Anyone who belivies in Santa should take a look at 'More turbulence for aviation'http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik...f_fp205c6d0&zw
And spare a Christmas/New Year thought for what Airline Consolidation can mean for the Virgin & Qantas Groups.
"Airlines in Australia and abroad will look to consolidation in the year ahead to create growth synergies and cut costs, analysts predict.
However, Qantas will be on the look out for a new partner after announcing in December that its $8 billion planned merger with British Airways (BA) had fallen out of the sky.
The Flying Kangaroo ended the merger discussions after the two carriers were unable to reach an agreement on "key terms".
Qantas's new chief executive, Alan Joyce, who took over the reins from Geoff Dixon in November, had warned that a consolidation of the two airlines was not guaranteed and that the deal faced "significant hurdles". It is understood the two parties could not agree on an appropriate merger ratio and Qantas has not ruled out further discussions with BA in the future.
Under the Qantas Sales Act, the Australian carrier is required by the Qantas Sales Act to maintain its main operational base and headquarters in Australia, and for its chairman and two-thirds of it board members to be Australian citizens. This could also have further complicated the merger talks."
