Aviation

Bloomberg Daily US air travellers exceeded 2 million for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic began, reaching almost three-quarters of the volume recorded on the same day in 2019, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The total is part of a trend towards improving numbers since February, when vaccinations against the virus began to have an appreciable effect ...

Bloomberg KKR & Co has acquired an almost $800 million loan portfolio from CIT Group Inc as it seeks to expand its footprint in the aviation sector. The deal is part of the global investment firm’s launch of a new commercial aviation lending platform, AV AirFinance Limited, which will provide secured financing to airlines, lessors, manufacturers and investors. The purchase ...

Bloomberg Switzerland plans to reopen its borders for overseas visitors who have received a Covid-19 vaccine on June 28, joining other European countries easing entry rules imposed during the pandemic. Along with European Union countries, Switzerland has restricted travel from outside of Europe’s Schengen area as a result of the pandemic. With its vaccine drive accelerating and Covid-19 infections falling, ...

Bloomberg Europe’s biggest airlines are seeking to deflect moves to tighten carbon curbs by favouring a less robust offsetting program, according to climate watchdog InfluenceMap. Carriers are pushing to retain the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation over the European Union’s more rigorous Emissions Trading System, the think tank-said. While Corsia was developed by the United Nations-mandated International ...

Bloomberg The aircraft that broke down the door to intercontinental flying for the masses has a new mission: lugging as many German tourists as possible on the short-haul hop to Mallorca. Deutsche Lufthansa AG will deploy 364-seat Boeing Co 747-8s on two-hour trips from Frankfurt after looser coronavirus curbs spurred bookings 25-fold since April, it said. The jet will ply ...

Bloomberg South Africa agreed to sell a majority stake in the country’s grounded national carrier to a local jet-leasing company and private-equity firm, ridding the government of an entity that has long been a drain on state finances. A consortium comprised of Johannesburg-based Global Airways, which owns recently launched domestic airline Lift, and private-equity firm Harith General Partners will take ...

Bloomberg Reopening more international travel routes from the UK will be “challenging” because the country must do everything it can to protect itself from new coronavirus variants, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said. Britain last week tightened restrictions on overseas travel, removing Portugal from its so-called green list in a major blow to the airline industry. Restoring travel in the medium-term ...

Bloomberg Airbus SE inched closer to a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic after increasing the number of jetliner deliveries to 50 last month. The European planemaker accelerated production with five more planes handed over than in April, according to a statement that confirmed an earlier Bloomberg report. Airbus is plotting a way out of the Covid-19 crisis even as a ...

Bloomberg Buyout firm KKR & Co is close to reaching an agreement to buy Atlantic Aviation from Macquarie Infrastructure Corp, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal could value the airport services company at about $4.5 billion, including debt, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter was private. A sale was expected to ...

Bloomberg Lufthansa Consulting GmbH is in talks with Sudan’s government over a role in restructuring one of Africa’s oldest airlines. “If not through a joint venture, they can help to restructure Sudan Airways so that it can be competitive,” Finance Minister Gibril Ibrahim said in an interview. He didn’t give more details or say at what stage the discussions were. ...