Daemyung Sono Group takes control of T'way Air
March 11, 2025
South Korean hotel operator Daemyung Sono Group will take management control of T'way Air after agreeing to buy a larger stake in its parent company, T'way Holdings. Filings with the Korean Exchange show that T'way Holdings' largest shareholder YeaRimDang Publishing and its affiliates agreed on 26 February to sell a 46% stake in the company to Sono International for W250 billion ($173 million). In turn, T'way Holdings has a 28% stake in T'way Air. The sale is expected to be settled on 31 March, the disclosure adds. South Korea's Chosun news agency reports that Daemyung Sono already holds a 26.8% stake directly in T'way Air, and that it has signed a contract to take management rights of the airline. Other reports indicate that Daemyung Sono has an indirect stake in rival carrier Air Premia and has expressed interest in merging the two airlines. T'way has been a large beneficiary of concessions that Korean Air has had made to satisfy competition regulators to clear its recent acquisition of a controlling stake in Asiana Airlines. That has allowed the low-cost carrier to expand its widebody fleet to include five ex-Korean Air Airbus A330-200s, which have allowed it to launch flights to Barcelona, Frankfurt and Paris-Charles de Gaulle. Fleets data shows that Korean Air is also wet leasing a Boeing 777-300ER to T'way, which along with a fleet of four a330-300s, 26 737-800s and two 737 Max 8s takes its in-service fleet to 38 aircraft.
Ryanair axes non-EU share-purchase restrictions
March 11, 2025
Ryanair Group has removed restrictions on the buying of its shares by non-EU nationals, having surpassed a regulatory threshold that says it must be at least 50% owned within the bloc. The Irish airline has imposed restrictions on the purchase of its stock by non-EU nationals since 2002, extending this to UK citizens at the start of 2021 as the country left the EU. At the same time, Ryanair said shares held by non-EU nationals would be treated as restricted shares, barring their owners from attending the airline's general meetings and stripping them of voting rights. In September 2024, with EU ownership of the airline approaching 50%, it announced plans to review these policies to broaden its appeal to shareholders. Following that review, the airline has decided it is "in the best interest of the company and shareholders" to end the purchase restrictions, meaning that both EU and non-EU nationals can now invest in its stock listed in Dublin or the USA. Ryanair will continue to curtail the voting rights of non-EU shareholders, however, "until such time as the board determines that it is possible to vary or remove such restrictions without there being any risk to the airline licences held by the company's subsidiaries”. These decisions have been taken following "feedback from investors representing a significant majority of the company's issued share capital, and the company's regulators", it adds. Ryanair notes that it could reintroduce the purchase prohibitions if necessary to remain in line with the ownership regulations, highlighting that newly issued share capital should be at least 20% EU-owned. The airline also plans to update the market "on the proportion of the company's issued share capital held by EU nationals", it says, without providing a timeline.
End nears for early-generation A300s
March 10, 2025
Airbus will surrender the type certificate for the A300B4 variant at the end of 2025, the airframer has confirmed. This follows a decision communicated via an operator information transmission in January 2024, notes Airbus. It has no plan to surrender type certificates for the subsequent A300-600 and A310 models. Cirium lists six A300B4s in service and three in storage. The nine aircraft – eight of which are freighters – were all built between 1979 and 1984, and are powered by GE Aerospace CF6-50C engines. Pratt & Whitney JT9Ds were alternatively available to power the model. The only one of the nine A300B4s users for passenger operations is in service with Iran Air. Seven of the eight freighters are based in Kyrgyzstan. Moalem Aviation and KAPKG Cargo each have one in service and one in storage. Aerostan, Gewan Airways and Sky Jet have one in service each. The other freighter is managed by US-based South Aircraft Leasing and stored at Orlando Sanford International airport in Florida. Airbus manufactured 188 A300B4s between 1974 and 1984. Type certificates for the earlier-generation A300B1 and -B2 were surrendered by Airbus in 2023.