oneworld

Crews have removed an American Airlines plane from the mud after it veered off a runway at San Antonio International Airport. American spokeswoman Alexis Aran Coello said Sunday that investigators are trying to determine what prompted the pilot of Flight 2214 to abort takeoff and slide off the runway Saturday. She says weather hasn't been ruled out as a factor. The incident suspended flights for several hours. No injuries were reported. An NTSB spokesman says the agency reviewed the incident and followed up with American but doesn't plan an investigation. Knudson says the Boeing 737 wasn't damaged. The plane was heading to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport from Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Friday when it was diverted to San Antonio because of storms in Dallas.<br/>

Deliveries of A350 widebody jets, which have been hit by delays to cabin equipment, are getting much closer to their forecasted delivery dates, the CE of Finnair said Sunday. "Recently they've been fairly good," Pekka Vauramo said. "We just got one two days ago, our ninth, and it was shipped within one or two days of when it was supposed to be." Deliveries of the A350 jet made by Airbus have been held up because of problems with the cabin equipment supplied by Zodiac Aerospace. The CEO of Malaysia Airlines said earlier it expected the first two of its A350s to be slightly delayed. Finnair was the first European operator of the A350 and is due to receive two more of the A350 planes this year, to take its total to 11. Overall, it expects to have 19 by 2023. The carrier will make a decision within the next couple of years on its next-generation narrow-body needs, Vauramo added. "We need some more time. What's most important for now is that we execute our growth plan and increase our profitability," he said.<br/>

BA flight attendants are threatening a strike, just days after a computer failure disrupted travel for more than 75,000 passengers and put the carrier’s cost cuts under scrutiny. Members of the Unite union plan to walk out from June 16 through June 19 after the airline suspended travel benefits for flight attendants who participated in 26 days of strikes over pay earlier this year. The airline and Unite subsequently reached an agreement over salaries, but the union hasn’t presented the deal to members because of the dispute over the travel benefits. “Punishing staff for using legitimate industrial means to reach a wage deal is a culture that Unite cannot accept and a culture that will ultimately damage the BA brand,” Unite assistant secretary general Howard Beckett said. He cited the airline’s “persistent refusal” to hand back free flight benefits to workers. A spokeswoman for the airline urged Unite to present the agreement to its members. “We had reached a deal on pay,” she said. “Strike action is completely unnecessary.” The union said the strike won’t prevent travelers from reaching their destinations.<br/>

BA strands 75,000 passengers, produces an explanation as solid as a paper aeroplane, and sees its reputation trashed. This triple whammy was surely enough to poleaxe the share price of IAG, BA’s parent. Except it did nothing of the sort. The morning markdown on Tuesday quickly produced buyers, and by Wednesday lunchtime the price was back to last Friday’s close. Even with the company wading in for its buyback programme, this looks a curious response by the market. After all, compensation claims could top GBP100m, while the damage to a reputation already dented by irritating cost-cutting measures will take years to restore. Yet the market’s response is not irrational. The conclusion traders drew was that the misery inflicted and the incompetence shown doesn’t really matter. The world’s major airlines have a powerful position in a growing industry. If it is not quite an oligopoly on long-haul, there is at least an argument that they are not competing so hard as to damage the bottom line. Bloomberg’s Matt Levine has a theory that since the major US airlines are largely owned by the biggest fund management groups, it’s in their interest to see all carriers’ earnings improve. “An airline that cuts fares or spends money on better service to win market share isn’t necessarily doing its shareholders any favours.” He quotes airline analyst Jamie Baker at JPMorgan Chase that competition nowadays has more to do with winning an investment grade rating, or entry into the S&P 500, than with serving customers.<br/>

MAS is close to signing deals for six or seven second-hand widebody A330 planes for its fleet this year as it seeks to grow on international routes amidst good demand for summer bookings, its CE said Sunday. Malaysia Airlines has been in talks with airlines and leasing companies about bringing in used widebody planes to replace the single-aisle planes it currently flies on some five-hour flights, such routes as to India, China and Hong Kong. "We've found the planes, we're in the process of doing due diligence," Peter Bellew said. He said he hopes to sign a deal in July and the planes, which have Wi-Fi and lie-flat seats in business, could enter the airline's fleet by the end of the year. Bookings for the next six months are looking good and yields - a measure of revenue per passenger - are up around 10 percent from a year earlier in June, July and August after coming under pressure at the start of the year, Bellew said. Uncertainty over failed travel bans in the US and political turmoil in Europe has driven demand from travelers in the Middle East and India, Bellew said. "We've seen a significant upturn in business from India because of that and I think that's only set to continue," he said. MAS had offered to lease some A330s from Alitalia, in the event the struggling carrier collapsed. However, Bellew said it seemed Alitalia would survive as an airline operating medium and long-haul flights and so those planes would not become available.<br/>

Colombia has approved the joint business agreement between American Airlines and LATAM Airlines Group’s subsidiary LATAM Airlines Colombia. The June 2 clearance follows approval from Uruguay authorities granted in November for the JBA. The airlines, both members of the oneworld global alliance, still need US regulatory approval. “American Airlines applauds [Colombia’s] Aerocivil’s decision to approve our JBA with LATAM in Colombia. This approval validates that this type of agreement not only benefits travelers, local economies and tourism industries, but also encourages market competition and growth,” American Airlines VP-alliances and partnerships Joe Mohan said. “Our JBA is good news for Colombia and for our customers around the world and we are confident that it will be approved by all of the relevant government authorities.”<br/>