British Airways, New FAA Rules: Hot Trends

Popular searches on the Internet Thursday include British Airways as the airline's parent IAG will buy Lufthansa's British Midland subsidiary in a deal valued at 172.5 million pounds, or $270 million.

British Airways beat out rival bidder Virgin Atlantic for BMI. IAG will get another 56 daily take-off and landing slots at London's Heathrow Airport. The runway slots are highly coveted after plans to build a third runway at Europe's busiest airport were cancelled.

New FAA rules is trending as the Federal Aviation Administration announced new rules that attempt to fight pilot fatigue.

New rules will require that pilots receive a minimum of 10-hour rest periods before flights, including the opportunity for eight hours of sleep. This was increased from the previous eight-hour minimum total rest period.

The rules will be phased in slowly over the next two years, since there is a high cost involved. The FAA estimates the new rules will cost the industry $297 million over 10 years.

Chicago Sun-Times is another popular search on the Web Thursday. Investment firm Wrapports agreed to buy Sun-Times Media Holdings, the company that owns the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, though the sale is reported to total about $20 million with no assumption of debt. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year. Wrapports, which is led by Timothy Knight, former Newsday media executive, and Michael Ferro, chief of private-equity firm Merrick Ventures, has a strong focus on digital media.

Sun-Times Media struggled with bankruptcy in 2009. Just this month, it began charging heavy users of its Web sites.

The chatter on Main Street (a.k.a. Google, Yahoo! and other search sites) is always of interest to investors on Wall Street. Thus, each day, TheStreet compiles the stories that are trend! ing on t he Web, and highlights the news that could make stocks move.

.

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints

Related Articles:

Rite Aid Shaves Loss in Half, Increasing 2012 Outlook (RAD)

The Biggest Retail Losers of 2011

Tags: 2012 Growth Stocks ,Growth Stocks For 2012 ,Growth Stocks To Invest In ,Growth Stocks To Own For 2012 ,Best China Stocks 2012