Air Canada’s proposed takeover of Transat has been thrown into doubt after European regulators failed to approve the deal by a Feb. 15 deadline. The companies are still talking about “potential amendments” that can keep the deal alive, Montreal-based Transat said. However, Air Canada won’t agree to extend the deadline, meaning either company now has the legal right to walk away from the deal, Transat said. If the deal falls apart, it may open the door to Quebecor CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau, who’d previously made an offer for Transat through his investment company. In a lengthy Facebook post Saturday, Peladeau predicted Air Canada and Transat would miss the deadline. Transat board members “will regain their freedom, allowing them to ensure the company’s sustainability, its outreach in the community and the considerable economic benefits for Quebeckers,” Peladeau wrote. “I invite them to find the reasonable terms of an agreement with my group so that we can save Transat, together.” Canadian regulators approved the deal last week with conditions, including a requirement that Air Canada keep 1,500 employees in its leisure travel business, start new routes within five years and keep the Transat head office in Quebec. But the EC hasn’t approved the deal yet and has requested additional information from the companies. Its decision is now expected in the first half of 2021.<br/>
star
Canadian media executive Pierre Karl Peladeau said he’s ready to step in and buy Transat now that the vacation company’s takeover by Air Canada is on shaky ground. In a statement on Twitter late Tuesday, Peladeau reiterated his “interest and determination, as well as my means” to buy Montreal-based Transat. He made an attempt last year to do so, but Transat had already agreed to sell to Air Canada for C$5 a share. That transaction is now in jeopardy after a Feb. 15 deadline passed without approval from European regulators. Although the deal is still alive, both companies now have the right to walk away. That means Transat’s board is free to negotiate with a new buyer, Peladeau wrote. “I wish to start discussions with the leadership of Transat to enable the Quebec company to exit the grave state of uncertainty in which it’s been kept for too long” and that’s threatening its future, he said. “As I have written, let’s save Transat, together.” Peladeau, the CEO of cable and media firm Quebecor Inc., made earlier approaches to Transat of C$5 and C$6 a share, according to Transat’s disclosures. The board turned away those offers, saying they weren’t financed and lacked provisions for helping the company with its 2021 working capital needs. Quebecor isn’t involved in the deal. While Air Canada has yet to clarify its position, Desjardins Securities analyst Benoit Poirier said he expects other interested buyers could come forward, including Onex Corp., the controlling shareholder of WestJet.<br/>
SAS has stayed with CFM International for a further batch of engines for its Airbus A320neo-family fleet. SAS has directly ordered 65 A320neos of which 30 have been delivered. It also operates another 15 on lease, including a single A321LR, all of them fitted with the CFM Leap-1A powerplant. CFM says SAS has again selected the manufacturer for the additional 35 aircraft it ordered in April 2018, topping up its original agreement for 30 placed in June 2011. The deal covers 78 engines, comprising 70 for the 35 twinjets plus eight spare powerplants. It also features a per-hour maintenance agreement bringing the overall list-price value of the order to $2.9b. “We take SAS’s trust as a great responsibility to keep supporting their operations with the high-level CFM standards in terms of reliability and utilisation,” says CFM chief Gael Meheust. SAS says the maintenance pact includes spares and also covers the 15 Leap-powered aircraft it has on lease. “This new agreement is part of SAS’s fleet upgrade program that aims to improve efficiency and sustainability performances,” it adds.<br/>
Turkish Airlines ranked first in Europe in terms of the daily number of flights between Feb. 8 and Feb. 15, according to data from the European Organization for Air Navigation Safety (Eurocontrol). Turkish Airlines operated on average 592 flights a day in the said period, while Turkey’s low-cost carrier Pegasus came in third in the list at 263 flights. Air France ranked second at 383 flights. Last year, Turkish Airlines ranked second in Europe at an average of 626 daily flights, while in the previous year claimed the fourth spot at 1,331 daily flights. The decline in the number of flights reflected the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.<br/>
South African Airways has received a further 5b rand ($346m) from the Department of Public Enterprises to help make severance payments to laid-off staff as part of its rescue plan, administrators of the plan said on Tuesday. SAA entered a local form of bankruptcy protection in December 2019 after roughly a decade of financial losses, with its fortunes worsening after the COVID-19 pandemic grounded flights. The government committed to providing 10.5b rand to bailout the airline in October’s mid-term budget. The business rescue practitioners hired to restructure the airline said they had received 7.8b rand from the government including the latest payment. The administrators, who have proposed a plan which includes reducing the airline’s staff by around two-thirds, said the money allowed them to pay cabin crew and ground staff that had accepted voluntary severance packages in August. More than 3,000 SAA employees have accepted severance packages, while 1,300 are still in negotiations, the administrators said.<br/>
Asiana Airlines narrowed its full-year loss in 2020 and managed to rebound to profitability in the fourth quarter, despite the ongoing impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The South Korean carrier reported a full-year operating loss of W70.3b ($63.5m), down from a loss of W487b in 2019. Q4 operating profit was W17b, reversing a W323b loss in 2019’s Q4. At a net level, its loss likewise narrowed. The company reported a W265b full-year net loss last year, compared with a W763b net loss in 2019. In Q4 2020, Asiana made a net profit of W166b, reversing a W325b net loss in 2019’s Q4. Full-year revenue decreased 40% to W3.56t compared to 2019, while Q4 revenue fell 39% to W881b. The “remarkable” performance of the airline’s cargo division made up for “sluggish” passenger demand, Asiana says in a 16 February press release. Cargo sales increased 64% compared to the previous year to W2.14t.<br/>