FRANKFURT, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Frankfurt airport
operator Fraport and airline Lufthansa
succeeded in preventing a walkout by air traffic controllers
that would have brought Europe’s third busiest airport to a
standstill on Wednesday morning.

Fraport teamed up with Lufthansa and air traffic
controllers’ authority DFS to seek a temporary injunction after
trade union GdF urged control tower staff to join walkouts by
airfield employees at Frankfurt airport in a row over pay and
conditions.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German union GdF, representing around 190 striking airfield workers at Frankfurt airport, is considering asking other union members to join in the strikes to put more pressure on airport operator Fraport.

“We will discuss this evening whether other union members, such as the tower controllers, will join the strike in a show of solidarity,” a union spokesman told Reuters on Monday.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German sportswear company Puma is aiming to grow faster than Adidas in soccer, its chief executive said, as the group won the kit contract for the Slovakian team from its arch rival and extended a partnership with Italy.

“We are the number three in soccer and we want to pick away at the gap with Adidas and Nike,” Franz Koch told Reuters in a telephone interview from Genoa, Italy, on Monday.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German sportswear company Puma (PUMG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is aiming to grow faster than Adidas (ADSGn.DE: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in soccer, its chief executive said, as the group won the kit contract for the Slovakian team from its arch rival and extended a partnership with Italy.

“We are the number three in soccer and we want to pick away at the gap with Adidas and Nike (NKE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz),” Franz Koch told Reuters in a telephone interview from Genoa, Italy, on Monday.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Frankfurt airport operator Fraport made a plea for the GdF union to resume talks over pay as a strike by airside workers entered its fifth day at Europe’s third busiest airport.

“We have sent them a letter proposing new talks without preconditions. Only that they must stop the strike first,” Fraport Chief Executive Stefan Schulte told journalists at the airport on Wednesday.

FRANKFURT, Feb 22 (Reuters) – Frankfurt airport
operator Fraport made a plea for the GdF union to
resume talks over pay as a strike by airside workers entered its
fifth day at Europe’s third busiest airport.

“We have sent them a letter proposing new talks without
preconditions. Only that they must stop the strike first,”
Fraport Chief Executive Stefan Schulte told journalists at the
airport on Wednesday.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Airlines including Deutsche Lufthansa will have to cancel hundreds more flights to and from Frankfurt on Friday as a strike by airfield workers continues at the airport, Europe’s third-largest hub.

Trade union GdF on Thursday asked about 200 apron controllers who guide planes in and out of parking slots to walk off the job for 14 hours on Friday in addition to a seven-hour strike that started at 1400 GMT and resulted in 150 flight cancellations.

HANOVER, Germany, Feb 15 (Reuters) – German travel
group TUI AG is eyeing a new wave of holidaymakers
from emerging countries such as Brazil, Russia, India and China
for future growth after setting out plans to exit its shipping
interests.

TUI AG, which controls Europe’s largest travel group TUI
Travel, said a deal on Tuesday to sell part of its stake
in shipper Hapag-Lloyd with the option to either float
or sell the rest to other investors was an important step in its
long-held aims to cut debt and focus on tourism activities.

FRANKFURT, Jan 25 (Reuters) – German consumer goods
group Beiersdorf beat forecasts for 2011 profit,
helped by a restructure that axed unprofitable lines like
haircare and make-up and by heavy investment in its Nivea brand,
including campaigns that featured singer Rihanna.

After losing market share to rivals in recent years,
Beiersdorf, which also makes La Prairie luxury skincare and
Labello lip balm, refocused its product line last year.

GENEVA (Reuters) – Simple elegance for debt-ridden Europe, glitzy diamonds and gold for booming Asia.

The pieces being unveiled by Switzerland’s luxury watchmakers at the Geneva watch fair harked back to bygone eras with classic shapes, roman numerals and a good dash of gold to lend a sheen to troubled economic and political times.