Rumours persist that Elvis is alive!

Get real guys - journalists get for producing this stuff, if they have nothing to say they speculate.

Experts and gurus, get paid for their comments and interviews, if they have nothing to say they speculate.

If you scour the worlds press you will find someone who thinks just about anything will happen. Just because it is posted here, it doesn't make it a fact.

Just think of all the alliances we have been told were going to happen this year and haven't... just for BA I can recall posts that they were about to announce alliances with:

- Air France
- Delta
- Swissair
- Emirates
- KLM
- Continental
- Alitalia
- Northwest


Do we not learn anything about rumours on this board?


Nick

And now from one of Nicks favorite newspapers! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

"BA executives have confirmed to The Sunday Times that talks with Air France have begun and may end in BA switching allegiance from American Airlines, with which it started Oneworld, to Air France and Delta's Skyteam collaboration. The executives also said that, while any talk of a merger between BA and Air France was far too early, both sides recognised that it was possible."
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/p...snws01005.html

And the story is being widely circulated too! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

According to a London Sunday newspaper British Airways is considering linking with Air France and Delta Air Lines in their Skyteam alliance.

Talks are already being held, said the Sunday Times, but it is too early to say if BA will abandon its present alliance commitments with oneworld. The newspaper claims its sources are BA executives.

One reason for any BA move is the attraction of Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, where Air France is dominant and there is huge potential for growth.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/10/972300628.html

AND more: www.smh.com.au/news/0010/25/business/business13.html




[This message has been edited by doc (edited 10-24-2000).]

I say it again, this story does not contain any quotes and does not name any BA 'executives'.

The Sunday Times ran the same story earlier this year, and then quickly dropped it when BA announced they were in talks with KLM. That time the story was repeated as well (even by Randy who posted it on the Board).

If BA were seriously if talks they would have to tell their investors rather than leak things to a newspaper.


Just read what this article actually says, not what you want it to say!

BA are in talks (well yes they talk all the time and readily admit it), which may end up in BA leaving OneWorld (well yes they may, and they may also end up in BA changing its name to Air-Today-Gone-Tomorrow. Alternatively they may end up in BA painting its aircraft pink, or abandoning Heathrow. But realistically they could end up as normal industry dialog).

Get real, and stop taking any notice of this drivel!


Nick

"The company is considering its strategic response to the possibility of industry consolidation, and from time to time is engaged in discussions with other carriers regarding significant business combinations and acquisition of assets," said AMR.
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/archive/20001026/news/current/amr.htx?source=blq/yhoo&dis t=yhoo


Jeff Angel, a spokesman for British Air, said only that the airline was focusing on its OneWorld alliance with American, which is a unit of the AMR Corporation, and several other airlines.

"We're trying to find ways to improve that alliance and make it better for our customers," Mr. Angel said.

Chris Chiames, a spokesman for American, agreed. "All of our discussions with B.A. have been about how to strengthen both OneWorld and our bilateral relationship," he said.

British Air and American announced their partnership more than four years ago, but the two airlines have been unable to take full advantage of it because regulators in Washington have refused to give them antitrust exemption until the United States and Britain sign a new bilateral aviation treaty that opens London's Heathrow Airport to more United States airlines.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/27/business/27AIR.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 10-26-2000).]

And courtesy of Marco Polo

Copy of a forum post on Airwise:
"I just finished talking with Leo Mullin, CEO of Delta. I was able to speak with him for about 20 minutes. I asked him about the future of Oneworld and Skyteam. As he put it, oneworld is a disfunctional family. AA is going to start things by leaving, followed by CX. What surprised me, even after the information that I was given a few days ago, is that CX and QF are both interested in the DL/AF/KE/AM/CS/ SkyTeam Alliance. To hear the info come straight from the head man's mouth, it's to be more so true. So, with that in mind now, I think the whole Alliance game is going to change as even I didn't know about QF.

----

So who knows what, IF anything, will happen next! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif
To read more about DL and the SkyTeam Alliance, go to the Delta post on this forum."

British Airways, which owns 25% of Qantas, is reprtedly prepared to ditch Oneworld because the market growth it sought with AA has failed to eventuate.
http://www.afr.com.au/features/20001...2000Oct29.html

QF reportedly to keep BA stake! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum15/HTML/000652.html


AND: SAirGroup Chief Executive Philippe Bruggisser said on Thursday joining the OneWorld airline alliance was not an attractive option for now but said he ruled nothing out in the long term.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rf/001123/l23136079.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-23-2000).]

Mr. Bruggisser said that the OW alliance was NOT currently attractive because the 'marriage' of oneworld partners BA & AA had never been 'consummated'.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/11/975105112.html


AND: One outcome could have British Airways going back to the regulators in hopes of receiving antitrust immunity for its alliance with American Airlines, company executives said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/23/business/23BRIT.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 11-26-2000).]

British Airways will try to strengthen its OneWorld alliance with American Airlines, part of the AMR Corporation. "We could go back to regulators with a revamped proposal in the next 6 to 12 months," said Andrew Sentance, British Airway's chief economist.

British Airways would probably assert that the competitive landscape has changed vastly since the two airlines first approached regulators, in 1996, Mr. Sentance added. Then, there were fewer direct flights to the United States from Continental Europe, so most European passengers had to transfer at Heathrow, giving British Airways a disproportionate share of that market.
http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/23/business/23BRIT.html

Did it say anything else, like whether or not they hope to do anything about the restriction on AA-BA credit for trans-Atlantic flights? (I appreciate your not wanting to post the entire article, but the link takes you to a sign-in page for subscribers. Granted, subscribing is free, but lots of people like to minimize the number of on-line things we sign up for.)

Not specifically, no, but the changes are seemingly ongoing. The WSJ today also is carrying a story on this OW meeting.

"The Oneworld Alliance has been sort of shook up" by the BAB-KLM courtship, said analyst Glenn Engel at Goldman Sachs. "The meeting gets everyone on the same page and moving forward."

Ray Neidl, an analyst at ING Barings, said, "I don't think there are going to be any major breakthroughs until the US and UK reach an agreement." AMR and BA have been stymied by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic.

AMR spokesman Mark Kienzle said that the alliance efforts would NOT be on the agenda at the two-day summit, which starts Wednesday in Atlanta.

British Airways, which tried and failed to form a partnership with American Airlines, said Wednesday that links between the two carriers would benefit from American's takeover of failing Trans World Airlines.
http://biz.yahoo.com/apf/010110/britain_br.html


Yet, approval for a British-American linkup would be even more unlikely after American assumes TWA's routes and licenses to operate flights in Europe and thereby boosts its share of the regional market, said Ian Wild, an industry analyst at SG Securities in London.

Membership of Oneworld would be a logical step for Swissair, which last year gained antitrust immunity from the US competition authorities for its bilateral alliance across the North Atlantic with American Airlines, the leading Oneworld member alongside BA.

Competition issues could prove more difficult inside Europe, however, where Swissair and BA already have a duopoly on most routes between the UK and Switzerland.
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid =FT3A8GUHUIC&live=true&useoverridetemplate=IXLZHNN P94C

AND: "This is a matter for oneworld carriers collectively," said Mr Eddington. "We will review any interest Swissair has with the other oneworld players."

Swissair has admitted defeat in its attempt to build the Qualiflyer alliance around a group of carriers in which it was taking substantial minority stakes.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2001/02/981457472.html

[This message has been edited by doc (edited 02-06-2001).]