TAP Portugal launched Lisbon-Boston Logan services June 11, followed by a new daily service to New York JFK from July 1. The carrier’s new Airbus A330 executive class cabin features 20 lie-flat seats, plus new slim-line seats in other cabins. The cabin refurbishment program also includes an advanced audio and individual on-demand entertainment system. The Star Alliance member will operate from JetBlue’s Terminal C at Boston Logan. TAP recently signed a codeshare agreement with New York-based JetBlue, which is a TAP stakeholder and the largest domestic airline in Boston. The Star Alliance member may place its code on JetBlue flights to 34 US destinations. <br/>
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SAS has agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement with Swedish pilot union SPF, drawing an end to a strike that started June 10. “The parties have agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement and all flights in Sweden will resume as soon as possible,” SAS said. SAS was expecting some 240 of its Swedish-pilot operated flights to be canceled June 14 after SPF, acting on behalf of its 400 members, rejected a second mediated bid. “The strike has until today [June 14] resulted in about 1,000 canceled flights and a total of 100,000 passengers affected by the disrupted traffic. The financial effects from the strike are yet too early to quantify,” SAS said. <br/>
Air Canada has confirmed the ratification of its 10th and final labour agreement with its Canadian unions. “This completes Air Canada’s current cycle of labour negotiations and establishes long-term contracts extending in most cases over a 10-year duration for all of its 25,000 unionised employees in Canada,” it said. Members of Unifor—representing 88 inflight crew schedulers—became the 10th and final bargaining unit representing Air Canada’s unionised employees in Canada to have ratified a new contract on long-term collective agreement terms. <br/>
The flight data recorders from EgyptAir MS804 that crashed in the Mediterranean last month are expected to stop transmitting signals around June 24, with search boats working around the clock to retrieve them. Without the recorders, investigators say there is not enough information to explain why MS804 crashed May 19. The Egypt-led investigation committee said that it had accepted a request by the United States' NTSB to have a representative join the investigation team. Investigators also said that radar imagery obtained from the Egyptian military confirmed previous reports indicating that the plane had swerved in mid-air before crashing. <br/>
Air NZ will take part in Virgin Australia's planned A$852m rights issue, even though the national carrier plans to offload the bulk of its stake to China's Nanshan Group. Virgin Australia Wednesday said it will sell shares to shore up its balance sheet. Australia's second-biggest airline had already announced plans to raise $159m selling shares to China's HNA Group and the new deal has the backing of its cornerstone airline shareholders. Air NZ, SIA, HNA, Virgin Group, and Nanshan have committed to take up the offer. If Air NZ hasn't completed the sale of its Virgin stake to Nanshan, it has agreed to pick up Nanshan's share of the entitlement offer. <br/>