Fusiones y Adquisiciones

🏨 Antonio Catalán, founder of AC Hotels, bought a building at Gran Vía 34 in Granada, the former Junta de Andalucía headquarters. The 655 m² site is pending final urban use changes to become a hotel or tourist apartments. In March 2025, urban planning approved necessary changes, awaiting the final cultural commission report. Catalán's visit during the 2023 reopening of Hotel Santa Paula initiated the purchase, aligning with Granada's luxury tourism growth.

🚀 South, a subsidiary of Iberia, leads the bid for ground handling services at Lisbon, Porto, and Faro airports in Portugal. The process began in October 2024, with South and Clece participating in early 2025. If awarded, the license will last seven years. South operates in 38 Spanish airports, employs over 8,000 people, and serves over 100 airlines. The decision will be finalized after a five-day objection period by the Portuguese aviation authority.

🌍 Ávoris partners with Atlas Voyage to expand in Morocco, introducing Travelplan and Welcomebeds. The agreement makes Atlas Voyage the exclusive distributor nationwide. CEO Vicente Fenollar highlights Morocco as a priority for growth. Initially, Travelplan offers destinations like the Caribbean, Canary Islands, and Balearic Islands, with Iberojet flights. Welcomebeds provides special conditions for Moroccan agencies. Eduard Bogatyr emphasizes offering quality experiences and direct air connectivity for Moroccan travelers.

✈️ This Tuesday, rumors of a potential acquisition of EasyJet by MSC, a shipping company, caused EasyJet's stock value to rise by over 11%. Despite this, EasyJet's stock has fallen by 11% this year. MSC, known for its liquidity, is reportedly interested in EasyJet to enhance its cruise operations, though analysts suggest IAG would be a better fit. Recently, Ryanair's CEO warned of tough times ahead for EasyJet.

🗺 All Right Now, led by CEO Christian Kremers, acquired Airhopping in October 2025. The acquisition enhances their travel industry diversification, adding to their five specialized brands: Survivors (youth Interrail and Malta trips), Airhopping (multi-destination travel), Voiash Viajes a Medida (luxury travel), Experienza (B2B tours), and Mundorail (train circuits in Europe). This positions the group as an innovative, diverse entity serving diverse market segments with a focus on digitalization and international growth.

✈️ Air Nostrum and CityJet's alliance under SARA is nearing its end, two years after its formation. A Danish businessman, Lars Thuesen, will become the majority shareholder of CityJet with a 92% stake, investing €3.2 million and restructuring €40 million of debt. The alliance, formalized in 2023, aimed to create Europe's largest independent regional aviation group with 74 aircraft. Financial issues, internal disagreements, and lost contracts led to a court-approved restructuring plan opposed by Air Nostrum.

📈 Ávoris seeks to mend ties with Viajes El Corte Inglés (VECI), after a breakup in mid-2024 over an Imserso tourism program dispute. VECI axed incentives for Ávoris products, including Travelplan and Catai, but Tourmundial thrived with a 39.8% growth to €172.7 million. Meanwhile, Ávoris' Travelplan grew just 6.2% to €257 million, and Catai a mere 1.2% to €162.3 million in 2024. Key departures like Toni Frau and Pilar López to competitors add complexity.

✈ Los trabajadores de Ryanair en Santiago de Compostela harán huelga el 20 de octubre por el ERE que afecta a 89 empleados. Manifiestan que este expediente no tiene motivos económicos y buscan un ERTE para preservar empleos. CIG y CCOO apoyan esta postura, destacando la rentabilidad de la base. El paro afectará otras empresas del aeropuerto. Tres empleados de combustible ya fueron despedidos, y se temen más impactos en otras áreas. Movilizaciones continuarán hasta negociar efectivamente.

📈 World2Meet (W2M) expands into the Italian market by acquiring Ixpira, a tour operator founded in 2017. Guy Luongo, CEO of Ixpira, emphasizes this as a strategic growth move. Subject to due diligence, the deal is expected to close in December. Ixpira has over 18,000 hotel contracts in Italy and 186,000 globally, offering flights, transfers, car rentals, and activities. W2M's expansion includes operations in Romania and Bulgaria and acquiring Spain's second-largest OTA, eBooking.

🛫 American Airlines, in 2025, has removed luggage size gauges at boarding areas in airports like Albuquerque, Tucson, and Arlington. Luggage size limits will now be checked at check-in or not controlled post-check-in. This change aligns American with United Airlines, which eliminated these gauges five years prior. The aim is to enhance their premium airline image, moving away from low-cost associations. American also revised its boarding processes with new groups.