Well wasn’t the industry abuzz on Friday with headlines stemming off a Globe and Mail interview with Sunwing president and CEO, Stephen Hunter, who said the company had been “approached recently” with a takeover offer for its airline division from an unnamed suitor. Hunter told Travel Industry Today that some of his comments were taken out of context and that, “over the last twenty years Sunwing has had a lot of offers to buy the company (or pieces of it).”
The newspaper quoted Hunter as saying, “the integrated and interdependent nature of Sunwing’s divisions – the travel companies, resorts and airline – complicate the prospect of any sale.”
The airline, he said in that interview, is a vehicle in order to get package customers from point A to point B. “So, our airline really is the cost department within our tour operator. And therefore, one really can’t go without the other,”
Hunter also noted that Sunwing Vacations provides about 30 percent of the customers to its own hotels.
The Globe and Mail quoted Hunter as saying he fielded a takeover offer “years ago” from a party he declined to name. They quote an unnamed airline executive not authorized to speak publicly who said Westjet and Sunwing, “have held talks in the past.”
The article states, “It is not clear whether the recent bid is from WestJet or another company.”
Though Travel Industry Today did not discuss this with Stephen Hunter, it would seem highly unlikely that WestJet would currently be in any position to finance a takeover. Onex bought WestJet in 2019. Since then the airline, like most others, has laid off thousands of workers, cut schedules and cancelled or suspended hundreds of flights (currently – like other Canadian carriers – Westjet has cancelled all flights to the Caribbean and Mexico until April 30).
Meanwhile, the Sunwing CEO told us that with its recent agreement with the government for $375 million, Sunwing is one of the best capitalized airlines in Canada.
“Although we are in the middle of a pandemic,” said Hunter, “I am very excited and optimistic about the future for Sunwing. We are positioned perfectly to continue to be the leader in vacation travel.”
As for the idea that he was looking for a buyer, the last word goes to Stephen Hunter, “I don’t play Golf and therefore I have no interest in selling the company.”
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