Alfred Chua

TAP owner Parpublica will have 30 days to assess the bids and submit a report to the Portuguese government. Two of Europe’s largest airline groups have submitted binding offers to acquire a minority stake in TAP Air Portugal, as its privatisation moves into the final stages. Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group each disclosed their binding offers on 29 July, each outlining their plans for  the Portuguese national carrier. Neither carrier revealed how much it was offering.

Budget carrier leans away from Castlelake as additional investor makes surprise approach. EasyJet has signalled its agreement to a surprise takeover bid from US investment firm Apollo Management, in a £5.7 billion ($7.7 billion) deal that trumps earlier attempts by rival investor Castlelake. The low-cost operator disclosed the proposal on 10 July, which is based on a £7.15-per-share acquisition. The figure is higher than the £6.90-per-share offer from Castlelake, which was disclosed on 4 July.

The airline hopes to up-gauge its Singapore flights to widebody aircraft “at some point”. Oman Air launched flights from Muscat to Singapore on 2 July, returning to the city-state after more than nine years. This time, the direct flights are operated by its Boeing 737 Max 8s – instead of its now-retired Airbus A330s. With a block time of close to 8h, the route is one of the Oneworld operator’s longest operated by its 737s.