Aviation

Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc. tumbled for a time last month after the nation’s third-largest carrier warned it will record a substantial loss for the rest of the year and will need to file for bankruptcy if its cash reserves fall too low, or lenders seek immediate payment of its debts.

A new global distribution system of sorts has emerged and travel agents are worried that it might be taken over by airlines. G2 SwitchWorks Corp., which has developed a reservation and management system and serves as a middleman between airlines and ticket sellers, announced last month that seven major airlines have signed on with system, as a measure to cut costs.

Sabre Inc. reached an agreement last month to acquire lastminute.com for an estimated $1.1 billion. Sabre said the addition of lastminute.com, with its well-established consumer brands, is expected to provide Sabre’s Travelocity unit with greater scale and the leading position in the growing European online travel marketplace.

Qatar Airways, one of the world’s fastest growing airlines, announced last month that it would begin operating direct flights between Athens and Doha as of June 15. The airline plans six weekly flights, each with a duration of four hours.

From the five bids government has received in an international sale tender for a majority stake in national carrier Olympic Airlines, it appears that government coffers will be lucky to get a cash settlement of about 30 million euros.

The government has received five bids in an international sale tender for a majority stake in national carrier Olympic Airlines, according to a government announcement last month. The binding offers accompanied by letters of guarantee were from all groups that expressed interest in the first phase: Aegean Airlines of Greece; Olympic Investors (Greek-American); Sure Estates (the Netherlands); Intra (owner of Deutsche British Airways); and Klesch (UK).

The supervisory board of Deutsche Lufthansa AG and the board of directors of Swiss International Air Lines AG late last month approved the business model jointly developed by both companies for the takeover and integration of Swiss into the Lufthansa Group.

Hellas Jet, a creation of Cyprus Airways, continues its search for a buyer after Dutch and British buyers backed out of a possible purchase agreement. Press reports say the airline will be forced to shut down.

With the beginning of the winter schedule on October 30, Athens-based Aegean Airlines becomes a partner with Germany’s Lufthansa. The airlines will offer code-sharing within their networks whereby flights of both airlines can then be combined and booked via worldwide reservation systems and issued on a single ticket by either airline.

Amadeus, the travel industry technology provider and leading Global Distribution System (GDS), announced that TAROM, Romania’s national airline, has successfully moved its sales and reservations to Amadeus Altea Sell.