Air France to wet-lease A320 from SmartLynx Estonia

SAS to begin alliance transition in 1H24

SAS Scandinavian Airlines (SK, Copenhagen Kastrup) will begin the process of leaving Star Alliance and joining Skyteam in spring 2024, as it moves closer to exiting Chapter 11 restructuring, Chief Executive Anko van der Werff told The Points Guy during a Wings Club event.

"Once there's a confirmation hearing [for exiting the restructuring process], it's going to be pretty clear that this will happen. As of that moment, we will likely see Star Alliance [membership] begin to ramp down, and of course, what we will want to do is ramp Skyteam up at the same pace or faster," he said.

He emphasised that the Scandinavian carrier will focus on minimising any disruption to passengers during the process.

The switch is related to Air France-KLM's planned investment in SAS, which will initially give the Franco-Dutch holding a 19.9% stake in the Scandinavian carrier. Air France (AF, Paris CDG) was among the founders of Skyteam in 2000, while KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol) joined four years...

Slovenia's Amelia International bets on ACMI with A320s

Air France-KLM confirms extra €1.5bn Apollo financing

Air France-KLM and private equity firm Apollo Global Management announced on November 30 that they had completed the transaction for a total amount of EUR1.5 billion euros (USD1.63 billion) in financing for a dedicated operating affiliate of the Air France (AF, Paris CDG) and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol) parent.

The move followed the signing on October 26 of a definitive agreement between the parties, which in turn followed an initial announcement about the funding talks in late July. That explained that the quasi-equity financing is for a new subsidiary that “will hold the trademark and most of the commercial partner contracts related to Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines’ joint loyalty programme Flying Blue.”

The latest statement said that the financing is accounted for as equity under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), and “as announced by Air France-KLM during its Q3 2023 results, this outcome materialises the steps implemented by the group to restore its IFRS equity to positive by year-end.”

Apollo will subscribe to perpetual bonds...

Air Sénégal cuts its European network to one route