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IAG buys stake in Norwegian and moots takeover


Ian Taylor ian.taylor@travelweekly.co.uk


British Airways’ parent International Airlines Group (IAG) has acquired a 4.6% stake in Norwegian Air and confirmed it is considering a takeover.


IAG announced its purchase of the stake last week, saying the “minority investment is intended to establish a position from which to initiate discussions with Norwegian, including the possibility of a full offer”. The group, which includes Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling as well as BA, said no discussions had taken place and “there is no certainty” of an offer. Norwegian chief executive Bjorn Kjos said the carrier had “received approaches from a lot of airlines”. In a statement, the budget


carrier said: “The interest from one of the largest international aviation groups demonstrates the potential of our business model.” The IAG approach could prove


4.6%


Stake BA’s parent has acquired in Norwegian


timely as Norwegian attempts to shore up its finances. Last Friday it sought shareholder approval for a series of financial measures at an extraordinary general meeting. The rapidly expanding airline


has seen its finances stretched after launching as a low-cost short-haul carrier but switching increasingly to long-haul routes. It is offering budget transatlantic fares from Gatwick and elsewhere in Europe while paying for a stream of new aircraft, having placed an order for 200 in 2012. Norwegian is now seeking to


sell some short-haul aircraft and its passenger loyalty scheme and to raise funds from the creation and sale of additional shares. The carrier’s share price rose


47% on Friday following the IAG announcement.


KJOS: Says Norwegian ‘received approaches from a lot of airlines’


Aviation analysts broadly


welcomed IAG’s move, suggesting the group could bring financial discipline to Norwegian and take some of the aircraft it has on order, while integrating the airline into a group which already operates a low-cost, short-haul carrier (Vueling) and recently launched a budget long-haul carrier (Level). Norwegian has a substantial


base at Gatwick, from which it operates a growing long-haul schedule, while the airport is BA’s second-biggest base. The news of IAG’s interest came


after Norwegian announced a delay to the launch of Gatwick- Canada flights until spring 2019. Norwegian also recently announced it has reduced some year-round transatlantic flights, including Edinburgh-Boston, to summer only.


Delta reveals cyberattack may have exposed clients’ details


Delta Air Lines has suffered a cyber breach via an online chat service, highlighting the security risks of third-party technology providers. The airline reported the cyberattack may have


exposed the payment information of “several hundred thousand” customers. It is offering free credit-monitoring services and has launched a dedicated website, delta.com/response, to provide updates and answer questions. Delta said: “We will directly contact customers


who may have been impacted by the incident.” California-based software company [24]7.ai


offers services such as predictive analytics and virtual agents. The breach occurred between September 26 and October 12 last year and Delta said it was informed on March 28. The carrier reported the breach on April 5, saying [24]7.ai provided online chat services and it had shut down the chat function after “certain customer payment information may have been accessed”. On being informed of the breach, Delta said:


“We engaged federal law enforcement and forensic teams and have confirmed that the incident was resolved last October.


“At this point, even though only a small subset of our customers would have been exposed, we cannot say definitively whether any of their


information was accessed or compromised.” ■ Delta reported record first-quarter revenue of almost $10 billion for the three months to March, up 10% or $867 million on last year. However, the carrier’s operating profit for the


quarter fell 16% to $840 million. Delta reported: “Record revenues were offset by higher fuel prices and other increased costs including a $44 million impact from severe winter weather.”


19 April 2018 travelweekly.co.uk 63


Ryanair to shut Chania base and cut Greek services


Ryanair will close its base at Chania in Crete and cut its Greek domestic services, complaining that airport charges at most Greek airports “encourage peak-only services”. In a statement, the carrier


said: “Ryanair will continue to operate Athens services to/ from Mykonos, Santorini and Thessaloniki this summer; however, all other Greek domestic services will be cancelled from June 1.” Ryanair’s base at Chania, opened in April 2013, was its first in Greece. The airline began operating Greek domestic flights in 2014. The carrier will switch


aircraft from Chania and Athens to Germany where airlines are increasing capacity in the wake of the collapse of Air Berlin last October.


Ryanair is to move aircraft away from Greece


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