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Scandinavia’s biggest airline SAS AB has received a final round of bids from potential suitors looking to invest in the carrier as part of a rescue plan to shore up its ailing finances, Reuters reported. The Stockholm-based company, which is going through a chapter 11 reorganization in the U.S., needs to raise at least 9.5 billion Swedish kronor ($856 million) in new equity and convert or cut its debt pile of about 20 billion kronor. Chief Executive Officer Anko van der Werff has previously said the amount of equity is not set and could go higher. Shares in SAS fell as much as 13% in Stockholm on Tuesday, giving the company a market value of just $183 million. The airline warned in April that there would be no value in its existing shares at the end of the restructuring. The governments of Denmark and Sweden each own a 21.8% stake in SAS, but only Denmark has said it’s open to adding to its holding. Sweden indicated it will accept a conversion of debt it is owed into equity, but that it will not participate in a new capital raise. Norway’s government said it won’t contribute any new equity.

Miami-based AeroTech Miami, which has a major repair, maintenance and overhaul facility called iAero Tech at Miami International Airport, and iAero Airways, with an expansive charter airline operation, filed for chapter 11 protection, the South Florida Business Journal reported. The two companies, along with 14 affiliates, filed separate chapter 11 petitions in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Miami on Sept. 19. Interim CEO Kevin Nystrom signed the petitions. All 16 cases were consolidated to be managed on the same court docket. The chapter 11 petition listed liabilities of between $500 million and $1 billion. Its motion for debtor-in-position financing listed its total secured debt at $859.7 million.

Loss-making private jet firm Wheels Up Experience nabbed a key $500 million lifeline but still faces turnaround challenges, as demand for private travel softens in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and rival operators lure some of their customers, Reuters reported. Wheels Up avoided a possible bankruptcy when it secured backing from investors on Tuesday, including U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines. Shares rose 11% on Wednesday in midday trading. But the company still has work to do to become profitable in a more difficult environment, said business aviation consultant Brian Foley. Two operators have closed down since May in the face of diminished traffic and higher labor costs could force some private-jet operators out of business. "There will be some more casualties," Foley said. Rivals, meanwhile, say they have been picking up some of the company's customers. "I don't wish for turmoil in the market at all, but I'm an opportunist," said Jim Segrave, CEO of private operator FlyExclusive, who said his company has attracted customers from Wheels Up, the third-largest private-flight operator last year.

Private jet membership company Wheels Up Experience said Tuesday that it would receive up to $500 million in rescue financing from Delta Airlines and investors with turnaround experience in the travel and tourism industries, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. With the new capital infusion Wheels Up, a startup that was founded on the idea of expanding access to private-jet ownership, has a path to averting bankruptcy, which the company has been exploring as one of its strategic options. Wheels Up said that a consortium of investors including Delta Airlines, Certares Management and Knighthead Capital Management agreed to provide a $400 million loan, while Delta will also provide an additional $100 million revolving credit facility. Lenders under the non-binding agreement announced Tuesday will receive newly issued common shares in Wheels Up to give them a 95% stake in the company. Wheels Up hasn’t turned a profit since it was founded in 2013 and has recently run low on cash, putting its survival as a going concern in doubt. Certares and Knighthead teamed up in the travel industry before, taking over Hertz Global Holdings in its bankruptcy in 2021.

Wheels Up Experience said on Wednesday there was "substantial doubt" about its ability to continue operations, even as it disclosed short-term funding from Delta Air Lines, sending its shares plunging 42%, Reuters reported. The company, which charters planes by the hour, has taken a slew of restructuring measures this year including job cuts and management changes as private jet traffic, which soared on demand from wealthy travelers during the pandemic, has slowed. North American business flights were down 3.6% compared with July 2022, according to data from Argus International. Delta said in a statement that it was providing a short-term capital infusion in the form of a secured promissory note to Wheels Up, which is pursuing strategic partnerships. It did not disclose the size of the funding. There was a huge growth in private jet travel because people avoided commercial airlines during the pandemic, but as commercial travel has recovered, it has hit private operators, Delta CEO Ed Bastian told Reuters in an interview last month.

Western Global Airlines has filed for bankruptcy with a plan to cut its debt after the employee-owned cargo carrier faltered because of headwinds including the weakening global economy and higher costs, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Estero, Fla.-based company yesterday filed for chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., and said it has a proposed restructuring deal in hand with holders of 85% of its 2025 senior unsecured notes that includes cutting its debt by $450 million. The company’s liabilities include $560 million in loans, a credit facility and notes, according to a sworn declaration by co-Chief Restructuring Officer Robert Del Genio. Western, which was founded in 2013, has 19 wide-body aircraft and provides services on six continents to governments and commercial customers that include the U.S. Defense Department, the U.S. Postal Service and UPS, according to court records and its website. The company has said that it was profitable until last year. It cited the lingering effect of the pandemic in China as another reason for its financial troubles. In June, Fitch Ratings, S&P Global and Moody’s Investors Service said they were withdrawing the company’s ratings due to a lack of information. Later that month, founder and Chief Executive Jim Neff bought the company’s $115 million of outstanding senior debt for $45 million.

SAS's rescue has moved a step closer after a U.S. court approved a revised plan from the Scandinavian airline to raise equity, Reuters reported. The long-suffering airline filed for chapter 11 protection last year. The court approval of the fundraising proposal — a key element of the "SAS Forward" rescue plan — means investors may start placing bids for a stake in the airline. An SAS spokesperson said that the new procedure reflected court concerns in April about a requirement for bidders to accept the participation of Denmark — the airline's biggest shareholder alongside Sweden — in the equity raising. "That formal requirement has been removed," she said. "But we are clearly stating that the Danish state's support is essential to succeed with SAS Forward and to emerge from the chapter 11 process." That fact would be taken into account when assessing other bids, she said, adding: "SAS' intention remains clear that we are doing this together with Denmark." In the updated plan, SAS said that without the support of Denmark the emergence from chapter 11 "will face significant uncertainty, cost, and delay."

U.S. asset manager Apollo Global Management Inc. plans to apply for approval from Swedish and Danish regulators to take a majority stake in SAS AB as part of the Scandinavian airline's rescue plan, Reuters reported. The news of interest from the U.S. asset manager sent the embattled carrier's shares up as much as 14% in Wednesday morning trading. At 1011 GMT, they were up 5.9%. SAS has lost almost 60% of its value since it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last July, seeking to slash costs and debt after wage talks with pilots collapsed. A deal with the U.S. private-equity giant, which has also invested in U.S. and Mexican airlines, would be a test of European Union rules, which prevent more than 50% of an airline being held outside the bloc of 27 members. Given that a large part of Apollo's capital originates from Europe-based investors, the fund is hoping to get approval for a deal, according to the source, who declined to be identified because the matter is confidential.