More than half of Avianca’s Colombian pilots voted Friday to hold an indefinite strike amid a dispute over wages and benefits, the president of the union representing the flight crews said. A work stoppage by the pilots could seriously affect the airline’s operations both domestically and internationally. Captain Jaime Hernandez, president of the Colombian Association of Civil Aviators, said the strike will begin between Sept. 20 and Sept. 27. “We are going to define zero hour,” he said after a general assembly at which the pilots voted to suspend work. Hernandez said ACDAC members want their salaries to be in line with those received by Avianca pilots in other countries, who earn 30 to 70% more than local pilots. Avianca said it had presented ACDAC leaders with more than 20 proposals to improve the benefits Colombian pilots receive. In March, it agreed wages with another union of crew members an agreement to raise wages, the airline said. “Avianca categorically rejects the call for a strike made by the (ACDAC) as an illegal route that affects customers,” Avianca said. About 700 of the nearly 1,300 Avianca crew are affiliated with the ACDAC, making it the carrier’s biggest union. “We want to end wage discrimination,” he said. The union also wants to reduce the workload of the pilots.<br/>
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Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise is in talks about founding regional divisions in Zambia and Chad and aims to buy part of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national operator in a push to consolidate its lead as Africa’s biggest carrier. An outline plan for a joint-venture airline in Zambia should be signed with the government and private-equity investors in a few weeks, leading to a final agreement by November, CEO Tewolde GebreMariam said. That will give Ethiopian a new hub in Lusaka serving southern Africa alongside Malawian Airlines, in which it has a stake. Parallel discussions are underway in Chad for the establishment of a new national carrier there, Tewolde said. Ethiopian also wants to take equity in state-owned Congo Airways, with which it already has a strategic partnership including technical assistance, the CEO said in Addis Ababa, where his company has built up a major hub targeting inter-continental transfer traffic. While Ethiopian Air is pursuing alliances on several fronts, with Uganda mulling proposals for a joint venture and Equatorial Guinea’s Ceiba Intercontinental a candidate to upgrade a maintenance deal into something bigger, Tewolde said there’s no truth to reports that his company is seeking to buy Arik Air, the largest airline in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country. “We haven’t had any discussions and we have not submitted a bid,” the CEO said. <br/>
Scandinavian Airlines has reached an agreement with the two unions representing its Norwegian flight deck personnel, staving off the threat of imminent industrial action. Norwegian pilots had threatened strike action from Sept. 16 if they could not reach a satisfactory deal. The terms of the agreement were not revealed. The tri-national airline said it had agreed to a three-year deal with the two Norwegian pilot associations, the NSF and SNF. SAS has now reached an agreement with all pilot associations in the three Scandinavian countries. The deal is in line with similar accords reached with the Swedish and Danish pilots’ associations. The Norwegian deal “shared a common ambition to create a long-term profitable SAS," the company said.<br/>
Air NZ warned five years ago in a submission that a hit to the Marsden Point to Wiri pipeline could be a weak link, voicing concerns about the security of aviation fuel supply. Today it expressed "extreme disappointment" at the failure of the pipeline which came to light over the weekend. In a submission to a government review of New Zealand's oil security in 2012, the airline said a material disruption would result in a serious situation with implications for the aviation industry operating to and from this country and to the economy. Pipeline owner Refining NZ has assessed the material impact on its revenue will be in the order of $10m to $15m. It could be next week before the leak, near the Marsden Point Oil Refinery, is repaired. In its submission Air New Zealand said the volume of fuel that could be stored near the airport needed to be reviewed. "Storage capacity for jet fuel is modest by international standards. The volume of refined products at Wiri needs to be reconsidered in terms of an acceptable level of storage." Air New Zealand warned that a global supply shock would be understood and accepted by the travelling public. "They will not however uncritically accept a fuel supply shock that occurs solely within New Zealand," said the submission signed by CFO Rob McDonald.<br/>
Singapore Airlines carried more passengers and filled a higher proportion of its seats in August, but warned that the operating landscape remains challenging.SIA Friday reported an increase in passenger load factor in August compared to the same period a year ago. Passenger load factor, which is the percentage of seats filled by paying passengers, was 80.9% in August, up 1.2 percentage points year-on-year. This is due to stronger passenger demand to Asia, restructuring of the Americas network and capacity adjustments to Europe, said SIA. However, passenger loads fell for the Southwest Pacific route. "The operating landscape remains challenging with ongoing efforts to balance yields against competitive pressures," added Singapore's flag carrier. Passenger carriage, which is measured by passengers-kilometres, also increased by 5.1% in August.<br/>