Zurich Airport

American-US Airways merger: the competitive impact on European carriers

The planned merger of AMR Corp, parent of American Airlines, and US Airways Group will have a small, but noticeable impact on European airlines via their North Atlantic networks. The merged AA-US Air will be the number four ranked airline group on the North Atlantic, an improvement on AA’s current sixth place. In terms of the alliances, if this merger and the Delta-Virgin Atlantic deal both complete, the three global alliances will have divided routes between Europe and North America almost equally between them, with little left for non-aligned carriers.

AA and US Air operate to Europe from different US hubs and there is no city pair route overlap between the two (so competition authorities seem unlikely to worry themselves on the grounds of these operations). However, when looking at overall markets between the US and individual European countries, the merger will have a competitive impact on European carriers’ North Atlantic activities, most notably Iberia and Alitalia, followed by Aer Lingus.

airberlin flies deeper into the red despite oneworld and Etihad ties

The airberlin-Etihad Airways rumor mill has been working overtime in recent weeks with German publication Manager Magazin reporting that Etihad CEO James Hogan is seeking to replace airberlin Group CEO Hartmut Mehdorn as soon as possible due to the continuing poor financial performance of the company and the slow pace of restructuring. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad increased its shareholding in Air Berlin PLC from 3% to 29.21% in Dec-2011, becoming the company’s largest single shareholder.

airberlin reported a consolidated net loss of EUR66.2 million in 2Q2012, a 53% deepening of the EUR43.9 million deficit posted in the year-ago period. The company intends to sell eight aircraft to help cut debt by EUR300 million by the end of 2012 and improve its liquidity position and equity ratio. airberlin’s shareholders equity amounted to just EUR101.3 million as of 30-Jun-2012 and the equity ratio stood at just 4% as compared to 11.2% on 30-Jun-2011.

US carriers to slash fourth quarter trans-Atlantic capacity as Europe's outlook dims

Increasing economic uncertainty in Europe has resulted in US carriers pulling back capacity to the continent later this year to proactively contain losses and a drop-off in traffic that could result from the increasing likelihood of Greece’s exit from the euro zone and the Euro falling to a two-year low against the US dollar. Delta has already stated its goal to reduce capacity 5% across the Atlantic during the fourth quarter, while United has already instituted schedule changes that show a pull-down in secondary European markets. US Airways, which during the last year has enjoyed marked success in its trans-Atlantic business segment, has not declared any plans regarding its capacity to Europe later in the year. But the carrier is launching several seasonal services on the back of its strong performance in the European market.

Trade group Airlines for America (A4A) estimates that during the fourth quarter of this year US carriers will reduce their capacity to Europe by 7.8% as they attempt to better manage seasonality and stave off effects of a recession on the continent. This change is significant as Western Europe is still the largest international market from the US.

Brazil moves swiftly (at last) to award airport concessions

With the 2014 World Cup looming, less than two and half years away, and the government having faced mounting criticism from many quarters as to its tardiness in resolving infrastructure issues, the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) moved swiftly this week to conclude the concession auction for three major airports, two in Sao Paulo and one in Brasilia. Together they handle 30% of Brazil’s passenger traffic and 57% of cargo. While some of the participants are not exactly household names outside Brazil it is interesting to note that one of them is ACSA, which helped host the previous tournament.

Middle Eastern LCCs driving growth into Eastern Europe, Russia and CIS

Russia, the CIS nations and Central and Eastern Europe have been receiving a great deal of attention from Middle East-based carriers in recent months. Full service and low-cost carriers have announced or added a flurry of routes into Eastern European destinations over the past few weeks. Airlines in the Middle East are looking to tap into the underserved region, which is still showing strong economic growth despite troubles in several European markets and strong growth in business and tourism traffic.

Homegrown LCCs Air Arabia and flydubai are leading a push into the regions, but so too is Qatar Airways. Additionally, Oman Air plans to launch services to Moscow. While Middle Eastern carriers have long dominated traffic into western Europe, they now comprise the majority of traffic between the Middle East and central Europe, eastern Europe, Russia and CIS.