ASL Aviation Group acquires PAN Air, TNT Airways

Ireland's ASL Aviation Group says it has agreed to acquire TNT Express's TNT Airways (Liège) and PAN Air (Madrid Barajas) units for an undisclosed amount. The Dutch firm is disposing of the two units ahead of its planned EUR4.4 billion (USD4.8 billion) merger with US logistics giant FedEx Corporation. Under European law, a non-European firm may not own more than 49% of a European-registered carrier.

Under the terms of the agreement, which were not disclosed, ASL Aviation Group will operate flights for FedEx Express-TNT while all existing contracts with PAN Air and TNT Airways clients will continue to be honoured. While ASL intends to maintain TNT Airways' headquarters in Liège, TNT’s Liège hub (Eurohub) is not part of the sale.

"We are delighted to agree on this key strategic step in our growth and it underlines our commitment to be the preferred neutral aviation services provider to the intended FedEx-TNT combination once the transaction closes," Hugh Flynn, Chief Executive of ASL Aviation Group, said. "We look forward to welcoming the teams at TNT Airways and Pan Air to ASL Aviation and having them become a valued part of our group.”

The agreement is conditional on the completion of the intended acquisition of TNT, which is expected in the first half of 2016.

This is ASL's second attempt at acquiring the TNT units having failed to do so during UPS's thwarted takeover attempt of TNT Express in 2012.

As it stands, once the sale is completed, the ASL Aviation Group will encompass the following airlines: PAN Air, TNT Airways, ASL Airlines Ireland (ABR, Dublin International), ASL Airlines France (5O, Paris CDG), ASL Airlines Switzerland (Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg, CH), ASL Airlines Hungary (FAH, Budapest), Safair (FA, Johannesburg O.R. Tambo) in South Africa (a 25% stake), Quikjet Airlines (QO, Bengaluru International) in India (a 73% stake), and K-Mile Asia (8K, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi) in Thailand (a 45% stake).