Wind Jet

Acquisition of Blue Panorama and Wind Jet ensures Alitalia will keep ahead of Ryanair in Italy

Alitalia is poised to bolster its position in its home market through the planned acquisition of smaller Italian carriers Wind Jet and Blue Panorama. If the recently announced deals are completed, Alitalia stands to increase its total market share to about 27%, cementing its position as Italy’s leading passenger carrier.

The acquisitions will also result in increased low-cost competition in Italy as Alitalia expands its presence in the budget sector through the new subsidiary companies.

Alitalia stated there are potential synergies with Blue Panorama and Wind Jet, with the airlines having complementary networks, markets and products. Alitalia will be submitting its plan to Italy’s Antitrust Authority for approval prior to the acquisitions being presented to the governing bodies of the three airlines.

Europe loses four airlines in an unhappy start to 2012

As the economic noose tightens around European airlines, the industry's ranks look set to thin this year. Over late 2011 and the first month of 2012, the industry has witnessed the collapse of four small European carriers as well as the announcement of a merger between Wind Jet and Blue Panorama Airlines by Alitalia. For the time being, it is predominantly smaller, lower capitalised airlines that have failed. The four failed carriers deploy only around 217,000 weekly seats or 0.6% of total European system capacity.

However, the collapses, which follow more than 30 European airline failures over the 2008/09 economic crisis, could in the coming months foreshadow the demise of further carriers or further consolidation, with a number of financially weak carriers operating in the European market. While all but one of the airlines affected so far in 2012 have been based in Continental Europe, there are several weak carriers in Eastern Europe urgently seeking further funding and/or new investors in the near term. Three of the collapsed carriers have been privately owned, but last week's collapse of Spanair shows governments may be willing to let state-supported carriers dither away.

Lufthansa Italia consolidates its position at Milan Malpensa

Lufthansa Italia this month announced plans to launch frequent (up to daily) services from Milan’s Malpensa Airport to Catania (Sicily) and Prague from 01-Nov-2010, using A319s. These are not easy routes on which to win business with considerably more offered on the Catania route from Alitalia’s Air One subsidiary, Windjet and easyJet, and to Prague from CSA and easyJet. Less than two years after Lufthansa’s interest in taking over the ailing Alitalia fizzled out when Air France purchased a stake, prompting Lufthansa to set up its own new brand, Lufthansa Italia, at Milan, what are the prospects now for Lufthansa’s first new airline that it had set up in a foreign market?

Small LCC market share in Latvia is in decline – a portent for the future or a localised anomaly?

LCCs entered the Latvian international aviation market in 2004, via the almost ubiquitous presence of Ryanair, when the country joined the European Union. Their target market was economic migrants seeking new opportunities in the west (as it was in the case of neighbouring Estonia and Lithuania, the Slavic countries and Hungary and Romania also in 2004 or in 2007), followed by business visitors to Latvia - a former Soviet-bloc state - also seeking new opportunities, and tourists seeking new weekend break destinations.