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Vueling faces an inquiry and possible fine after cancellations and delays that have stranded more than 8,000 passengers at Barcelona's El Prat airport since Friday, the Spanish government said. The problems cast a cloud over what is expected to be a bumper tourist season as Spain prepares to receive more visitors this year, partly because of security concerns at destinations such as Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia. Vueling cancelled 14 flights on Sunday alone. A company statement said it brought in extra staff to cope with "operational difficulties" but gave no further details. Spain's public works ministry said it could fine Vueling over its handling of the travel chaos. Spanish media reported that there had been 46 flights cancelled since Thursday, with delays stretching to 12 hours. "Vueling cannot get out of what happened this weekend for free," Minister Ana Pastor told Spanish radio. "In this country, to annoy passengers entails an inquiry that can lead to a sanction." It would not be the first time the government has punished Vueling for delays. Spain's civil aviation agency fined the airline a little more than E1m in 2004 for failing to adhere to arrival and departure slots. The local government of the Catalonia region said it would also hold an inquiry into Barcelona-based Vueling, which operates 40% of all flights at El Prat airport.<br/>

Emirates president Tim Clark has expressed doubts that an EU-level aviation agreement with the United Arab Emirates would improve on the existing deals the Gulf country has with most EU countries. In June European member states gave the European Commission a mandate to pursue air traffic agreements with the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkey and countries in southeast Asia to support the European aviation sector. Such agreements, now often done on a bilateral basis by individual governments, would set out where and how often foreign airlines could fly into the EU, and vice versa. But the initiative has been eyed with suspicion by Gulf carriers such as Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, who have faced accusations from European legacy airlines of receiving unfair state subsidies. The Gulf airlines have firmly rejected the allegations. "It is in the view of Emirates that we have more in the current agreements than we anticipate the mandate giving us," Emirates president Tim Clark said. He added that he had not seen the mandate and therefore could be wrong, "but we have a very high bar, and I guess the government and the airlines would be interested to know how the mandate would improve that." Europe's aviation industry has been bitten by the rapid expansion of carriers from the Gulf region as well as shifting traffic flows to Asia. France and Germany have led the charge for EU-level agreements as a way to ensure fair competition on the European market, but some see that as thinly veiled protectionism. "We get a parade of ministers asking us from various states within the EU to extend our operations to countries beyond their countries," Clark said. "So we're a little bit perplexed as to why you would try to change this and introduce levels of complexity, but it is for the government of UAE to respond." Clark said he was worried that Brexit might hit demand following Britain's historic vote to leave the 28-nation bloc, compounding heightened security fears since suicide bombing attacks on airports in Brussels and Istanbul. "What you're seeing is consumer confidence constantly being eroded. This predated Brexit but Brexit hasn't helped," he said.<br/>

Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes said just 22% of its overseas bondholders agreed to a debt exchange offer that the carrier said was key to keeping it out of bankruptcy. Of the $780m in securities outstanding, only $174.7m were tendered by holders even after the deal was sweetened last month in an effort to lure more participants. The company had said it was aiming for a 95% acceptance rate. “We will continue assessing the market, looking for medium-term alternatives to deal with our debt,” CFO Edmar Lopes said. “The real’s appreciation in the last months and the drop in the Brazil risk perception certainly weighed on the decision of some bondholders.” The results are a blow to Gol, which is suffering from a slump in air travel amid Brazil’s worst recession in a century. The carrier posted a record 4.46b-real ($1.38b) loss last year and has said it needs relief from creditors after burning through 484m reais of cash in Q1. The exchange on dollar-denominated bonds will reduce total debt by $101.2m and use up $13.9m in cash, the company said. “The measures taken by the company will have important short and medium term benefits,” BB Investimentos Analyst Mario Bernardes Junior wrote in a report to clients. The airline had been asking bondholders to accept losses of as much as 55%, with incentives designed to reduce the hit that would be based on the carrier’s performance or if there was a change of control of the company. The original proposal, made in May, would have imposed losses of as much as 70%. Gol said it discussed the deal with more than 150 debt holders in the two months since the offer was made.<br/>

HNA Group Co.’s plan to acquire the world’s second-biggest airline caterer in a 1.4b-franc ($1.4b) deal fell short of a target the Chinese conglomerate was seeking to garner in a preliminary count. Only 61.3% of Gategroup Holding AG’s shareholders tendered their stock in the initial acceptance period that ended July 1, HNA said Monday. In April, HNA said the deal for the Kloten, Switzerland-based company required a 67% buy-in. The tally was preliminary and the final count will be published Thursday, HNA said. The airlines-to-supermarkets conglomerate, based in the island of Hainan and controlled by Chinese billionaire Chen Feng, declined to comment further. Inflight caterers are struggling with a tougher operating environment as consolidation in Europe and the US boosts carriers’ bargaining power, and a switch to low-cost flights means fewer passengers take meals. The final results of the offer are due to be released Thursday. If HNA fails to secure the 67% sought, it can walk away from the deal or drop the condition and extend the offer period through July 21, said Dagmara Robinson, a spokeswoman for Gategroup, citing the deal’s prospectus. “We believe the offering will go through,” said Pascal Furger, an analyst at Bank Vontobel AG in Zurich. HNA intended to delist Gategroup upon completion of the public tender offer, according to its April statement. The Swiss company’s directors unanimously supported the offer, according to that statement.<br/>