Federal loans to Transat A.T. Inc. cost the tour operator's CEO nearly half a million dollars in compensation last year, thanks to conditions on the pandemic funding. Strings attached to a portion of $743m in emergency loans from Ottawa deprived chief executive Annick Guerard of $489,500 in cash in 2023, according to a document prepared by the Montreal-based company for its shareholders. Transat secured loans under Ottawa's Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility (LEEFF) program in 2021 and 2022 as COVID-19 border closures battered the airline industry and pushed the travel outfit to suspend operations for six months. The loans required companies, including Air Canada, Porter Airlines and Sunwing Vacations, to cap total compensation for senior executives at 2019 levels, or $1m if they joined the top ranks after that time. To encourage executives to stay on board at a shaky time, Transat offered them three-year deferred bonuses in 2020. But because the loan has yet to be paid off, its restrictions still apply, leaving Guerard with $1.9m in total compensation. “In the case of Ms. Guerard, as the LEEFF loan had still not been repaid, payment of the 2020 (long-term incentive plan) owing in January 2023 in the amount of $489,523 was incompatible with the consequences of and compensation restrictions imposed under the LEEFF loan. She was therefore unable to receive this amount,” the circular to shareholders states, ahead of their annual meeting on April 23. The cash bonus is payable only “if the objectives related to operational and strategic priorities and financial performance are achieved,” it notes. Transat has struggled to get off the ground smoothly post-pandemic, as fears of a flight attendant strike and several grounded Airbus planes due to an engine recall ate away at bookings last quarter. Transat swung to a loss of $61m in the three months ended Jan. 31, worse than the $56.6m loss of the same period a year earlier. Transat has cleared a profit only twice in the past 17 quarters.<br/>
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Willis Lease Finance has revealed that TAR Aerolíneas (YQ, Querétaro) has failed to return a Rolls-Royce AE3007 engine and make a number of overdue payments despite the lessor issuing a notice on January 16, 2024. Willis said in a statement that the Mexican regional carrier had failed to comply with the notice including “overdue payments, and with its CEO, Ricardo Bastón, refusing to return a leased AE3007 currently installed on an E145 (XA-AFH, msn 145078) and being utilised by the new Mexicana, a state-owned airline.” TAR Aerolíneas received the notice of a Continuing Event of Default, Demand for Payment, and Demand to Return the engine earlier this year. The ch-aviation fleets module shows that its fleet comprises ten aircraft, all E145s. In 2023, the company secured a long-term financing partnership with US-based Ethos Asset Management.<br/>
Malta’s Universal Air is branching into new scheduled regional airline services, preparing to open initial flights to Munich and the Hungarian city of Pecs before the end of March. The carrier is to commence the twice-weekly flights on 26 March, while a third summer frequency will be added on 2 June. Universal Air is using De Havilland Dash 8-400 turboprops, configured with 78 seats. It received its first (9H-SWW) at the beginning of this year, and intends to take four to replace Dash 8-100s. The airline says it aims to combine the cost-efficiency of budget carriers with the premium-economy service of legacy operators.<br/>Universal Air plans to open additional links to destinations including Athens, Palermo, Ibiza and Corfu. “Our ambition is to lead a renaissance in air travel, becoming the preferred airline for modern travellers seeking value and convenience,” says CE Simon Cook. “We want to exceed our customers’ expectations, making flying more accessible, enjoyable and sustainable.” Universal Air says it has booking options available on a mobile app and its website, but is also developing partnerships with global distribution services and online travel agents.<br/>
Saudi Arabia’s flag carrier will gradually move out of Riyadh’s airport to make room for the kingdom’s newest airline, allowing it to focus on its primary hub in Jeddah. Saudia, which currently operates from both cities, will hand over slots to brand-new Riyadh Air that is due to begin operations in 2025, General Authority of Civil Aviation’s Vice President of Strategy Mohammed Alkhuraisi said. “You don’t want two big carriers to operate out of the same hub,” said Alkhuraisi in an interview. Riyadh Air will take over slots from Saudia in a “synchronized manner” to ensure capacity and connectivity to the Saudi capital is not impacted, he said. Saudia will instead expand operations in Madinah, one of the most sacred cities in Islam and a main religious tourism site, where the airport is set to undergo an expansion that will double capacity to 17m passengers, Alkhuraisi said. Saudia is being repositioned to focus on religious pilgrims, while Riyadh Air will be targeted at tourists, and will compete with larger Gulf carriers for transfer traffic. About 112m passengers traveled through the kingdom’s airports, marking record air traffic for Saudi Arabia in 2023. That was up 26% from a year earlier and exceeded arrivals during the same period in 2019, before the pandemic grounded airlines across the world, GACA said. <br/>
IndiGo is exploring the purchase of widebody aircraft, according to people familiar with the matter, a move that would give Asia’s biggest budget carrier a greater international radius and intensify competition with Air India. The airline is still considering several options, with an order for about 30 Airbus A350s emerging as the most likely choice, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. A decision could be announced in the next few weeks, the people said, cautioning that IndiGo could still change its mind about timing and the number of planes. IndiGo has repeatedly toyed with the idea of introducing long-haul services to tap the growing pool of affluent Indians flying further afield to places such as the UK and Europe. The low-cost carrier currently operates two Boeing 777s leased from Turkish Airlines to Istanbul and has otherwise built its fleet around single-aisle jets made up almost entirely of Airbus planes. The airline is already one of Airbus’s largest customers after placing a record-breaking order for 500 A320neo family aircraft last summer. IndiGo now has a backlog of around 1,000 aircraft.<br/>
The nearly two-year-old Akasa Air plans to start flights to Kuwait, Riyadh and Jeddah by the end of October this year, after launching its maiden overseas services to Doha this month, as the airline is bullish on overseas expansion. "We are very excited about the potential of international flying... the potential that India offers," Akasa Air Founder and CEO Vinay Dube told PTI in an interview on Thursday. The carrier, which has a fleet of 24 Boeing 737 Max aircraft, will be launching its international operations on March 28 with a flight connecting Mumbai and Doha. The service will be operated four times a week. "We have got traffic rights for Kuwait, Riyadh, Jeddah ... all of which we hope to launch by the end of the IATA summer season... beyond that, we have got ambitions to fly all across South East Asia, all across the Indian sub-continent. You will see us accomplish when it comes to international flying, in two years, what probably took airlines 15-20 plus years," Dube said. In response to a question on the delay in filing the airline's international flight schedule for the summer schedule, the Akasa Air chief said it cannot file for international flying until approvals are received from the foreign governments concerned.<br/>
Shares of Pakistan International Airlines rallied to a record as the government’s bid to sell the state-owned carrier made progress. The stock jumped 7.5% on Thursday, taking its advance since August last year — when the government decided to privatize the loss-making airline — to about 607%. The latest catalyst came as the cabinet approved a plan to turn the carrier into a holding company to speed up its privatization. Past attempts to sell the stake had failed due to political opposition and protests by the labor union. The carrier scaled back operations amid deteriorating financial conditions. “This time serious progress seems to have been made for its privatization,” said Qasim Shah, head of international sales at Karachi-based brokerage JS Global Capital. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif asked to expedite the sale of the airline at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Last month, Pakistan approved a restructuring plan that would divert core operations of the airline into one company and its debt into another. A consortium led by Ernst & Young was hired in November for the stake sale. <br/>