Jeju Air has delayed acquiring a majority stake in compatriot Eastar Jet as it needs time to conduct due diligence on the latter. Jeju expected to complete the stock sale and purchase contract by Jan 9, but this has been pushed back until the end of the month. “The above schedule is subject to change during due diligence and progress, and will be disclosed without delay when this contract is concluded or changes occur,” it says in a stock exchange disclosure. Jeju announced Dec 18that it would acquire a 51% stake in the smaller Eastar for W69.5b (US$60m). To fund this acquisition, it is issuing a W10b convertible bond that offers nearly 1.5% of its share capital at maturity, with a 5-year tenor and bearing 1% coupon. <br/>
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An AirAsia Airbus A320 made an emergency landing Monday at Langkawi, with passengers disembarking via 3 slides. The aircraft was operating flight AK9327 for Kuala Lumpur, said the airline. It cites a “technical issue” for the turn-back. Media reports, citing a spokesman at Langkawi International Airport, say the aircraft turned back 3 minutes into the flight. Video on social media shows passengers, carrying luggage, evacuating down the 2 forward slides as well as the left rear slide. It does not appear that the emergency exits located above the wings were opened, or the right rear door. The video suggests a certain lack of urgency. Passengers remained relatively close to the aircraft after evacuating, and there are no signs of smoke or fire. A ground power unit is also visible near the aircraft’s forward landing gear. <br/>
Emirates airline carried around 58m passengers in 2019, down 1m (or 1.7%) from 2018 when it carried 59m passengers, as operations shrunk. The airline said Tuesday it operated over 3,500 flights on average per week, or over 186,000 flights in 2019. This is down from the nearly 3,700 flights a week in 2018 (or a total of 192,000 flights in the year) as Emirates had to cut down operations during the 45-day closure of one of the two runways at Dubai International. Emirates said 2019 was “a year of recalibration” in terms of its fleet and network plans. In February, Emirates cut its order for Airbus’ A380 aircraft, forcing the manufacturer to end the production of A380s altogether. <br/>