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The potential merger of Avianca and Viva Air took a small step forward Wednesday when the former partially accepted the conditions laid out by the Colombian government for the combination of the country’s largest and third largest airlines. While Avianca accepted regulator Aerocivil’s passenger protection provisions, including guaranteeing refunds for all travelers affected by Viva’s closure, it asked for “clarifications and minor modifications” to other conditions. The Star Alliance carrier asked that the remaining provisions, which include giving up slots at Bogotá’s congested El Dorado airport and committing to operating certain routes, reflect the “reality of the current market and to the operating conditions currently available to Viva.” The latter point referred to Viva’s shutdown in February and subsequent repossession of several of its planes aircraft leasing companies. Then in March, budget competitor Ultra Air also shutdown, which upped pressure on the government to bring some budget airline capacity back to the Colombian domestic market, which had fully recovered to 2019 traveler numbers by October. Avianca and Viva have called for “quick solutions” from Aerocivil in its response.<br/>

SAS said Thursday it had initiated steps to raise equity and would seek bids as part of its ongoing Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings in the United States. The embattled carrier filed for bankruptcy protection in the US last year, as it sought to slash costs and debt amid strikes from pilots after wage talks collapsed. The airline, which earlier aimed to raise SEK9.5b ($911.20m) in equity financing, now said the final sum would be dependent on the bidding process and generation of additional liquidity by the airline. It expects "little or no recovery for subordinated unsecured creditors and only a modest recovery for general unsecured creditors due to anticipated debt reductions and the need for substantial new equity capital." SAS, whose biggest owners are Sweden and Denmark, said in a statement that it expects revenues to return to pre-COVID levels in fiscal year 2024, and reach up to about 58 billion Swedish crowns for 2026. It also sees a significantly higher level of liquidity than the previously expected 15% for 2023. In February, the Scandinavian airline posted a slightly smaller Q1 loss before tax than a year earlier, as bookings for the quarter and the summer months were better than expected.<br/>

Lufthansa sold the remaining part of its airline catering business to private equity firm Aurelius Group as Germany’s flagship airline focuses on improving profitability of its core operations. Aurelius agreed to acquire LSG Group for an undisclosed sum, according to a statement published Wednesday. The transaction is expected to close in Q3. Lufthansa had been looking for a buyer for years as demand for short-haul routes outstripped longer flights and low-cost airlines, which offer food for a fee, gained market share. Many passengers tend to skip catering on short-haul flights. Lufthansa sold LSG’s European operations to Switzerland’s Gategroup for an undisclosed sum in 2019. LSG Group employs around 19,000 staff worldwide and generates $2b in annual revenue. The sale will help Lufthansa reduce debt that piled up during the Covid-19 pandemic, which grounded most of its aircraft and caused record losses. Since last year the industry’s outlook “is brightening with the global aviation market recovering to travel levels seen before the pandemic,” Aurelius said in the statement. “This is especially true for the North American region which has already reached pre-pandemic levels,” it said. <br/>

A month after being dismissed on live television as chief executive officer of Portuguese airline TAP SA, Christine Ourmieres-Widener remains at the helm of the state-owned carrier, without any guidance from the government on how to run the company. Portugal’s Finance Minister Fernando Medina sacked Ourmieres-Widener at a March 6 press conference broadcast on national television, following criticism about a severance payment of E500,000 ($547,000) to a departing executive board member. Ourmieres-Widener, a French national, was hired in 2021 to oversee the restructuring of TAP after it received more than €2 billion in government aid to survive the coronavirus pandemic. She hired a law firm to contest her ouster, and pled her case Tuesday at a parliamentary hearing. “After one month I’m still in functions without any guidelines in a period for the company that is critical,” Ourmieres-Widener, 58, told lawmakers. “This process that was started on TV is illegal and was really not appropriate and lacking all respect for a senior executive.” A final decision on the CEO’s fate will be made by the government, TAP’s majority owner. A spokesman for the finance ministry, which oversees the airline along with the infrastructure ministry, wasn’t immediately available to comment. The leadership impasse takes place as Portugal prepares to sell a stake in the airline through a privatization process. TAP, which connects the country with Brazil and Africa, sought aid after Covid worsened its already shaky finances. The airline must also prepare for the critical summer travel season, and contend with pilot unions’ threats to strike over working conditions. Ourmieres-Widener, who has hired Lisbon-based law firm Vasconcelos, Arruda & Associados to contest her dismissal, says that it’s been difficult to lead a company that is under so much political and media pressure. Under her watch, TAP posted net income of E65.6m in 2022, its first annual profit since 2017. “It’s not easy to navigate with all the noise around the company,” said Ourmieres-Widener, the first female CEO in TAP’s 78-year history. Asked by a lawmaker when she expected to leave the company, Ourmieres-Widener replied: “I don’t know.”<br/>

Lufthansa Group carrier Swiss is to experiment with artificial intelligence to carry out its passenger-count during the boarding process. On particular flights carried out from April to June the airline will fit a camera system to record embarkation and use it to digitise the count. Swiss says the intention is to ease cabin crew workload and “enhance security”. The three-month trial, conducted with an external partner, will aim to train the artificial intelligence application to learn from the boarding procedure. “It must be able, for instance, to distinguish whether a passenger is carrying an infant in their arms, and must also function faultlessly even in challenging lighting conditions,” says the carrier. “Results will be constantly analysed throughout the trial phase to steadily improve the artificial intelligence’s reliability.” Swiss will test the counting process on certain flights for three months. Cabin crew will continue to carry out a manual passenger count during the trial. “Passengers on the flights concerned will be informed of the trial before they embark,” the carrier states. Only video images will be captured, with no audio, and passengers will not be identified. The airline stress that it will prioritise data protection and ensure compliance with Swiss laws on security, adding that it will delete the information after processing. Swiss will decide on further measures, including potential introduction of the system, once it has analysed the trial results.<br/>

Ethiopian Airlines' passenger flights have returned to Singapore. It means the Star Alliance carrier serves 17 destinations in Asia (excluding the Middle East) during this northern summer season. It is responsible for providing nearly half (44%) of all Africa-Asia flights, very distantly followed by EgyptAir (8%). The first Singapore-bound flight to resume left Africa on March 25th, the last day of the northern winter season. Running four weekly, it operates non-stop to/from Singapore but is tagged with Kuala Lumpur. Using 270-seat seat Boeing 787-8s, the schedule is listed in story. Note that it has fifth freedom traffic rights between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. Like almost all of Ethiopian Airlines' Asia-bound flights (and also most to Europe, North America, and the Middle East), Singapore services leave in the very late evening and arrive back in the early morning. This is for one reason: to maximize Africa-bound connectivity, with passengers and freight able to reach dozens of cities across the vast continent.<br/>