Aviation Daily, July 1, 2015

Emirates has rejected the U.S. legacy carriers' claims as “nothing more than a mess of legal distortions and factual errors” and accused them of seeking “protection from competition.”

Lufthansa agreed to offer an early-retirement plan to newly hired flight attendants that allows them to stop flying at age 55. The proposal will require personal financial contributions by the employees only if a pre-defined level of return—based on interest rates—is not reached. The plan will be reviewed after 10 years.

Ryanair’s request to Airport Coordination Netherlands for slots at Amsterdam Airport was granted, giving the Irish LCC slots for up to nine daily flights at the airport this winter. Ryanair already operates from three regional Dutch airports—Eindhoven, Maastricht and Groningen—but the airline is adding more primary airports to its network as part of its “Always Getting Better” strategy to attract more business passengers and improve the overall customer experience.

But first the sides must solve a slew of challenges. They include reaching an agreement that combines two different approaches on work-rules and benefits, one from United and the other from Continental Airlines, and ensuring that flight attendants receive competitive pay.

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is set to introduce a self-service bag-drop system at Haneda Airport that it says will be the world’s largest when fully installed. The carrier will start the service at its domestic terminal on July 1 with five self-service machines. By year-end it will have a total of 39 machines. This will also be the first self-service baggage system in Japan. The cost of the system is not being revealed. ANA says it will decrease the number of staff-served baggage counters, but some will be retained.

Boingo now provides Internet connectivity at 30 of the top 49 airports in the U.S., according to a report provided to the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners, which runs Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Airports like LAX—which just renewed with Boingo for seven years—like the service because it does not require them to run their own networks and it provides some revenue.

The equity stake in Fulcrum is the largest single investment by a U.S. airline in alternative fuels, says Brett Hart, United executive vice president and general counsel. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways made an undisclosed equity investment in Fulcrum in August 2014.

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