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Colombia's aviation regulator annulled a business merger process between Avianca and Viva airlines due to procedural irregularities, meaning the process will restart without the companies' having to reapply, the aviation governing body announced on Thursday. The aviation regulator had rejected the airlines' merger request in November on the grounds that it posed risks to competition in the sector and the welfare of consumers. Avianca and Viva filed an appeal in November and proposed alternatives, such as yielding some routes and granting better landing and take-off schedules to competitors. The aviation regulator admitted the existence of a "substantial irregularity within the administrative process" because for the appeal it applied a procedure set forth in a law, ignoring a special rule regarding the protection of competition. The director of the aviation regulator, Sergio Paris, said at a news conference on Thursday that the process will be restarted quickly for which a special team was formed and that the consumer will be protected as established in the current regulations. The two companies signed an agreement in April 2022 seeking to become part of the same group and unify their economic assets, maintaining their respective brands and strategies to strengthen the airlines after the COVID-19 pandemic threw the global airline industry into crisis.<br/>

Lufthansa said it aims to buy a minority stake in ITA Airways, seeking to advance an industry consolidation that would give the German airline a stronger foothold in a major European aviation market. The German carrier didn’t disclose financial details, or lay out the size of the stake it wishes to buy in the successor of Alitalia SpA. Lufthansa wants to buy as much as 40% of ITA in an initial step and subject to negotiations, according to people familiar with the talks, asking not to be identified discussing private deliberations. The airline said in a statement that it submitted a bid to Italy’s Economy and Finance Ministry, with a view to buying the remaining shares “at a later date.” Further talks will primarily focus on the form of a possible equity investment, the commercial and operational integration of ITA into Lufthansa, the airline said. A firm deal would allow Lufthansa to expand in one of Europe’s key markets, while charting a course for Rome to rid itself of an asset that has soaked up billions of euros in state support. While ITA and the erstwhile Alitalia have been notoriously unprofitable, Lufthansa would gain access to lucrative trans-Atlantic travel while preventing a rival from building up a base in northern Italy that might soak up passengers from Lufthansa’s own Munich hub. “The offer from Lufthansa was widely expected, but in our view sends a sub-optimal message on capital allocation: yes, Italy is an important, attractive market - but the successful restructuring of ITA into a sustainably profitable airline is far from assured,” Bernstein analysts Alex Irving and Clementine Flinois said in a note. ITA would add to a group of national carriers already under the Lufthansa umbrella, including Swiss and Austrian Airlines. Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr, a trained pilot who has run the company for close to a decade, has built the company into Europe’s biggest airline group, competing with the other two major conglomerates — British Airways parent IAG SA and Air France-KLM — as well as the trio of budget specialists: Ryanair, EasyJet and Wizz Air. <br/>

Lufthansa's bid for a minority stake in Italy's ITA Airways has ignited talk of further potential sector consolidation as the industry seeks to plot a more profitable post-pandemic recovery. Many of Europe's legacy flag-carrying airlines are struggling to compete effectively with budget carriers, hampered by weak balance sheets that could be made more robust by merging with rivals, analysts said. Lufthansa has offered to buy an initial minority stake in ITA, Italy's state-owned successor to Alitalia, it said on Wednesday. "This may be the next step in European airline consolidation," said Bernstein analyst Alex Irving, citing Portugal's national airline, TAP, as a prime target. The Portuguese government, which owns TAP, has said it is considering an outright or partial sale of the business. Lufthansa, Air France-KLM and British Airways owner IAG are potential buyers, analysts said. "We clearly focus on ITA," a Lufthansa spokesperson said. "At the same time, however, we closely monitor consolidation in the European airline market." Air France-KLM and IAG declined to comment. Sweden's SAS, which has been under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States since last summer, is also a potential candidate, Kepler Cheuvreux airlines analyst Ruxandra Haradau-Doeser and Bernstein's Irving said.<br/>

Portugal's TAP will cancel 1,316 flights due to a strike planned for the end of January, affecting nearly 160,000 passengers, the state-owned airline said on Thursday. TAP, currently under an EU-approved E3.2b bailout plan, said it expected the walkout to cost the company about E48m in revenue. A further loss of E20m was also expected due to the potential impact on sales, TAP said. Demanding higher wages and better working conditions, cabin crew union SNPVAC announced earlier this month it would walk out from Jan. 25-31. It follows a shorter strike on Dec. 8-9, which led to the cancellation of 360 flights. "The decision to go ahead with a strike ... throws out of the window all the work of rapprochement between the parties, leaving thousands of TAP customers with their plans defrauded and seriously affecting the company's results," TAP said in a statement. TAP said it was drawing up a contingency plan to minimise the impact on customers, such as by adjusting operations and making it easier to re-book flights and get refunds. The EU restructuring plan includes downsizing TAP's fleet, axing more than 2,900 jobs and cutting most workers' wages by up to 25%. But cuts have come at a time when surging inflation has left workers struggling with higher costs.<br/>

Japanese airline All Nippon Airways has announced that it has pushed back the return of its Western Australia service to October 2023. The airline began flying between Tokyo-Narita and Perth in 2019, but had to cancel the service due to COVID-19 lockdowns. The service was expected to return early this year, with ANA having plans to activate new codeshare routes to and from Perth with Virgin Australia back in December 2022. However, it seems that it has been pushed back, with Perth kept off the airlines Northern Summer Schedule. Instead, it has been featured on the Winter Schedule, which begins at the end of October. The first flight following the return of the service is set to take place on October 29. As a result, those in WA looking to travel to Japan with ANA will have to first travel to Sydney.<br/>

Air New Zealand has revealed plans to add two more flight services on its Auckland to Gold Coast route. Gold Coast Airport operator and owner Queensland Airports said that the addition will provide 27,400 extra seats between the two cities starting this March. The announcement for additional flights came in response to the growing traffic between Auckland and Gold Coast. It will increase Air New Zealand’s weekly services to nine between March and October this year. Queensland Airports CCO Adam Rowe said: “On average, over the past six months more than 91% of seats have been booked out on flights between Gold Coast and Auckland, and in recent months, we have seen many flights operating at capacity. New Zealand is Gold Coast’s number one international visitor market, and more seats between Auckland and Gold Coast means more visitors coming here to support our local businesses and economy, and more families able to reconnect with loved ones.<br/>