Virgin used its success in music retailing to enter the trans-atlantic airline business (Virgin Atlantic).
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At Virgin we'd like to think we transformed the airline business and the trade business.
The commercial airline business is going through another round of bankruptcies, route shakeouts and confrontations with unions.
No, the problem is that the economics of the airline business are incompatible with a pure competition model.
And it will serve the merged company especially well in today's airline business, which is all about scale.
Its already hit the airline business and will soon transform telecom and energy.
Alwaleed's investment in research and contacts paid for itself last year when he decided to invest in the airline business.
United's bankruptcy would affect not only its shareholders many of whom are also employees but also the economics of America's airline business.
His obsession with flying led to a new investment: the airline business.
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This time, though, the airline business is changing even faster than before.
The big worry is that the airline business cycle peaked last year.
The upshot of all this is that America and Europe are heading in different directions in handling the crisis in the airline business.
The airline business, whose cocktail of old-fashioned national giants, regulators and sparky new upstarts resembles the telecoms industry's, is newly thick with alliances.
But there's something else pushing travelers to the after-dark flights, and it's got more to do with the state of the airline business.
The agency model for plane tickets is very low-margin and is getting squeezed further by mergers in the airline business (Northwest-Delta, United- Continental, Southwest-AirTran).
"In the airline business, you try to eliminate uncertainty, " he said.
Mr. Fyfe: My strong belief is that the airline business is all about planes, but we wanted to make Air New Zealand all about people.
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American Airlines employees have suffered pay cuts through the years all with the implicit understanding of the exigencies necessary in the competitive arena of the airline business.
Now that Brazil has followed the rest of Latin America in deregulating its domestic market, the future shape of the airline business in the region looks fairly clear.
In the airline business, bigger does seem to mean better.
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The airline business began to get big and complicated and messy for a lot of reasons, not the least of which were deregulation and the high price of oil.
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For one thing, even if tourism does bounce back, it will not be enough to save those industries, such as the airline business, that are badly in need of restructuring.
David Field is America's editor of Airline Business magazine.
Mr. DAVID FIELD (Editor, Airline Business Magazine): Good morning.
Flying a pair of older prop planes for fun during his eight years running AMR "was the thing that took me away from the madness of the airline business, " Mr. Arpey recalls.
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He has rattled dominant players in the airline business, started a line of soft and alcoholic drinks, ventured into bridal wear and make-up, and has ambitious plans to launch tourists into space.
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