Emirates said Thursday it plans to continue on its growth strategy next year, and plans to continue to invest in its products and services to improve customer experience. Airline president Tim Clark said consumer appetite for travel has remained “resilient despite socioeconomic and political headwinds around the globe. Emirates will continue on our strategy of organic growth, leveraging on the geo-centricity of the UAE, and Dubai’s dynamic developments in tourism and commerce. We will also continue to invest in our product and services so as to offer our customers an outstanding experience and value proposition,” Clark said. During 2016, Emirates said it scaled up its fleet with the addition of 36 new aircraft. The airline also retired 29 older aircraft, concluding the year with 255 aircraft in service. <br/>
unaligned
Emirates has taken delivery of its first Rolls-Royce engine-powered Airbus A380 superjumbo and has resolved its dispute with the engine maker over a technical issue. The A380 jet arrived in Dubai Thursday morning, 2 days after Airbus said it would delay the delivery of 12 A380s to the airline over the next 2 years. An Emirates spokeswoman declined to say when it would be deployed for passenger services. The 3-class configured jet was originally scheduled for delivery Dec 2. The airline "has come to an agreement with Rolls-Royce on the technical issue relating to engines for our A380s," a different spokeswoman said, adding 2 more Rolls-Royce powered A380s would be delivered before the end of 2016. <br/>
Facilities maintenance technicians at Southwest Airlines rejected a 5-year contract with the carrier. According to the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represents the employees, 34 of 37 eligible workers voted on the agreement with 19 rejecting the deal. “The company will take a step back to assess the results of the vote and determine how we might structure a contract that respects and serves the interests of both the company and our employees,” said senior director of corporate facilities John Zuzu. The union and the carrier have been in contract talks since 2013 for the facilities maintenance technicians. <br/>
Arik Air has accused the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) of acting in bad faith over its decision to impose a N6m (US$19,000) fine on the airline for its alleged poor handling of passengers’ luggage from London. The airline said the official communication procedure to respond to the alleged infraction has not been fully explored before the regulator went public with its decision. In its reaction, Arik Air’s spokesman said NCAA’s action of publicising the letter before the airline had an opportunity to formally respond by the deadline stated in the letter, was unprofessional. He said NCAA had invited the management of the airline to an informal meeting Dec 16 where it explained the circumstances leading to the sequence of events and detailed the efforts it made to recover the luggage. <br/>
Interjet has grounded 11 Sukhoi Superjet 100s with stabiliser defects pending repairs. The aircraft were grounded after inspections of the 22 SSJ100s in Interjet’s fleet were completed Dec 27, Mexico’s civil aviation authority says. Repairs are scheduled to be complete by the end of January, the regulator says. The inspections occurred after a defect in the “stabiliser attachment bands” was found on one SSJ100, prompting an airworthiness directive from Russian authorities Dec 23. Sukhoi Superjet has said the stabiliser issue is not “critical” and has multiple redundancies that gives it a “safety margin which is more than twice the operational loads”. The Mexican regulator has authorised Interjet to operate one of its Airbus A321s on the 11 routes impacted by the SSJ100 grounding. <br/>