Eurosharks - and when the smoke cleared there were 4

For Austrian Airlines - not surprising to some - but perhaps a shock to others - the game of musical ownership shares/chairs now looks like this:

There are 4 declared short listed bidders for Austrian Airlines' publicly held shares. They are (drum roll please):
BA, AF/KL and LH plus a dark horse bid from S7.

This sets up the battle for the big boys to buy something. So the battle lines are drawn and everyone is going to battle for each and every one of the little/poorly guys. And dont count out the rich chaps. Austrian has no value to someone like Ryanair or Easyjet but dont expect them to sit on the sidelines when Sabena (excuse me I mean Brussels Airlines) comes on the block more formally.

Interestingly I was doing some filing over the weekend and came across an old copy of Air Transport World April 2008 entitled "SAS Alone" which was the cover story. Judging by the recent frenzy the task to reform SAS just got a WHOLE LOT harder.

All airlines are now keeping their heads down. I hear that many airlines are canceling participation in conferences. Now why do you think that? it can't just be that they dont want people to travel does it?

Do we hear any fat ladies warming up? I think I hear quite a few. Certainly the dogs around me are howling in anticipation of the final chorus