British Airways attempts to avert industrial action
European stock markets gained yesterday with the Frankfurt DAX rising 1.72%, the Paris CAC Index gaining 1.59% and the FTSE 100 closing 1.56% higher. However, shares in Lufthansa dipped (-0.3%), while Air France-KLM (-0.1%) and British Airways (-0.1%) remained virtually flat.
BA and Unite at it again
CEO of BA, Willie Walsh, entered talks with Unite cabin crew union Joint General Secretary, Derek Simpson, and Assistant General Secretary, Len McCluskey, yesterday to help avert potential strike action. The union, which represents 28,000 members at the carrier, has threatened a ballot on strike action over a pay freeze, redundancies and proposed changes to working practices due to be implemented by the end of Nov-2009.
Elsewhere, SAS surged (+5.6%), Aeroflot gained (+4.6%), Iberia jumped (0.9%), and Aer Lingus (+0.7%) and Austrian (+0.5%) had a positive day.
Europe selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 19-Oct-09
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & Yahoo! Finance