A tie-up is mooted between Emirates and Etihad

AVIATION geeks have few more enjoyable hobbies than speculating which airlines will merge next. But last week brought news of one potential deal worth taking seriously. On September 20th Bloomberg, a news service, reported that Emirates of Dubai is looking into taking over Etihad Airways, the flag carrier of neighbouring Abu Dhabi, a merger which would create the world's largest airline group (see chart). Both carriers denied that talks were under way, but some sort of tie-up may nonetheless be ...