UTX United Technologies Corporation

By WSJ City 

The conglomerate, usually considered a corporate dinosaur, is finding a surprising new lease of life in the airline industry, writes Jon Sindreu for WSJ Heard on the Street.

KEY FACTS

   -- International Consolidated Airlines Group has become Europe's model for 
      airline mergers. 
 
   -- CEO Willie Walsh formed a holding company to manage the combination of 
      British Airways and Iberia eight years ago. 
 
   -- IAG reported better-than-expected earnings last week. 
 
   -- The most eloquent sign of the decentralised model's success is that 
      Ryanair wants something similar. 
 
   -- IAG stock has returned 125% since the umbrella structure was introduced. 
 
   -- That compares with 74% for Lufthansa and a 18% fall for Air France-KLM, 
      the continent's other legacy carriers. 

WHY THIS MATTERS

The conglomerate model is in decline elsewhere, with breakup strategies afoot at General Electric and United Technologies and the unraveling of complex ownership structures in Japan and South Korea. Even US airlines have gone in a different direction.

Walsh's model instead pitches IAG's independently run carriers against each other in a battle for resources, while making use of different countries' labor laws. The combination has kept the airlines in a competitive state of cost-cutting frenzy.

A fuller story is available on WSJ.com

WSJ City: The news, the key facts and why it matters. Be deeply informed in less than five minutes. You can find more concise stories like this on the WSJ City app. Download now from the App Store or Google Play, or sign up to newsletters here http://www.wsj.com/newsletters?sub=356&mod=djemwsjcity

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 06, 2019 03:44 ET (08:44 GMT)

United Technologies (NYSE:UTX)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Jun 2024 a Jul 2024

United Technologies (NYSE:UTX)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Jul 2023 a Jul 2024