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Air Canada's shareholder-approved deal to buy Transat A.T. will undergo a 250-day public interest assessment. Transport minister Marc Garneau says he's approved an extra 100 days for Transport Canada and the Commissioner of Competition to complete the assessment of the C$720mn transaction by May 2. He says the additional time was granted because of the size and scope of the proposed deal. The minister will make a recommendation about the purchase to cabinet. There is no legislated timeline for the minister to make his recommendations or for cabinet to make a final decision. The takeover is expected to face intense scrutiny from the Competition Bureau and other regulatory authorities, including in Europe. Transat had said it expected the deal to close early next year. <br/>

The first Airbus A220-300 regional jet for EgyptAir has completed its initial test flight from the Mirabel assembly line and is scheduled to be delivered to Cairo in the next few weeks, the manufacturer said Aug 23. The aircraft is the first of 12 that the carrier has on order. They are destined to replace Embraer E170s with EgyptAir Express, the airline’s regional subsidiary. The A220-300s are expected initially to be used on domestic Egyptian services but will also range further afield. The 76-seat Embraer aircraft, which are around 12 years old, are used on short-haul international services and, in winter, are sometimes used by the mainline carrier to operate thinner routes to areas such as central and southern Europe when passenger loads do not justify the use of a Boeing 737-800. <br/>