Lufthansa has indicated it may walk away from its takeover deal for BMI, over the the issue of capital restructuring, according to a Financial Times report. If successful it will own about 80 per cent of shares, but obstructing the deal is the issue of who will pay for the capital restructuring, with BMI management saying it’s not needed. The German carrier is also said to be seeking up to €500 million in ‘restructuring’ aid. Lufthansa also has a number of … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Lufthansa may walk away from BMI deal

British Airways has reported a record £401 million (US$640 million) pre-tax loss in the fiscal year 2008 ending 31 March on the back of last year’s record high fuel prices and slumping demand later in the year as the global economy stalled. BA full-year revenue was up 2.7 per cent, but fell eight per cent in the fourth quarter, the first decline since 2007. The carriers’ cargo division, BA World Cargo reported commercial revenue (flown revenue plus fuel … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: BA posts record losses

A Dutch executive with Martinair will serve eight months in jail and pay a US$20,000 fine for his part in an international air cargo price-fixing conspiracy,the US Justice Department said. Franciscus Johannes de Jong, aka Frank de Jong, formerly the vice president of cargo sales in Europe, agreed to plead guilty to fixing air cargo rates as part of a global conspiracy that ran from 2002 to 2006, the Justice Department said. De Jong and his co-conspirators “engaged in a conspiracy … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: Martinair exec latest to face jail over price-fixing

Air France-KLM posted a narrower than expected fourth quarter loss this week after capping staff costs and cutting capacity as it awaits for elusive signs of a recovering in passenger andcargo traffic. Europe’s largest airline by revenue reported a fiscal fourth quarter net loss of €505 million (US$698.3 million) and a full-year net loss of €814 million compared with a €1.4 billion full year profit a year earlier, as a result of the ongoing global economic … [Read more...] about EUROPE & CIS: AF-KLM posts narrower loss than expected