Lufthansa has confirmed it has submitted a joint bid with Swiss shipping firm MSC Group for a stake in ITA Airways, though will not be drawn on reports the partners are looking to take a combined 80% holding in the new Italian carrier. In January, the German airline disclosed it had teamed with MSC, jointly submitting an expression of interest to acquire the majority of ITA, which began operations last year after Alitalia ceased flights. ”The Lufthansa Group and the shipping company MSC have submitted a joint bid in the sale process of the Italian airline ITA Airways,” Lufthansa says. ”The offer was submitted on time on 23 May. Lufthansa and MSC are not commenting publicly on the specific contents of the offer.” Reports suggest Lufthansa will look to take a 20% stake in ITA while MSC will hold a 60% shareholding under the joint offer; the remaining 20% would be held by the Italian state. Italy is still to confirm how many firm bids were received by the 23 May deadline, but Italian daily Corriere della Sera reports the only other firm bid came from private equity firm Cetares. The latter is reported to be working with SkyTeam partners Air France-KLM and Delta as part of its offer. Both Air France-KLM and Delta, long-term partners of Alitalia, have indicated interest in co-operating with ITA.<br/>
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Ethiopian Airlines on Wednesday disclosed it was the unidentified carrier which had placed an order for five of Boeing Co's (BA.N) 777 freighters, confirming a Reuters report from March. The airline, which operates Africa's largest cargo terminal from its Addis Ababa hub, currently has nine 777 freighters. Its fleet also includes three 737-800 converted freighters. Boeing had disclosed an order for five freighters from an unnamed customer in its monthly report in March. Reuters subsequently reported that Ethiopian had ordered the planes to meet near-term cargo demand.<br/>
Over the past two years, amid the pandemic, the aviation industry has been on the verge of collapse because of stringent border controls and uncertainty over travel rules, causing severe financial strain for many airlines. Struggling to stay afloat after a sharp reduction in air traffic, cash-strapped local airlines found an emergency exit by filing for bankruptcy protection with the Central Bankruptcy Court. The country's flag carrier Thai Airways International (THAI) was the first to submit a rehabilitation petition on May 26, 2020 after a cabinet meeting one week earlier agreed the airline should undergo restructuring to maintain its business. The airline, which had been under financial pressure prior to the outbreak, reported total debts of 245b baht at the end of 2019 with a net loss of 12b baht, after reporting a loss of 11.6b in 2018, according to the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). On June 15, 2021, the court accepted the rehabilitation plan, resulting in the airline becoming the first carrier to enter into business restructuring for a period of at least five years. Under the rehabilitation process, THAI is obliged to reduce its workforce from 29,500 in 2019 to just 15,200 as well as cut its costs to 53b baht by this year. The airline also trimmed its enormous fleet of 116 jets to 58 jets. However, three additional aircraft, which were ordered in 2018, were delivered in April to serve long-haul flights which benefit from country's reopening and a brighter tourism outlook. Story has more about other carriers.<br/>