Frontier retires the last American-based A318 from service

FAA downgrades Mexico to Category 2

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has downgraded Mexico's safety rating from Category 1 to Category 2, following an audit that revealed non-compliance with minimum ICAO safety standards.

The regulator did not publicly name the shortcomings but said that it conducted the audit of the Mexican Federal Agency for Civil Aviation (Agencia Federal de Aviacion Civil - AFAC) between October 2020 and February 2021 and found several infractions.

The downgrade means US-flagged carriers are no longer allowed to add new routes to Mexico or code-share on flights operated by Mexican carriers, although they can maintain existing in-house flights to the country. The FAA has also vowed to increase its scrutiny of Mexican carriers serving the US.

"The FAA is fully committed to helping the Mexican aviation authority improve its safety oversight system to a level that meets ICAO standards. To achieve this, the FAA is ready to provide expertise and resources in support of AFAC's ongoing efforts to resolve the issues identified in the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) process," the FAA said.

According to the...

Wisconsin's Midwest Express sees renewed investor interest

Midwest Express Airlines (Milwaukee General Mitchell) is moving forward with its planned relaunch after COVID-19 had forced it to put its plans on hold indefinitely, according to a company spokesperson.

Midwest Express spokeswoman Laurie Coleman has reported renewed investor interest in the airline following the roll-out of the US vaccination programme. “Passengers are feeling more confident to fly, which has opened the door to renewed investor interest,” she told the Milwaukee Magazine.

Coleman, however, remained tight-lipped about details and time-frames. Midwest Express President Greg Aretakis was not immediately available to comment to ch-aviation.

Midwest Express has twice pushed back its announced relaunch in 2018. It first announced its intention to return to operations with a private stock offering in May 2018. Its most recent SEC filing, on May 27, 2020, shows it received an additional USD250,000 in investment, bringing the total raised to USD1 million. It has not submitted any regulatory filings since.

In 2019, it announced initial plans for nonstop flights from its home base at Milwaukee General Mitchell...

Indigo Partners, IFC extend $250mn to Cebu Pacific

Cebu Pacific Air (5J, Manila Ninoy Aquino Int'l) has approved a USD250 million investment in the form of convertible bonds from both the International Finance Corporation (IFC), which is part of the World Bank, and an affiliate of the American private equity firm Indigo Partners, it revealed in a Philippine Stock Exchange filing on April 19.

The airline said its board of directors had approved the investment on April 16. The funds will emanate from the IFC Emerging Asia Fund and from Indigo Philippines LLC, which according to online business data sources was registered as a limited liability company in Wilmington, Delaware on December 1, 2020.

The disclosure did not specify how much of the USD250 million was being provided by the IFC and how much by Indigo Partners. IFC Emerging Asia Fund is a USD693 million private equity fund managed by the IFC Asset Management Company, and the filing described the IFC as the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries.

The number of underlying shares...

Colorado’s Frontier Airlines takes off with $570mn IPO

Frontier Airlines (F9, Denver Int'l) parent Frontier Airlines Holdings raised USD570 million in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) on March 31, it said, pledging that it and some of its existing stockholders would combine to offer 30 million shares priced at USD19 each, giving it a valuation of about USD4 billion.

As previously reported, the company filed a registration statement last month outlining its intention to pursue the IPO and started trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on April 1 under the ticker ULCC.

Frontier Airlines CEO Barry Biffle and other company representatives rang the stock exchange’s opening bell on Thursday morning as the Denver Int'l-based low-cost carrier’s long-planned public stock offering finally took off. It had first registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go public in spring 2017.

After deducting funds going to the other stockholders and other expenses, the company projected that the offering would inject USD266 million into the airline.

“It improves our financial stability, it strengthens the balance sheet, and I...