Iberia expects British Airways merger to be completed by Nov-2010; easyJet rises
European airline shares experienced another day of mixed trading on Wednesday (02-Jun-2010) as wider markets ended the session flat. A slight gain in oil prices (+0.4%) for the day, to USD72.86, sent some airline shares lower.
- European airline shares experienced mixed trading as wider markets remained flat.
- Iberia expects its merger with British Airways to be completed by the end of the year.
- EasyJet plans to unveil a technological breakthrough to prevent large-scale disruptions to passengers.
- Aeroflot's future subsidiary plans to acquire up to 65 narrowbody aircraft from Boeing.
- Air France-KLM's stock rose slightly ahead of the release of its May-2010 traffic results.
- Dart Group, SAS, and Finnair experienced declines in their share prices.
In key markets, UK's FTSE (-0.2%) and France's CAC (-0.1%) slipped, while Germany's DAX was flat.
Iberia expecting merger and alliance plans to be completed by end of year
Iberia (-0.3%) slipped. Chairman, Antonio Vazquez, stated during trading that the carrier's merger with British Airways is still on track for completion by the end of 2010, with Mr Vazquez commenting, "if everything goes as planned the merger will take place in November". Mr Vazquez added that the merger process is "moving forward at a good pace".
The Chairman also expects the commercial alliance with British Airways and American Airlines to be approved by the US Department of Transportation and the European Union by summer 2010.
easyJet to unveil 'exciting technological breakthrough'
easyJet (+0.8%) gained slightly after announcing plans to unveil an "exciting technological breakthrough" it claims will end large-scale disruption to passengers such as the recent closure of European airspace due to volcanic ash. The announcement will be made at a press conference on 04-Jun-2010.
Elsewhere, Aeroflot (+5.4%) made the day's biggest gain following news the future subsidiary, Russian Technologies Corporation, plans to acquire up to 65 narrowbody aircraft from Boeing. Norwegian (+2.6%) and TNT (+1.2%) also made gains. Air France-KLM (+0.8%) also rose slightly on news it will report its May-2010 traffic results tomorrow.
Dart Group (-4.8%) fell, erasing gains from the day prior. SAS (-3.7%) continued to fall while Finnair (-3.1%) also ended the session lower.
Europe Airline Daily reports the very latest on what's happening in the European aviation market, including news on routes, fleets, traffic and financials. Stories featured in today's issue include:
- Ryanair wins appeal, requests DAA implements differential airport charges at Dublin Airport;
- Austrian Airlines to launch Mumbai and increase Delhi service;
- Luxair to expand fleet with order of B737-800;
- SAS commissions AVIAREPS for Czech and Slovak republics;
- Statutory changes at Adria Airways;
- Croatia Airlines reports widening net loss in 1Q2010, to half 2009 losses in 2010.
Europe selected airlines daily share price movements (% change): 02-Jun-2010
Source: Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation & Yahoo! Finance