oneworld

Talks aimed at averting strikes by British Airways cabin crew over Christmas will be held Monday. Unite union members based at Heathrow are due to walk out on Christmas Day and Boxing Day in a dispute over pay. The row involves about 4,500 “mixed fleet” cabin crew who have joined BA since 2010. Unite says they are on lower wages than other staff, referring to the amount that recently hired staff receive as “poverty pay”. BA said it was “appalled” that Unite proposed to disrupt customers’ travel plans on Christmas Day and Boxing Day and that it planned to ensure its customers could travel to their destinations. Unite said: ““Given the huge profits BA’s parent company made last year, the mixed fleet’s calls for a living wage and for equal treatment at work and in their pay packets must be heard." <br/>

Air Berlin's CE is to step down in the new year, to be replaced by a senior manager at Lufthansa following a wide-ranging shake-up of the loss-making carrier. Air Berlin said Sunday Stefan Pichler will step down Feb 1, 2 years after he took over, to be replaced by Thomas Winkelmann. Air Berlin has announced a series of restructuring moves in recent weeks that will halve its fleet to around 75 aircraft. It is leasing 38 crewed aircraft to Lufthansa and spinning off its tourist routes as a new leisure airline joint venture with tour operator TUI's TUIFly unit, to focus on long-haul flights operated out of Berlin and Dusseldorf. It is still loss-making, however, and has been hit this year by fierce competition on routes to Spain as tourists avoided eastern Mediterranean destinations due to security fears. <br/>