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Air Canada has started the marketing of high-yield bonds in US and Canadian dollars, the largest portion of its $5.35b refinancing announced last week. Canada’s biggest carrier plans to raise approximately $2.75b by issuing senior secured bonds maturing in five and eight years, the Montreal-based company said in a statement Monday. An investor call is scheduled for later Monday and the deal is expected to price July 28, according to people familiar with the sale. The transaction would be Air Canada’s first major bond sale after getting a federal bailout package in April consisting of loans and equity worth nearly C$5.9b ($4.7b), making the government a shareholder for the first time since the 1980s. In May, the company issued an $84m sinkable bond, which was rated by Fitch Ratings at the lowest investment grade. The new bonds are expected to be rated two and three levels below investment grade by Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings respectively, said the people. The bond portion of the refinancing is coming one week after banks started offering a $2b secured term loan for Air Canada at around 400 basis points over the London interbank offered rate. The refinancing also includes a $600m revolving credit facility Air Canada’s proposed financing is secured by the airline’s international slots, gates and routes, or SGR, with a combined appraised value of about $12b, according to S&P Global Ratings.<br/>

Singapore aims to relax more virus curbs, including starting to allow quarantine-free travel in September, marking the first time it’s set out a timeline to reopen borders that have been mostly shut for more than a year. The Southeast Asian city-state expects to have fully vaccinated 80% of its population by then, placing the nation in a solid position to move forward with reopening, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong told Parliament on Monday. Wong’s comments sent shares of flagship carrier Singapore Airlines and airport ground-handler SATS spiking. SIA shares rose as much as 2.2% while SATS climbed as much as 2.3%, even as the benchmark Straits Times Index slipped. The higher inoculation rate will allow authorities to ease measures, including allowing larger gatherings of fully vaccinated people. The country will also be able to start reopening borders and establishing travel corridors with other countries or regions that have infections under control. Wong’s comments come as other ministers also reiterated on Monday a pledge to push ahead with reopening despite recent setbacks. “While other countries may have come to terms with a certain level of Covid -19 cases and even deaths, this is not the choice we want to make in Singapore,” Wong said, explaining restrictions that were reimposed last week. “At the same time, there is no need to wait for everyone to be vaccinated before we begin to open up. That would mean holding back the entire reopening timeline until much later in the year, which is not tenable.”<br/>

Air New Zealand has promised to offer more repatriation flights from Australia back to New Zealand in line with demand, as the airline’s domestic capacity soars above pre-COVID levels. The New Zealand flag carrier has announced demand across its domestic network has seen it increase its capacity in that sector to 104% that of pre-pandemic levels. At the same time, the carrier is pushing to return New Zealanders currently in Australia back home before the trans-Tasman bubble is officially put on pause for two months from 11.59pm on 30 July. Air NZ CE Greg Foran said the airline was “ready, willing and able” to add on additional repatriation flights to bring New Zealanders home from Australia before the deadline. “Trust us. We have seen plenty of people reach out over the weekend. We’ve got about 7500 people booked to return to New Zealand through to midnight this Friday,” he said. Current estimates suggest there are about 21,000 New Zealanders still in Australia, and it is unclear just how many will be looking to cross the Tasman before 30 July.<br/>