Jet2 has renewed and upsized its revolving credit facility. The UK leisure carrier says as part of its full-year results disclosure that in May it entered into a new revolver on "improved commercial terms" with its four banking partners – Barclays, Lloyds, HSBC and NatWest – increasing the facility to £500 million ($680 million), from £300 million previously. The new revolver, which remains undrawn, runs to 31 October 2029 with an option to extend by a further two years, Jet2 adds. The Leeds-based carrier entered into the previous revolver in October 2022. That was itself an upsize of a previous £100 million facility. Jet2 says net cash used in financing activities amounted to £697 million in the financial year to end-March, up from £125 million the previous year, and included the early repurchase of convertible bonds (£399m) and further repayments of aircraft borrowings and lease liabilities of £254 million, down from £290 million a year earlier. Loans advanced of £147 million related to JOLCO financing for aircraft deliveries in the period, Jet2 adds. It expects to take delivery of 10 aircraft "over the forthcoming year", although the delivery profile "remains under continuous review given aircraft and engine manufacturer supply-chain constraints".

Portugal's government will start the process of selecting a buyer for state-owned airline TAP as soon as this summer, finance minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento has indicated. "We will advance on the selling process in the coming weeks," Sarmento told Bloomberg TV on 7 July. The government, he explains, is looking for a suitor that will "help us develop the company, increase routes [and] increase the number of planes", as well as recover some of cash that the Portuguese state sunk into TAP amid the pandemic. Portugal is looking to sell a less-than-50% stake in the airline "in this first moment", he adds, implying that a larger share could be sold off later on. Data shows that the Portuguese state owns around three-quarters of TAP. Most of the remainder is held by the Barraqueiro group. TAP received billions of euros in state support amid the pandemic, in the form of emergency liquidity, loans, loan guarantees and restructuring assistance. This included equity and quasi-equity measures which led to the government taking majority control of the carrier in 2020, amid warnings at the time that the alternative was bankruptcy. Prior to this, Atlantic Gateway – a consortium which included JetBlue Airways and Azul founder David Neeleman – held a 45% stake, down from 61% when it was originally privatised in 2015. In September 2022, it emerged that the Portuguese authorities were seeking to return the company to the private sector, ideally to become part of a larger airline group that could support its development, but progress since has been hindered by changes of government. IAG, one of the frontrunners to take over TAP, said in February that the conditions of the sale would be released in the coming few weeks and that it would make a decision on whether to make a bid in March, yet appears to have been silent on the matter since then. Air France-KLM and Lufthansa have also expressed a desire to purchase a stake in TAP. Sarmento confirms that the Portuguese government has "had meetings with several potential candidates" which have "large aircraft lines that are very interested in TAP". Asked whether authorities had a valuation in mind, he responded: "We do have." This, he indicates, would be made public alongside further details on the sale process, timeline, and "the conditions to be included or excluded from the process".

LATAM Airlines has committed $40 million towards retrofitting 37 of its Airbus A319s. The Chile-based airline group in May began the interior retrofit efforts – which will include new Collins Meridian seats, USB-A and USB-C connection ports, and support for mobile phones and tablets – and expects to complete the work between the end of 2026 and the beginning of 2027. It intends to use the aircraft for domestic and regional routes in Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. LATAM has 39 A319s in service and one in storage, fleet data shows. Its A319 fleet has an average age of 17 years. "With this renewal of 19 narrowbody aircraft, for domestic and international routes in Peru and Ecuador, and 18 for the Brazilian market, we are not only modernising our fleet, but we are also bringing the essence of South America to the interior of our aircraft," states Jaime Cornejo, product manager cabin, inflight entertainment and connectivity for LATAM.