Struggling Canadian tour operator Transat AT said on Monday it had ended discussions with Quebec businessman Pierre Karl Péladeau over a possible takeover. Transat engaged with Péladeau after the country’s largest airline, Air Canada, scrapped its merger plans due to stiff concerns raised by European regulators. Péladeau offered C$5.00 per share in cash for Transat earlier this year, but the company’s stock has surged nearly 60% to C$7.21 since it secured C$700m in government funding in April. “Considering the current share price, the price offered no longer provides a reasonable basis to...allow the transaction to proceed,” Transat said on Monday. Transat has suspended flights due to pandemic restrictions that have battered travel demand and has said it needed at least C$500m in financing this year. The company plans to restart its operations and flights on July 30, it said on Monday.<br/>
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Caribbean Airlines plans to shed 25% of its staff or 450 employees and store aircraft as it pursues a restructuring strategy in the wake of the devastating coronavirus crisis. The airline, headquartered in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, says on 21 June that it “will need to adjust its operations to cater for a reduced scale of demand after the opening of the borders”. ”Put simply, passenger demand in the short to medium term is not going to recover sufficiently to support the existing company structure,” the airline says. “As a consequence, Caribbean Airlines is required to take further steps to ensure it has a sustainable business model for 2021 and beyond. These steps include major cost reductions in all areas of the airline’s operations, specifically its human resource complement, its fleet and other assets, and its route network.” The airline currently has six ATR 72-600 turboprops in operation, as well as seven Boeing 737-800 aircraft. It has five Boeing 73 Max on order. The carrier does not say how many aircraft it will take out of its operating fleet as part of the restructuring strategy.<br/>
Norwegian Air Shuttle has fired its CE and replaced him with the finance director who led the restructuring that rescued the low-cost airline from the brink of collapse. The airline said on Monday that its board had voted to end Jacob Schram’s time as chief executive with immediate effect and replace him with the well-regarded Geir Karlsen. Despite the board’s efforts to reduce Schram’s pay-off to what it called “a level reflecting the challenges of the industry”, he will receive two years’ salary. Norwegian has cut its debt significantly through a large-scale financial restructuring in Ireland and Norway after it expanded too quickly and was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. It has abandoned its lossmaking long-haul operations and will focus more on its Nordic home market and flights from there to the rest of Europe. Svein Harald Oygard, Norwegian’s chair, said Karlsen was the board’s choice to try to finish the turnround as Covid travel bans look set to ease across Europe. “In parallel, further efforts will be made to strengthen Norwegian’s position as a low-cost airline and to return the company to sustainable profitability. Geir is the ideal CEO to lead these efforts,” he added. Karlsen, who has been Norwegian’s CFO since April 2018, was acting CE for five months in 2019 following the departure of founder Bjorn Kjos.<br/>
Cape Verde's government said Monday that it is taking over the national airline over concerns for its future, after selling a majority stake in 2019. PM Ulisses Correia e Silva said the government would "initiate a process" to regain control of Cabo Verde Airlines from Icelandic Airlines. Cape Verde sold a 51% stake in the airline to the Icelandic carrier two years ago. The government retained 39%, and employees 10%. A tiny archipelago of 550,000 people lying around 600 kilometres off the coast of Senegal, Cape Verde relies heavily on tourism to drive its economy. The Cabo Verde Airlines' fleet has been grounded since March last year, however, because of coronavirus-related restrictions. The prime minister said the government wanted to renationalise the carrier because Icelandic Airlines had "not demonstrated the ability to guarantee the sustainability and continuity of the company's operations". "We are still in favour of protecting the national interest," he added, pointing to the future of the company's 300 employees.<br/>