Bangkok Airways has put off a plan to increase the frequency of flights on the Bangkok-Danang route as competition heats up. The SET-listed regional airline earlier intended to boost the service to a daily basis from four flights a week, the rate it has applied since its May 25 maiden flight. While Bangkok Airways executives cited the delayed arrival of additional Airbus 319 jets to its fleet, constraining the airline's capacity, industry executives suggested that competition triggered by Vietnam Airlines was a major cause. The Vietnamese flag carrier followed Bangkok Airways in linking the Thai capital with the largest city in central Vietnam on June 27. Vietnam Airlines offers a similar four flights a week and nearly the same aircraft capacity as the Thai carrier. Demand needs time to develop because the capacity provided by two players appears to be matching current demand, the executives said. Bangkok Airways uses Airbus A319 jets with 138 economy-class seats. <br/>
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Southwest Airlines' tentative labour agreement with its pilots, reached after more than four years of negotiations, may be in danger now that Delta has a pending deal that would pay its aviators more. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association is seeking to reopen some sections of an accord reached Aug. 29 and has requested a meeting with CEO Gary Kelly, union President Jon Weaks said Monday. “It is better for all parties to negotiate this now and have a clean tentative agreement process and a conclusion,” Weaks told pilots in an e-mail Monday. “There is a lot of mutual incentive for the company and SWAPA to fine-tune the current TA for changing industry dynamics and the needs of both parties.” Pilots at major US airlines typically seek industry-leading pay in contract talks, and Southwest’s union said it had succeeded in that goal before the Delta agreement on Friday. For Southwest, securing a contract settles questions about rising labor costs and will enable the carrier to use improved compensation as a recruiting tool. Southwest currently doesn’t have a follow-up meeting set with the union, Bob Hughes, an airline spokesman, said.<br/>
What do a supermarket clerk, an airline baggage handler and a heavy-equipment operator have in common? They’re among the first participants in JetBlue’s new program to turn people with little or no flight experience into pilots. The initial six recruits begin the second phase of training Monday, after three weeks studying meteorology, aerodynamics, aircraft systems and the like. They’ll now spend about seven months in Arizona to begin flight training at CAE Oxford Aviation Academy. If successful -- and if they can handle the $125,000 price tag -- they should become first officers at JetBlue Airways Corp. in 2020. US carriers are seeking new ways to recruit as the industry faces a projected shortage of 15,000 aviators by 2026, according to the University of North Dakota. JetBlue’s Gateway Select program is the first of its kind in the US, although similar efforts have been used in Europe and Asia. It is one of seven recruitment programs at the New York-based airline. “I’ve been a pilot coming up on 30 years now, and I’m literally blown away by the enthusiasm and raw aptitude these six individuals have,” said David Freiwald, a JetBlue flight instructor. Of the recruits, one had 100 hours of flight time as a private pilot, another had about 35 hours and the rest had never flown a plane. The airline declined to make any students available for interviews. JetBlue’s pilots union doesn’t support the program. “We don’t see a need for it,” said Patrick Walsh, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association group at the carrier. “There are thousands of qualified pilots applying with JetBlue currently.” He declined to comment on the quality of the training regimen.<br/>