Asia airline suspensions, country closures 23-29MAR

Viet Nam may limit int'l flights at Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City

Singapore Airlines raises $600m in US dollar bond issue

Singapore Airlines Group launched a new seven-year US dollar-denominated bond offering on January 12. It later confirmed that the issuance had raised USD600 million and said that the bond had been oversubscribed, with final demand reaching more than USD1.2 billion.

The news agency Reuters had reported the previous day, citing two anonymous sources close to the matter, that the Singapore Airlines (SQ, Singapore Changi) parent was looking to raise between USD500 million and USD750 million in the yet-to-be-announced bond deal.

The bonds, which carry an annual coupon of 3.375%, are expected to be issued on January 19 at an issue price of 99.273% of their principal amount, and will mature in January 2029.

The issue consists of a single tranche and the company plans to deploy the proceeds towards acquiring new aircraft, meeting fleet-related payments, and refinancing some of its existing debt. The issuance has the classification Reg S, which means the bonds can only be purchased by investors outside the United States.

This is only the second bond offering from the company...

Editorial Comment: Included Singapore Airlines' confirmation. - 13.01.2022 - 07:56 UTC

Kuwait Airways nixes Sri Lanka flights over forex - report

Kuwait Airways (KU, Kuwait) has pulled its flights to Sri Lanka after general sales agents (GSAs) and local airline offices fell behind on paying out foreign exchange income to the airline, according to Sri Lanka’s Sunday Times.

The airline made no official announcement, nor was it immediately available for comment. However, flights between Kuwait and Colombo Int'l, the capital of Sri Lanka, are currently not bookable on the airline's website, nor are any Kuwait Airways flights scheduled to Colombo at present.

The airline had only resumed operations to Sri Lanka in September 2021.

Sources in the know told the Daily Financial Times that Kuwait Airways’ “yields were also too low in comparison with the expense of operating the flight to Sri Lanka” where landing costs were deemed high.

The withdrawal is expected to last an extended period of time and will mostly affect migrant worker traffic from Sri Lanka to the Middle East.

This comes amid news reports from Sri Lanka that the country’s finance ministry has been asked to...

Portugal's Hi Fly transfers last A340 to Maltese AOC

Hi Fly (5K, Beja) transferred its last A340-300 to sister carrier Hi Fly Malta (HFM, Malta Int'l) on December 21, 2021, Skyliner Aviation has reported.

9H-TQY (msn 190), formerly CS-TQY, operated its last flight under the Portuguese AOC on December 15, 2021, from Pittsburgh Int'l to Berau. Following brief maintenance and re-registration, the 24.3-year-old ex-Singapore Airlines and Emirates jet was moved to the Maltese register and flew to Ho Chi Minh City on December 21. It has since been in near daily operation on long-haul cargo-only services, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.

Following the transfer, Hi Fly's Portuguese-registered fleet comprises one A321-200, one A330-200, and one A330-900, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. In turn, the Maltese carrier operates one A319-100, one A321-200, three A330-300s, one A330-900, and six A340-300s. Hi Fly Malta is now the world's second-largest operator of the A340-300, behind only Lufthansa (LH, Frankfurt Int'l).