British Airways CEO Willie Walsh is going around telling people (like Financial Times journalists) that he thinks a merger with Aussie airline Qantas could still happen. They talked about it last year but dismissed it as a bad idea, but now British Airways is considering nicer ways to ask.

Basically, Qantas is a successful airline on its own, even though their old CEO thought merging a good idea. So British Airways is now saying they could merge in the same way as they did with Spanish airline Iberia, which would still give Qantas a fair bit of autonomy.]]> amandak 2009-11-23T10:39:33-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/17/72910/504

Last week we were intrigued with the latest developments regarding a possible merger between United and Continental, but this week there’s a different merger rumor kicking around. Unfortunately—or fortunately depending who you ask—this one doesn’t seem as likely. We’re talking about the possibility of American Airlines and US Airways joining forces.

American and Delta jostle for the title of largest carrier, but like we said last week, if Continental and United hooked up they would move into first and American would fall to third behind the newly formed Delta. That’s got to hurt your ego, even if everyone remembers that first is the worst and second is the best. ]]> kjb 2009-11-17T09:18:22-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/11/12/161652/10

Now not everyone knows that the Spanish airline Iberia hasn't been faring so well, but you should be very aware that they've just reached a preliminary agreement with British Airways to merge. This means that the airlines will cooperate on flights and form a company which, according to SkyNews, has "419 aircraft which would fly to 205 destinations."

BA and Iberia, along with American Airlines and Finnair already put the merger cogs in motion back in August 2008 when they created the website "MoreTravelChoices.com." Since even before then, Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Atlantic has been railing out against the proposed merger of BA and AA especially, arguing that they'd have a near monopoly on transatlantic routes—ones that Virgin also flies. ]]> JetSetCD 2009-11-12T16:16:52-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/10/19/8924/8805

There’s trouble in paradise now that go! and Mokulele Airlines have merged. Within the last couple of weeks the two airlines have shacked up in hopes of doing some damage to the market share owned by Hawaiian Airlines. The new combined airline aims at bringing low cost cutthroat interisland fares for tourists and locals looking to hop islands for different adventures or just to get to work. Well, things have been a little bumpy as the new combined service tries to work out all the kinks quickly.

The combined effort go! Mokulele reported a lot of minor delays, and most of them were related to passengers that they couldn’t talk to about schedule changes. There were a couple travelers that complained about waiting a couple hours to take-off even though they spoke with the airline regarding schedule changes. Apparently the law says until a merger is complete, you can’t share passenger information. So they only had a few days to cut and paste all those new reservations into the new systems. It didn’t help much that the combined airline now only uses go! planes, as the old Mokulele jets aren’t going to be used in the islands. ]]> kjb 2009-10-19T11:23:40-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/5/14/112752/288

In a saga that now spans a decade, Virgin CEO Richard Branson is again ramping up his criticism of the proposed merger of American Airlines and British Airways. This time, however, it's personal.

In a statement made at The National Press Club in Washington DC, Sir Richard warned against the merger's adverse affects on employees and passengers, especially those really feeling the recession: ]]> JetSetCD 2009-05-14T12:21:54-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/12/2/164933/090

Paging Monty Hall: After Ryanair's announcement Monday that it wants to buy Aer Lingus, airlines around the world are looking to make some deals.

British Airways and Qantas are in talks to join forces, while Delta is cutting capacity ahead of its merger with Northwest. But that's not stopping the new mega-carrier from complaining about Continental's efforts to do a code sharing deal with United.

Still, not everyone's keen on the idea of cooperating: Emirates is denying reports that it may soon merge with Emirati rival Etihad.

Related Stories:
· British Airways, Qantas in Merger Talks [Bloomberg]
· Delta Plans "Dramatic" Cuts to Capacity [WSJ]
· Airline Alliance Switch Advances [Houston Chronicle]
· Emirates Denies It's in Merger Talks [AP, via IHT]
· Airline Mergers coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: Faithful Chant]]]> pbb 2008-12-02T17:00:23-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/11/12/135249/52

This is why Delta wanted to hook up with Northwest so bad: The soon-to-be supercarrier announced 15 new routes today, 12 of which aren't served by any US airlines. The focus of the planned expansions? Japan, Africa and Europe.

Delta already had direct US-Africa flights on lockdown, but with more planes on hand, it will further expand service there, to cities like Cape Town, Lagos, Luanda and Monrovia. As for Japan, the former Northwest hub at Tokyo-Narita will now be at Delta's disposal, for extra in-bound flights from Atlanta, New York and Salt Lake City.

The additional destinations and frequencies are great news if you already live in or near Delta (or NWA) hubs, but those of you on the fringes of the system might be in for trouble:

To prepare for the summer 2009 schedule, Delta in January will increase connectivity between its US hubs to improve customers’ connections to the world. Overall, Delta will offer 14.5 percent more capacity between Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, New York and Memphis in January 2009 compared with the year prior.

This doesn't necessarily mean Delta will be cutting service to smaller markets... But it could!

Related Stories:
· Full Details on New Flights [Official Site]
· Delta-Northwest Merger Gets Justice Department Approval [Jaunted]

[Photo: Faithful Chant]]]> pbb 2008-11-12T14:00:12-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/