Ari Rusila examines the Balkan-related results of the Freedom House's Freedom in the World survey at AriRusila’s BalkanBlog, and writes about the Henley Visa Restrictions Index, highlighting the results for countries of Central and Eastern Europe, at AriRusila's BalkanPerspective at Blogactiv.eu.

Airline mergers and acquisitions have gathered pace over the past year, a trend that looks set to continue and intensify in 2009 as the economic environment worsens. But the prospect of intercontinental mergers is still mired in regulatory restrictions

Financial strains and collapses fuelled a flurry of consolidation activity in the airline sector in 2008, but are the regulatory hurdles still one jump too far for real consolidation to take place in the near term?