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Colombia’s flag carrier, Avianca, has submitted a reorganization plan to a U.S. bankruptcy court, Flight Global reported. The Bogota-based airline’s plan, submitted to the bankruptcy court for the Southern District of New York on Aug. 10, outlines its obligations to creditors and the settlement of claims. It says a new strategy will help it simplify operations and position Avianca to thrive in the Latin American market. Avianca and its Latin American peers Aeromexico and LATAM Airlines declared bankruptcy last year after the coronavirus decimated global air travel demand. Airlines shrunk networks, retired and stored aircraft, and laid off staff in an effort to preserve cash. In documents submitted to the court this week, Avianca outlines a new fleet plan and says it expects to emerge from the proceedings with 109 aircraft, down from the 158 it operated prior to 2020. It has also been working with airframers and lessors to restructure future aircraft deliveries. The airline has 66 aircraft in service and 29 in storage, according to Cirium fleets data.

Delta Air Lines Inc. is offering to buy back up to $1 billion of high-cost bonds issued at the height of the pandemic last year, as the company begins to look at ways to scale back its balance sheet, Bloomberg News reported. The tender offer is for three bonds issued between April and September 2020, according to a news release. The airline raised cash to survive the crisis as travel collapsed worldwide amid lockdowns to try to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. The notes are:
- $3.5 billion 7% secured notes maturing in 2025, issued in April 2020
- $1.25 billion 7.375% unsecured notes maturing in 2026, issued in June 2020
- $2.5 billion 4.5% secured notes maturing 2025, issued in September 2020 and secured against the company’s SkyMiles rewards program
The offer, which investors can choose to accept or not, shows that the airline is beginning to chip away at its balance sheet that has seen debt swell over the last year. Delta’s adjusted net debt was $18.3 billion through the June quarter, or $7.8 billion higher than December 2019, it said in a report earlier this week. The company finally reversed a cash burn and generated $1.5 billion of cash in the latest quarter. 

Delta Air Lines yesterday reported a $652 million profit in the second quarter of the year, its first since the pandemic began and the latest sign that the airline recovery is well underway. The carrier reported $7.1 billion in revenue, the New York Times reported. There were also promising indications that the business is returning to normal, Delta said, noting that booking trends recovered as customers bought tickets further out, with average daily sales beating Delta’s internal expectations by 20 percent. “Domestic leisure travel is fully recovered to 2019 levels, and there are encouraging signs of improvement in business and international travel,” the airline’s chief executive, Ed Bastian, said. Corporate travel recovered as offices reopened throughout the quarter, with the number of business travelers down 60 percent in June compared with 80 percent in March, according to the airline. Despite those encouraging signs, Delta’s quarterly profit, which was buoyed by $1.5 billion in federal stimulus money, was still down 55 percent from the same quarter in 2019. Its revenue was down 43 percent from two years ago. The number of people flying for vacation or to visit friends and family within the United States has recovered to prepandemic levels, but Delta’s revenue from domestic travel was down 45 percent from 2019 because of the drop-off in business travel.

Aeromexico said on Friday a group of Mexican shareholders and business people had informed the airline they aimed to participate in a major capital raising as part of the company's chapter 11 restructuring process in the United States, Reuters reported. Aeromexico in a statement said it was unaware that any agreement had been reached so far, but would provide details as and when one was in place. It also noted it expected the investment to be "substantial, controlling and long-term." Delta Airlines, which owned a noncontrolling 51% stake in Aeromexico as of Dec. 31, declined to comment. Delta took a $770 million charge on its investment last year after the carrier's chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Aeromexico did not provide details on the identity of the shareholders and business people.

Republic Airways, which operates regional flights for the three largest U.S. carriers, is exploring going public as soon as this year, Bloomberg News reported. The company is working with underwriters including Raymond James Financial Inc. as it prepares for an initial public offering as soon as the third quarter. Its targeted valuation couldn’t immediately be learned. Founded in 1974, Indianapolis-based Republic is led by Chief Executive Officer Bryan Bedford. It operates flights through fixed-fee agreements for American Airlines Group Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Airlines Holdings Inc. under the brands American Eagle, Delta Connection, and United Express, its website shows. With a fleet of more than 220 Embraer SA planes, the company ferries passengers from small and mid-sized cities to major airport hubs where they often catch other flights. It emerged from a bankruptcy restructuring in April 2017, with ownership stakes totaling 61% at that time held by American, Delta and United. A public offering by Republic would be the third this year for a U.S. airline, following Frontier Group Holdings Inc. and Sun Country Airlines Holdings Inc., as carriers seek to capitalize on a surge in domestic travel demand following stay-at-home orders during the pandemic.

United Airlines announced today that it was ordering 270 single-aisle planes from Boeing and Airbus, the biggest aircraft purchase in United’s history and the largest in the United States in a decade, the New York Times reported. The deal will drive an expansion of United’s fleet, in both the number and the size of its planes. “It’s about building an airline that can compete with anyone,” Andrew Nocella, the airline’s chief commercial officer, said in a call with reporters. Boeing will supply 200 of the planes, all versions of the 737 Max, its leading commercial aircraft. Of those, 150 will be 737 Max 10s, and 50 will be smaller Max 8s. Airbus will provide the remaining 70 planes, all from the A321neo line. United took its first delivery of a Max 8 on Monday and expects to receive the first of the other two planes in 2023. The airline currently has just over 800 planes in its fleet.

American Airlines said yesterday that it would cancel around 1% of its flights in July to serve a surprise uptick in travel demand at a time when the airline struggles with unprecedented weather and a labor shortage at some of its hubs, Reuters reported. American Airlines said that the move would bring additional resilience and certainty to its summer operations. "(We) feel these schedule adjustments will help ensure we can take good care of our customers and team members and minimize surprises at the airport," the company said in a statement. The airline said that its cancellations were targeted at impacting the smallest number of customers "by adjusting flights in markets where we have multiple options for re-accommodation."