, Lufthansa, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have all reduced passengers' fuel surcharges in light of the drop in oil prices. Depending on the class of ticket you purchase, British Airways is dropping $12 to $20 off flights over nine hours and $10 to $18 off shorter flights. Virgin Atlantic is lopping off the same amounts. Lufthansa will drop its fees $4 to $32 depending on the route...
...There's still a slim possibility Alitalia can be saved. Air France-KLM or German carrier Lufthansa might make a new offer, or the Italian consortium could reconsider if the labor syndicates show more leeway. But the likelier scenario is that Italy's national carrier goes under for good...