Airport unions have hit Aer Lingus with a pay and profit-share claim of almost E80m. Labour Court documents reveal that airline staff are seeking a 5% increase in pay each year for 3 years, which would cost the company E30m. The unions are also demanding the introduction of an ongoing profit-share scheme, as well as the payment to staff, by way of a lump sum, of a share of the E233m profit reported by the company in 2016. Based on the current level of profitability, a 5% share would cost Aer Lingus E35m over the period. The unions are also seeking E13m worth of double increment payments for 2 years to make up for increments that were not paid to staff between 2008 and 2016. The unions said that the company had "in the region of E1b of free cash" and has "outperformed all its peers within the IAG Group". <br/>
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A shortage of pilots has led Horizon Air to cancel a significant number of flights this summer, including some 6% of the airline's flights in August, parent company Alaska Air Group confirms. Though the company says the cancellations reflect a broad industry shortage of cockpit crew, Horizon's pilot union lays blame at the carrier for policies that it says failed to address a looming shortage. Horizon made the cancellations proactively in a move that will enable Horizon to operate reliably the remainder of its network, the company said. The cancellations reflect just 2% of August flights operated by all of Alaska's subsidiaries, which include Horizon, Alaska Airlines and Virgin America. "Like the rest of the industry, Horizon Air is facing a shortage of pilots caused by attrition and unprecedented Alaska Air Group growth," says Alaska. <br/>
When it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Feb 2016, Republic Airways Holdings blamed a national pilot shortage as a major reason. The regional airline didn’t have enough pilots to fly its contracted routes, putting it at odds with the carriers and reducing the revenue it earned from those contracts. The shortage hasn’t let up—and observers expect it to continue for the foreseeable future. But Republic, which emerged from bankruptcy as a privately held company April 30, said it’s a slimmer, more streamlined organisation that is strongly positioned to tackle that challenge and others. During bankruptcy reorganisation, the airline renegotiated its airline contracts and reduced the size of its fleet. It’s flying larger planes and boosting its training and facilities. <br/>
VivaColombia is considering plans to remove all seats from its planes and make passengers stand. They hope the move will drive down fares by allowing them to squeeze more passengers into each flight, opening up air travel to working class Colombians and budget holidaymakers. VivaColombia’s founder and CE William Shaw said the airline was looking into vertical travel options. He said: “There are people out there right now researching whether you can fly standing up – we’re very interested in anything that makes travel less expensive.” The concept is not new and airlines have been toying with the idea of standing sections on flights for years. Colombia Civil Aviation director Alfredo Bocanegra, however, does not approve. “People have to travel like human beings,” he said. <br/>
IAG CE Willie Walsh said IAG member airlines Level and Vueling are prepared to provide immediate additional capacity if Alitalia is forced to downsize and restructures further. Walsh said Vueling, “has a significant operation in Italy and we will [also] operate our new long-haul LCC Level from Rome Fiumicino.” IAG’s new Level airline launched flights from Barcelona June 1. “The passenger demand is absolutely fantastic,” Walsh said. “Level operates 2 Airbus A330s [and] 3 more aircraft are expected to join the fleet in 2018.” Walsh said IAG is not interested in acquiring Alitalia. “We had been very clear: any reduction of capacity [from Alitalia] as a result of [its] restructuring will be filled,” Walsh said, adding it would not possible for IAG to take over aircraft from Alitalia. <br/>
Are things finally starting to stabilise at turbulent FastJet? The company has had a bumpy flight in the last few years: its shares have collapsed by 99% from their peak in 2013 after overexpansion and economic downturn in its key markets led to spiralling losses and forced it to repeatedly turn to investors to raise more cash. However, in a trading update Friday the company said its efforts to cut costs and improve its operations are bearing fruit, and it expects to finally stop burning cash by the end of this year. The company has relocated its headquarters from London to Johannesburg, and moved toward a smaller fleet of smaller aircraft. It added that it is aiming to “leverage its relationship” with Solenta Aviation Holdings, a South African airline which took a 28% stake in FastJet in January, to expand into new countries. <br/>