Separate Seating.BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO, ESPECIALLY FOR MEXICAN HOLDing company Cintra. * For months, regulatory authorities Noun 1. regulatory authority - a governmental agency that regulates businesses in the public interest regulatory agency administrative body, administrative unit - a unit with administrative responsibilities debated whether Cintra, which controls the country's two largest airlines, should be divided before the carriers went on the auction block. In the final weeks of President Ernesto Zedillo's administration, the Federal Competition Commission settled the dispute: it ordered Aeromexico and Mexicana de Aviacion sold separately. * Mexico's 25,000member strong aviation union opposed the breakup breakup The division of a company into separate parts. The most famous breakup to date was the 1984 division of AT&T (formerly, American Telephone & Telegraph Company). This breakup was intended to increase competition in the communications industry. . The Institute for the Protection of Bank Savings, the holder of the government's 63% share of Cintra, claimed togetherness would more likely attract deep-pocket buyers. But rumors of a bidding war started flying even before terms of the split--and the sale--were finalized. * "This could get interesting," says Robert Booth, president of Aviation Management Services in Miami. "Mexico is the largest market in Latin America Latin America, the Spanish-speaking, Portuguese-speaking, and French-speaking countries (except Canada) of North America, South America, Central America, and the West Indies. and to control a stake in a Mexican carrier is important for U.S. carriers." * The Mexican airlines have operated more like partners than rivals while handling 80% of the country's air traffic. But competition promises to be the new buzzword A term that refers to the latest technology or a term that sounds catchy. If not a flash in the pan, new technologies become mainstream. For example, Java was a hot buzzword in the 1990s, but should remain a major topic for decades. since American Airlines American Airlines Major U.S. airline. American was created through a merger of several smaller U.S. airlines and incorporated in 1934. It continued to buy the routes of other airlines, becoming an international carrier in the 1970s; its routes include South America, the and Continental Airlines could push for a bigger share of Mexico by buying in--which would endanger an existing Delta Air Lines code-sharing deal with Aeromexico and a United Airlines alliance with Mexicana. * Cintra was created by creditor banks in 1995 when Aeromexico and Mexicana faced bankruptcy following the 1994 peso crash. The government subsequently engineered a multibillion dollar banking sector bailout bailout The financial rescue of a faltering business or other organization. Government guarantees for loans made to Chrysler Corporation constituted a bailout. , taking a majority stake in Cintra. |
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