Air Canada has invested C$97.3m in regional carrier Jazz Aviation's parent company, having closed a previously announced agreement under which Jazz will also acquire nine additional Bombardier CRJ900 regional jets. The agreement extends the carriers' contract through the end of 2035 while reducing the fees Jazz charges to Air Canada. It calls for Jazz to stop flying aging Dash 8-100 turboprops, reduce its Q400 fleet and fly more 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200s. Air Canada and Jazz parent Chorus have positioned the deal as responding to threatening competition. The investment gives Air Canada 9.99% of Chorus's shares, and Air Canada gains the right to nominate one director to Chorus's board. The airlines had announced the then-pending deal on 14 January.<br/>
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TAP Air Portugal carried 15.8m passengers in 2018, up 10.4% from the previous year, with European routes outside Portugal accounting for the bulk of the increase, the airline reported. The airline carried 9.6m passengers on European routes, excluding Portugal, in 2018—a 10.7% year-over-year (YOY) increase. Full-year passenger traffic was up 9.6% to 38m RPKs, with a capacity gain of 12.3% to 47m ASKs, producing a load factor of 81%, down 2 points YOY. On TAP’s African routes from its Lisbon hub, passenger numbers grew 11.3% to 1.1 million. In Brazil, where the airline serves 11 destinations, passenger numbers rose 7.8% to 1.7m. The North American market saw a passenger increase of 9.6% to 800,000. As part of a fleet replacement plan, TAP expects to receive 37 aircraft this year, including four Airbus A321LRs and several A320neos.<br/>
Austrian Airlines sold its remaining 8.31% stake in Australian carrier Alliance Airlines on the same day that Qantas announced it had taken a 19.9% stake in the Brisbane-based charter specialist. Disclosures to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) show that Austrian sold 10m shares on 1 February, but did not disclose the buyer nor the price achieved in the transaction. That is over half the 19.2m shares in Alliance that changed hands on that day, ASX charts show. The AFR reports that Macquarie was involved in purchasing the stock for Qantas, but did not name Austrian as a seller of Alliance’s shares. Austrian took a 12% stake in Alliance in 2015 as part of a cash and shares deal under which the Australian carrier acquired the Vienna-based airline’s fleet of 21 Fokker 100 and 70 jets, plus additional spares. As part of that deal, the Lufthansa Group carrier agreed to a lock-up period on its shares that expired in December 2018. However in October 2016 it was granted a release to sell 4.5m shares. Qantas has indicated that it intends to seek regulatory clearance to build up its stake in Alliance and take majority control. <br/>