IC Holding AS and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd agreed to collaborate for Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen, as Turkish company explores acquiring a stake in the airport. Discussions are at a preliminary stage between Malaysia Airports and IC Holding, a Turkish infrastructure company and airport operator, and may or may not result in the latter acquiring a stake at the airport, according to people, who asked not to be named as the deliberations are confidential. IC Holding declined to comment. Malaysia Airports said it is entering a “strategic collaboration” with IC Holding but refrained from disclosing further details. Sabiha Gokcen Airport named Serhat Sogukpinar as the new chief executive as part of the collaboration, according to a separate statement on Tuesday. Sogukpinar currently serves as head of IC’s transportation and infrastructure group. The airport, which lies southeast about an hour’s drive from the city of almost 17m people, served almost 34m passengers between January and November, up 21% from year ago, making it the third-busiest airport in the country in terms of customers, according to state airports authority DHMI. IC Holding operates the smaller Kutahya airport in Turkey and has taken on turnkey projects to build airfields in Vietnam, Bulgaria, Russia, Saudi Arabia as well as other parts of Turkey, according to its website. The Ankara-based group sold its 49% stake in Antalya Airport, Turkey’s second-largest, to TAV Havalimanlari Holding AS for E360m in 2018. Fraport AG is the other partner in the airport. Malaysia Airports was part of a consortium that won a E1.9b contract to operate the Turkish airport in 2008 for 20 years. <br/>
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An executive of Turkey's IC Holding Serhat Sogukpinar was appointed chief executive of Istanbul's Sabiha Gokcen airport, as part of a cooperation deal between airport operator Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad and IC Holding. The groups said they signed a strategic cooperation deal which could enable significant long-term joint investment opportunities and carried the potential to boost the presence of IC Holding in Asia. Sogukpinar previously worked in airports in Turkey's southern Antalya city and capital Ankara, and oversaw numerous projects in Turkey and abroad while working at IC Holding, the statement said. Sabiha Gokcen airport, home base to Pegasus Airlines and Turkish Airlines's low-cost brand Ajet, is the third busiest airport in Turkey after Istanbul Airport and southern Antalya airport. The airport's second runway, expected to double annual passenger capacity to more than 85m, was commissioned on Monday.<br/>
Over the course of this year, French air traffic control (ATC) employees have repeatedly organised strikes, leading to thousands of delays and cancellations, the effect of which spilled over to the entire continent. According to Airlines for Europe (A4E), 2023 saw France accounting for the majority of ATC strike days in the EU, with 67 in total. This resulted in over 4,000 flights cancelled, 24,000 flights delayed and impacted over 11m passengers. Repeated calls have been made for the French government, on one side, and the European Commission, on the other, to intervene and take action to mitigate the impact of the strikes, if not domestically, at least for the protection of overflights – flights that do not depart from or land in France, but simply pass over the country, which are still affected by the walkouts. In November, the government passed a new law requiring individual people “whose absence is likely to directly affect the performance of flights” to declare whether or not they will be participating in a strike at least 48 hours before the action takes place. While unions already had to announce a strike at least 5 days in advance, there was no requirement for each employee to indicate participation in the action or not, making it impossible to predict the real impact the strike would have and impeding appropriate preparation for the minimal disruption of passengers. “It is a balanced text which aims to better organize service on strike days by respecting the right to strike and giving guarantees to passengers (traffic forecast) and controllers (advance notice for requisitions)”, Senator Vincent Capo-Canellas, who proposed the law, said in November. “This text makes it possible to avoid the disorganization of air transport and flight cancellations without many strikers. Traffic will be proportional to the number of strikers, which guarantees social dialogue based on the mobilization or not of employees.”<br/>
Flight and rail services in India's capital city of New Delhi were disrupted on Tuesday morning as a thick layer of fog enveloped the region, reducing visibility to barely 50 metres (164 feet) in some areas. "Very dense fog" was observed in the city, where the temperature was just 9 degrees Celsius (48 degrees Fahrenheit), India's weather department said, adding "dense to very dense fog" was likely in the early hours of the day in some areas until Wednesday. "Dense fog" contains particulate matter and other pollutants, according to the weather department, which warned of the impact this may have on the health of the city's 20m residents. New Delhi's air quality index stood at 376 on Tuesday morning, rated as "very poor", according to the Central Pollution Control Board's website. Levels of 0 to 50 are considered to be good. At least 30 flights that were to land at or depart from the Delhi airport, including on international routes, experienced delays because of the dense fog, according to Indian news agency ANI, in which Reuters has a minority stake. About 14 trains travelling along routes in North India were similarly affected, ANI reported. "While landings and takeoffs continue at Delhi Airport, flights that are not CAT III compliant may get affected," the Indira Gandhi International airport said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. CAT III is a navigation system that enables aircraft to land even when the visibility is low.<br/>
Nearly eight out of ten surveyed passengers have faced one or more issues while flying with Indian carriers over the past two years, a survey by LocalCircles reveals. Major challenges identified include issues with in-flight services, boarding, check-in, baggage procedures, and poor aircraft interiors, including seats. Flight delays and airline staff behaviour were among the other issues passengers encountered in the past two years. The survey found that 88% of passengers believe airlines are compromising on passenger comfort. LocalCircles garnered over 25,000 responses from passengers across 284 districts in the country. The participants were spread across Tier-I and Tier-II towns, as well as rural areas. The survey was conducted following a surge in complaints from fliers. “The number of complaints reached a new peak this week as many headed to the airport to board flights during their Christmas and New Year holidays,” the report stated.<br/>
India is seeking four seats for its carriers against every extra seat it allows Dubai-based airlines, Economic Times, an Indian financial daily, reported, citing people aware of the matter. “(The) UAE-based airlines use these allocations for Sixth Freedom traffic to Europe and North America, which have higher ticket value. Indian airlines mostly stick to point-to-point service to Dubai,” an unnamed senior Indian government official said. Hence, there is a requirement for more parity in policy to favour Indian airlines, the official told the newspaper. The Sixth Freedom traffic refers to passengers transported by an airline from one country to another via its airports. Under the bilateral air service agreement inked between the UAE and India in January 2014, airlines of both nations are allowed to operate 66,000 seats per week between Dubai and 15 Indian cities. The Indian and UAE airlines have exhausted this quota. In October, Adnan Kazim, CCO at Emirates, told CNBC-TV18, an Indian news channel, that freezing of flying rights despite the increasing movement of people between India and UAE is not a “healthy environment.” The current situation requires “more capacity, flexibility, places and routes to be added in the future”, he added.<br/>
Air travel for business and leisure will continue to recover in 2024, with tourists from China being the key driver, says Kenanga Research. According to the research firm, its in-house projection showed that tourist arrivals in Malaysia are expected to jump 35% to 27m in 2024, which is a return to pre-Covid levels. This is a rise by more than one-third from the estimated 20m in tourist arrivals in 2023. “A key driver is Chinese tourists, who have historically contributed to an estimated 12% of total tourist arrivals in Malaysia. “Furthermore, tourist arrivals are expected to be boosted by the 30-day visa-free regime for Chinese and Indian visitors to Malaysia starting from December 2023, while China is allowing Malaysian inbound visitors 15 visa-free days between Dec 1, 2023 and Nov 30, 2024,” it said in a report. This should underpin growth in Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd’s (MAHB) passenger throughput and Capital A Bhd’s passenger demand in 2024, it added. Kenanga Research projects MAHB’s system-wide passenger throughput to rise by 7% to 131m in 2024.<br/>
Canso Investment Counsel Ltd., the bond investor that helped Bombardier Inc. try to ward off a default claim in 2021, has been excused from the jet maker’s fight with hedge funds in New York. The Montreal-based aerospace manufacturer, facing financial pressure, sold off major assets including its rail business, regional jet program and aerostructures division in 2020 and 2021. A group of holders of its 7.45% bonds due in 2034 argued that the deals violated the terms of that debt. In response, Bombardier in May 2021 sold an additional $260m of bonds to Ontario-based Canso, giving it a majority of the notes outstanding. Canso then voted to waive the alleged default, thwarting other bondholders. Hedge funds Antara Capital Master Fund, Corbin Erisa Opportunity Fund and Corbin Opportunity Fund have since argued in a lawsuit that the asset sales carried out by the company ran afoul of the debt’s terms and that Canso was unfairly interfering in the bond contract. New York Supreme Court Justice Andrew Borrok said in a Dec. 22 ruling that Canso should be dismissed from the case. Canso cannot be held liable for “tortious interfence” with the bond contract, as the hedge funds alleged, because Canso itself is a party to the contract, Borrok said. In the same ruling, Borrok confirmed his denial of Bombardier’s request to dismiss the lawsuit. The trustee for the bonds in question had also sought to throw out the suit, which was also denied. <br/>