British airways and Iberia airlines merger Essay

British airways and Iberia airlines merger - Essay Example Brief History of British Airways (BA) British Airways (BA), the flag carrier of the UK, is the largest airline in the United Kingdom on the basis of fleet magnitude flights and terminus. The airline was established in 1974 and has ruled the airline industry since its creation as regards passenger volume until the arrival of low-cost competitor, Easyjet in 2008. BA has been centered at London Heathrow Airport, which is the airline’s central hub. In its growth strategies, BA acquired Dan-Air, which increased its popularity at Gatwick Airport. BA also acquired 25 percent shares in Australian airline, Qantas in 1993. In 1998, the airline together with other leading airlines formed an alliance dubbed â€Å"Oneworld airline alliance.† The airline was privatized in 2006. BA experienced 84 percent drop in profits in 1999, its worst performance in seven years. Consequently, Rod Eddington succeeded Robert Ayling as the company’s CEO. Willie Walsh later replaced Rod Eddington and steered the merger process. The airline sold its Qantas stake in 2004. BA and lberia made public a merger plan in 2010. BA stopped trading in London Stock Exchange in 2011. The alliance between BA and lberia emerged third largest airline group globally. In Europe, it was second biggest airline group. Brief History of lberia From 1944 to 2001, lberia remained nationalized. After privatization on April, 2001, lberia joined stock markets and was integrated in the IBEX-35 stock index of the Madrid Stock Exchange. The privatization lasted up to 2009 after which the airline formed a merger with British Airways in 2010, which gave birth to International Airlines Group. Under the merger, each airline retained its original brand.

Social Media Communication Annotated Bibliography

Social Media Communication - Annotated Bibliography Example Some scholars in sociology have criticized the negative influences of new technology on humanity and relationships to be precise, arguing that the value of relationships is fading and the strength of peoples’ connections is deteriorating (Christofides et al., 2012). This paper will present an annotated bibliography of four scholarly sources that discuss this matter of how the social media has affected interpersonal relationships. Porter, K., Mitchell, J., Grace, M., Shinosky, S., & Gordon, V. (2012). A Study of the Effects of Social Media Use and Addiction on Relationship Satisfaction. Retrieved from http://journals.chapman.edu/ojs/index.php/mc/article/download/340/735 According to this source, Facebook has deeply affected people’s application of the phrase â€Å"friend†, even though their notions of the word might not have altered as much (Porter et al., 2012). When an individual â€Å"friends you† on any social network platform, it does not automatically denote that you now have the nearness and intimacy, which you have with your offline friends. The authors also show that people do not frequently send friend requests to or allow them from persons that they have not met, opting rather to have met the individual at least once in their lifetime. Other users, even if, particularly adolescents, take part in what is referred to as â€Å"friend-gathering behavior,† which involves users friending individual they personally do not know or those that they would not speak to in person so as to boost the size of their online followers (Porter et al., 2012). According to the source, this is an impression management approach becau se the users assume that a huge number of Facebook friends will make them seem much more popular to others. These researchers also studied how the formation of these networks influences our interpersonal relationships and might even reorganize how people think concerning their relationships. Even if a person might have hundreds of Facebook