A Gathering of Eagles

ALL THE TALK ABOUT AN AIRLINE SHAKE-OUT IN Europe's overcrowded, unprofitable skies was, until last week, just talk. Then came the announcement that four airlines would merge, creating Europe's largest international carrier. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Swissair, Austrian Airlines and the trinational Scandinavian Airlines System said they would go far beyond earlier plans to combine certain activities and would create a single company with a new (yet unchosen) name and logo. Ownership would be split 30-30-30 among KLM, SAS and Swissair, with Austrian holding the remaining 10%. Starting with about 270 planes and more than 30 million passengers a year, the new aerocombine, which could come into existence as early as next year, will pose a major challenge to British Airways, Air France and Germany's Lufthansa -- once the unions are assuaged, negotiations are completed, and the boards of the four companies approve it.