American Airlines plans to invest in a Chilean budget airline and sell seats on each other’s flights to help American extend its reach in South America. American said Thursday that it has signed a letter of intent for the deal with JetSmart. American executives declined to say how much the airline proposes to invest in JetSmart other than describing it as a minority stake. If the companies close the deal and win government approval, travelers could earn and spend American frequent-flyer points on JetSmart flights. Vasu Raja, American’s chief revenue officer, said the deal would let both airlines grow profitably throughout Latin America as the travel industry recovers from the pandemic. He said two-thirds of passengers on American flights to and from South America start in South America, and the deal will give them more flight options. JetSmart was founded in 2016 and has just 20 planes, although it has 79 more on order. It specializes in short hops among 33 destinations in South America, mostly in Chile and Argentina. JetSmart overlaps with American in a half-dozen cities including Buenos Aires; Santiago, Chile; and Bogota, Colombia. JetSmart is one of several low-cost carriers controlled or partly owned by US private equity firm Indigo Partners. Others include Denver-based Frontier Airlines, Mexico’s Volaris and Hungary’s Wizz Air.<br/>
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The Transport Workers Union has won a partial victory in its federal court case against Qantas over the company’s decision to outsource 2,000 ground-handling jobs. The federal court on Friday ruled that Qantas was in part driven by the fact that many of the axed workers were union members with stronger bargaining capabilities. Justice Michael Lee said it was difficult to establish the motivations behind the outsourcing decision, but he was not convinced the airlinewas not in some way trying to limit workers taking industrial action. The judgment noted that the TWU argued the airline took advantage of a “vanishing window of opportunity to rid itself of the influence of the Union” presented by the Covid pandemic. Qantas maintained the outsourcing measure was a necessary financial measure that could save $100m annually. It is unclear what impact the judgment will have on the workers, with the TWU and Qantas set to argue how the matter should proceed. While Lee said the legal action was not a “test case” on outsourcing, the TWU’s national secretary Michael Kaine heralded the decision as a “watershed moment for workers in Australia”. Kaine said the union would now be “seeking meetings with Qantas” to return axed workers to their former jobs. “This ruling calls a halt to shifting responsibility for workers and outsourcing them onto third parties on a low cost, take-it or leave-it contract… Qantas management have serious questions to answer after this judgment,” Kaine said. Qantas plans to appeal the decision. <br/>
Qantas will auction off items including a pair of old A380 business-class seats in a points-for-prizes sale to use up air miles amassed by frustrated travelers during the pandemic. Daily auctions kicking off next week include 2-1/2 hours in a Boeing 787 simulator for at least 50,000 loyalty points, Qantas said Friday. Bids for a private charter flight in Australia for 30 people will start at 1.2 million points. The items being auctioned tell the story of the travel industry’s devastation from the health crisis. The A380 seats (entertainment screens disabled) are relics from the fleet of Airbus SE superjumbos that Qantas grounded in 2020 for three years. Worldwide, frequent fliers are awash with points -- mostly racked up on credit cards -- that they’ve been unable to redeem for flights. Another prize is a luxury holiday for four people to Queenstown, New Zealand, though the immediate prospects for such a trip are bleak. Quarantine-free travel from Australia to New Zealand was suspended this month for at least eight weeks as Sydney fights its biggest-ever coronavirus outbreak. Qantas said more auctions may follow. <br/>
Qantas is looking to offload up to 14 hectares of largely undeveloped land surrounding Sydney Airport in order to free up cash and invest in the purchase of new aircraft. According to a report by The Australian, the carrier was initially hoping to develop the five separate land parcels near the airport, which it has amassed over time since the 1960s. About 40% of the land on offer is currently used for staff parking, while other parts house its aircraft parts distribution centre, engine workshop, or other facilities. The carrier revealed earlier in the year that it no longer had a need to develop the land considering the current state of play, and is now hoping to use proceeds of the sale to pay down part of its net debt of $6b, and invest in new aircraft. Despite this, Qantas appears to be an unmotivated seller, with CFO Vanessa Hudson stating any sale of all or part of the land on offer will be dependent on “strong market response”. “We’ve owned some of this land for more than 50 years and much of it is currently used for carparking,” she said. “Given how Mascot has developed over that time, there’s a lot of value we can unlock by selling it.”<br/>