Mesa Air Group is selling 18 Embraer 175s to United Airlines, which the US major will lease back to the regional carrier, according to a regulatory disclosure. Phoenix, Arizona-based regional carrier Mesa expects gross proceeds of about $229 million from the sale of the aircraft, about $142 million of which will be used to pay off associated debt, it says in a 7 January US Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The sale of eight of the 18 E175s closed on 31 December, while the sale of the remaining 10 aircraft is expected to close on or before 31 January 2025. "Concurrently with closing date with respect to each aircraft acquired by United, Mesa Airlines and United have entered into, and will enter into with respect to the remaining 10 aircraft, lease agreements pursuant to which Mesa Airlines will lease each such aircraft from United on the terms set forth in the applicable lease agreements," Mesa says. United tells says that it does not "have anything to share past Mesa's announcement". Mesa operates 50 E175s on behalf of United's regional operation, United Express, fleet data shows. Chicago-based United in January 2023 gained a 10% shareholding in Mesa related to a capacity-purchase agreement enacted in December 2022. United got one seat on Mesa's board as part of the deal, which included a $10 million revolving loan. A year later, in January 2024, United and Mesa amended their capacity-purchase agreement, in a deal designed to provide the regional carrier with additional liquidity. Separately, Mesa on 24 December 2024 sold 15 used CRJ900 airframes, together with landing gear and certain related parts, to a third party, it disclosed in the 7 January SEC filing. It says: "Gross proceeds from the sale of the airframes are expected to be $19 million, all of which will be used to pay down our loan with the US Treasury."

It is "most likely inevitable" that Air Baltic will need extra cash from the Latvian state as it seeks to achieve sustainable profitability amid efforts to close a public float, its chair Klavs Vasks has indicated. In a LinkedIn post dated 2 January, Vasks writes that talks with a strategic investor, which would and underpin an IPO, "have not gone as smoothly as hoped", adding: "In order for Air Baltic to be ready for an IPO, bold and thoughtful decisions by politicians are needed. "Although the injection of additional capital from the state may lead to a new local 'PR crisis', the need for investment is most likely inevitable unless the state is ready to completely abandon its investment in favour of other investors." In particular, he observes that Air Baltic's heavy debt burden is subject to interest rates that are unsustainable in the long term, and that the airline "cannot continue to operate with negative equity that has been accumulated for years". The earliest possible date for the airline's IPO is now spring 2025, he says. Timing depends on negotiations with the strategic investor and market conditions at the time. Securing the investor is critical to validating the airline's business model and to executing the IPO, he adds. Responding to comments on the post, Vasks defends Air Baltic's record, noting that many airlines have been impacted by the same engine maintenance issues and that a decision to wet-lease out many of its aircraft was necessary to bring in revenue and minimise the need for extra cash. He writes that while "the IPO looks real at the moment", it would likely require the Latvian state to co-invest alongside private investors. Separately, Latvia's minister of economics has called for the removal of Air Baltic chief executive Martin Gauss, following the cancellation of swathes of the airline's summer services. On 2 January, the airline said it would cut 4,670 flights across the peak flying period – around a full month of flying for the airline – by axing 19 routes entirely and cutting frequencies on a further 21. The action is framed by the airline as a response to enhanced engine maintenance checks which are grounding much of its fleet, a longstanding issue. "The chief executive of the company must take responsibility in this situation," minister Viktors Valainis said on television on 3 January, according to Latvian news website LSM+. "The company is very good, but public confidence in the management of the company has been lost for some time and the only way to restore confidence is by appointing new management." He added that the long-awaited IPO, until recently pencilled in for launch in 2024, had been "constantly postponed", and expressed doubt that the airline's development plan was "even being implemented". Valainis plans to ask Latvia's transport minister to "objectively assess" Gauss's position. Gauss has led Air Baltic since November 2011. The airline received Latvian state support of €340 million ($354 million) amid the pandemic but has struggled to achieve profitability since. Despite reporting in November a slim net profit for the third quarter, it said that its full-year results would be impacted by "difficult macroeconomic conditions in the Baltic states" and withdrew guidance for €200-€220 million in EBITDAR earnings.

Iceland has become Eurocontrol's 42nd member state and the first to join the air traffic manager in a decade. Eurocontrol says the country is already well integrated into Europe in terms of air navigation, through membership in the European Economic Area, the Schengen Area, and the European Free Trade Association, and has been closely co-operating with it for 25 years. It adds that Iceland has been participating as an observer in its provisional council meetings since 1998 and signed the transitional agreement in 2022, paving the way for full membership. Throughout, Iceland and Eurocontrol have been working closely together at the operational level on network matters – exchanging data, co-ordinating traffic flows, and liaising on airspace matters, it notes. "The accession of Iceland is testament to the huge amount of work that has happened on both sides since the formal exchange of letters in August 2020 launching the accession process," states Eurocontrol director general Raul Medina. "It is excellent news for the agency and for the European aviation network as a whole."