Airlines across Europe face their biggest crisis this winter as the high price of fuel threatens to bankrupt at least 50 carriers.
The gloomy outlook is shared by the heads of Britain’s largest airlines, British Airways and Ryanair. Willie Walsh, the chief executive of BA, said yesterday: “We will see a number of failures as there are quite a lot of weak carriers that will not survive. We are in the worst trading environment the industry has ever faced.”
BA and Ryanair are among the strongest airlines operating in Europe and analysts believe that weaker carriers will be forced into more drastic action, such as merging with a rival, or they will go out of business. Douglas McNeil, of Blue Oar investments, said that more than 50 European airlines were under threat. His list includes names such as SAS (Scandinavia), Alitalia (Italy), Olympic (Greece), Malev (Hungarian) and Lot (Poland). The future of smaller British airlines such as bmi, Flybe and Monarch was also doubtful, he said in a report, Into Thin Air.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article4465958.ece
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article4446390.ece
AIRLINES will offer nearly 60 million fewer seats in the last three months of the year compared to the same period in 2007, new figures reveal.
The spiralling cost of oil and the credit crunch equates to a seven per cent drop in the number of flights and seat capacity for the quarter, says OAG (Official Airline Guide).
The "unprecedented" severity of the downturn in aviation follows announcements from airlines including Ryanair and British Airways that they will sharply cut the number of flights this winter.
But the biggest downturn is in North America, where airlines will cut 20 million seats, the equivalent of one-third of the global decline in capacity
AIRLINES will offer nearly 60 million fewer seats in the last three months of the year compared to the same period in 2007, new figures reveal.
The spiralling cost of oil and the credit crunch equates to a seven per cent drop in the number of flights and seat capacity for the quarter, says OAG (Official Airline Guide).
The "unprecedented" severity of the downturn in aviation follows announcements from airlines including Ryanair and British Airways that they will sharply cut the number of flights this winter.
But the biggest downturn is in North America, where airlines will cut 20 million seats, the equivalent of one-third of the global decline in capacity
The gloomy outlook is shared by the heads of Britain’s largest airlines, British Airways and Ryanair. Willie Walsh, the chief executive of BA, said yesterday: “We will see a number of failures as there are quite a lot of weak carriers that will not survive. We are in the worst trading environment the industry has ever faced.”
BA and Ryanair are among the strongest airlines operating in Europe and analysts believe that weaker carriers will be forced into more drastic action, such as merging with a rival, or they will go out of business. Douglas McNeil, of Blue Oar investments, said that more than 50 European airlines were under threat. His list includes names such as SAS (Scandinavia), Alitalia (Italy), Olympic (Greece), Malev (Hungarian) and Lot (Poland). The future of smaller British airlines such as bmi, Flybe and Monarch was also doubtful, he said in a report, Into Thin Air.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article4465958.ece
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article4446390.ece
AIRLINES will offer nearly 60 million fewer seats in the last three months of the year compared to the same period in 2007, new figures reveal.
The spiralling cost of oil and the credit crunch equates to a seven per cent drop in the number of flights and seat capacity for the quarter, says OAG (Official Airline Guide).
The "unprecedented" severity of the downturn in aviation follows announcements from airlines including Ryanair and British Airways that they will sharply cut the number of flights this winter.
But the biggest downturn is in North America, where airlines will cut 20 million seats, the equivalent of one-third of the global decline in capacity
AIRLINES will offer nearly 60 million fewer seats in the last three months of the year compared to the same period in 2007, new figures reveal.
The spiralling cost of oil and the credit crunch equates to a seven per cent drop in the number of flights and seat capacity for the quarter, says OAG (Official Airline Guide).
The "unprecedented" severity of the downturn in aviation follows announcements from airlines including Ryanair and British Airways that they will sharply cut the number of flights this winter.
But the biggest downturn is in North America, where airlines will cut 20 million seats, the equivalent of one-third of the global decline in capacity
