ch-aviation
• Hilka Birns
South African Airways plans to resume its search for a strategic equity partner, reopening a process aimed at bringing outside investment into the state-owned carrier. The move puts the airline’s ownership and capital strategy back in focus as it seeks a prospective long-term partner.
M&A
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South African Airways plans to resume its search for a strategic equity partner, reopening a process aimed at bringing outside investment into the state-owned carrier. The move puts the airline’s ownership and capital strategy back in focus as it seeks a prospective long-term partner.
TAP Air Portugal reported growing losses in the first half of 2026 as the Portuguese carrier awaits a decision on its planned sale. Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Group are competing to become TAP’s new owner, adding financial pressure to an already consequential privatization process.
Apollo funds have acquired a major share in Atlantic Aviation from KKR, which purchased the fixed-base operator chain in 2021. The transaction marks a change in ownership for one of the business aviation sector’s established FBO networks, but the available details do not disclose the stake’s value or terms.
Consolidation, shifting business models, sovereign space ambitions and a tougher investment environment are reshaping the global space sector. Industry leaders meeting in Paris are confronting increasingly interconnected pressures across commercial space, national capabilities and capital markets.
KKR transformed a decentralized network of private-jet terminals into a national infrastructure platform, more than doubling its value to $10 billion. The deal highlights the growing financialization of business-aviation infrastructure and the strategic value investors see in controlling private-jet fueling and service facilities.
High activity
Highlands and Islands Enterprise has acquired the assets of Sutherland Spaceport Ltd following the collapse of launch company Orbex. The Scottish development agency has not yet determined what will happen to the spaceport, leaving the site’s operational and commercial future unresolved.
Singapore-based Astrum Space plans to merge with a publicly listed blank-check company in a transaction valuing the direct-to-device satellite venture at about $1 billion. The deal places Astrum among space startups using public-market combinations to fund connectivity ambitions and potentially expand investor access.
High activity
Apollo Global Management is acquiring a co-controlling stake in Atlantic Aviation from KKR, valuing one of the world’s largest fixed-base operators at nearly $10 billion. The partnership comes as Atlantic begins construction of a Nashville FBO with expanded hangar, ramp and fueling capacity.
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