DAL

Just over a year after the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano caused an expensive and chaotic shutdown of air travel across much of Europe, an different volcano in Iceland, Grimsvoetn, is erupting.

Southwest Airlines, one of the earliest discount airlines, will buy rival AirTran -- another sign of consolidation in an industry that has witnessed the mergers of Northwest with Delta and United with Continental over the last two years.

A new plume of ash has closed several European airports again. That's adding to the air-travel industry's woes as the International Air Transport Association estimates that the April shutdown cost $1.7 billion.

UAL is expected to announce today that it will "buy" Continental in a transaction that is more a merger of equals.

American Airlines' parent company AMR Corp. posted a narrower fourth-quarter loss Wednesday, helped by lower fuel costs and increases in revenue from passenger fees, but results missed Wall Street's forecast.

The federal government has bailed out one industry. Would it do the same for the airlines?

A number of media, including the Nikkei business daily, are reporting that the Japanese government is considering taking its huge flagship carrier JAL into bankruptcy. The news follows recent proposals by both American and Delta over the last several weeks to put $1 billion into JAL.

On Christmas day, a Nigerian man tried to ignite some kind of explosive device as a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit began its landing (Northwest is now owned by Delta (DAL). This apparent terrorist act could mean more problems for airlines in 2010.

Speaking to the media in Tokyo, AMR (AMR) CFO Tom Horton said that his company would work with the Japanese government to save carrier JAL. AMR and private equity team TPG are offering $1.1 billion toward a restructuring package designed to keep the airline flying, and to keep it within the...

It seems that nearly every large carrier in the world wants to own a piece of Japan Air (JAL). Delta (NYSE:DAL) and Air France-KLM have already been said to be talking to the Asian carrier. Now one of JAL's major traffic-sharing partners, American Airlines (NYSE:AMR), may be ready to invest what...