Portugal is confident the EC will approve its plan to rescue ailing flag carrier TAP, Finance Minister Joao Leao said in an interview, adding that he expected that green light by the end of March. The government unveiled its overhaul plan last month, proposing 2,000 job cuts by 2022 and pay cuts of up to 25%, while saying the airline would need around E2b in extra funds with state guarantees to cover financing needs until 2024. The stakes are high: if the EU executive rejects Lisbon’s proposal, TAP would have to immediately repay a E1.2b rescue loan agreed in June, which could lead to its insolvency. Leao said that, as part of the rescue plan, the government envisaged converting that loan to equity, which could raise the government’s stake in the airline to about 90%. The government was not contemplating asking private bond holders to take a haircut on payments to ensure TAP’s financial viability, but had not yet ruled it out either. “The main concern of the plan is that to make the firm sustainable,” Leao said. Formal negotiations with the EC formally started this month, he said, adding: “We expect in the first quarter to have the plan approved.”<br/>
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Lufthansa refinanced eight aircraft in the second half of 2020. The transaction has generated E500m for the carrier, which is continuing to deal with the global aviation crisis’s impact, which has hit passenger numbers and profitability. Earlier Thursday, Lufthansa revealed that it had used eight aircraft as security in financial transactions. The aircraft have been refinanced, generating E500million in funds for the airline. ccording to a press release, the aircraft refinanced were five A350s and three Airbus A320 family aircraft. The funds were raised through sale and leaseback financing, secured loans, and secured promissory notes. The funds came from Banks, private equity funds, and corporate investors from Europe and Asia. The airline goes on to state that it has received attractive terms for the transactions. Commenting on the refinancing, Wilken Bormann, Executive VP Corporate Finance of the Lufthansa Group, said, “We have taken another successful step in refinancing existing liabilities which are maturing in 2021. The transactions once again demonstrate the confidence the market has in our company and our restructuring measures. We have a wide range of financing instruments at our disposal and aircraft financing will continue to play a key role in our financing strategy as it offers financially attractive conditions.”<br/>
ANA has issued a request for proposals for the sale and leaseback of five Airbus A321neos, sources tell Cirium. The Japanese carrier has asked lessors to submit proposals by 18 January. Cirium fleets data shows ANA has 14 A321neos in its in-service and stored fleet. Four of these are owned, and the rest are leased from BBAM, ALM, and SMBC Aviation Capital. It also has 10 A321neos on order, scheduled to deliver between this month and January 2025. The A321neos covered by the RFP are scheduled to deliver new in 2021, according to a person who has seen the document.<br/>
Air New Zealand is rehiring an additional 115 Airbus A320 crew on fixed term contracts after the Ministry of Health asked the airline to prepare for tighter border requirements. The news comes swiftly after the airline confirmed that 40 long haul crew were last week recalled on fixed term contracts to accommodate changes to its international schedule, including new layover protocols for North American flights. The recruitment drive is in addition to 175 narrowbody cabin crew being recalled from furlough in preparation for Tasman and Cook Island travel bubbles, and the hiring of regional cabin crew on fixed term contracts in four centres. Over the past nine months the airline let go of more than 4000 staff and downsized by a third as it navigated headwinds created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Air New Zealand general manager cabin crew Leeanne Langridge said the Ministry of Health asked the airline to consider additional options for international air crew in the event that border requirements may need to tighten or overseas destinations move to a higher risk category due to rapidly increasing Covid-19 cases. <br/>
New Zealanders on board Air New Zealand’s first quarantine-free flight into Brisbane have gone straight into a three-day lockdown due to an outbreak of a more infectious variant of Covid-19 at a managed isolation facility in the Australian city. An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said there were 25 customers on board flight NZ147, which departed Auckland at 7:40am on Thursday. “The flight went smoothly and customers were delighted to be reunited with their loved ones in Brisbane.” However, they have gone from alert level 1 freedoms enjoyed in New Zealand into a three-day stay at home order for the greater Brisbane area starting at 6pm local time on Friday. The lockdown was announced by Queensland’s Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk after a hotel quarantine cleaner was found to have contracted the more virulent UK coronavirus variant. Palaszczuk said Queensland Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young advised her that a three-day lockdown could prevent a 30-day lockdown. The worker, a cleaner who lives in the south Brisbane suburb of Algester, may have been infectious since January 2. Air New Zealand operates five return flights per week between Auckland and Brisbane. As of Wednesday three of those services were quarantine-free flights, while the remaining two would be quarantine flights. An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said at this stage there was no change to the airline’s next quarantine-free flight which was scheduled for Saturday.<br/>