Ireland’s ASL Aviation Group has agreed to buy TNT Express’s two airlines for an undisclosed sum provided UPS’s €5.2 billion acquisition of the Dutch logistics company goes through. TNT Express was required to find a buyer for the airlines because EU rules make it prohibitively difficult for a foreign entity, such as the American UPS, to own a European-registered airline.
The airline disposal does nothing to resolve the European Commission’s concerns that UPS’s acquisition of TNT Express could lead to too much market concentration.
A statement by the companies yesterday said that ASL would purchase TNT Express’s two airlines, TNT Airways and Pan Air Lineas Aeréas, immediately before settlement of UPS’s acquisition of TNT Express, if European Commission approval comes through.
ASL Aviation, based in Dublin, owns five cargo and passenger charter airlines with a total of 90 aircraft and 1,200 staff. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2012