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United is set to become the latest US carrier to pay back a sliver of the taxpayer money it borrowed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, using proceeds from a blockbuster $9b fundraising across bond and loan markets this week. The Chicago-based airline pledged its travel routes, some aircraft and flight simulators to obtain a $7.5b credit line from the US Treasury last year under provisions of the Cares Act. However, the company only ever made one draw on the facility totalling $520m, which it said on Monday it planned to repay. United received a much larger sum — $7.7b — from two tranches of the government’s payroll support programme, with an estimated $2.4b to come from a further round, according to analysts at Cowen. Most of the support is provided as a grant, contingent on the airline not culling staff, but it will still owe the Treasury roughly $3b. The $520m loan the carrier plans to pay off has so far accrued about $9.5m of interest, according to Financial Times calculations, and it came with the issue of 1.65m warrants giving the Treasury the right to buy United shares at a price of $31.50 each. Were the US Treasury to exercise those warrants and sell the shares, they would net about $40m for US taxpayers at Monday’s share price of $55.75. “The vaccinations are running their course and airline travel is picking up,” said Matt Eagan, a portfolio manager at Loomis Sayles. “Debt markets are open . . . Companies in Covid-tainted sectors are rallying a lot.”<br/>

United said Monday its Q1 revenue is expected to fall 66% compared with the same period in 2019, with the decline near the low end of its prior forecast. The US carrier, which had previously forecast its Q1 revenue to drop between 65% and 70%, now expects revenue of $3.2b. <br/>

Air Canada said it reached a deal with the Canadian government for loans and equity worth nearly C$5.9b ($4.7b), a package that will see the airline restore many routes it canceled because of the pandemic. The state, which sold off its ownership of the airline in the 1980s, will once again take a stake, buying C$500m of shares at a discount. PM Justin Trudeau’s government will also receive warrants as part of a financing agreement that makes Air Canada eligible for five new credit facilities totaling C$5.38b. In return, Air Canada agreed to restrict share buybacks and dividends, keep employment at April 1 levels and follow through on a deal to buy 33 Airbus A220s made at a factory in Quebec. Executives won’t be allowed to earn more than C$1m. The government’s voting rights in the company will be capped at just below 20%. The long-anticipated announcement will ease tensions between the industry and Trudeau’s government, which since last March has barred most foreign travelers from entering the country and recently made the rules even tougher. Air Canada had repeatedly complained that its home country was the only Group of Seven member without an aid plan specifically for the sector -- although the company has used federal wage subsidies available to all industries hit by the pandemic. Air Canada also committed to paying back customers who bought non-refundable flights that they didn’t take because of Covid-19. One of the credit facilities, worth C$1.4b, is dedicated to financing those refunds.<br/>

Aegean Airlines is expecting a gradual, but significant, recovery in the second half of this year, if progress with coronavirus vaccination roll-out and European digital passport initiatives progress. But the company says the first months of this year have been “heavily impacted” by restrictions, as it unveils the scale of losses for last year. Aegean turned in a full-year pre-tax loss of E297m for 2020 in contrast to the E107m profit in the previous year. Net losses reached E228m, the company states, on full-year revenues which were down nearly 70% to E415m. Revenues for Q4 fell by 74% as new restrictive measures were imposed in Greece and across Europe during a resurgence of the pandemic. But it says that cash and equivalents stood at E478m at the end of December 2020. “From the onset of the crisis we have worked diligently to manage the challenges of this special period,” says CE Dimitris Gerogiannis.<br/>

Two of the world’s most powerful money managers are joining forces to build a business on climate-change investing and raise one of the largest venture-capital funds dedicated to carbon-cutting technologies. BlackRock and Singapore’s Temasek Holdings formed a new firm, Decarbonization Partners, to take stakes in startups that have the potential to reduce the world’s reliance on fossil fuels and meet the goal of zero-carbon emissions in three decades. They’re committing a total of $600m to the effort, including $300m of seed capital for a $1b first fund, and raising the rest from outside investors. Eventually, Decarbonization Partners aims to manage billions across multiple funds, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said. Temasek, a state-owned investor that oversees about $230b, has pledged to reduce net-carbon emissions by its portfolio companies to half their 2010 level by 2030 and to zero by 2050. Because it controls Singapore Airlines, one of Temasek’s priorities is finding a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to jet fuel. <br/>

An increasing number of companies in Japan are providing polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests for the novel coronavirus at low cost, an effort to help boost travel demand battered by the pandemic. On Saturday, Kinoshita Group, a housing business operator, opened PCR testing centers at Tokyo International Airport at Haneda, one each at its Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 buildings for domestic passengers. Visitors can take a PCR test there for Y1,900. The centers also provide antigen tests, which produce results in 15 minutes. Japan Airlines allows members of its frequent flyer program to get a PCR test for Y2,000. Customers of rival ANA can undergo a PCR test for Y2,500 if they make a reservation for a flight ticket and accommodation in a set. <br/>