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Aeromexico plans to go public again in the second half of 2023 or in 2024, the airline's chief executive said on Monday, stressing the carrier was eyeing a New York exchange this time, having previously listed in Mexico. CE Andres Conesa said Aeromexico had yet to decide whether it would list on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ. "(Listing in New York) gives you access to financing that's fundamental for a company, particularly an airline," Conesa told journalists at Mexico's annual tourism conference. "It's best to have as many lines of financing as possible," he added. Aeromexico shareholders had approved the carrier's exit from Mexico's main stock exchange last year, following the end of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. The move, detailed in the proceedings, is also tied with a $5b investment in renewing Aeromexico's fleet. Conesa also said the airline expected to finish the year with more than 150 aircraft. Of that, around a third are Boeing 737 MAXes (BA.N), Conesa added. "We've received 50 new aircraft (since the COVID-19 pandemic began), and none of those planes can fly to the United States," Conesa said. Mexico was downgraded by the FAA in May 2021 out of safety concerns to the Category 2 aviation rating, meaning Mexican airlines cannot open new routes to the US. The new aircraft also cannot be certified to fly to the US as a consequence.<br/>

Alitalia, the predecessor of Italian state-owned airline ITA Airways, will have to repay a E400m loan to the Italian government because the money breached EU state aid rules, EU competition authorities said on Monday. Italy granted the loan in 2019, two years after giving a E900m loan to keep the loss-making company operating. The carrier never repaid the money. The European Commission, which acts as the competition watchdog in the 27-country bloc, subsequently ruled that both loans constituted illegal state aid. “No private investor would have granted the loan to the company at the time and the loan gave Alitalia an unfair economic advantage vis-à-vis its competitors on national, European and world routes,” the EU executive said. Commission spokesperson Arianna Podesta said the loan can be registered as a liability under Alitalia’s ongoing insolvency proceedings. “The 400m will be repaid by Alitalia within the limits of the revenues obtained from the sale of the assets of the company and the value of any remaining assets,” she told a daily news conference. The Commission had in 2021 it ordered Alitalia to repay the E900m illegal loan. Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said the EU executive’s decision was “expected and widely foreseen”, and expressed relief that the loan repayment request does not concern Alitalia’s successor ITA Airways. Successive governments pumped an estimated 10 billion euros into Alitalia to keep it afloat in its last 14 years of life, despite heavy losses and bad management.<br/>

Kenya Airways remained loss-making in 2022 as foreign exchange headwinds hit the carrier’s performance, countering a jump in revenues to within 5% of pre-pandemic levels. The SkyTeam carrier posted an operating loss of KShs5.6b ($43m) – a slight improvement on the KShs6.8m it lost in 2021. However, pre-tax losses more than doubled to KShs38.3b for the year as foreign currency losses impacted the carrier’s financial performance. The net loss also exceeds the KShs36b it lost in 2020. "The airline recorded [foreign exhcange] losses occasioned by the restructuring of guaranteed government of Kenya loans as part of the ongoing financial restructuring programme, negatively impacting the income statement by KShs26 billion,” says Kenya Airways chief executive Allan Kilavuka. "If you remove the impact of the those losses and the abnormal fuel cost increase of 160%, we would have made an operating profit.” Airline revenues increased by two-thirds last year to KShs116.8b, within 5% of 2019 levels. That was achieved on an increase in passenger numbers to 3.7m, up from 2.2m a year earlier. That, however, remains some way below a previous passenger volume high of 5.1m. Kenya Airways is undergoing a major restructuring after a decade of net losses were exacerbated by the pandemic. It is pursuing a turnaround plan which the country’s government hopes will end the requirement for further state financial support by the end of this year. “We are on course to turn around the business by 2024,” says Kilavuka. “We are confident that this will be achievable with the support we are getting from our customers, our employees, our principle shareholder – the government of Kenya – and other stakeholders.”<br/>