Very good story... not

KLM has indicated for years that this may be on the cards. The main problem is that the state still holds a golden share to ensure it stays dutch. This to allow bilateral rights with other countries. the exact reason why the last BA/KL attempt did not work.

If this had not been the case a lot of people would have bought the company years ago already as the cash position of the company is such that there is more money on the KLM account than the value of the company on the stock exchange..

Both AF and BA are doing the buying ??

Or you mean they are both looking at an alliance deal with it.

Not a lot of info in this one ...

The "Daily Rangers" is not renowed for the quality of its business reporting! It's a tabloid rag better know for its coverage of the two main football teams in Glasgow. Normally its business coverage is limited to Celtic or Rangers dealing in the transfer market or what is happening to their share price!

Maybe, probably not.
 

As an employee at KLM I can only say that we have not been told about anything like this heading our way. Not that we are always kept in the middle of the loop, but this feels too much like going from 0-100 in a heartbeat. The disappearance of the oldest brand name in our industry would be preceded by a long string of strong rumors, and speculations, maybe this is the start? The quality of the paper makes me doubtful.

In absolute terms KLM is not big (we are number 13 in the world I believe), but the huge size of our competitors and partners has not insulated them from the present upheavals that our industry is going through. Out of the 12 carriers larger than us, 8 are experiencing serious troubles. A sale or split of KLM would also require the government and the employee councils to give some major input before our board of directors is allowed to make any decision that would carry these implications. On all fronts things are quiet.

KLM has had a number of setbacks in the last few years, but its cash reserves are more than adequate to weather the storm for now. Our cash flow is still positive (as of late January). But like all traditional network carriers we are having a rough time. The only way I could see this scenario playing out would be for KLM to go bankrupt, and that is still a long way away.

Also the head-office is not aware of anything unusual happening.

I think for now we can put this “news-story” away.

Funny old world isn't it Otterman, I'm a KLM employee as well, and the first that I heard of my part of the company being sold (buzz) was through the media.

Isn't that the paper that makes the Sun look academic?

MP;)

Otterman - let me remind you of the sequence of events at Buzz. We went from the 0 to the 100% faster than a Ryanair 737 on a Stansted taxiway.

Nov 02 - New base at Bournemouth announced.
Dec 02 - First replacement 737 arrives. KLM announces Buzz is its low cost airline of choice for the future. Further UK and a European base to be opened by the end of 2003.
Jan 03 - KLM agrees to sell Buzz to Ryanair
Mar 03 - large scale redundancies.

If I was you I would be requesting some assurances from your CEO, however poor the quality of the rag this has been reported in. My bet is Cityhopper will be sold of next.

gaza,

your a typical east coaster with a huge chip on your shoulder

I'm wrong about the quality of the Record's business reporting? If it had been in the Herald it might have had more credence.

You soap-doging Weegies are very easy to wind up!:D

merchantventurer

You really dont want to get there!
TRUST ME

:D