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A battle is brewing between Republic Airways Holdings Inc. and its shareholders, who want more time to review crucial bankruptcy milestones which would likely wipe out their holdings following the airliner’s exit from chapter 11 protection, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The shareholders, who own more than 40 percent of Republic’s equity, want more time to review the airline’s recently struck deal with Delta Air Lines Inc., and to have an appointed committee to handle their claims. Republic is seeking to stop the potential action in its tracks and is asking a bankruptcy watchdog to reject the shareholders’s bid to keep the chapter 11 process on track. Republic says that there will likely be no recovery for shareholders since the airline’s financial adviser estimates it had negative equity value between $200 million and $400 million when Republic filed for bankruptcy. Republic’s financial adviser estimates the company’s restructuring will result in at least $585 million to potentially more than $1 billion in claims.

Skymark Airlines Inc. exited bankruptcy administration and forecast its first operating profit in three years after reducing its fleet, cutting routes and getting new funding, Bloomberg News reported today. The carrier expects to report 1.5 billion yen ($13 million) in operating profit and sales of 70 billion yen for the year ending March 31, Skymark said today. Skymark also said it’s targeting an “early relisting” of its shares after filing for bankruptcy protection last year. Private equity firm Integral Corp. took a 50.1 percent stake in the company as part of its turnaround, while ANA Holdings Inc. owns 16.5 percent and is supporting the airline in areas including aircraft maintenance and code-sharing.

Delta Air Lines Inc. has agreed to settle a lawsuit that accused Republic Airways Holdings Inc. of breaching a contract to operate flights for Delta, Republic said yesterday, Reuters reported. As part of the agreement, Delta will continue to contract flights to Republic while entering into a credit agreement that gives the regional carrier $75 million and gradually relieves it of obligations to fly 50-seat jets, seen by airlines as uneconomical, according to the release. Republic, which filed for bankruptcy restructuring last month, said the agreement will provide "immediate improvements in profitability and cash flow." The agreement is subject to court approval, with a bankruptcy court hearing scheduled for April 14.

American Airlines Group Inc. gave in to pressure from employees and adopted a profit-sharing program, acknowledging the issue was thwarting efforts to improve labor relations and the carrier’s performance, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. American joins the other large U.S. carriers — Delta Air Lines Inc., United Continental Holdings and Southwest Airlines Co. — in splitting some earnings with employees. Starting this year, 5 percent of pretax income, excluding one-time items, will go into the profit-sharing fund, Chief Executive Officer Doug Parker and President Scott Kirby told workers yesterday. The first payout will be in early 2017.

Republic Airways Holdings Inc. won permission to use the bankruptcy process to return what it says are some of its less attractive airplanes and engines, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The company can turn over six Embraer SA E145 regional jets and three engines to Citibank NA, an agent to an outstanding loan, Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane said yesterday. It also obtained permission to reject the lease for a seventh Embraer plane. Citibank said that the aircraft or engines at stake in the current motion are collateral under a revolving credit facility that now has a balance of $23 million. Judge Lane said that Citibank, which had complained that some of the aircraft had been separated from their engines, will have to bring legal claims later if it can’t work out a resolution.

Republic Airways Holdings Inc. doesn’t plan to cut aviators’ jobs or seek to throw out their four-month-old contract in bankruptcy court, according to the pilots union, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. A potential bankruptcy filing had been part of monthly discussions between leaders of Republic’s pilots union and airline executives, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 357 executive board told members in a message on its website Friday. The posting came a day after Republic, which provides regional flights for American, Delta and United airlines, sought chapter 11 protection from creditors.

Regional carrier Republic Airways Holdings Inc filed for chapter 11 protection yesterday, blaming several quarters of falling revenue after having to ground aircraft amid a pilot shortage, Reuters reported yesterday. The Indianapolis-based short-haul carrier, which feeds flights to American Airlines Group Inc, Delta Air Lines Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. brands, listed assets of $3.6 billion and $3.0 billion of liabilities, court documents showed. Republic offers approximately 1,000 daily flights to more than 100 cities in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and the Bahamas. United said yesterday that it does not expect to change its flight schedules because of the bankruptcy. American said that it is too early to assess an impact on scheduling.

Unions representing the company's workers say they are in danger of being shortchanged, while shareholders of the old AMR Corp. get another generous payoff, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Friday. Hundreds of millions of dollars of valuable stock is still stored up in bankruptcy reserve accounts, waiting for a final reckoning of the accounts from the 2011 bankruptcy of AMR, parent of American Airlines. AMR's bankruptcy was a rare case that produced value to spare for shareholders. According to court papers, investors in the old equity received more than $9.5 billion of new American shares in the four months following AMR's bankruptcy exit. Unions representing pilots, flight attendants and other workers of AMR Corp. say that they are being asked to take a haircut when the remaining stock is handed out while investors in the old equity get more than their fair share. American spokesman Casey Norton said that the company will respond with a court filing and is reviewing a bankruptcy court motion the unions filed on Tuesday, criticizing the company's distribution plan.