ACIA Aero Leasing is seeking $5.15 million in compensation from Green Africa Airways for alleged non-payments under contracts to lease three ATR 72-600 turboprops. The lessor is pursuing damages over what it describes as the airline's "serial failure" to pay rent and meet maintenance-reserve obligations on MSNs 1047, 1057 and 1076, a particulars-of-claim form submitted to the UK high court by ACIA's legal representatives shows. It has calculated an amount of $5.15 million for unpaid rent and maintenance reserves, interest and engine overhaul shortfalls. From this, a $810,000 security deposit is subtractable. ACIA says it reached an agreement with Green Africa in April 2021 to lease the three turboprops for $90,000 each per month. This figure was raised to $115,000 under a contract amendment in November 2023. The lessor accuses Green Africa of having "defaulted on its payment obligations in 2021 and thereafter", and says eight payment-default notices were served, the last in February 2024. ACIA adds that it agreed "various repayment plans" with Green Africa, but that the airline "subsequently failed to comply". On 25 March, the lessor served a notice of termination of the leases. It took possession of the turboprops "on or around" 28 March. In early April, Green Africa disclosed that it had purchased an ATR 72-500 and planned to restart operations after an issue with its lessor had prompted a suspension of flights.

Wizz Air has reported sharply lower profits for its fiscal year ended 31 March, after continuing to be squeezed by widespread groundings of its GTF-powered aircraft and geopolitical turmoil across several of its core markets. Operating profit declined 62% to €168 million ($191 million) as expenses related to groundings, lease payments and depreciation pushed per-ASK costs up by more than a tenth. Wider inflationary pressures and higher ATC charges also hurt, although it did benefit from slightly lower fuel costs. Wizz's net profit, at €214 million, was down 42% year on year, and included a bump from a one-off, €194 million tax credit far above expectations. The airline's ability to make profits has been affected by groundings of its Airbus A320neo-family aircraft because of powdered metal issues with Pratt & Whitney GTF engines, requiring enhanced maintenance. Forty of its aircraft were grounded last summer. Across the year, this represented 14% of the fleet but 21% of ASK capacity. Although it received €300 million in compensation from Pratt & Whitney, Wizz calculates it absorbed two-thirds of the extra costs itself. It expects that most of the grounded aircraft will have returned to service by the end of 2027. Wizz's problems have been compounded by damage from the closure of Ukrainian airspace in 2022 followed by the collapse in demand to Israel amid the outbreak of conflict there in 2023. Combined, those two markets accounted for around 30% of Wizz's capacity. "You can imagine the morale of the company – everyone is scared of more changes," says Wizz chief executive Jozsef Varadi. "I don't know how much this is appreciated [by markets]…. It's been incredibly challenging over the past three years." Further potentially significant changes to its business model include a refocusing of its network towards its core markets of central and eastern Europe and away from western Europe. Varadi characterises the western Europe market as expensive, mature and sclerotic. CEE, in contrast, is "still emerging" and represents the carrier's "backbone". Wizz will also seek to densify its operations to improve crew efficiency, and concentrate capacity at the lowest-cost airports. Likewise, its network will shift dramatically away from "hot and harsh" locations where engines wear out faster, accelerating groundings of aircraft. It will generally pull away from its operations in the Middle East, until recently designated a core growth area for the business. "The less we operate on hot and harsh, the faster can move beyond the Pratt & Whitney GTF cycle," says Varadi, adding that this is the "single biggest objective for the company". Hot and harsh operations accounted for around a fifth of Wizz capacity last year. The airline also plans to induct more aircraft during the winter to avoid placing “immature” capacity into the summer months before high loads can be achieved. "There is a competitor that only grows in winter so they can be better in summer," says Varadi, likely referencing Ryanair, which typically forgoes accepting new aircraft in the peak season. "I think that is what we are looking at." Maintenance costs are scheduled to spike through the current fiscal year and into 2027 as Wizz returns swathes of its A320ceo fleet to lessors. As these aircraft have been worked harder and for longer given Wizz's shortage of A320neo equipment, they will require greater investment before being handed back to lessors to meet contract conditions. More than half of the aircraft to be returned to lessors this decade are scheduled for the next three years, notes Wizz, resulting in a large, although temporary, spike in costs. The airline is declining to give guidance for the year "given the lack of visibility" for forward trading, having issued two profit warnings over the past 12 months. Its shares were trading down 28% at 13:00 local time in London.

Virgin Australia has confirmed that its controlling shareholder Bain Capital will proceed with an A$685 million ($445 million) initial public offering for the airline that will see it list on the Australian Securities Exchange on 24 June. The airline formally lodged its prospectus on 6 June following an initial bookbuild by joint lead managers Goldman Sachs, UBS and Barrenjoey, which are also acting as underwriters. As per earlier reports in the Australian Financial Review, the prospectus indicates that the IPO sets an indicative market value of A$1.3 billion for the airline, and an enterprise value of A$3.62 billion. The offering is comprised of 236 million shares that will be offered to retail and institutional investors at a price of A$2.90 per share. The offer period will run from 16-19 June, closing at 17:00 eastern Australian time. Trading will start on a conditional and deferred settlement basis on 24 June, with full trading commencing two days later. "On completion, investors participating in the offer are expected to hold 30.2% of shares on issue, with the remainder being held by existing investors, which include Bain Capital, Qatar Airways Group, Virgin Group, and Queensland Investment Corporation," the airline states. "After making significant progress in Virgin Australia’s transformation and with the backing of leading global airline Qatar Airways Group as a strategic investor, we believe it is now appropriate for the business to transition to a publicly listed company,” says Virgin chairman Peter Warne. “This provides an opportunity for new investors to share in the success of Virgin Australia as the airline enters its next phase." Reunion Capital Partners is acting as independent financial adviser while Gilbert + Tobin is the legal adviser.