News
HNA to acquire equity in TAP Portugal as Tianjin Airlines receives the long-haul nod
February 19th 2016
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After the Mainland consortium last week completed the acquisition of ground handler, Swissport Group, in a deal valued at $2.72 billion, it emerged this week that HNA was close to finalizing a deal for equity in Portuguese flag carrier and Star Alliance member TAP Portugal. The deal is reported to be proceeding through private consortium, Atlantic Gateway, the carrier’s majority owner, Portuguese weekly Expresso reported.
Citing internal documents, Expresso said “the Portuguese State authorises as of now a stake to be taken in Atlantic Gateway by HNA, at a percentage to be agreed between the shareholders of Atlantic Gateway and HNA.” The report continued suggesting HNA would acquire 10%-13% of TAP.
Atlantic Gateway is led by David Neeleman, the JetBlue founder is also CEO and co-founder of Azul Brazilian Airlines. HNA Group last November acquired a 23.7% holding in Azul for $450 million, described by Bloomberg as “a lifeline for the Brazilian airline”. On that note, HNA last week announced it would lend $150 million to Azul at a rate of 14.25%, with a maturity of 180 days.
Unsurprisingly, media reports in Brazil have been suggesting HNA long-haul staple carrier, Hainan Airlines, was close to announcing its first China-Brazil route.
In other Mainland news, HNA subsidiary, Tianjin Airlines; last week secured official approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to commence long-haul operations from June. The regulator said it had approved four-weekly Chongqing-Vancouver (via Tianjin), twice-weekly Chongqing-London (also via Tianjin), weekly Chongqing-Moscow, as well as weekly Tianjin-Moscow flights. The new services will be operated by the carrier’s new A330, the first of which – line number 1756 – is undergoing completion with Airbus.
Air China subsidiary, Shenzhen Airlines, has announced plans to launch long-haul operations from its Shenzhen base, without providing a time frame.
At Beijing Capital Airlines, another HNA offshoot that launched long-haul operations in 2015, the carrier last week took delivery of a new A321, its fifth off-factory delivery in a month. The airline plans to receive 12 frames this year with a goal of growing the fleet from 62 aircraft now to 150 in five years.
In other updates, Air China and Air China Cargo have agreed to pay a $50 million settlement as part of the ongoing Air Cargo Shipping Services Antitrust Litigation, per Kaplan Fox and Kilsheimer, the law firm that has been involved in the class action involving price fixing on shipments to and from the U.S. for almost ten years.
To date, plaintiffs in the long-running case have entered into settlements with 26 defendant carriers, totalling $1.19 billion. Of that total, 22 defendants have settled for an aggregate amount of $848 million which has been granted final approval by the court.
Two defendants, Air India and Air New Zealand, still have not settled.
