Southwest Airlines' head of labour relations is retiring less than a month after 4 of the carrier’s largest unions sought the resignation of its top executives amid stalled contract negotiations. Randy Babbitt joined Southwest in 2012 and is departing following more than 50 years in the industry. Southwest’s pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and airport ground workers called for CE Gary Kelly and COO Mike Van de Ven to step down earlier this month after a computer system outage caused the cancellation of 2,300 flights and left passengers stranded in July. Three of the unions have been in talks for new contracts for at least 3 years. “We are glad to see his departure,” the president of the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, said. “His presence has been a hindrance to negotiations progress.” <br/>
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Southwest Airlines has made its bags fly free policy a core part of its branding and a way to differentiate itself from other US airlines. And while the carrier willingly trades the extra bag fee revenues it could earn in favour of increased customer loyalty, a new study shows the policy could be costing the company in a less obvious way: on-time departures. The study tracked the impact airlines’ decision to charge for checked bags had on operational performance, as more people carried on their bags and travelled with less luggage overall. It found that even with more people carrying on bags to avoid the fees — creating a logjam as people jostle for overhead bin space — that extra time boarding was outweighed by the time saved from having to process and load fewer checked bags into the plane. <br/>
Frontier Airlines is on the hunt for the kind of accounting skills more commonly found at public companies. The airline lists openings for a senior manager of financial reporting and technical accounting on its website, along with corporate financial analysts and a senior accountant with experience in Sarbanes-Oxley. A Frontier spokesman declined to comment on ongoing reports that the company was planning an IPO and whether the new hires might be related to that. But an aviation industry consultant, said it makes sense for Frontier to pursue an IPO — even if the company isn’t quite ready to go public about going public. Bloomberg reported in early March that Indigo Partners, the private equity firm that owns Frontier, had hired Barclays, Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase in connection with an IPO. <br/>
Leisure carrier Condor has been hit by shrinking demand, especially on flights to holiday destinations, related to recent terrorist attacks in Europe. “In total, demand on our leisure flights this year [has] dropped by 10%,” chairman and CE Ralf Teckentrup said. Continued weak customer demand from Germany to Turkey resulted in a bookings drop of 40%. “You can expect the same [figure] for Egypt. The Tunisian leisure market [has] disappeared completely,” Teckentrup said. Condor has shifted capacity to other Mediterranean destinations such as Palma de Mallorca and the Canary Islands. But other carriers do the same and there is overcapacity in the Spanish market. Increased pricing pressure due to intense competition in the short- and medium-haul market resulted in depressed fares, leading to lower yields. <br/>
Nepal Airlines has held informal stake sale talks with a Middle East airline after the Nepalese govt mandated it to find a “strategic partner,” its managing director said Monday. The carrier is in the midst of a turnaround, having recently brought in 2 Airbus A320 narrow body jets and with plans to bring in 2 A330 wide-bodies as it phases out out-of-production Boeing 757s. It resumed flights to Dubai from Kathmandu Aug 18 after a 4-year hiatus and is considering more than doubling its network to 19 destinations. Nepal's govt wants the airline to bring in an outside investor to fast track the expansion plan that also includes adding at least one new aircraft a year from 2017. Nepal’s govt believes an outside investor-led expansion would give the airline a greater share of passenger traffic. <br/>
China’s Changsha Huanghua International Airport is preparing for the launch of a regional airline that will be partially owned by the Hunan provincial govt. According to Liu Zhiren, GM of the Hunan Airport Management Group, the new carrier will be named Zhongnan Airlines. Liu revealed that China Southern Airlines or its subsidiaries Xiamen Airlines or Hainan Airlines will be partners in the start-up carrier. It is increasingly common in China to launch regional airlines through cooperation with municipal or provincial govts. As Chinese regional carriers partner with local govts, they seek cash support and favourable policies on taxes, landing fees, ground-handling fees and land resources. Local govts hope that launching airlines will stimulate economic growth. <br/>
Comair has told its shareholders that it has ended talks to acquire an undisclosed company. “The company’s negotiations to potentially acquire a company have been terminated for the moment,” Comair said in an Aug 17 disclosure to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. The talks were first announced in April; as recently as July 6, Comair said they were ongoing. While no company was named, some media reports hinted Comair could have been interested in South African Airways’ LCC Mango. This has not been confirmed. SAA has been going through turbulent times in recent years, trying to step losses, regain management stability and get back on track with its long-term strategy. The mainline carrier is also seeking an equity partner. Comair, which operates as a British Airways franchise carrier, also is the parent of Kulula.com. <br/>
Air Malta’s cabin crew union boss says govt has agreed to its requests for more flexible working hours and promised not to lay off staff, but business deal with Alitalia remains elusive. Cabin crew union (UCC) president Noel Mercieca said that tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis has promised that workers’ take-home pay will not be reduced, but that their salaries will be adjusted according to their working hours, in line with the union’s demands. This means that cabin crew who work longer hours can be expected to earn higher salaries than what they are currently earning. None of Air Malta’s 250 or so cabin crew will be fired, but all of them will be offered a strictly voluntary retirement scheme. “This is only the start of discussions and the real negotiations are yet to begin,” Mercieca said. <br/>
Ukraine International Airlines (UIA) has taken delivery of 8 of the 9 Boeing 737-800s that it plans to take in 2016 as part of its fleet-renewal program. This latest delivery, an ex-Norwegian 737-800, is the third aircraft to arrive at UIA in 3 weeks. It has been configured in a 186-seat, 2-class layout and takes UIA to a fleet of 39 aircraft, including 20 Boeing 737NGs. “The UIA 2016 fleet renewal and expansion program will be completed with the delivery of the ninth aircraft, [which is] scheduled in early December,” a UIA press secretary said. UIA is adding 30% capacity to its mid-haul fleet to expand its network, increase frequencies and minimise overbooking. In 2016, UIA plans to phase out 2 Boeing 737 Classics which were manufactured in 1992 and 1997. <br/>
Hawaiian Airlines pilots’ labour representatives said they will open a strike-operations centre in September in Honolulu―the latest escalation of the pilots’ rhetoric in their stalled contract negotiations with the airline. The more than 600 Hawaiian Airlines pilots voted overwhelmingly to authorise a strike earlier this year. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents Hawaiian flight-deck crewmembers, has asked the US National Mediation Board (NMB) to release the pilots from federal mediation. An NMB release would trigger an offer of binding arbitration, which could be rejected by either side. An arbitration rejection would start a 30-day cooling-off period that would have to take place prior to any strike. “We still hope we can reach an agreement with the company, but we are prepared for any eventuality,” ALPA said. <br/>