Continental Airlines is seeking to move deeper into Latin America with a bid made jointly with partner Copa Airlines for Colombia's Avianca Airlines. The bid, which is reportedly backed by Avianca's committee of unsecured creditors, would give the US major more regional muscle.
The terms of the Continental/Copa bid have not been made public, but they apparently are higher than the bid made by Grupo Sinergy in March. Brazilian entrepreneur German Efromovich, who controls Grupo Sinergy, made the March offer of $64 million plus assumption of debt, and it is unclear if he would raise it.
Continental owns 49% of Panama-based Copa, which would finance Avianca's emergence from bankruptcy protection. Any deal would need approval from the bankruptcy court in New York where Avianca filed for Chapter 11 in March 2003. Under the offer, Avianca would continue as an independent airline.
Continental has the second-largest presence of any US airline in Latin America after American Airlines. But Continental, with its hub in Houston, leads in Mexico. The addition of Avianca - with its hub in Bogotá - would build on an alliance forged in 1998 between Copa and Continental.
The two carriers boosted their code sharing significantly in December, increasing flights from 27 to a total of 127 US destinations.
Source: Airline Business
