Lufthansa A380 deliveries delayed – Europe share wrap

The carrier had been scheduled to take delivery of the first of 15 A380s in Mar-2010. Airbus and Lufthansa have also agreed on a revised delivery schedule for the A380s.

Airbus had planned to deliver a total of 18 A380s in 2009, but is now expected to deliver 11. The manufacturer expects to deliver 20 A380s in 2010.

British Airways would reconsider a combination with Qantas, but no compromise with cabin crew staff

Shares in British Airways closed 0.6% higher yesterday, following comments by CEO, Willie Walsh, stating he would reconsider a combination with Qantas following the recent announcement of the British carrier's plans to merge with Iberia. This was apparently a throw-away line and there appears little prospect of merger talks being revived in the near future. Shares in merger partner Iberia gained 0.9% yesterday.

Meanwhile, Mr Walsh reportedly warned cabin crew staff he has no plans to compromise on cost cutting initiatives, ahead of the staff's plans to strike in late Dec-2009. According to Mr Walsh, the proposed strike is "very, very different" issues in Jan-2009, in which a deal was made with cabin crew prior to industrial action.

Mr Walsh added, in the Financial Times, that "in 2007 I saw things that I wasn't happy with. I saw there was some merit in the arguments that were being made…I implemented these [cost cutting] changes because I believed it was the right thing for the business to do".

Elsewhere, shares in Austrian Airlines moved upward (+2.7%), Aer Lingus jumped (+2.2%), Air France-KLM shares were up (+1.0%), while Finnair dipped (-0.3%) and Eurofly led the way down (-2.4%), after a strong performance on Friday.

Europe selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 23-Nov-09

Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & Yahoo! Finance