The news that Qantas has been devalued by two rating agencies to “junk status” filled many of us with dismay. In 2020, Qantas should be celebrating its 100th anniversary. Only two airlines: KLM and Aviannca are older. Qantas has survived the Great Depression, World War Two, 1970s hyperinflation and oil crisis, the Asian Financial Crisis, the bombing of the World Trade Centre, SARS and the the global financial crisis. It has outlived other Aussie competitors: Ansett (1935 to 2002), Australian National Airways (1936 to 1957), Compass (1990 to 1993) and East-West (1947 to 1993). Today,…
Airline Bankruptcy
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Belle Air Belly Up
Belle Air and their subsidiary Belle Air Europe have both ceased operations at the end of November. Belle Air (code LZ) based in Tirana, Albania shut down on November 25, stranding hundreds of passengers. Prior to closure, they flew passengers to destinations across Belgium, Egypt, Germany, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Switzerland and the UK. In a message on its website, Belle Air stated: “Following eight years of successful operations from Albania towards European destinations, Belle Air is obliged to temporarily suspend its operations due to the general economic situation, the decline of the purchasing power, recession…
Etihad takes on JAT
The four key middle Eastern carriers have developed very different expansion strategies: 1. Emiraes have largely gone it alone with only one major partnership: Qantas 2. Qatar are joining One World alliance 3. Turkish have used their bridge between Asia and Europe 4. Etihad are expanding via equity stakes in other airlines Now Etihad have taken on the Serbian airline JATAirways which will be renamed Air Serbia on October 1. Etihad have: acquired 49 per cent of JAT-the Serbian government owns 51pc matched a $US40 million cash injection by the government agreed to put another…
Air Australia Grounded- Shock! Not.
When I blogged about Australia’s newest airline in January, I was not convinced it was a viable proposition. So many start ups have tried in Australia and failed/disappeared (East-West, Compass I, Compass II, Impulse, for example). More recently, we have seen Tiger Airways Australia in trouble. Australia is a tough aviation market in a tough aviation world. Already in 2012, three airlines have collapsed including Malev that I blogged about last week. Air Australia is the world’s fourth airline to be grounded this year. On the morning of February 17, Air Australia, after less than three months of operations, ran…
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