Strikes at German airline Lufthansa continued to force the cancellation of hundreds of flights on Wednesday amid a wave of disruptive labour disputes in German transport. Cabin crews at Lufthansa pushed forward with a second day of strikes against the airline on Wednesday, this time with Munich-based Lufthansa and Lufthansa CityLine flight attendants going on strike beginning at 4 am (0300 GMT), with the action set to last until 11 pm. Lufthansa estimates that around 400 aircraft would be grounded on Wednesday due to the labour dispute with the cabin crew trade union Ufo, with 50,000 passengers affected. The strike in Munich came a day after flight attendants at Lufthansa's primary hub in Frankfurt staged a day-long strike on Tuesday, which cancelled 600 flights and affected an estimated 70,000 passengers. Ground staff at Lufthansa, meanwhile, threatened a further strike against the airline on Thursday at five German airports. The trade union verdi announced that ground staff would walk off the job on Thursday in Hamburg, Stuttgart, Karlsruhe/Baden Baden, Cologne and Berlin. "The strikes could be extended," verdi negotiator Wolfgang Pieper warned on Tuesday. Both verdi and Ufo are demanding pay increases from Lufthansa. Last week, hundreds of Lufthansa flights were cancelled due to earlier ground staff strikes also organized by verdi. Lufthansa's head of human resources, Michael Niggemann, appealed to the union on Tuesday to reach a deal and end the strikes.<br/>
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Aegean Airlines aims to grow scheduled capacity by around 7% this year despite the pressure the Greek carrier faces on aircraft availability due to ongoing maintenance issues related to the Pratt & Whitney GTF engines that power its Airbus A320neo-family aircraft. The Athens-based carrier has previously indicated it expects around 10 of is A320neo fleet – which it expects to reach 31 this summer – to be grounded this year as a result of the requirement for increased inspections of the PW1100G powerplants. Speaking during a full-year results briefing on 13 March, Aegean Airlines chairman Eftichios Vassilakis says it has now reached a compensation agreement with P&W covering the GTF issues. “It is substantial compensation,” he says, noting exact terms are not being disclosed. “We believe it covers a substantial part of the cost of the issue, not the full cost. The full cost of the issues refers not only to the inefficiencies from the point of view of fuel burn, or seat loss, or maintenance cost, because we will be extending some of our older aircraft to replace the Neos that will not be flying, but also through the reduced ability to grow the company because of the number of aircraft unavailable for a significant period of time.” Extending aircraft leases on its existing fleet is one of a string of measures Aegean is taking to ensure it can continue to increase capacity on scheduled routes in 2024. That also includes cutting seat capacity in its charter business and bringing back a pair of Airbus narrowbodies that had been flying with Romanian charter carrier Animawings – in which Aegean disposed of its stake late last year.<br/>
South Africa’s government and an investment consortium have ended public-private partnership plans for South African Airways under which the consortium would have taken a majority share in the flag-carrier. The Takatso consortium had been unveiled as a potential investor in SAA some two-and-a-half years ago. But finalising the agreement has been a drawn-out process and the country’s department of public enterprises says it has terminated the transaction with Takatso “by mutual agreement”. “The new corporate plan will embrace more routes and more aircraft,” it states, adding that a strategic advisor will be sought to support the airline’s management in its next steps.<br/>“A new form of raising finances on the basis of the assets of SAA will be explored with financial institutions.” Takatso had intended to take a 51% share of SAA. But it says the transaction is “no longer in the interests of its stakeholders”. “Protracted negotiations for a revised transaction structure introduced unacceptable levels of risk and uncertainty,” it states. Takatso adds that the opportunities in the sector on which it had hoped to capitalise have been “greatly diminished” since the original share-purchase agreement was reached in February 2022.<br/>
Singapore Airlines is preparing to issue a 10-year dollar bond that could raise at least $300m, according to three sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Initial price guidance for the deal has been set at the 10-year US Treasury rate plus 150 basis points, a term sheet seen by Reuters showed. The size of the deal could reach $500m, one of the sources added. The sources could not be identified discussing confidential information. "At this juncture, a 10-year US dollar bond issuance looks attractive," a Singapore Airlines spokeperson said, adding the company regularly reviewed its funding requirements versus its existing cash position. Orders worth more than $1b have been lodged on Thursday by potential investors, a book message sent by the deal's bankers showed.<br/>