Eurowings flight attendants have called for a 24-hour strike Thursday, Oct 27. UFO said last week that strikes could be possible at any time for 2 weeks from Oct 24, after management negotiations failed. UFO said the latest round of talks held Wednesday were also unsuccessful. The strike action will affect Düsseldorf and Hamburg airports, starting from midnight local time for 24 hours. The strike also includes Germanwings cabin crew members, which are based in Düsseldorf, Cologne, Hanover, Stuttgart, Berlin and Hamburg. Eurowings said that it could not agree on a solution in the tariff conflict despite Wednesday’s intense talks. However, management said it offered all Eurowings Germany flight attendants not only substantial increases in remuneration, but also a conciliation of all open-wage agreements at Eurowings. <br/>
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Under former CE Ben Baldanza, Spirit Airlines almost always went big. That was the case in advertising. It was also the case with the airline’s network, as Spirit has been chasing cost-sensitive customers in the largest US markets. And it was true with airplanes, with Spirit returning its smallest planes to lessors as it added newer Airbus aircraft with more than 200 seats. But under CE Bob Fornaro, the former Air Tran CE who took over in January, Spirt is evolving. It’s still a no-frills ULCC and it continues to make a major chunk of its revenues from fees. And it’s still flying a lot big aircraft between major cities. But increasingly, Spirit is thinking smaller. It plans to grow capacity by 18.5% next year, which, while far more than American, United and Delta, is much less than the 30% capacity Spirit added in 2015. <br/>
Police arrested the pilot of a SkyWest Airlines plane on suspicion of being under the influence of alcohol Wednesday before the passenger jet could leave a South Dakota airport. Rapid City police were notified shortly after 8 am Wednesday that the pilot smelled of alcohol. Police said they determined the pilot from Salt Lake City was in violation of a South Dakota law prohibiting the operation of an aircraft with a blood-alcohol content above 0.04%. The pilot was arrested in the 50-seat plane at Rapid City Regional Airport, a SkyWest spokesman. No passengers were yet on board. SkyWest was operating the flight as a Delta Connection from Rapid City to Salt Lake City. SkyWest said the pilot has been placed on administrative leave and removed from flying duties during an investigation. <br/>
Volaris reported a 2016 Q3 net income of MXP1b (US$55m), down 7.1% from the year-ago period. But the ULCC continued its strong growth path, adding 5 new international routes, growing passenger numbers by 18.9% and increasing non-ticket revenues by 43.4%. Volaris’ total Q3 operating revenue was MXP6.7b for Q3, an increase of 29% year over year. Expenses, however, grew with operating costs per available seat mile increasing 22.9% year over year to MXP131 cents. The carrier faced strong cost headwinds in terms of fuel prices that were up more than 7% and exchange rate volatility. Volaris CE Enrique Beltranena said Wednesday that the company had achieved at “a very high level despite incremental costs” and had “managed profitability very aggressively.” <br/>
Flybe CE Saad Hammad has stepped down, effective immediately, by “mutual agreement,” the airline said. “Both the board and Saad believe it is time for a new CE to lead the next phase of Flybe’s long-term development,” Flybe said Wednesday. Flybe non-executive chairman Simon Laffin has taken on the role of executive chairman until a successor is found. Hammad joined Flybe in August 2013 and has headed up the airline’s turnaround plan. Laffin said the airline is “significantly stronger” following the transformation, citing Hammad’s leadership as a “major contributor” to that change. In an unusual move, pilot union BALPA said: “We’re sorry to hear that CE Saad Hammad will be moving on from Flybe. We’ve enjoyed a good relationship with him and he has had a positive impact on the airline during his 3 years.” <br/>
Southwest Airlines' disclosure Wednesday that it expects unit revenue to decline 4% to 5% year-over-year in Q4 and its unit cost excluding fuel to rise by a similar range in the same period pounded the discounter’s share price, slicing off US$2.2b in market capitalisation. But executives at the carrier said they were confident they could reach revenue targets next year despite a raft of capacity increases by rival airlines on Southwest routes. CE Gary Kelly said the carrier could break into flat or positive unit revenue in the Q1 even on planned seat growth shy of 3% in the period. For all of 2017, Southwest expects to grow 3.5% to 4%, much more than some of its largest competitors. But Kelly said he believed that is the right amount, after a capacity boost of 5% to 6% this year. <br/>