Mechanics at United have approved a six-year labor deal, the latest in a string of pay-raising contracts in the now profitable industry. The contract with the Teamsters union covers more than 9,000 employees at United Continental Holdings Inc. It covers employees of United and the former Continental Airlines. Few details were disclosed. The union said the contract is worth $1.7b more in pay and benefits than the workers' current deal. <br/>
star
Lufthansa and GE will jointly invest some E250m in Poland to build a plant that will service aircraft engines starting in 2018, authorities said Monday. Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland's deputy prime minister in charge of the economy and finance, told a news conference that it was an "excellent" project and a result of the government's strategy of pursuing and developing modern technology ventures. The one-year-old government wants to give Poland's economy a boost to offer attractive jobs and prevent young people from emigrating. It also wants to strengthen the public finances to help pay for its social benefits policies. Executives for Germany's Lufthansa Technik and for the U.S. General Electric Aviation said Poland offered the desired mix of highly qualified employees, favorable economic environment and easily accessible location. GE has been present in Poland for 25 years in the engineering sector, also developing aircraft engines. The plant in Sroda Slaska, in the southwest, is to test and repair state-of-the-art engines for the Boeing 747-8 jumbo jets for Lufthansa and for other airlines, starting in September 2018. It will operate for at least 30 years and will create some 600 new jobs and train new personnel, recruiting from Poland. "The technology that will be required to maintain (the newest GE9X) engine is one of the reasons why we selected this site here in Poland," said Bill Millhaem, senior executive at GE Aviation.<br/>
Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong has received a much-coveted award for transforming the airline to better compete in an increasingly tough environment. He was conferred the 2016 Dwight D. Eisenhower Global Innovation Award by the United States-based Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU) at a gala dinner in New York on Monday (Dec 5) night - the first time a BCIU award has been presented to a recipient from South-East Asia. In honouring him, the non-profit organisation said Goh "is a visionary whose transformational leadership has elevated and energised both the company's brand as well as its people". BCIU president, Peter Tichansky, said: "Goh Choon Phong, characteristic of BCIU's Eisenhower Honorees, is an exemplary leader who has changed his industry through the courage of his convictions." Faced with growing threats from full-service airlines in the premium business, and budget carriers in the regional space, SIA launched its own mid- and long-haul budget carrier, Scoot, which started flying in 2012. During Goh's six-year tenure, SIA has also struck many partnerships with other full-service airlines like Lufthansa, to expand its global reach and network.<br/>
South African Airways has unveiled a new A330-300 aircraft aimed at improving efficiencies. SAA’s acting CEO Musa Zwane said the state-of-the-art aircraft which arrived on Friday was in line with the national carrier’s turn-around strategy. He said the aircraft would not only inject new life into customer experience, but would bolster SAA’s bottom line. “Beyond product refreshing which our customers will surely enjoy, this is an important milestone for us in the context of the implementation of our long-term turnaround strategy we unveiled three years ago. The new aircraft will bring much needed efficiencies, and this is expected to impact positively on the company's bottom line,” Zwane said. The company said the aircraft was part of five new A330-300 aircraft on order, which would enable the airline to expand its current route network and improve its efficiencies.<br/>