Brazilian airline Azul said on Monday that it had launched a $148.7m add-on to previously issued 2028 senior notes, which it will use to refinance debt. The bonds were initially issued in July for $800m by a subsidiary of the carrier, Azul Secured Finance, with an 11.930% yield. Sao Paulo-listed shares in the carrier were down 5.5% in early afternoon trading, while competitor Gol's fell 3.2%. Azul wrapped up restructuring obligations late last year with lessors and equipment manufacturers in a bid to boost its capital structure and cash flow. The airline's leverage is expected to drop to around 4.0x to 5.0x by 2025, Moody's Investors Service said on Monday, from 6.4x at end-September. Other Latin American carriers have struggled since the coronavirus pandemic hit air traffic in 2020. Colombia's Avianca, Chile's LATAM Airlines and Mexico's Aeromexico have come out of bankruptcy proceedings, while Gol filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of January. Brazil's government is working on measures to bring down costs as air travel remains prohibitive for consumers. On Monday, Finance Minister Fernando Haddad said the government will draw up a proposal by the end of the month to "enable a restructuring of the sector." "We're going to better understand what's going on, and there's no bailout with treasury money, that's not in our plans," Haddad told journalists in Rio de Janeiro.<br/>
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The European Commission on Monday said it would have intervened if the Dutch government had denied slots at Schiphol airport to new entrants such as U.S. carrier JetBlue but was now satisfied that passengers would not be deprived of choice. The commission said new entrants on transatlantic routes such as Amsterdam-New York were needed to offset the distorting effects on competition by airlines that combine their routes in joint ventures. Under initial Dutch plans to cut capacity at Schiphol, one of Europe's busiest hubs, new entrants including JetBlue would have lost all their slots. Facing pressure from both the US and the EU, the Netherlands in November gave up on that plan and earlier this year announced Schiphol would meet industry demand. The plan was part of a push to cut noise pollution around the airport. The EU had already voiced doubts whether the plans were in line with its regulations and EU-U.S. agreements, and on Monday said it would not have allowed JetBlue's Schiphol operation to be shut down completely. "The commission stood ready to intervene with interim measures in case JetBlue did not secure appropriate access to Amsterdam airport for the Summer 2024 Season," it said in a statement. JetBlue began flying from Schiphol to New York and Boston last year, and the EU commission said it had now obtained all the slots it needed in Amsterdam to continue operating this year. "As a result, consumers will not be deprived of choice at a time of strong demand for transatlantic services," it said.<br/>
An easyJet passenger who was among a planeload of people delayed for a full day by an Icelandic snowstorm has described the experience as a “fiasco”. Robert Stephens, 79, was one of the passengers booked on easyJet flight 8846 from Keflavik International Airport, near Reykjavik, to London Gatwick. It was due to depart at 7.30pm on Friday evening, 2 February. The incoming plane flew a holding pattern over the Reykjanes peninsula – location of Iceland’s latest major volcanic action – before landing safely around 40 minutes behind schedule. But foul weather and delays with de-icing led to the homebound flight eventually being delayed overnight. Stephens was returning from Iceland with his wife after a Northern Lights trip. He said: “Due to serious wind and snow conditions the incoming flight was prevented from offloading the passengers for a couple of hours.” The UK-bound passengers were ready to go, but could not board the plane until the arriving travellers had disembarked. “The outgoing passengers were shunted from gate to gate with a minimum of information,” Stephens said. “Eventually we were put on buses to the aircraft. We boarded in appalling conditions of wind and snow at around midnight. The plane was still unable to depart due initially to the weather forecast. When the storm had passed the plane had received a coating of snow and the pilot had to call for de-icing. Unfortunately the weather conditions exceeded those in which the de-icing crew could operate so further delay ensued.”<br/>
Wet-lease specialist Hi Fly will operate initial Airbus A380 services for start-up Global Airlines, but the company is aiming to secure its own UK air operator’s certificate. Hi Fly has previous experience in Airbus A380 operations having used an ex-Singapore Airlines aircraft, MSN6, for about two years on wet-lease services. The company withdrew the type towards the end of 2020, as the pandemic weakened the long-haul market – particularly for high-capacity aircraft – and the jet was returned to lessor Doric. But Global Airlines, which is pursuing its own A380 operation, last year recruited Hi Fly to take advantage of its technical, maintenance and secondary-market experience with the type and speed up Global’s ambitious plans to commence services. With Global’s acquisition of an ex-China Southern Airlines A380 – the terms of which have not been disclosed – the tie-up with Hi Fly is developing into an operational partnership.<br/>
El Al Israel Airlines Ltd will not restart its direct flights to Dublin, the Irish capital, and the Moroccan city of Marrakech for the coming summer season, the flag carrier said on Monday, citing changes in customer demands since the Gaza war. The Dublin flights were launched last March and had been due to continue through November, but were curtailed a few weeks after Hamas sparked the war by attacking Israel on Oct 7, an El Al statement said. The Marrakech flights were halted in October amid Israeli advisories against travel to Morocco, it added.<br/>
One of Aeroflot Group carrier Rossiya’s Yakovlev Superjet 100s has suffered an excursion after landing at Saransk airport. Rossiya is part of Aeroflot Group and the twinjet had been operating flight SU6165 from Moscow Sheremetyevo on 5 February. Saransk is some 500km east of the Russian capital. According to preliminary indications from the Volga transport prosecutor’s office, the aircraft “rolled off the runway”. None of the 87 passengers and crew members was injured, it adds. The office states that transport prosecutors will “check the circumstances” of the incident and take any necessary measures. Unconfirmed information indicates the aircraft involved is RA-89113 which landed in darkness on runway 20. Meteorological information for Saransk at the time shows freezing conditions and snow. Russian federal air transport regulator Rosaviatsia has recently urged carriers to exercise greater caution after a series of runway excursions during the winter season.<br/>
Pakistan's election commission has asked the caretaker government to "refrain" from finalising a deal to privatise flag carrier Pakistan International Airlines pending a review, a letter from the poll panel seen on Monday said. The Feb. 1 letter from the panel to Pakistan's cabinet secretary, seen by Reuters, comes days ahead of the Feb. 8 general elections. "The caretaker government should refrain from taking any further steps including signing of an agreement in this regard till a decision is made by this commission," the letter said, directing the government to hand over all documents prepared for cabinet approval about the PIA deal. The caretaker government, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, is close to putting the loss-making airline up for sale after completing a restructuring plan, Reuters has reported. Speaking last week, Privatisation Minister Fawad Hasan Fawad said the plan would be taken to the current cabinet for approval before a new government takes over following the election. The restructuring plan completed by transaction adviser Ernst & Young has divested the PIA into two entities; one 'clean' one and the other to be parked in a holding company with legacy debt, which includes negative equity of 825b rupees in loans, creditors' money and losses.<br/>