British Airways and flight attendants represented by Unite extended their negotiating deadline from Tuesday evening to "midday" today. At that point, Unite can give its seven-day strike notice if an agreement has not been reached ( ATWOnline, March 8).
Emirates plans to hire 2,000 flight attendants this year, according to a statement cited by press reports from Dubai. It has added some 660 cabin staff and more than 60 pilots in the past 12 months, during which it increased its fleet by 14 aircraft to 145. It will launch service to its 106th destination, Dakar, on Sept. 1 when it begins five-times-weekly flights from Dubai on an A340-300.
US President Barack Obama yesterday announced that he will nominate retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Harding to head the Transportation Security Administration. Harding most recently served as CEO of Harding Security Associates, an intelligence and defense consultancy he founded in 2003 and sold last year. He spent 33 years in the Army before retiring in 2001 and from 1996-2000 was the Defense Intelligence Agency's director of operations.
Aer Lingus will not announce its 2009 results today as planned owing to its inability to list an accurate charge relating to cost reduction agreements it is attempting to reach with unions. Late last week flight attendants represented by Impact rejected proposals agreed upon by the union and EI ( ATWOnline, March 8). The result of a vote by maintenance employees represented by the Craft Union had not been announced late yesterday.
WestJet yesterday launched a frequent flyer program in partnership with RBC and MasterCard, offering passengers for the first time the opportunity "to earn and accumulate WestJet dollars," the Calgary-based LCC said. "Every WestJet dollar can be used as cash toward the purchase of any flight on any date to any destination. . .There are no points, redemption grids, advance booking, blackouts or seat restrictions--just dollars off flights and vacation packages." VP-Marketing Lauri Feser added that the program will "be simple, open and transparent. .
Jazz Air, Air Canada's regional partner, announced a tentative labor agreement with dispatchers represented by the Canadian Air Line Dispatchers Assn. No terms were revealed. The airline said that negotiations with the Air Line Pilots Assn. and Canadian Flight Attendants Union "are ongoing."
Alaska Airlines flew 1.35 billion RPMs in February, a 5.9% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was cut 2.4% to 1.69 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 6.3 points to 79.8%. AirTran Airways flew 1.29 billion RPMs in February, up 5.4% year-over-year, against a 4.2% lift in capacity to 1.72 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 0.9 point to 75.1%. Allegiant Air flew 414.2 million system RPMs in February, an 18% increase year-over-year. Capacity was up 17% to 469.8 million ASMs and load factor rose 0.8 point to 88.2%.
Amadeus signed an MOU with Asiana Airlines to commence an evaluation of its Altea Customer Management System. Asiana "will set the timelines for their assessment and planning for the future implementation of Altea," Amadeus said. Thirteen Star Alliance members currently use the full system. Datalex reached agreement with Copa Airlines to provide its Travel Distribution Platform supporting the carrier's website.
DAL Global Services of Atlanta, a Delta Air Lines subsidiary, will lay off 385 employees at Philadelphia International by March 15 because it lost cleaning contracts with US Airways and United Airlines, according to a letter to Pennsylvania state authorities cited by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Aer Lingus received mixed news from the Impact trade union Friday as pilot members agreed to accept the carrier's cost savings package but cabin crew defeated a series of "extremely unpalatable" proposals from the airline.
Lufthansa pilots represented by Vereinigung Cockpit will not strike after the March 8 deadline to reach a settlement with the airline providing discussions continue, a union spokesperson told Bloomberg News. "As long as negotiations remain constructive, there is no reason to strike," the spokesperson said ( ATWOnline, Feb. 24).
British Airways and flight attendants represented by Unite set a Tuesday deadline "to determine whether or not a mutually acceptable settlement can be achieved," the UK Trades Union Congress said Friday. The parties have been negotiating with help from the TUC, doing so in the shadow of a strike authorization passed by cabin staff late last month and subsequent plans by the airline to use volunteers, pilots and 23 wet-leased aircraft to maintain operations ( ATWOnline, March 4).
Delta TechOps expanded its maintenance agreement with Sun Country Airlines to cover APU and component MRO services. Deal covers APUs on nine 737NGs for five years and extends an existing inventory supply and service contract covering SY's entire 737NG fleet through 2018.
GE Aviation and Air India announced an agreement under which the airline will provide MRO services on the GEnx-1B with technical support and training from the engine-maker. AI has 27 GEnx-1B-powered 787s on order with delivery expected to begin next year. "Air India envisages a state-of-the-art facility catering to GE90 and GEnx engines, including a new engine test facility," Chairman and MD Arvind Jadhav said.
Boeing announced that Air China and Air China Cargo will expand their use of the Airplane Health Management system for inflight monitoring of 777s and 747-400s. New contract adds 42 in-service and on-order aircraft to the 117 737s already covered. CA currently operates 10 777-200s and 10 747-400s while CA Cargo flies seven 747-400Fs. CA was Boeing's first Chinese AHM customer.
Alliance among Air Berlin, Niki and S7 Airlines is "quiet" while the first two carriers await expanded traffic rights to Russia ( ATWOnline, Jan. 13, 2009). "Without more traffic rights, we are not able to do much more in terms of cooperation," Niki President Niki Lauda told
European Low Fares Airline Assn.'s 11 members flew 162.5 million passengers in 2009, an 8.7% increase from 2008. Load factor averaged 82%. "These figures show clearly how ELFAA members are bucking the trend in the aviation sector when it comes to passenger numbers," Secretary-General John Hanlon said.
Air Berlin and pilots represented by Vereinigung Cockpit announced an agreement "to hold negotiations on unresolved issues of the framework collective agreement," forestalling the warning strikes the union threatened this week ( ATWOnline, March 3).
American Airlines faces a growing labor problem as talks with its flight attendants broke down late Wednesday, leading to a strike threat, while its ground workers set a Monday deadline to reach an accord before taking action that could lead to a work stoppage.
FAA yesterday announced that two New York JFK tower employees, a supervisor and an air traffic controller, are on administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into "an incident last month when a child was permitted to talk with pilots on an air traffic control frequency." The widely available audio clips feature a child making five transmissions to pilots preparing for takeoff.
Both passenger and cargo demand are rebounding, particularly in Asia and developing markets, but there are "very large geographical differences" in the recovery and rising fuel costs hamper the "ability to turn stronger demand into profit," IATA stated in its latest "Airlines Financial Monitor" released yesterday.
