European airline shares tumbled yesterday after details of a thwarted potential hijacking of a Ryanair flight from Sweden renewed fears of the sector's vulnerability to terrorism, analysts said.
Germany's Lufthansa was down 5.2 percent at €12.21, the biggest loser on the blue-chip DAX, which fell 2.6 percent.
Across Europe, British Airways fell 4.3 per cent, Air France dropped 2.9 per cent, Dutch KLM sank 2.8 per cent, and Scandinavia's SAS fell one per cent. Ryanair closed up 2 per cent in Dublin but gave up these gains in after-hours trading to close down by over one-and-a-half per cent.
Police and prosecutors in Sweden said yesterday that a Swedish man of Tunisian origin caught attempting to board a plane with a gun in his hand luggage planned to hijack the aircraft last week.
"This clearly shows that potential terrorist attacks are still possible," said Mr Gert Zonneveld, analyst at WestLB in London.
As the anniversary of the September 11th hijack attacks on the United States approaches, analysts said the Swedish case brought attention to the fact that planes could be used as missiles again.
Concerns about a US war with Iraq, high oil prices and wage issues were also depressing shares, analysts said. - (Reuters)
