Sunwing Airlines owes the federal government close to a third of a billion in loans and as part of WestJet Airlines takeover of Sunwing, WestJet will be required to repay most of the money over the next five years. “WestJet will be obligated to repay the bulk of Sunwing’s outstanding federal loans promptly upon closing with the remaining travel credit facility loan repaid at its maturity in 2028,” the department wrote Saturday in a legal notice issued under the Canada Transportation Act. Sunwing's federal debts totalled $316.9m. “Including loans to ensure refunds for passengers whose travel was cancelled due to COVID, Sunwing has received $316.9m in federal financing,” said the notice. “Given Sunwing’s precarious situation following the cancellation of much travel and the need to repatriate passengers during the winter 2022 holidays, there was a significant risk the company would not be able to repay the loans.” Federal loans were issued under the Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility program approved by Parliament in 2020 as a pandemic relief measure. Additional non-repayable grants were paid to Sunwing Airlines, Sunwing Travel Group and Sunwing Vacations under the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy program. The amount of wage subsidies was not disclosed. Sunwing had been the fourth-largest airline in Canada before the pandemic. WestJet announced its takeover on March 2, 2022, at an undisclosed cost.<br/>
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In Colombia, local media is reporting that South American industrialist Germán Efrómovich has offered aviation entrepreneur William Shaw and the shareholders of insolvent low-cost airline Ultra Air the tidy sum of $1 US Dollar to take over the airline. Efromovich is said to have stipulated that he would not pay managerial compensation or severances as part of any such deal, and reports say that Shaw and other investors have already rejected the offer. According to Colombian daily El Tiempo, Ultra Air owes $8m in bank debt and $14m in outstanding accounts payable. Bolivian-born Germán Efromovich entered the airline business when a debtor in Brazil paid him in kind with a single aircraft. He ended up purchasing a controlling interest in then-struggling Colombian airline Avianca in 2004, growing it into a thriving international airline until disputes with minority shareholder Roberto Kriete and a crippling pilots’ strike led to operational problems and Avianca’s bankruptcy soon after the COVID pandemic began. When Efromovich couldn’t pay back a loan from United Airlines collateralized by his shares in Avianca, he lost control of the airline and was unceremoniously ousted and replaced by his nemesis Kriete. Efromovich, who still owns assets such as Medellín’s iconic Intercontinental Hotel and his Movich chain of business hotels, has been on something of a comeback after launching Italian carrier Aeroitalia, and has even become a popular youtuber.<br/>
A full emergency situation was launched at Dublin Airport on Sunday after a Ryanair flight from Liverpool required the use of the fire brigade upon landing. Flight FR5542 had departed from Liverpool's John Lennon International Airport on Sunday afternoon. It landed into Dublin shortly after 5.45pm, but passengers were kept onto the plane after an issue with the landing. A spokesperson for the Dublin Airport Authority explained: "A full emergency was declared at Dublin Airport this afternoon following the arrival of Ryanair flight FR5542 from Liverpool. "The Dublin Airport Fire Service responded, and the passengers disembarked the aircraft normally once the all clear was given by the Airport Fire Officer. Air Traffic flows into Dublin Airport were suspended during the incident." They added later: "This is now an aircraft recovery incident. There are no reports of any injuries although 1 person was treated for shock. National Ambulance Service personnel met passengers on arrival. <br/>
Air Serbia has hired over 120 new cabin crew members and will take delivery of the first of several aircraft in the coming weeks to support its aggressive expansion plans. An Airbus A320 jet, which will carry the registration YU-APS, is expected to arrive shortly. The aircraft, which is twelve years old, has already been painted in the airline’s livery. It will become the carrier’s third jet of the same type. Furthermore, the airline is expected to take delivery of an ATR72-600 next month, followed by another turboprop in August for a total of seven. Air Serbia had previously said it is also exploring the possibility of leasing an additional A319 jet, while it has short-listed its third Airbus A330-200, which should be arriving this year. Air Serbia’s CEO, Jiri Marek, recently said, “This summer I would say we will have 28 to 29 aircraft and in terms of wet-leases we would expect four to five A320s or Boeing 737-800s and maybe one A319. We want to grow the airline constantly, adding from two to three aircraft every year. Some years maybe more, some years maybe less. On top of that, we will renew existing aircraft, so this is just growth we are talking about”.<br/>
Capital A Bhd, the holding company of budget carrier AirAsia, could benefit from a recession, as dropping jet fuel prices are likely to lift the Practice Note 17 (PN17) company’s margin substantially. In a note, Maybank Investment Bank (IB) Research analyst Samuel Yin Shao Yang said lower fuel prices would require Capital A to lower its fares, which in turn could lead to more seats being sold. During the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, Yin said that AirAsia’s operations in Malaysia passed on the lower jet fuel prices to customers by lowering fares. He, however, noted that fares fell slower than jet fuel prices. “We know this because it is revenue/available seat kilometre less cost/available seat kilometre spread, which is essentially a gauge of operating profit, swelling to 4.1 sen in financial year 2009 (FY09) from negative 1.8 sen in FY08,” stated Yin. In 2009, the average fare for AirAsia Malaysia was RM168 as compared to RM204 in 2008. In comparison, the average fare of AirAsia Malaysia last year was recorded at RM204, the highest level in 14 years. The high average fare in 2022 was the result of high jet fuel prices, which surged on the back of increased crude oil prices. Story has details.<br/>