Latam Airlines eyes $1bn share sale
Things have suddenly got tougher for Latam, the merged Lan-Tam airline which just unveiled first-quarter results.
It has a hefty $1.8bn in short-term debt and is suddenly facing heightened competition on its domestic Brazilian, international and cargo routes. No wonder it needs money.
Which explains why it is seeking to raise $1bn from shareholders by October. Continue reading »
South African Airways: still got friends
It may be having a rough time at home, but South African Airways still has friends overseas – and the latest is Etihad Airways. The airlines announced a strategic partnership on Monday, including a route-sharing partnership on flights to Abu Dhabi and beyond.
SAA and Etihad will also look at joint procurement and maintenance opportunities, according to the statement. In return, Etihad gets access to 10 cities in South Africa and other parts of Africa. Continue reading »
Turkey’s record-breaking investments: as good as they sound?
At first sight the figures are staggering. In the space of a single day last week Turkey signed an agreement on a $22bn new nuclear power plant and concluded a €22bn tender on building Istanbul one of the biggest airports on the world.
No wonder there were proclamations about record-breaking investments as soon as last Friday’s announcements were made. Continue reading »
Hungary: Wizz Air looks east with China leasing deal
Wizz Air, which bills itself as the largest low-cost, low-fare airline in central-eastern Europe, said on Thursday that that it had struck a “pre-delivery payment financing and sale and leaseback agreement” with ICBC Financial Leasing, of China, for eight new Airbus A320 aircraft.
The A320s, due for delivery in 2013 and 2014 and carrying a headline price tag of $700m, represent a jump of a fifth in the current fleet of 40 such aeroplanes operated by Wizz Air. Continue reading »
Brazil’s Gol: buckle up
Passengers of Gol, Brazil’s cash-strapped, second-biggest airline, should not be surprised in the coming days if their landings suddenly become a bit more… interesting.
That’s because the airline has announced a bonus for pilots and flight attendants if they can save fuel, possibly by eliminating some of the bells and whistles of comfortable flying. Continue reading »
Sberbank spreads its wings with Boeing leasing deal
Sberbank is moving from finance to operations in Russia’s booming air travel market.
The bank has placed an order with US aerospace giant Boeing for a dozen passenger jets. The deal – worth $1bn at current catalogue prices – will see Russia’s biggest lender supply aircraft to Transaero under its first ever operational leasing agreement in the industry. Continue reading »
Gol: in a tailspin
Pegasus, Turkish budget airline, prepares to go public
Airlines may not have been the best performing stocks over the past few years but they can still generate excitement if they produce a successful business model in a tight market.
One example is Turkish budget carrier Pegasus, which this week said it had applied to the Istanbul Stock Exchange (IMKB) to launch an initial public offering this year. Continue reading »
Brazil air safety: not keeping pace
Brazil’s problems with infrastructure are hardly news. The rise of a new lower middle class numbering more than 100m people is one source of the country’s recent economic miracle. But it has also led to crowded highways and packed flights. Last year, demand for flights increased 7.14 per cent, according to airlines, while the number of seats available rose less than half that. Continue reading »
Lot on: losses and layoffs add to privatisation plan for Polish airline
Source: company
Sebastian Mikosz is a man in a hurry.
Only four days after taking over Poland’s Lot Airlines, the new chief executive (who also headed the company in 2009-10) is racing to turn around the loss-making flag carrier as quickly as possible and to put the government-owned airline on the market before the end of this year. Continue reading »
End of the line for Kingfisher Airlines?
Luxurious homes around the world, highly collectable cars, a stud farm, some very classy yachts famous for their “king sized parties”… Anyone would be happy to get their hands on Vijay Mallya’s assets.
Now that his creditors have run out of patience and are calling in loans to Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines, some of them bearing the billionaire tycoon’s personal guarantee, you’d think a few of these playthings might be about to change hands. Well, maybe just a few… Continue reading »
Air Asia has moved its headquarters to Jakarta. Chief executive Tony Fernandes talks to the FT’s Ben Bland about running a low cost airline in southeast Asia and about owning sports teams – the English Premier League football team Queen’s Park Rangers and the Caterham Formula 1 racing team.
Poland’s Lot: flying blind
The airline’s previous boss, Marcin Pirog, was fired in December after the airline revealed unexpected losses and had to turn to the government for a 400m zlotys ($130m) bailout. In all, the airline may need as much as 1bn zlotys in help to survive. Continue reading »
Kingfisher Airlines: caveat emptor
What kind of financial results would you expect from a grounded airline with piles of debt and a fuming workforce? Grisly ones, of course.
So Vijay Mallya, the flamboyant billionaire tycoon behind India’s Kingfisher Airlines, must have hoped investors would assume he was taking one manfully on the chin when the company announced an after-tax loss of Rs7.55bn ($140m) for the quarter ending on December 31, 2012. Not manfully enough, according to his auditors. They say the real loss should have been Rs10.9bn. Continue reading »
Ataturk airport: poised to overtake Madrid and Amsterdam
Some striking figures about air travel and Turkey’s place in the world were released on Monday. Istanbul’s Ataturk airport is growing at a pace unrivalled by any of the other big European hubs.
With 44m passengers passing through its gates last year, Ataturk is now the continent’s sixth biggest airport and judging by monthly data from Airports Council International Europe is poised to overtake Madrid and, soon after that, Amsterdam. Continue reading »
| About this blog | Headlines email | Blog guide |
| Regulars | Series | Archive |
Older entries
Stefan Wagstyl
Rob Minto
Pan Kwan Yuk
Jonathan Wheatley
Heba Saleh