Tunisair plans to lay off 1,000 employees or more than 12% of its full-time workforce, as part of reform plans, the Transport minister said Monday. Transport minister Anis Guedira said the Tunisair reforms were planned months ago as part of a programme at the airline made in agreement with major unions to reduce costs and improve competitiveness. "We will soon lay off 400 employees who have chosen to leave voluntarily and they will receive compensation," Guedira said. "Job cuts will reach 1,000 in Tunisair in total". A source said the airline will pay about US$50m in compensation to 1,000 employees. The airline currently has around 8,200 full-time workers. As part of broader reforms, Tunisia's govt is seeking to curb the large losses incurred by major state-owned companies. <br/>
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Air Malta will not become a feeder airline, Tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis told business leaders Monday. Zammit Lewis "categorically denied" reports that negotiations between the govt and Alitalia, which is keen to buy a 49% stake in Air Malta, involved turning the carrier into a feeder airline. The minister said that it was an "absolute priority" throughout negotiations that any eventual solution safeguarded Air Malta, the local tourism sector and the airline's tourism-focused routes. Zammit Lewis had already said Air Malta would "never be a feeder airline" last May. This latest denial comes after sources said a business plan drawn up by Alitalia envisioned an Air Malta vastly expanding its route network to the African continent, to the detriment of European routes. <br/>
Experts from Russia and Germany are in Egypt to inspect the wreckage of a Russian passenger plane that crashed in Sinai last year killing all 224 people on board, the Egyptian-led investigating committee said Monday. Irish, American, and French experts will join the inspection team which will seek to pinpoint the area where the plane began to break up, the committee said in a statement. Parts of the wreckage had been previously gathered and moved to Cairo International Airport. The experts will attempt to reconstruct the plane. Russia and Western govts quickly confirmed a bomb brought the plane down and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi later said the cause was terrorism. Britain and Russia suspended flights to Sharm al-Sheikh as a result, devastating Egyptian tourism. <br/>
AirAsia reported a 41% surge in Q2 profit Monday as it benefited from stronger demand and lower fuel costs. The airline also said it was seeing strong demand for Q3, and expects a load factor in home country Malaysia of 90% in Q3, from 87% in Q2. "In Malaysia, demand remains extremely robust and we foresee this to improve in the coming quarters as consumer sentiment is picking up in the domestic economy," AirAsia Group CE Tony Fernandes said. Fernandes is now focussed on accelerating the company's growth in large markets such as India. The airline also forecast 80%-plus load factors for Thailand, Indonesia, India and the Philippines. Net profit for the 3 months through June jumped to MYR341.9m (US$84.71m) from MYR243.0m a year earlier. <br/>
Southwest Airlines and the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), the union representing the carrier’s 8,400 pilots, have reached an “agreement in principle” on a new contract, according to SWAPA. The announcement comes nearly a year after Southwest management and SWAPA reached a tentative agreement on a new labour contract that was subsequently voted down by rank-and-file Southwest flight deck crew. The agreement in principle calls for a contract that would run through Aug 31, 2020, with pay increases retroactive to 2013. Negotiations have been ongoing for more than 4 years. SWAPA said that “a new contract is certainly not a done deal,” but noted the union had taken the “the next step in the process” by reaching an agreement in principle with Southwest management. <br/>