impede 復習
アジアにおける格安航空会社(LCC)およそ１０社が、提携を結ぶことを検討しています。
Budget airlines planning Asian alliance
TOKYO -- About 10 budget airlines are planning to form an Asian alliance.
Until now, only legacy carriers have formed international alliances.
The airlines include Japan's Vanilla Air, an ANA Holdings group company; Singapore Airlines-affiliated Scoot; Cebu Pacific Air of the Philippines; and a Thai carrier. These airlines' combined share of the Asia-Pacific air passenger market is estimated at more than 10%.
The airlines are looking to call on other Asian budget carriers to join them.
Beginning in the fall, flyers will be able to book flights for all member airlines from only one partner's website.
The airlines will distribute the money they collect based on passenger volume. They will also develop software to handle the process.
Moreover, the airlines will consider introducing conveniences like so-called "through baggage" check-ins. This will save passengers the trouble of picking up their luggage every time they change flights or airlines.
Budget airlines are 30% to 70% cheaper to fly than full-service carriers. But taking advantage of these fares can also add hassles for flyers who need to change flights to get to where they want to go. Using multiple budget airlines to get to a destination means calculating arrival and departure times. And multiple tickets have to be purchased from multiple airlines.
After the alliance is launched, the airlines themselves will determine what connecting flights can be arranged. Flyers will also be able to book and pay for their tickets only once.
The alliance will make it easy for budget airline passengers to transit from a domestic flight to an international flight.
Cut-rate airlines have so far been focused on opening profitable routes; their competition against one another has mostly impeded them from allying.
One limited grouping does exist, however. Hong Kong Express Airways and three Chinese budget carriers have formed what they call the U-Fly Alliance.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Budget-airlines-planning-Asian-alliance?page=1
今回取り上げる表現は、“impede”です。『ウィズダム英和辞典』(第３版、三省堂)を引いたところ、「〈行為・進行など〉を妨害[じゃま]する、遅らせる」とありました。
Macmillan Dictionary.comでは“to make it more difficult for someone to do something or more difficult for something to happen”と定義されており、
The darkness was impeding his progress.
という例文が示されていました。
ここでは、「それぞれの企業の競争意識が提携することの障害となっている」などと解釈できると思います。(Blue sky)
今回取り上げた“impede”の名詞形が、以前取り上げられております。
