SIA said it’s “closely” monitoring developments at Virgin Australia after the carrier’s biggest shareholder Air NZ said it may sell its stake. Virgin Australia is almost equally owned by Air NZ, Etihad Airways and SIA. Air NZ has said it’s considering an exit, triggering speculation SIA may snap up the stake to stop an unwelcome foreign airline muscling in. “We are watching closely what is going on,” SIA CE Goh Choon Phong said Friday. “The Australian market is very important.” Etihad hasn’t publicly said how it views potential changes among Virgin Australia’s largest stakeholders and Air NZ hasn’t commented on its stake since saying March 30 it might put it up for sale. The carrier’s 26% holding is worth about US$184m at current prices. The bigger question is whether the stock is worth buying after years of meagre returns. <br/>
star
Air NX CE Christopher Luxon says the flood of rival airlines coming in to the country was good news for his business. While he expected the state of the market to be "choppy" over the next 12 to 18 months, Air NZ with 40% of inbound international business was benefiting from the surge in tourists, in spite of increased competition. And once the visitors are here, Air NZ's growing domestic operation was the main airline beneficiary. "Whenever a competitor airline brings visitors into New Zealand that's a good thing for Air NZ because we then pick up those passengers and disperse them throughout country," he said. "We've got the economics right in that we can fly to places in New Zealand that other airlines can't fly to." Seven new airlines have started flying to Auckland in the past year. <br/>
Betting big on India's booming aviation market which has outperformed the US and China in terms of domestic passengers traffic growth, Ethiopian Airlines plans to expand its operations in India with new flights and aircraft upgrade. The carrier currently operates a daily double service to New Delhi and Mumbai from Addis Ababa. It also operates freighter services to Chennai, Bengaluru, New Delhi and Mumbai. The airline is currently in talks with the DGCA in this regard, Ethiopian's CE Tewolde Gebremariam said. "We are looking forward to launch flight operations to Chennai from Ethiopia," Gebremariam said without specifying a timeline for commencement of the proposed new fight. Ethiopian is already operating 14 flights per week to Delhi and Mumbai each, he added. <br/>