Air Transat parent company Transat has reached an in-principle agreement to restructure a C$772 million ($565 million) debt owed to the government-owned Canada Enterprise Emergency Funding Corporation (CEEFC) that helped to support it during the Covid-19 pandemic. The debt was accrued from the Employer Emergency Funding Facility (LEEFF) program CEEFC manages. Transat says that the restructuring includes repayment of C$41.4 million in cash to CEEFC; a reduction of credit facilities to a single facility of C$175 million; and issuing the corporation a C$159 million debenture maturing in 10 years. It will also issue CEEFC C$16.3 million of preferred shares that are convertible into voting shares representing 19.9% of its equity. The transaction "remains subject to the execution of definitive agreements and documentation giving effect to the transaction," Transat states in a 5 June press release. The C$175 million credit facility will have a 10-year term with interest accruing at a rate of 1.22% per annum for the first three years, and 3% thereafter, Transat adds. It will be secured by a second lien on all the assets of the company. The 10-year debenture will not accrue interest in the first five years, after which it will accrue at a rate of 7% per annum, increasing by 1% each year thereafter up to a maximum of 12% per annum, Transat says. Transat further notes that its existing C$50 million senior revolving credit facility and C$74 million revolving credit facility for letters of credit are not part of the restructuring and will remain in place and available to it. As part of the restructuring, Transat has agreed with CEEFC to repay 50% of the senior revolving credit facility by no later than 1 November 2026. "We are pleased to have been able to reach this agreement, which will substantially deleverage our balance sheet and pave the way for Transat to further implement its long term sustainable strategic plan and complete the implementation of its Elevation program," states Annick Guerard, Transat's president and chief executive. Elizabeth Wademan, president and chief executive of CEEFC parent company Canada Development Investment Corporation, states that it has " worked closely with Transat to ensure it meets its obligations under the LEEFF programme while supporting the company's continued commercial viability in a competitive market. "LEEFF has been a successful program by making emergency loans available to Canada's large employers to enable them to stay solvent and save jobs both during the pandemic and beyond."

Ryanair has agreed to purchase 30 spare Leap-1B engines from CFM International. The engines, which have a list price of $500 million, are set to be delivered over the next two years, with the carrier saying it will support its existing fleet of 210 Boeing 737 Max aircraft, around 80% of which are already in operation, and prepare for the arrival of the Max 10, the first of which is scheduled to arrive from 2027. The acquisition will expand Ryanair's pool of spare engines to over 120, a move it says will "enhance" its operational stability. "We are pleased to continue to develop our longstanding partnership with CFM," says group chief executive Michael O’Leary. "Today’s purchase of 30 new Leap-1B spare engines is a significant $500 million commitment to improve the operational resilience of our group airlines." He adds that the deal will "further widen Ryanair’s cost leadership" over its competitors. Gael Meheust, chief executive of CFM, called the agreement "another milestone in the long and successful partnership" between the engine-maker and Ryanair, adding: "We look forward to continuing to support Ryanair’s significant growth by providing them with industry-leading reliability and utilisation standards." Ryanair plans to expand its fleet to 800 Boeing 737s, all powered by CFM engines, enabling it to achieve annual passenger traffic to 300 million by 2034. That’s up from around 200 million in the year to end-March on a fleet of 620 aircraft. Investment firm Davy comments that the agreement "will help Ryanair to manage the industry supply chain issues" over the next few years and will prove "beneficial to profitability."

Qantas has cited a cyclone in Queensland and the impact of strikes by its Finnair pilots operating wet-leased services for a cut in its expected capacity growth over the six months ending 30 June. The carrier is now expecting capacity growth of 6% over the six months, compared to its February guidance of 8%, and from 9% to 8% for the year ending 30 June. Its guidance shows that most of the cuts during the second half of fiscal 2025 are coming from Qantas's domestic operation with its domestic ASKs set to fall 1% instead of the previous forecast of 1% growth, while Jetstar's ASKs are set to fall by a similar amount. "Group Domestic capacity growth for the half is lower than previous guidance, largely due to Cyclone Alfred in March, which impacted flying across large parts of Queensland," the company comments, adding that it will take an A$30 million impact from the cyclone this year. On the international front, the capacity growth projection of Qantas-branded operations has been trimmed four percentage points to 3%, while Jetstar is down one point to 21% for the six months. "Group International capacity for the half is expected to grow by 9 per cent, 3 per cent lower than previously guided due to the impact of industrial action on Qantas’ Finnair wet lease," says the company. Qantas has wet-leased two Finnair A330-300s to operate flights from Sydney to Singapore and Bangkok amid a capacity crunch, but they have been impacted by industrial action from pilots in recent months as the Finnish carrier negotiated a new collective agreement. The revised capacity growth figures were released the same day that Qantas announced it would start to wind down operations at Singapore-based Jetstar Asia, which will operate its last services on 31 July, which are accounted for in the latest guidance. Despite the cuts, Qantas says it "continues to see strong demand across Domestic and International and expects unit revenue and capex to be in line with previous guidance". That guidance shows that it expects net capital expenditure of A$2.8-3.9 billion ($1.82- 2.54 billion) this fiscal year, rising to A$4.1-4.3 billion the year after. On the unit revenue side, it guided that group domestic RASK would be up 3-5% over the second half, while international RASK would be flat.