Avianca Holdings won court approval to send its reorganization plan to creditors for a vote, bringing the Colombian air carrier one step closer to exiting bankruptcy under new ownership. Lenders and noteholders who agreed to refinance their debt at the beginning of Avianca’s bankruptcy case last year will get 72% of the airline’s equity in exchange for canceling about $934.7m, according to court papers. US Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said he would approve a disclosure statement that will be sent to creditors in the U.S. and Colombia that they can use to decide whether to support the debt restructuring plan. Under the proposal, the company will eliminate about $3b in debt, the company said. Avianca was Latin America’s second-largest airline before the Covid-19 pandemic slowed air travel to a trickle last year, leading it to file for Chapter 11 protection in a New York court in May of 2020. Latam Airlines Group SA and Mexico’s Grupo Aeromexico SAB also were forced into bankruptcy as the region suffered one of the world’s sharpest drops in flights. Avianca will return to court in October, when Glenn will consider the voting results in deciding whether to approve the restructuring plan. <br/>
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The government has initiated the process of financial bids for the debt-laden national carrier Air India on Wednesday as Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia made it clear that September 15 date for the process is fixed and will not change. After failing to find any buyer for a 76% stake in Air India in 2018, the government is expected to complete the sale of the national carrier with at least two buyers expected to submit financial bids by September 15. "The Tata Group, through its holding company and SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh, is likely to make its financial bid for the airline in his personal capacity," an industry source told ANI. "We are very optimistic that this time Air India will get a new bidder," a government source said on the condition of anonymity. Air India is laden with a debt of around Rs 43,000 crores of which Rs 22,000 crores will also be transferred to the Air India Asset Holding Limited (AIAHL). "The debt of the airline has now increased to Rs 43,000 crore and all these loans are under government guarantee. And the government will bear this debt before the airline is transferred to the new owners," sources said.<br/>
PM Scott Morrison has foreshadowed a reopening of borders when vaccination rates hit 80% but the hopes of scores of Australians trying to get home before Christmas have been shattered by a slew of new flight cancellations over the next three months. Singapore Airlines delivered the bad news to passengers on Monday night as a fresh round of international flights in October to December were called off. With the lack of a firm commitment from government about when caps will be raised or removed, at least one flight into Australia per day over the next three months has been cancelled by the airline. The flights had been extra services placed in the expectation that a travel bubble between Australia and Singapore would be established towards the end of the year, as had been forecast as likely by Trade, Tourism and Investment Minister Dan Tehan during a visit to Singapore in July. Singapore Airlines spokesman Karl Schubert said the airline was doing all it could to accommodate disrupted customers but availability was limited by inbound caps. “Until we receive advice from federal and state governments as to when international arrival caps will be removed, we continue to plan our operations to Australia accordingly,” he said. “This recently resulted in a number of flights, which were scheduled late last year to operate from October 2021 onwards, to be cancelled. While sales on these flights had been closed for several months, some customers had purchased seats on these flights when they were first scheduled last year. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by these cancellations. While caps on international arrivals remain in place, we are unable to expand our passenger services to Australia at this stage.”<br/>