Qatar Airways about to invest in Spanair and why this is good news for Barcelona airport (and II)

As a continuation of my previous post on Qatar Airways possible acquisition of a stake in Spanair, here are some interesting questions that come to my mind when thinking about the possible consequences of this deal:

1) What is going to happen with Spanair's current Star Alliance membership and how is this going to affect the agreements Spanair had with Star partners on several routes, some of were of strategic importance to the carrier, such as Singapore-Barcelona-Sao Paulo.

2) What designs has Qatar Airways for the new Spanair and what degree of control would be able to exert? Is this a purely financial operation, with Qatar Airways limiting itself to turn the company around and making it a stronger stand-alone carrier?  Or are we witnessing the first act of a much more ambitious project aimed at building a presence in Europe (possibly by acquiring other troubled European airlines). If the latter turns out to be the case, it would be interesting to know what is Qatar Airways plan: a feeder operation involving a transit through Barcelona from Southern Europe regional airports and onto the Gulf does not seem to fit into the global-connector strategy Qatar Airways is developing through its Doha hub. Or maybe using Spanair to code-share on flights beyond Europe, as Singapore Airlines is already doing with Spanair? or build a base in Barcelona to fly from there to destinations in America, along the lines of what Indian carrier Jet Airways tried to do in Brussels?

In any case, Qatar Airways is gaining access to a large and recently renovated airport, with plenty of spare capacity and a geographical position that makes it a suitable gateway to Europe and beyond when flying from the Gulf.

3) Another interesting question that comes up these days is: will Spanair keep its name? rumours are its name is going to be changed to Air Barcelona or Barcelona Airlines. I am, personally, not a big fan of airlines named after cities, but this change would possibly make sense, since the Spanair brand does not enjoy a particularly strong recognition, whereas "Barcelona" is certainly a powerful brand (coincidentally or not, the Emirate of Qatar is also sponsoring FC Barcelona and another of the World's emerging airlines kicked off its European brand building campaign by associating itself with Barcelona's name)

In any case, I will be posting more analysis as soon as more news will come out soon, as Spanair's current situation is hardly sustainable...watch this space!

Qatar Airways about to invest in Spanair and why this is good news for Barcelona airport (I)

I just learned that Qatar Airways might be about to acquire a 49% stake in Barcelona-based troubled airline Spanair. While I do not know the details of the deal, I can think of a few reasons why this could be a good move for all parties involved, as well as for Barcelona's airport.

First of all, is a matter of financial necessity and of urgency. Spanair is in a critical financial situation and, despite strong backing from the Catalan government, is quickly running out of cash. Since I wrote this note a few months back it seems Spanair's cash-flow position has only got worse.

An investor with deep pockets is needed in order to keep the airline flying and allow the Catalan government to save face and disentagle itself from an operation that is difficult to justify at a time of tough budget cuts, while claiming a partial success at keeping Barcelona's long-haul hub aspirations alive.

And this takes us to the next factor that I think it makes a tie-up with Qatar Airways a potentially interesting proposition and this is none other than opening a window to the East and to the globe's currently most dynamic economies. On June 2010 I commented on this blog how commercial aviation's center of gravity is moving East and any carrier and airport with aspirations should try to ride this trend. A link with Qatar would certainly help Spanair and Barcelona airport gain this intercontinental dimension they have been so much longing for.

A side effect of a re-capitalized Spanair is that it will put pressure on Vueling, Barcelona's other airline, that is already being squeezed by Ryanair's increasing presence at BCN. Having to face renewed competition from a stronger Spanair will certainly not help recover its margins. It will also prevent Vueling from becoming the only carrier able to build some sort of air hub at Barcelona. Although Vueling has been developing some flight connectivity at BCN there are serious doubts about Vueling's capacity to build a fully fledged hub at the shadow of Iberia, that remains its main shareholder, since any such move would risk cannibalizing Iberia's operations in its main Madrid hub.

In my next post I am going to present some interesting strategic questions that arise from the possible imminent completion of this deal...

Airbus and Rolls Royce in pole position to equip Russia's major airlines

It looks like the Airbus A380 had quite a successful first appearance at MAKS, the Moscow Aviation Show, that took place last week. Russia is one of the aviation markets where interesting things are currently happening, not least because of the resurgence of the domestic aircraft industry, lead by its star, the Sukhoi Superjet.

But there are no plans for a competitive very large commercial airplane to be produced in Russia in the foreseeable future at a time when Russians are increasingly traveling abroad, no wonder airlines are looking to upgrade their long-haul, wide-body fleets (it also helps that taxes on >300 seats imported aircraft have been recently abolished).

Whereas Boeing was the manufacturer of choice when Russian carriers first renewed their fleets in the post-Soviet era, Airbus is making important advances into the Russian market. First it was Aeroflot ordering A330s and A350s, now we hear that the Russian flag carrier might be interested in acquiring up to 5 A380s. This would be great news for Airbus, but also for Rolls-Royce, the possible engine supplier of choice with its Trent-900, the engine that powers the majority of A380s flying today (Rolls-Royce Trent-700 was already selected to power Aeroflot's new A330s), not because of the size of the order "per se", but because of what it represents in terms of visibility and its consolidation in the Russian market.



Transaero is another airline said to be interested in the A380. Russia's second largest airline is adding long-haul capacity at a frantic pace, it is adding Boeing 747-400s with high-density configurations (ex-Japan Airlines aircraft fitted with up to 525 seats) as well as former Singapore Airlines Boeing 777s (by the way, also equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent engines). If it is able to fill all these Jumbos, why not go for the A380, then?

More airline archaeology

When I was doing some research on communist-era airlines for my previous post on my visit to Belgrade's aviation museum, I came across this interesting photo on Flickr of a Tupolev TU-134 that belonged to East German flag carrier Interflug.

This photo stream is worth a look if you are an #avgeeks with a passion for history!

Revisiting the history of European aviation in Belgrade

I was being driven to Belgrade's Nicola Tesla international airport to take my flight back home after a couple of fruitful days in Serbia's capital when something caught my eye...right to the side of the main airport terminal there was what looked like a spectacular display of old aircraft types.

Fortunately enough the field in question was within walking distance of the terminal and I had plenty of time before the departure of my flight, so, trolley in hand, I walked towards this open-air museum to have a closer look...the 7min. walk was well worth it!

The place itself has a somewhat derelict look, like a legacy from a bygone era, when other architectural styles were in fashion (somehow the main building reminded me of the Atomium, in Brussels!), but this is possibly the best setting for one of the most amazing displays of communist-era aircraft that I have ever seen.





I am not an expert in military aviation but I think most of the airplanes are old Yugoslav-made Galebs (that curiously enough, happen to be in the news these days because of the conflict in Libya!). However, what I found to be the star of the exhibit, and certainly of much interest to someone like me interested in the history of commercial aviation, is this JAT-Yugoslav Airways Caravelle, an icon of European commercial aviation history.



The SUD-Caravelle was one of the first jet-powered commercial airliners and a big commercial success in its day. This French-made aircraft came to dominate European short and medium haul routes in the pre-Airbus era. It carried around 80 passengers, although the latest version, developed in the early 70s and called Super-Caravelle, could carry up to 140 passengers. I ignore whether there is any Caravelle left flying in some remote corner of the planet, but, in any case, Belgrade's open-air aviation museum is a great opportunity to come face to face with this mythical aircraft!

As per JAT Airways, what used to be the flag carrier of the former Yugoslavia has reinvented itself as the flag carrier of Serbia and it operates under a new logo and a renovated image and fleet. It flies to some 35 scheduled destinations with a fleet of Boeing 737s and ATR-42s.

Amazing video taken from a Vueling airliner while intercepted by a French Mirage fighter jet

Ever since the terrible events of 9/11 in the US, commercial airlines that can not be properly identified or that report some sort of incident are regularly intercepted and escorted by fighter jets...How does it feel to see fighter jets approaching while you look through the window in mid-flight? Thanks to this extraordinary video that is making the rounds on social media channels we can see how it looks like!

Vueling flight VY8366 was flying from Málaga (AGP) to Amsterdam (AMS), when it was intercepted by a French Air Force Mirage 2000 fighter jet on May 27th at around 21.30 CET.

According to Dutch blogger FMCNL (that became famous in aviation blogger circles because of its excellent and timely coverage of NATO's Libyan campaign), the intercept took place just South-West of Paris and was what it's called a "QRA Tango" or Quick Reaction Alert Training.

You can watch it here. It is really spectacular!

Unusual planespotting opportunities

I am by no means an expert planespotter, but when I come across some interesting sights at Europe's airports, I like to share them here. On this occasion the pictures are of two airlines that operate very limited schedules to European airports, so it is not too easy to spot them!


An Uzbekistan Airways A310 taxiing at Madrid-Barajas (MAD) before taking off for Tashkent


An Aeromexico Boeing 767 at Barcelona-El Prat (BCN)