Articles tagged “europe”

Under newish CEO Ben Smith, Air France-KLM has improved its relationship with its unions. This new agreement will make it much easier for its French unit in particular to compete with low-cost rivals.

Lufthansa had it pretty easy in its home market for a long time, but sustained low-cost competition has come at a bad time. It will be hoping a revamped Eurowings is enough to see off EasyJet and Ryanair.

Ryanair's CEO sounds like he is rapidly losing patience with Boeing over the Max delays. Airlines clearly want to start flying it as soon as possible but only when it is declared safe.

Like bigger rivals such as Ryanair and EasyJet, Wizz Air is happy to take advantage of smaller European airlines pulling back capacity or going out of business entirely.

The news isn't great for shareholders, but it does offer some encouragement to employees and anyone who has booked a flight or holiday this summer.

After 17 years, Bjorn Kjos is out as CEO. He is staying on as an advisor and still retains a minority stake, but does his departure make a sale more likely?

Package holidays are still popular across much of Europe, and companies like Sunweb think there are plenty of opportunities for growth. Buying up rival tour operators helps with scale, as does the struggles of a competitor like Thomas Cook.

It's never dull in the airline industry, and the first half of 2019 has been no exception. We were hard-pressed to single out the most interesting region. But the industry in Europe had the wildest ride in the first half, with high-profile bankruptcies, a few strikes, impending acquisitions, changing business models, and the perennial Alitalia saga.

By ordering Airbus' longest-range narrowbody jet, JetBlue showed it's serious about international expansion. The jet it ordered earlier in the year has enough range to fly to London, so the airline probably intends to fly farther into Europe.

Langham has expanded in North America, China, and Australia, but not in Europe, where its acquisition of The Langham, London, gave it the brand. A new wave of development earmarks Europe as a priority, and the company wants to enter the resort space as well. But before all that can happen, it needs to further raise brand awareness.