Shareholders of Arik Air are in advanced talks to sell the airline’s debts to a Middle East conglomerate, local media said Monday. Talks have been held with numerous investors but a commitment has been reached with the conglomerate, which is headquartered in Dubai and plans to do business in Africa. The company has reportedly voted funds to invest in aviation, power and agriculture and expressed an interest in Arik Air. The two firms started negotiations last week in London and have reached some commitments. Arik Air was taken over by the Nigerian govt in February after it emerged that the airline was grappling with a huge debt portfolio. It is being managed by receivers appointed by national debt recovery agency the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, which claims the airline owes it US$833m. <br/>
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Passenger anger is mounting at what is claimed to be a new seating regime brought in for the summer by Ryanair - yet the airline insists: "There is no new policy." Last month The Independent revealed that passengers who declined to pay for booked seats were being allocated seats in the middle of a row of three by Ryanair. In the most extreme case, a group of 20 golfers flying to Spain found that all but 3 of them been allocated middle seats and scattered in rows all along the plane. The trio who were not affected had paid in advance to book extra legroom seats. A spokesperson for Ryanair said: "Customers who do not wish to purchase a seat are randomly allocated a seat, free of charge. This has been our policy since the introduction of allocated seating in Feb 2014." <br/>
Iran Air expects to take delivery of its first new Boeing 777-300ER in April 2018, chairman and MD Farhad Parvaresh said. In Dec 2016, Boeing firmed a MOA with Iran Air announced earlier that year for 50 narrowbody and 30 widebody aircraft in a deal valued at US$16.6b at list prices. “We also hope to add 2 more Airbus A320s to our fleet this year,” Parvaresh said. In January, Iran Air took delivery of its first new aircraft, an A321, which operates mainly on domestic routes. The A321 was part of an historic 100-aircraft Airbus order, comprising 46 A320s, 38 A330s and 16 A350s, which was finalised Dec 22, 2016. The amended deal was anticipated for most of 2016 and followed the lifting of international sanctions on Iran in January of that year. <br/>
Boeing has finalised a definitive agreement with Iran Aseman Airlines for the purchase of up to 60 737 MAX commercial passenger aircraft. The deal includes firm orders for 30 737 MAXs, valued at $3b, and purchase rights for an additional 30 737 MAXs. The variants of the MAX series to be included in the deal were not specified. The contract signing followed a MOA with Aseman in April 2017, expressing the airline’s intent to make the purchase. Boeing has applied to the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control for approval of a license to perform under this transaction. Aseman Airlines currently has a fleet of around 30 aircraft, which includes 17 Fokker F100 regional jets. As a result of the long-standing embargo on US aircraft sales, the average age of aircraft in the fleet is 25 years. <br/>
The govt of the remote British dependency of St Helena in the South Atlantic has chosen SA Airlink as the preferred bidder to begin scheduled commercial flights to the island. Until now, the only regular contact with the outside world for the island’s 4,500 residents has been via a supply vessel that arrives from South Africa every 3 weeks. The tiny island completed work on a new, US$360m airport in 2016. However, initial evaluation flights into the airport by Comair with a Boeing 737-800 discovered windshear problems on the northerly approach to the sole runway, while the southerly approach has a habitual tailwind. Late last year, Embraer pilots, accompanied by aircrew from SA Airlink, operated an Embraer ERJ190 regional jet into the airport. <br/>
Mesa Airlines pilots, represented by ALPA, reached a tentative agreement with management June 9 on a new collective bargaining agreement. A ratification vote begins June 26. According to ALPA, the new deal includes pay raises for all pilots, increased vacation accrual, better retirement benefits and many other contract improvements. In April, Mesa pilots requested mediation services from the National Mediation Board to facilitate negotiations on the new accord. The pilot group said it has been in contract negotiations for more than 6 years with no pay increases since 2010. Mesa Air Group exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March 2011 with 76 aircraft and fewer than 600 pilots. Since then, Mesa has doubled in size, ALPA said. <br/>