Concerns British Airways’ cabin crew will strike again; Aer Lingus and TUI Travel only gains
European airline shares declined with all major markets globally on Tuesday (23-Nov-2010), as European markets plummeted to a three-week low on concerns about Ireland's economic and political uncertainty and political tension between North and South Korea.
Turkish Airlines (-4.5%), Finnair (-3.9%) and Norwegian Air Shuttle (-3.7%) were the biggest falls of the day.
Concerns British Airways' cabin crew staff will strike again
British Airways (-0.6%) made only a slip for the day, despite raised fears its cabin crew union Unite will launch another strike vote before Christmas after BA suspended a "long-standing" crew member for reportedly launching a Christmas collection for suspended and sacked colleagues. BA stated the staff member was suspended over allegations of bullying and harassment.
See related CAPA Profile: Industrial Relations
Aer Lingus and TUI Travel only companies to gain for session
Aer Lingus (+1.5%) and TUI Travel (+0.5%) were the only carriers to gain for the day. During trading, Aer Lingus announced new routes and increased frequencies on services from Cork and Belfast to Spain and the Canary Islands for summer 2011.
It was also announced CEO Christoph Mueller and chairman Colm Barrington have increased their shareholdings in the airline. Mr Mueller purchase 75,000 shares for EUR81,825 (EUR1.091 per share), taking his total shareholding to 125,000. He also holds options over 2.45 million shares. Mr Barrington purchased 30,000 for EUR32,970 (EUR1.099 per share), taking his total shareholding to 150,000.
TUI Travel has been gaining over the past few days on continuing hopes parent TUI will launch a bid to acquire the remaining shares in the company once it offloads its stake in shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd HPLG UL.
See related CAPA Profile: Privatisation and Ownership
Europe selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 23-Nov-2010
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Yahoo! Finance & Reuters