The Norwegian airline planning to launch the first transatlantic flights from Cork has rejected claims its Irish subsidiary will hire staff on lower pay and conditions. Norwegian said it set up Dublin-based Norwegian Air International (NAI) to make "best use of the existing Irish operations" and Irish-registered aircraft that are already in place. "NAI have already committed in writing to the US DoT to only use European and US crews on its transatlantic flights so any concerns on this issue are unfounded," said a spokesman. He was reacting to comments from the Irish Airline Pilots Association in the wake of high-level EU-US diplomatic meetings this week over the unprecedented 2-year delay by the US DoT on Norwegian's foreign carrier permit application. The delay is threatening the May launch of its Cork to Boston service. <br/>
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The acting CE of Gulf Air, Maher Salman Al Musallam, has tendered his resignation, the airline has confirmed. Al Musallam became acting CE of the carrier in Dec 2012 following the resignation of previous CE Samer Majali. It was never fully explained why he remained in the role in an acting capacity for such an extended period. There was no indication at last week's Bahrain International Air Show, where he signed major orders to re-equip the airline's fleet, that Al Musallam planned to resign. During his time at the carrier, he has overseen a major restructuring and turnaround program, which has steadily reduced the airline's large deficit. The financial figures for 2015, due to be announced in the next couple of months, are expected to see a further reduction in losses, with the carrier expected to be nearing breakeven. <br/>
JetBlue Airways' Q4 profit more than doubled from a year earlier, as cheap fuel and revenue from new checked bag fees and first-class seats added to its bottom line. The carrier earned US$190m in Q4, up from $88m a year ago. JetBlue said its fuel bill fell more than $100m as the average price it paid dropped about 38% from a year ago. It also benefited from bag fees and tweaks to how it charges for flight reservation changes, which began June 30. The airline said passenger unit revenue, fell 1.9% in Q4 from a year ago. JetBlue forecast that unit costs would stay flat or fall up to 2% in Q1, not including the impact of the storm. "We posted another strong quarter, producing above industry average revenue performance and running a safe and reliable operation," CE Robin Hayes said. <br/>