British Airways flight attendants employed under the carrier's mixed-fleet contract have accepted a proposed pay deal, ending a long-running dispute. The Unite union says 84% of mixed-fleet cabin crew members voted to back an agreement previously reached with the airline. Under the deal, flight attendants will receive inflation-adjusted pay rises between GBP1,404 (US$1,864) and GBP2,908. It adds that "travel concessions and entitlements to fully participate in the airline's 2017 bonus scheme [are being] returned to cabin crew who took industrial action". Unite says that mixed-fleet crew who participated in industrial action were "sanctioned" by BA, and that the union started legal proceedings against the airline. However, the members' acceptance of the deal serves as settlement of the legal action. <br/>
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Japan Airlines Tuesday upgraded its full-year forecast as it booked a modest gain in half-year net profit thanks to solid domestic and international sales. JAL said net profit rose 9.2% year-on-year to JPY78.0b (US$690m) for the 6 months to September. Revenue for the period increased 6.2% to JPY692.3b, as the airline said it enjoyed robust inbound demand from overseas and buoyant outbound demand. "Demand for business use remains strong, while the industry's sentiment has recovered from last year when the aviation industry faced the impact of terrorism," an analyst at SMBC Nikko Securities, said. The company, which raised its annual forecast just 3 months ago, again upgraded its full-year projections. It now sees JPY121b in net profit for the fiscal year to March 2018 -- up from JPY108b forecast earlier. <br/>
American Airlines said its CE had a "positive" meeting Tuesday with civil-rights leaders who accuse the airline of racial bias, but an activist who was kicked off a plane is not backing away from her criticism of the carrier. The airline said CE Doug Parker and a senior VP met with NAACP president Derrick Johnson, Women's March organiser Tamika Mallory and others in Washington. The NAACP had demanded the meeting when it warned African-Americans last week that they could face discriminatory treatment while traveling on American. Neither side would give details of the talks -- they offered only the most general descriptions of what was said in the private session. Since the start of 2016, American has been the subject of 29 racial-discrimination complaints by passengers. <br/>
American Airlines has placed a firm order for 10 additional Embraer E175s valued at US$457m at list prices. The order adds to an original order for 60 E175s placed by American in 2013 and one for 4 more placed earlier this year. American has now ordered 74 total E175s from Embraer and still has 76 more E175 options it could exercise. Deliveries of the latest 10 E175s ordered will start in 2018 and be concluded by mid-2019. Wholly owned American regional subsidiary Envoy Air will operate the 10 aircraft under the American Eagle brand. American’s E175s are configured with 76 seats: 12 in business class, 20 in premium economy and 44 in economy. Embraer noted that E175 sales in North America since 2013 have now surpassed 390 units. <br/>