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Potential buyers for Alitalia must guarantee the airline’s 18,000 jobs, national routes and the Italian identity of the Alitalia brand, the Economy Ministry said Friday.

The ministry, in a document published on its Web site, said expressions of interest for its stake in the struggling flag carrier must be presented by Jan. 29. Buyers must have minimum capital of 100 million euros ($131.73 million).

The government is seeking an investor or group of investors to buy at least a 30.1 percent stake in the airline as it sells down its 49.9 percent share.

source: Courier Post online

China’s Southern Airlines will launch the first airline connecting Beijing with Lagos, former capital of Nigeria, on Saturday, according to the airline’s Beijing office.

This will be the first regular flight offered by a Chinese airline between China and an African country, said deputy manager Zhao Fengsheng.

Flight CZ331 will take off at 11:40 p.m. from Capital International Airport in Beijing, fly via Dubai, capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and land at 11:10 a.m. local time in Lagos. The total flight time is around 16 hours.

source: People.com

LTU, a German holiday-charter airline which has shown interest in taking over Air Madrid, said Friday it had ended talks on acquiring any stake in the Spanish airline.

“‘LTU has no intention of acquiring shares in Air Madrid,'” a spokesman for the Dusseldorf-based company told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa. The talks had ended and there were no arrangements to resume them. He did not state the reason.

source: Playfuls

Startup airline Virgin America Inc. got an expected rejection from the government Wednesday, when the Department of Transportation ruled that the company must change its corporate structure before it can get an operating certificate.

The Burlingame, Calif.-based branchild of Sir Richard Branson — head of England’s Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. — had planned to begin low-cost flights in 2007. Branson raised $177 million in startup capital for the airline in December 2005 from U.S. private equity firms and from himself.

However, the DOT said Virgin America doesn’t meet a requirement that the president and two-thirds of the board of directors are Americans, and Virgin America’s relationship with the British Virgin Group in the U.K. “‘indicates that the carrier is not under the actual control of U.S. citizens.'”

source: Dallas Business Journal

Lufthansa’s low-cost airline Germanwings is gearing up for further expansion after posting its first profit just four years after beginning operations, says Germanwings CEO Thomas Winkelmann.

“‘Germanwings has just had the best year in its history,'” said an ebullient Winkelmann over a lunch of wiener schnitzel at Berlin’s Cafe Einstein, a popular meeting place for movers and shakers in the German capital.

Germanwings – which began operating in 2002 – is set to make a profit this year, said Winkelmann who declined to reveal any figures.

source: Playfuls

Spain’s development minister said Wednesday the government would have zero tolerance in future for airlines failing to heed safety regulations, as she defended her handling of the Air Madrid crisis which left thousands of people stranded before Christmas.

The airline suspended operations on December 15, leaving 330,000 passengers stranded in Latin America and Spain. It had its flying license revoked by Spain’s Civil Aviation authority a day later.

source: International Herald Tribune

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Virgin America Inc., the Burlingame-based brainchild of Sir Richard Branson, expects federal authorities to reject its application to start a low-cost U.S. airline. Competitors had raised concerns that foreigners such as Branson would wield too much influence in the venture.

U.S. law requires that Americans control domestic airlines flying within the country and that foreigners hold no more than 25 percent of a domestic airline’s stock.

No frills airline Ryanair yesterday withdrew its ambitious bid to take over Ireland’s national carrier Aer Lingus after the European Commission announced an “‘in-depth investigation'” into its plans.

Following the announcement Ryanair said the buyout automatically lapsed under takeover rules – but the company still intends to make a further offer for Aer Lingus if the EC review clears the way.

Dublin-based Ryanair launched its £1 billion bid in October – a takeover offer which Aer Lingus asked shareholders to reject.

source: The Birminghan Post

Airlines that fly within the EU will have to trade carbon emissions beginning in 2011, the European Commission said Wednesday, which could see travelers pay more for popular short-break trips.

Expanded rules covering all airlines that fly into the EU will take effect the next year, a move that would hit U.S. airlines on their lucrative trans-Atlantic routes.

Airlines are generally in favor of the plan, since EU officials had warned them that refusing to back an emissions trading program would result in an aviation tax.

source: Business Week

Spain suspended the flying license of Air Madrid airline Saturday, hours after the troubled carrier announced it was halting operations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded in Spain and abroad.

The Civil Aviation authority rejected Air Madrid’s proposals to resolve problems with repeated flight delays and security issues.

“‘This decision has been taken with total independence of the absolutely irresponsible and unilateral behavior of the company,'” a Civil Aviation statement said.

The two-year-old carrier, which mainly flies between Spain and Latin America, announced Friday that it was suspending operations.

source: Columbian.com