JetBlue Airways improved its offer for Spirit Airlines, boosting a breakup provision to $350m and adding an upfront cash payment just days before shareholders will vote on a pending buyout agreement with Frontier Group Holdings. The revised offer increases JetBlue’s reverse breakup fee by $150m and provides for about $164m payable as a cash dividend “promptly following” a vote approving a combination of the carriers, the airline said in a statement Monday. The update comes after Frontier sweetened its own agreement by adding a key $250m fee payable to Spirit if their accord breaks up on antitrust grounds. JetBlue is aiming to build more support among Spirit shareholders for its higher, all-cash offer ahead of a June 10 vote. It needs them to vote against Frontier’s stock-and-cash deal, initially valued at $2.9 billion, to preserve its best chance for a quick infusion of growth that will help it compete against larger US carriers. Spirit rejected JetBlue’s initial $3.6b offer, prompting a subsequent $3.3b hostile tender bid. Spirit shareholders are faced with conflicting recommendations from prominent shareholder advisory firms. <br/>
unaligned
Southwest cannot force a baggage handler's class action lawsuit over overtime pay into private arbitration, the US Supreme Court ruled on Monday in a decision with costly potential implications for companies including Amazon.com and Uber Technologies that employ many transportation workers. The justices ruled 8-0 in a decision written by Justice Clarence Thomas that baggage handlers are engaged in interstate commerce because they routinely load cargo onto planes that cross state lines, exempting them from a federal law that requires the enforcement of agreements to bring legal claims in arbitration rather than court. Latrice Saxon, a Chicago-based employee who worked as a "ramp supervisor," accused Southwest in a 2019 lawsuit filed in Illinois of failing to pay workers overtime. Ramp supervisors train and supervise baggage handlers and sometimes load cargo onto planes. A Chicago-based federal judge sent the case to arbitration, saying workers are not engaged in interstate commerce merely because they handle cargo. The Chicago-based 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling, prompting Southwest to appeal to the Supreme Court. Southwest said Monday's ruling would have a minimal impact on the airline because most of its employees who handle baggage are unionized and subject to a separate process for bringing wage claims.<br/>
Mexican discount airline Volaris plans to lure lower income travelers who have traditionally stuck to bus travel due to cost and convenience, using a wider variety of airports near Mexico City as a key incentive. The planned marketing campaign by Mexico's largest airline aims to show travelers how close they are to airports in the Mexico City metropolitan area, part of a "bus-switching" strategy to get them out of bus seats and into airplanes, Holger Blankenstein, executive vice president of Volaris, told Reuters. The campaign is a reminder of the predominance of long-distance bus transport in Latin America, an industry that often competes with airlines and has also spawned a handful of them as in VivaAerobus, co-founded by bus group IAMSA. For Volaris it is also an attempt to make the most of a newly opened airport outside Mexico City heralded by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, but which is so far mostly empty. The Felipe Angeles International Airport, opened in March, was built to alleviate pressure on Mexico City International Airport, the long-standing hub for the metropolitan area of 21 million. However, the new airport, built on the site of an existing military air base some 45 km north of the AICM and lacking in transport options, only hosts a handful of flights a day. <br/>
Wizz Air Holdings said it will shutter its base in Doncaster, England, beginning Friday after failing to secure guarantees over commercial terms at the airport, where it’s been flying since October 2020. The Budapest-based discount carrier said Monday it will cancel all Wizz UK operations from the hub, known as Doncaster Sheffield, and that pilots and cabin crew have been offered the opportunity of flying out of another base in the country. The move will help stabilize operations at other locations in the UK, minimizing disruption in light of staff shortages within air traffic control and at airports, the company said. Britain has suffered travel turmoil in the past week, with hundreds of flights canceled across a number of carriers. Wizz said it remains committed to long-term growth in the UK and that affected passengers can rebook, get a full refund, or take a credit worth 120% of the original fare.<br/>
Emirates and South Africa-based Airlink have officially activated their codeshare partnership, makes it easier for customers to create their ideal itinerary. Customers benefit from seamless connections and a single booking reference across eight domestic South African cities via the airline’s gateways Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban. Travel itineraries can now be booked on emirates.com, with travel agents as well as online travel agents. Tickets booked from June 2022 are available for travel immediately. Emirates customers can now book a wide range of additional flights, including eight destinations from Johannesburg, five destinations from Cape Town and one point from Durban. Examples of some new route options include Bloemfontein, Hoedspruit, Port Elizabeth, Kimberley, George, and East London, amongst others. Emirates currently offers double daily flights to Dubai from Johannesburg, daily flights to Dubai from Cape Town and five weekly flights to and from Durban. <br/>
Zambia's national airline will commence direct flights to South Africa six months after returning to the sky, a government official said Monday. Zambia Airways, which resumed operations in December after a 30-year hiatus following its liquidation in 1994, will commence direct flights to South Africa on July 1, 2022. Zambian Minister of Transport and Logistics Frank Tayali said the commencement of flights to South Africa will go a long way in strengthening ties between the two countries. "It is my pleasure to make an announcement that Zambia Airways will start flights to Johannesburg on the 1st of July, 2022. This is time for new dawns, new horizons and new developments in Zambia," he said when he launched the airline's central ticketing office. He added that the government was in the process of envisaging a strategic plan aimed at developing the capacity, stakeholder collaboration and economic development of the aviation sector. <br/>