LONDON: EasyJet is still talking to the Italian government over Alitalia’s short-haul operations but the head of the budget airline stressed on Thursday that any deal needs to make commercial sense.
EasyJet, Germany’s Lufthansa and fellow budget carrier Wizz Air submitted expressions of interest this year for Alitalia or parts of its business, but the lengthy formation of a new anti-establishment government delayed the process.
EasyJet Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said that any deal had to be strategic, had to be something the firm could handle operationally and had to make commercial sense.
“Those are the things we are looking for and those are the discussions we are having. And sometimes the discussions are progressing faster and sometimes they are progressing a little bit slower,” he said at the Aviation Festival industry event.
Earlier on Thursday easyJet also said Singapore Airlines was joining “Worldwide by easyJet,” a service it launched last year to offer long-haul destinations without the need for costly and complex interline and codeshare agreements.
Closer to home, Lundgren said that he had been reassured by both Brussels and London that at least a basic agreement would be in place to enable flights to continue after Brexit next March.
Alitalia, a symbol of Italy’s post-war economic boom but now struggling to compete against low-cost carriers and high-speed trains, was put under special administration last year.
Italy’s previous government initiated a sale process, but the country’s new administration wants the majority of the loss-making carrier under state control.
Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said in July there was a need for 51 percent of Alitalia to be kept in Italian hands “but with a strong investor next to it.”
However, the state-appointed commissioners who are running Alitalia said last month that three offers they had received were not appropriate, and they had not entered exclusive negotiations with any bidder.
“The government and the state would like to have a stake in there but that still leaves things open for potential other partnerships,” Lundgren told reporters. “So that’s what we are in discussions with them about.”
Under the Singapore Airline’s agreement, easyJet’s customers will be able to connect with Singapore’s flights via Milan Malpensa and with Singapore’s low-cost subsidiary Scoot via Berlin Tegel later this year.
Lundgren said 10 airlines, including Norwegian and WestJet, were now partners in the program, and he was in talks with other carriers to join.
He also said easyJet was working on contingency plans to cope with Brexit and it wanted clarity on Britain’s future trading relationship with the European Union.
“We know regardless of what’s going to happen in terms of deal or no deal that there will be a bare bones agreement in place,” he said.
“That’s very clearly confirmed to us in the discussions we had both from Brussels but also from Westminster. It would be inconceivable there would be no flying between UK and mainland Europe.”
EasyJet still interested in Alitalia’s short-haul business
EasyJet still interested in Alitalia’s short-haul business
- EasyJet, Germany’s Lufthansa and fellow budget carrier Wizz Air submitted expressions of interest this year for Alitalia or parts of its business
- EasyJet Chief Executive Johan Lundgren said that any deal had to be strategic, had to be something the firm could handle operationally and had to make commercial sense
European gas prices soar almost 50% as Iran conflict halts Qatar LNG output
- Analysts warn prolonged disruption could push prices higher
- Some shipments of oil, LNG through Strait of Hormuz suspended
- Benchmark Asian LNG price up almost 39 percent
LONDON: Benchmark Dutch and British wholesale gas prices soared by almost 50 percent on Monday, after major liquefied natural gas exporter Qatar Energy said it had halted production due to attacks in the Middle East.
Qatar, soon to cement its role as the world’s second largest LNG exporter after the US, plays a major role in balancing both Asian and European markets’ demand of LNG.
Most tanker owners, oil majors and trading houses have suspended crude oil, fuel and liquefied natural gas shipments via the Strait of Hormuz, trade sources said, after Tehran warned ships against moving through the waterway.
Europe has increased imports of LNG over the past few years as it seeks to phase out Russian gas following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Around 20 percent of the world’s LNG transits through the Strait of Hormuz and a prolonged suspension or full closure would increase global competition for other sources of the gas, driving up prices internationally.
“Disruptions to LNG flows would reignite competition between Asia and Europe for available cargoes,” said Massimo Di Odoardo, vice president, gas and LNG research at Wood Mackenzie.
The Dutch front-month contract at the TTF hub, seen as a benchmark price for Europe, was up €14.56 at €46.52 per megawatt hour, or around $15.92/mmBtu, by 12:55 p.m. GMT, ICE data showed.
Prices were already some 25 percent higher earlier in the day but extended gains after QatarEnergy’s production halt.
Benchmark Asian LNG prices jumped almost 39 percent on Monday morning with the S&P Global Energy Japan-Korea-Marker, widely used as an Asian LNG benchmark, at $15.068 per million British thermal units, Platts data showed.
“If LNG/gas markets start to price in an extended period of losses to Qatari LNG supply, TTF could potentially spike to 80-100 euros/MWh ($28-35/mmBtu),” Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, said. The British April contract was up 40.83 pence at 119.40 pence per therm, ICE data showed.
Europe is also relying on LNG imports to help fill its gas storage sites which have been depleted over the winter and are currently around 30 percent full, the latest data from Gas Infrastructure Europe showed. In the European carbon market, the benchmark contract was down €1.10 at €69.17 a tonne
