Ultra low-cost tickets priced at less than E10 each are harming the aviation industry’s reputation, Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr said in an interview with Swiss daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung. “Tickets for 9.99 euros are ecologically and economically irresponsible,” Spohr, 53, was quoted as saying. He also said Europe’s largest airline will seek financing on capital markets to repay the government loans it received to make it through the coronavirus pandemic by 2023. “Lufthansa won’t be debt-free but we want to get market loans to repay taxpayers’ money in Switzerland, in Germany and Austria,” Spohr said. “We would rather be indebted to the capital market than to the taxpayer.”<br/>
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Brazilian airline Azul confirmed in a securities filing an agreement with the Portuguese government to divest from its stake in Portuguese airline TAP. Azul said it has sold its indirect 6% stake for around 65m reais ($12.15m) and will not exercise rights to convert E90m bonds maturing in 2026 into equity. All the other terms in the bonds are maintained, Azul said. The transaction will need to be approved by Azul’s shareholders, the filing added. <br/>
Ryanair said Friday it will challenge the Portuguese government's investment in ailing flag carrier TAP in the European courts, arguing that it is "illegal state aid". Portugal's government announced Thursday it had sealed a final deal with private shareholders of TAP to increase its stake to 72.5% from 50%. "Ryanair will challenge this illegal state aide to TAP in the European Courts and will continue to campaign for a level playing field in Portugal for all airlines," Ryanair said.<br/>
South Korea's HDC Hyundai Development said Friday that it has received approval from Russian aviation authorities for HDC’s planned takeover of Asiana Airlines, but added that renegotiation of the acquisition terms is still underway. Regarding the merger deal involving the air carrier, HDC had to receive approval from six of the nations that Asiana flies to as a prerequisite. HDC had planned to complete the deal by the end of April after regulators in the United States, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey and South Korea approved the merger deal. But the closing date for the deal was postponed to “a date agreed by both parties” following a delay in Russia’s approval. The contract expiration date was June 27. HDC said Friday that the Russian authorities notified HDC of approval for the takeover on Thursday at 11 p.m. With the final block to the planned acquisition of Asiana cleared, HDC said it has requested Asiana’s creditors review the acquisition status since negative situations have been impacting the takeover deal. “Although the process for corporate merger approval has been cleared, other prerequisites for a takeover deal such as sincere attitudes from Kumho Industrial and Asiana Airlines must be reached for deal closing,” said HDC in a statement released to reporters Friday.<br/>
The Japan Bank for International Cooperation is providing guarantees totalling Y174b ($1.6b) for aircraft-import loans to ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines. The export-credit agency on 9 June signed an agreement with private financial institutions to provide a Y88.4b guarantee against the principal and interest of their loans to JAL. The guarantee allows the airline to obtain financing from these institutions for the import of Airbus and Boeing aircraft numbering eight in total. On 30 June, the agency signed a similar agreement to guarantee Y85.6 billion against the principal and interest of loans to ANA for six Airbus/Boeing jets.<br/>
United Airlines' request to grant approval to operate schedules flighta for India is under consideration with the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) and other authorities in the country. "We have received the request from United Airlines for the schedule flights and it is under consideration," an aviation ministry official said. The aviation regulatory authority in India has allowed United to operate three special charter flights from Delhi to the US. United has also urged the Indian authority to approve the schedule flight to the country. "The airline wants to operate schedule flights from Delhi-Mumbai to Newark -San Francisco routes," sources said. Meanwhile, after approval from the Indian government, United has started bookings for charter flights from Delhi to Newark for 10th, 12th. The airlines will, however, not bring passengers from Newark.<br/>
Norwegian investigators have revealed that a de-icing vehicle driver vainly attempted to stop an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 787-9 from taxiing onto the wrong de-icing stand, before the jet’s right wing struck and felled a lighting mast at Oslo Gardermoen. The aircraft, which was preparing for departure to Stockholm and Addis Ababa on 18 December 2018, had been given the wrong stand number, even though two de-icing co-ordinators had agreed on the correct stand allocation. Investigators state that the Ethiopian 787 was part of a queue for de-icing. Story has full incident details.<br/>
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau on Friday expressed disappointment at Air Canada’s decision to suspend some flights and said he hoped the carrier would restore services as the economy recovered. The airline said Tuesday it would halt flights on 30 domestic routes hit by persistent weak travel demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also closing eight stations at regional airports. “We are obviously disappointed by the decision by Air Canada to cut services to some regions. We know Air Canada profits from the most profitable routes in the country but we expect them to serve ... people who live in more distant regions,” Trudeau said. “We hope they can gradually resume these services ... as the economy starts to recover,” he said. <br/>