Bloomberg HNA Group Co is considering refinancing Swissport International’s debt after talks to sell the airport-cargo handler stalled on valuation, people familiar with the matter said. The Chinese conglomerate is working with advisers to extend Swissport’s debt maturities and ease pressure from creditors, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private. While the refinancing is ...
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Air France set to order new A220 jets
Bloomberg Air France is set to approve the purchase of 50 to 70 new Airbus jets, French newspaper Journal du Dimanche (JDD) reports, in a boon for the European aviation giant. Chief Executive Officer Ben Smith, who took the reins of Paris-based Air France-KLM last year, will outline his plans for updating the airline’s fleet when the company announces its ...
Read More »Southwest CEO vexed at 737 Max delays
Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co is frustrated with the financial beating it’s taking from the grounding of Boeing Co’s 737 Max. But the carrier is ready to grab more of the single-aisle planes that eventually will make up the majority of its fleet. Parking its 34 Max jets since mid-March and missing out on new deliveries has shaved $225 million from ...
Read More »Tan’s Philippine Air to name new president amid revamp
Bloomberg Philippine Airlines Inc is expected to name a new president on Monday, replacing Jaime Bautista, who abruptly quit the post last month. Gilbert Santa Maria, who was chief operating officer of IBEX Global Solutions Plc, tops the list of nominees, according to two people familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified because the decision has yet to ...
Read More »Billionaire owners’ public spat weighs on IndiGo’s future
Bloomberg A fight between two billionaire co-founders is threatening to hurt one of the world’s most successful airlines. Rakesh Gangwal, 65, is accusing partner Rahul Bhatia, 59, of corporate-governance transgressions at Indian budget airline IndiGo and wants his powers curbed. Bhatia denies the allegations, and there’s no sign yet that the disagreement is affecting financial performance of the airline, operated ...
Read More »Mexico settles dispute on airport terminal
Bloomberg Mexico City’s airport authority settled a dispute with builders on an 85 billion peso ($4.45 billion) contract for the terminal at a new Mexico City airport that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador canceled a month before taking office. Grupo Aeroportuario Ciudad de la Mexico will pay 14.2 billion pesos, equivalent to 16.7 percent of the contract’s total cost, to ...
Read More »Boeing warns it may halt 737 Max output
Bloomberg Boeing warned it will consider slowing or even temporarily halting production of 737 Max, the company’s most important jetliner, if a global flying ban drags on longer than anticipated. The planemaker’s best estimate is that it will submit software updates and paperwork for the Max by September to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), followed weeks later by approval ...
Read More »Advent to buy UK defense firm Cobham in $5bn deal
Bloomberg US buyout firm Advent International Corp agreed to acquire UK defense and aerospace company Cobham Plc for about 4 billion pounds ($5 billion), as cash-flush private-equity firms seek targets in Britain. Cobham shareholders will receive 165 pence a share in cash, a 34 percent premium to the closing price, the companies said. The stock traded 35 percent higher at ...
Read More »Starwood Capital, Apollo vie for $4b GE air-finance unit
Bloomberg Starwood Capital Group and Apollo Global Management have submitted offers to buy an aircraft-financing business owned by General Electric Co, which could fetch around $4 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. GE is working with advisers as it explores a possible sale of PK AirFinance, a subsidiary of the conglomerate’s broader aircraft-leasing business known as GECAS, said ...
Read More »JetBlue’s ‘disappointed’ CFO jabs Airbus on A321 delays
Bloomberg JetBlue Airways Corpexpressed dismay with Airbus SE after the US carrier learned it will get less than half the A321neo jets it was expecting this year because of production snarls that are delaying deliveries of the European planemaker’s biggest single-aisle model. The New York-based airline will get a maximum of six of the aircraft this year, compared with the ...
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