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South American airlines group Avianca's doors are open to any opportunities presented by interested partners to help it grow when economic conditions in its region improve, the head of Avianca Brasil said Saturday. Avianca said in a filing Friday it was taking advice from investment banks after Reuters reported HNA, Delta and United Continental were among parties interested in making an acquisition. "This is a very capital-intensive business. We are going to be open for opportunities," said Jose Efromovich, CE of Avianca Brasil. Avianca Holdings SA and Avianca Brasil are controlled by his brother German Efromovich's Synergy Group. Jose Efromovich said Avianca Colombia was not necessarily for sale but that the door was open to everyone for the two airlines, whether airline partners or others. "It's not like somebody knocked on the door, it is the opposite. We opened up the door, we are waiting, there is no hurry," he said. "We always want to see which are the alternatives when we decide to go back and grow, when the region will allow us to go back into growing mode," he said.<br/>

China's HNA Group has expressed interest in acquiring Avianca Holdings SA and Avianca Brasil, the South American airlines controlled by Bolivian-born entrepreneur Germán Efromovich's Synergy Group, people familiar with the matter said. Avianca Holdings and Avianca Brasil are working with investment banks to explore options. They have also attracted interest from US peers United Continental and Delta, the sources said Friday. The growing foreign interest in Avianca shows that even as Latin America's largest economy reels from its worst recession since the 1930s, airlines see the broader region as a growth area and one their route networks must embrace. Depressed asset values there make this a tempting moment for acquisitions. "The market is down," said Joel Chusid, US executive director for China's Hainan Airlines Co Ltd, speaking as an aviation industry veteran without any knowledge of parent company HNA's interest in the transaction. "That's the time to buy." If HNA makes the deal, it would be the second major Latin American investment for the aviation, tourism and logistics conglomerate, which has also snapped up air cargo handlers Swissport and Irish aircraft leasing company Avolon. In a filing later on Friday, Avianca denied that it is negotiating with companies and said it has signed no agreements.<br/>

United Continental and Delta are among suitors considering bids for Avianca Holdings, according to people familiar with the matter, as airlines around the world seek combinations to help them withstand fierce competition and bulk up internationally. Advisers to Avianca have distributed a document to potential bidders seeking a $500m capital injection, one of the people said, adding that could develop into a full sale. The process is in early stages, the people said, and there may be no deal at all. Avianca went public in 2011 and has a market value equal to roughly $600m. Avianca had revenue of $4.7b in 2014. Profit, excluding foreign exchange and fuel-hedging charges, was $120m. As of September 2015, the company had debt of $3.3b. It serves more than 100 destinations in 26 countries, with 176 airplanes operating 5,400 weekly departures, according to a December 2015 corporate presentation. Avianca has hubs in Bogotá, Colombia; San Salvador, El Salvador; and Lima, Peru. The group also runs a loyalty program, a logistics business, airport and maintenance services and runs tours. It sold a 30% stake in the loyalty business to a private-equity investor last year. Both United Continental and Delta could have reasons to want to explore a deal with Avianca. United Continental lost its largest Star Alliance member in the region when Tam merged into Latam, leaving a hole in its network. Last year, United invested $100 million for a 5% stake in Brazil’s No. 3 carrier, Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras SA. In 2012, the Taca brand went away and Avianca became the single brand for all the airlines in the group. The companies joined the Star Alliance in 2012.<br/>

South African Airways is having to deal with conflicting orders from the country’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and President Jacob Zuma and that’s hindering the unprofitable state-owned airline from making a full recovery, acting CEO Musa Zwane said. The carrier needs firm decisions on whether SAA should be privatized, how it should be capitalized, the make-up of a new board and a new CEO, Zwane said in an interview. The former head of the airline’s maintenance unit said he hasn’t put his name forward for the permanent position, and a short-list for his successor is being discussed by the Treasury. “You have conflicting messages: the minister in his budget says this, and then the president says something different,” Zwane said. “This is not a tough role, but I think if you look at the dynamics of the role and the role-players, they make it tough.” Zuma and Gordhan, who was reappointed to the post in December having previously served as finance minister from 2009 to 2014, have given Zwane opposing guidance on whether fellow state carrier SA Express should be integrated into SAA, the CEO said. The government is considering merging the two airlines and selling a stake in the enlarged carrier to private investors, Gordhan said in his budget speech in February. In contrast, Zuma said on a visit to SAA’s headquarters last month that the government would never sell or privatize the carrier.<br/>

LOT Polish Airlines is planning an overhaul of its narrowbody fleet with the addition of some more aircraft to better compete with low-cost rivals in the fast-growing eastern European market and add routes out of its Warsaw hub, the carrier's new chief executive said on Saturday. "We are interested in increasing the significance and scope of our hub in Warsaw," said Rafal Milczarski, who took up his post at the end of January. He said due to previous management issues and some technical problems, state-owned LOT had not made the most of the fast-growing market for travel demand in eastern Europe, unlike low-cost rival Wizz Air. Ireland's Ryanair is currently the market leader in Poland with a market share of over 30% and is challenging LOT by moving domestic Polish flights to Warsaw Chopin airport, from Modlin. LOT is also at a disadvantage because it flies busy routes with smaller Embraer regional jets while rivals use larger Boeing 737s, Milczarski said, meaning adding new planes was a priority. As a result he said he had been speaking to lessors about narrowbody options at the IATA airlines industry association gathering in Dublin earlier this week. "A decision will be taken very shortly and the aircraft will arrive in our fleet in the first quarter of 2017," he said, adding that the group wants to double or triple the size of its narrowbody fleet, which currently consists of just three 737s.<br/>

The growing trend of protectionism worldwide is hampering cross-border consolidation in the airline industry, the CE of German airlines group Lufthansa said Saturday. "To be honest I see protectionism around the world rising rather than more liberalisation," Carsten Spohr said on Saturday, highlighting growing scepticism in Europe's free trade talks with the US as an example. Spohr has repeatedly said Europe's airline industry needs to consolidate to improve profits and that the airline wants to use its Eurowings budget platform as a tool for that. Outside of intra-European activity, Lufthansa had previously invested in US-based JetBlue and China's now-liquidated Jade Cargo. Merger activity on a global level is held back by rules on foreign ownership of airlines in many countries, and Spohr said it was an issue discussed by executives at this week's IATA meeting in Dublin. "We all met there, there were plenty of talks. We all look at each other and believe there are too many limitations. All you can do right now is a financial minority investment," Spohr said. "In our industry there's so many limitations and regulations on what you can do outside your legal spectrum. That's the EU for us, and we don't see much progress," Spohr said.<br/>

The CE of Brussels Airlines told the IATA annual meeting that he is hopeful Lufthansa will acquire the part of the Belgian carrier that it does not own. "I hope for it," CEO Bernard Gustin said when asked at the meeting in Dublin. Lufthansa owns 45% of Brussels Airlines owner SN Airholding and has a call option for the remaining 55%. The German airline is taking more time to decide whether to exercise its option after the attacks on the Belgian capital in March and now expects to announce a decision in September. Lufthansa was also looking at SAS for possible consolidation but CEO Carsten Spohr said Lufthansa had decided not to invest and would instead look at deepening cooperation with the Scandinavian carrier. Discussions with Brussels Airlines include how to make the carrier part of Lufthansa's Eurowings low-cost platform, which Lufthansa hopes to use as a vehicle for consolidation. Gustin said he did not want to see the identity of Brussels Airlines disappear, especially as it was a strong brand in Africa, where the German carrier does not offer many routes. Spohr said he was convinced Lufthansa would need to keep some Belgian touches. "The customer in Brussels wants a Belgian element, the customer outside a European element," he said.<br/>

Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise is evaluating an order for as many as 30 short-haul aircraft from Bombardier or Embraer as it seeks smaller planes to serve routes within Africa. A choice between Bombardier’s C Series model and Brazil-based Embraer’s E-jet series will be made by the end of the year, CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said. The aircraft, competitors in the 100-to-150-seat range, will add to the 52 of various sizes that Ethiopian already has on order. Embraer CCO John Slattery met with Gebremariam for discussions at the IATA meeting, while a Bombardier order would further bolster the C Series program after the Canadian company secured a Delta deal for 75 planes with a list price of $5.6b in April. Ethiopian, Africa’s largest by revenue, is opening a new route to New York in June and plans growth in the U.S. and Asia, including flights to Hanoi in Vietnam and Jakarta, Indonesia, which could require additional aircraft orders, Gebremariam said.<br/>

Air Canada president and CEO Calin Rovinescu said the Montreal-based airline is developing a comprehensive strategy to counter potential cyberattacks, and encouraged other airlines to take a similar approach. “Being protected against cyberattacks is not something I would consider a competitive advantage,” he said. “It’s something that’s valuable to share with other airlines, in my view.” Rovinescu emphasised that securing an airline’s data and systems is “not the responsibility of only the CIO” and needs to be tackled from an airline-wide perspective. “I’d say we’re still in the early innings of getting out in front of this,” he said. “We start out with some scary numbers: Experts estimate that the amount of damage caused by cyberattacks last year was $500b and 94% of companies had some sort of attack.” Rovinescu said Air Canada identified 72 “critical business processes” and made security risk assessments on each one, identifying the company’s greatest vulnerabilities and developing plans to protect the data exchanged in those processes from hackers. “You have to start somewhere,” he said. “Instead of 72 maybe it should have been 172. We don’t have all the answers … Five years from now, there may be a different answer.”<br/>

All airline passengers will soon be able to check in on their smartphones and use permanent luggage tags to avoid the need for printed stickers, says Star Alliance CE Mark Schwab. The 28 members of the airline alliance agreed to step up automation efforts to help improve the check-in and baggage experience at a meeting in Zurich on Saturday. By the end of next year, Star Alliance wants all airlines to have facilities in place for passengers to check in online or using an automated kiosk and to be able to print a baggage tag at home or at the airport kiosk. Schwab said when Terminal 2 at London Heathrow used by the Star Alliance carriers opened in 2014, there had been a target of 70% of passengers using self-service transactions that had seemed ambitious at the time. "Many of our airlines suggested to us the customers wouldn't like it and they would prefer to have contact with the check-in agent and in their culture that they didn't want to deal with a machine, they want to deal with a person," he said. "Within a few months we found customers did indeed prefer the automated transactions and would step up to do it themselves." Schwab said airlines would still make customer service agents available to passengers having difficulty using automated check-in, but he expected further improvements in automation in the year to come. "We have to get all of the transactions on your smart device," he said. "We shouldn't worry about bad printers. You should just use your device and flash it. When we get to permanent bag tags in the industry that will be solved for."<br/>

Swiss International Air Lines will upgrade five of its Bombardier CS100s jets on order to the larger CS300 and is considering doing the same for another five. Swiss, the launch customer for the new plane, had placed a firm order for 30 CS100s and last year already converted 10 of those to the larger CS300 variant. The announcement means Swiss now has 15 CS300s on order. With 10 fixed as the CS100 variant, it can still decide to upgrade the final five in the order. "We are considering whether to convert the last five," said CE Thomas Kluehr. <br/>