The crash of EgyptAir Airlines Flight 804 into the eastern Mediterranean last week is the latest in a series of crises to hit the carrier. It will be the biggest test yet for EgyptAir Holding chairman and CE Safwat Mosallam, who took the role in March. The airline has demonstrated its ability to weather previous crashes and political upheaval. When tourism to Egypt dried up after the 2011 revolution, the airline successfully courted transfer passengers, ferrying them between Europe and far-flung places in Africa via its Cairo hub to offset the loss of tourism business. That reach also has kept the airline as a cornerstone of the Star Alliance, where other partners value EgyptAir’s reach into locations they don’t serve, a European airline official said. Still, much hinges on the outcome of the probe into the latest crash of the flight from Paris to Cairo. <br/>
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As days pass while crews search the seas for answers to yet another aviation mystery, some accident investigators are saying it’s time to employ technology to make crash data available immediately. Instead of waiting for sophisticated submarines to find and retrieve aircraft black box recorders, which can take weeks or even years, the technology is rapidly maturing to give investigators almost instant access to critical clues about an accident, either by streaming the information in real time via satellite or by devices designed to jettison from the plane. The crash of EgyptAir Flight 804 in the Mediterranean early Thursday on a flight from Paris to Cairo is renewing a debate that began with the 2014 disappearance of Malaysian Air Flight 370 over how best to track aircraft and ensure that accident investigators get the most timely data. <br/>
Lufthansa is struggling to hire cabin crews for new routes, putting growth plans at risk as low wages and years of labour conflict complicate the airline’s recruiting amid a tight German job market. Through mid-May, Lufthansa has brought on about 500 flight attendants for its namesake carrier. With the peak summer flying season coming up within a few weeks, that’s a little more than one-third of the brand’s goal to hire 1,400 cabin-crew members in 2016. Including units such as Eurowings, the airline group is seeking 2,800 new flight attendants, adding to a cabin-crew workforce of about 28,000 employees. With German unemployment touching record lows since late 2014 and a contract dispute with the flight attendants’ union, UFO, now in arbitration, Lufthansa has struggled to lure qualified staff for expansion. <br/>
Onerous restrictions and costs are hindering Air Canada’s ability to expand and compete internationally, the airline’s CE said Wednesday. Calin Rovinescu said Canada’s airport fees are too high and legacy legislation from when the company was govt-owned means it’s operating at a disadvantage. “We need to have the same ability to compete, the same level playing field that everyone else has,” said Rovinescu. He said he hoped Bill C-10 will come into force soon so the company will have fewer restrictions on where it conducts airline maintenance. The legislation would lift requirements on the number of maintenance employees in Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario and how much work is done in those provinces. The labour restrictions were part of the privatisation measures of Air Canada 28 years ago. <br/>