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Delta said Monday it plans to launch a cash tender offer to buy up to an additional 32% of Grupo Aeromexico's stock at 53 Mexican pesos per share, valuing the deal at about $590m. The offer represents a premium of 34.4% to Aeromexico's Friday close. The Mexican airline's shares rose as much as 21.5% to 47.90 Mexican pesos in morning trading. Delta, which already has a 4.2% stake in Aeromexico, had said in November 2015 it intended to buy the additional stake for 43.59 Mexican pesos per share. Aeromexico had about 707.8m shares outstanding as of Jan. 25. The increase in the purchase price was the result of interim exchange rate movements and other factors, Delta said Monday. The Mexican peso has hit a series of record lows since the U.S. election on concerns that President Donald Trump could rip up a free trade deal with Mexico, which sends nearly 80% of its exports to its northern neighbor.<br/>

Russia's Aeroflot has been revealed as the most powerful airline brand, although American Airlines is the most valuable. A study by valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance finds its dominance in its home market, marketing investment, a new fleet and Russia's growing hub status underpin the result. American Airlines is the most valuable brand, however, worth US$9.8b. By value Aeroflot ranks 26th, with its brand valued at US$1.2b. Air New Zealand makes the top 50 and has climbed two places to 34, on US$807m. Brand Finance said Aeroflot had an AAA brand rating. "The news may come as a surprise to those in Europe and North America more familiar with Western or Gulf flag carriers. Aeroflot's brand strength stems in part from dominance of its domestic market," the study's authors say. "Its brand equity scores for metrics such as familiarity, consideration, preference and loyalty are formidable, both when compared against other Russian airlines and against foreign ones within their home markets." Brand Finance said this was all the more impressive given that there are no air routes for which Aeroflot has exclusive access, demonstrating that its strength is underpinned by competitive advantage rather than monopoly. Investment in the brand, which lays the foundations for future resilience and growth, is another key component of brand strength in which Aeroflot excels. "It has the youngest fleet of any major airline and is investing heavily in marketing promotion, particularly in Asia. This is reinforced by its sponsorship of Manchester United (the world's most valuable football brand), which helps Aeroflot reach a vast audience across East Asia in particular. The approach is clearly paying off."<br/>

Air France’s new, lower-cost long- and medium-haul airline will initially use Airbus A340s on its long-distance routes. The new operation, which is being created under the interim name Boost, will include new A350s from 2019, but initial long-haul services from summer 2018 will operate the older four-engined type. Prior to that, medium-haul services will begin in autumn 2017 using A320-family aircraft. The French flag carrier has previously said the Boost fleet will not exceed 18 medium- and 10 long-haul aircraft. The company has presented a draft agreement to two pilots’ unions, SNPL and SPAF, detailing terms and conditions for flight-deck crew. The carrier said it hopes to have unions sign the deal by Feb. 24, but this date could be stretched if the unions decide to consult their members. Boost is planned to have a lower cost structure than mainline Air France and to operate particularly on loss-making routes where the airline is under heavy pressure from Gulf carriers. The airline said Boost’s pilots will be Air France personnel, but that “productivity and efficiency improvement measures, defined by the negotiations, will ensure Boost’s pilot cost savings and will also contribute to Air France’s competitiveness.”<br/>

In advance of Valentine’s Day, Air France celebrated the 20th anniversary of the creation of its hub at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport that today handles more than 1,000 daily arriving and departing flights and more than 50% of CDG’s annual traffic. It was in 1996 that Air France says it adopted a true “hub-and-spoke” model at Charles de Gaulle, morphing its operation there into the type of international-style hub now common among today’s global carriers. The carefully tended-to node is “the heart” of the airline's network, Air France-KLM Jean-Marc Janaillac said. He added that through twenty years of “investment and innovation,” the hub has “managed to reinvent itself, stay flexible, [and] anticipate the demands of customers,” he told journalists gathered at CDG last week for a behind-the-scenes tour.Many of the hub investments, which Janaillac said had a price tag of 40 million euros in 2016 alone, have focused on using digital technology to improve the airport experience, including the installation of 56 self-boarding gates and 247 self-service kiosks and the equipping of every Air France employee at CDG with a tablet giving them access to customer files so they can offer “personalized and efficient support,” said Janaillac. <br/>