Monarch expects broadly flat earnings for 2017, with pressure on fares offsetting growing demand for tickets. Monarch, whose finances deteriorated this year after security concerns deterred travel to some destinations, is grappling with falling fares as rivals such as Ryanair and EasyJet put more seats onto the market to try to gain market share. During 2016, Monarch warned the decline in demand for flights and holidays to Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt, and the devaluation of the pound after Britain's vote to leave the EU, had made market conditions difficult. It secured a GBP165m lifeline from majority shareholder Greybull Capital in October, and said Friday it expected EBITDA of GBP48m for the 12-months ended Oct 31, 2016, down more than a third from the year before. <br/>
unaligned
Pilots at Virgin Atlantic voted Friday to work to rule from Dec 23 in a dispute over sole recognition of their union, the latest round of industrial action to threaten Christmas holiday air travel. Over half of Virgin Atlantic's around 900 pilots are represented by the Professional Pilots' Union (PPU). The PPU said the ballot turnout was 80.3%, with 88.6% voting in favour of industrial action. "The action will see a removal of 'pilot goodwill' with pilots who are members of the PPU working strictly to their contract," it said. "It is possible that this may leave some flights not covered for the duration of any action, which has the potential to continue indefinitely," it added. "We expect our flying programme to remain unaffected during this period," Virgin Atlantic said. <br/>
HNA Group subsidiary Yangtze River Airlines looks toward international expansion in 2017 as China’s outbound passenger travel continues to grow. The carrier plans to take delivery of 2 Boeing 787 aircraft, which Hainan Airlines expects to introduce in 2017. Hainan Airlines raised its stake in Yangtze River Airlines from 0.37% to 11.6% in July. Last year the airline was transformed from Yangtze River Express, a cargo carrier that launched in 2002. Yangtze River Airlines currently operates 6 Boeing 737-800 passenger aircraft on 21 domestic routes. It established Shanghai as its main operating base and Shenzhen as another domestic base with passenger boardings of 600,000. By 2020, Yangtze River Airlines plans to expand to 35 passenger aircraft and transport 6.6m passengers. <br/>
Elected leaders of Alaska Airlines and Virgin America pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, voted Dec 15 to accept a transition and process agreement (TPA) with Alaska Airlines management to define the process for negotiating a joint collective bargaining agreement. Negotiations are scheduled to begin Jan 2017. “Reaching an agreement on a process to negotiate a contract that brings the professional pilots of Virgin America and Alaska together, under one contract, is an important first step toward creating one pilot group,” the Virgin America and Alaska Master Executive Councils said. The TPA agreement comes a week after the US Department of Justice approved Alaska Air Group’s acquisition of Virgin America, clearing the path for the merger of the two companies. <br/>