DOT Approves Continental/United/Lufthansa/Air Canada Antitrust Immunity with Limited Carveouts
The alliance has been approved. I’ve got details on why, but what will happen with American and BA?

Republic Gets Court Approval to Buy Frontier, But It’s Not a Done Deal
Republic moved one step closer to buying Frontier, but it’s not done yet.

Alaska Details Interesting Gains and Losses
Alaska put out its forward-looking guidance, and there were some interesting tidbits to review.

American Kicks Off Earnings Season
American was the first to walk the plank with Q2 earnings, and no, they weren’t good. We expected that, of course, but it’s still painful to watch.

Continental CEO Larry Kellner Walks Away
Continental CEO Larry Kellner is hanging up his wings for a more earth-bound job.

Recession Means More People Travel Locally, Take Shorter Trips
It’s not a surprise, but people are changing their travel habits in this economy. The numbers are sobering to see.

US-EU Open Skies Phase II Talks Begin
All eyes are on round two of the talks – this, the EU hopes, will result in cabotage rights within the US.

United, Continental Antitrust Application Slammed by DOJ
The DOT was in favor of the broad antitrust immunity application, but the DOJ isn’t so happy.

Frontier Makes Money in May, What’s Next?
Frontier is making money, and that’s great, but it’s what happens next that really determines how this airline will be doing going forward. Lots of changes could be underway.

Boeing Set to Buy Vought?
Boeing seems to be having seconds thoughts about outsourcing most of the 787 part production, and it now appears to be bringing one of its suppliers back in-house.

It’s a new year, and that means Lufthansa will probably acquire another 15 airlines before the year is out. If I were a betting man, I would expect to hear SAS and Virgin Atlantic involved in those discussions, but I wouldn’t expect Alitalia. It sounds like Air France/KLM may have won that battle.

Of course, this all remains to be seen. What we do know is that Lufthansa already owns a bunch of airlines, and I’d guess you probably don’t know them all. (I didn’t.)

Here is my compilation of all the airlines that are currently at least partially owned by Lufthansa. I’ve included main country of operation and Lufthansa’s percentage ownership in the graphic. Let me know if I’ve missed anything.

[Edited image 1/5 @ 516p to reflect additional airline ownership stakes]
[Edited image again on 1/6 @ 627p to reflect even more ownership stakes]

November Airline Traffic Numbers
Traffic numbers for November are in, and man is it ugly.

Pinnacle Improves Delta Connection On Time Performance
It wasn’t long ago that Delta was looking to ditch Pinnacle as a regional carrier due to poor performance. It’s a completely different story these days.

Delta Northwest Merger Enables Matching Capacity to the Right Aircraft
The merger has allowed Delta to finally start flying a large fleet of smaller long haul aircraft. LAX-Tampa is the first route to see the change with more to come.

Zero Star Hotel Opens Near Zurich
The world’s first zero star hotel has opened in an abandoned nuclear bunker in Switzerland. Oh yeah, you know you want to stay here.

Lufthansa Joins Social Network Xiaonei, “Facebook of China”
A couple months ago we talked about Lufthansa’s misguided efforts to build their own social network. Now they’re changing their tune.

Virgin America’s Main Cabin Select Capitalizes on Corporate Contracts
When Virgin America launched Main Cabin Select, its premium coach product, I thought that price was too high. According to the airline, that’s not the case.

Branson Airport Gets Its First Tenant: AirTran
AirTran announced it would be the first tenant at Branson’s new airport which opens next year. This is only a slight surprise to me, but it’s a good move for both.

Mesa Settles Aloha Lawsuit, Wants to Use Aloha Name
Mesa wants to use the name of its now vanquished rival, Aloha, on its airplanes. There are so many reasons this is a bad idea, it’s not even funny.

Continental’s November Traffic Performance Shows Ominous Signs
Even Continental’s revised unit revenue estimates were too high for reality. The airline delivered a very anemic performance that should concern everyone.

Southwest Holds Capacity Steady, Sees Traffic Decline Sharply
Holy cow. Southwest’s capacity was steady, but it’s traffic fell off a cliff. There’s no question demand is heading down quickly.

Delta’s Self Serving Objections to the Continental/United Antitrust Application
Surprise, surprise. Delta isn’t happy about United, Continental, Lufthansa, and Air Canada’s proposal for world domination. They may say they’re standing up for the consumer, but I’d bet otherwise.

What Will Southwest Do With Its LaGuardia Slots?
Southwest has secured 7 flights a day to LaGuardia. Now everyone wants to know where they’ll go. That decision says a lot about how they view New York.

Delta Says Fuel Savings Can Offset 20 Percent Drop in Traffic
Delta released some very interesting numbers on the value of the drop in fuel prices. If you ever doubted it was huge, this will prove it to you.