Ryanair would seek a majority stake in Alitalia if it decides to invest in the loss-making airline, its CE said Tuesday. Alitalia filed in May to be put under special administration for the second time in less than a decade, starting a process that will lead to the airline being overhauled, sold off or wound up. "In case of an acquisition, we would be interested in a majority stake, not a minority one," Ryanair CE Michael O'Leary said. "We are not interested in a 49% stake." Ryanair had already expressed an interest in Alitalia, but previously stressed it was keen on cooperating with the business rather than buying it. Ryanair had also said it wanted to provide short-haul traffic to feed Alitalia's long-haul network and offered to deploy aircraft this summer if the Italian carrier cut capacity significantly. <br/>
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Ryanair’s airline operation will ultimately be just a small segment of a broader Amazon of travel-type business, according to CE Michael O’Leary. “In 10 years’ time, we will become a big data platform with an airline attached. Ryanair, the airline, will be an ancillary business. The airline will be like a tick. The potential of this thing is enormous,” he said. Ryanair has done a heavy digital push under its Always Getting Better program, creating Ryanair Labs IT innovation centres in Dublin, Ireland and Wroclaw, Poland. In May, it announced the opening of a third lab in Madrid, Spain. “We are now looking for a fourth [Labs location],” O’Leary said. “Customers who are not customers of the airline will be customers of Ryanair Labs,” O’Leary said. <br/>
Norwegian Air International might not have won approval to serve the US under legislation a House panel approved Tuesday. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee agreed by voice vote to add a provision dealing with foreign airlines to a bill governing the FAA. The provision would prohibit the transportation secretary from approving any foreign airline service to the US if the carrier is established in a country other than its majority owner. Rep. Frank LoBiondo said the provision "would fix a terrible decision made by the Obama administration" by clarifying the enforcement of existing law governing foreign airline service to the US. The DoT approved Norwegian's application to serve the US in December after an unusual 3-year review. <br/>
Emirates is introducing facial recognition technology to shorten passengers’ waits at immigration and check-in counters, a move that comes as the US revives a ban that could complicate air travel from the Middle East. Passengers will be able to upload biometric details such as ‘selfies’ to their smartphones, and use the data to scan through boarding gates and other checkpoints at Emirates’ Dubai hub, the carrier said. The technology, which will be rolled out over the next 18 months, will also facilitate access to immigration counters at airports. Emirates’ announcement comes as travel from the Middle East becomes more onerous and the region’s carriers struggle with some of the toughest business conditions in decades. <br/>