Air Europa allies with Orizonia and pilots report an underground sale

Is José Hidalgo ready to sell Air Europa? According to the pilot union Sepla, the Spanish businessman is negotiating a merger with Orizonia, the tourist airline giant owned by Viajes Ibera and Orbest, formerly Iberworld. The airline?s union representative, Luis Crespí, explained yesterday that everything began when Air Europa and Orizonia signed a codeshare agreement (an arrangement between airlines to share flight routes) at the end of last year for flights to Cancún and Punta Cana.

"The pilots are not opposing us. We have always supported deals like this. The problems is that the codeshares have now been offered for flights between the Canary Islands and Spain, and Air Europa is cutting flights, which puts their jobs in danger," he said.

Currently, Air Europa operates with a fleet of 40 airplanes and 520 pilots on the payroll. Orbest, who only operates 9 planes, would get some of the routes, according to Sepla. "The next step is that they will tell us there are too many pilots."

But this is not just a question of outsourcing. "The latest also indicate that we could be witnessing the beginning of a buyout or merger. In fact, there are rumors in the marketplace that some shareholders could have sold out already." Sources from the aviation sector assure that Globalia would have sold 40% of Air Europa to the hedge fund Carlyle, one of Orizonia?s owners, via Orbest, the tourist airline managed by Fernando Conte.

Globalia denies this emphatically. "There is no buyout or outsourcing deal," sources from the company explained to elEconomista. "What Sepla is saying are crazy ideas without any foundation and it is untrue that we are cutting flights." The airline offered these comments in response to labor union accusations that Air Europa will get all of Orbest?s flights.