Thousands of pilots from around Europe, many from troubled carriers such as Monarch Airlines and Air Berlin, have applied for 100 jobs at Aer Lingus. The airline announced several weeks ago that it intends to hire 200 pilots over the next 3 years; it advertised the first 100 positions in October, and by the closing date, Tuesday this week, almost 3,000 experienced pilots are understood to have applied. Like Aer Lingus, Monarch used Airbus aircraft, which means that the British airline’s pilots will need less training if they join the join the carrier. Aer Lingus is also thought to have received applications from pilots at Ryanair, which is in pay talks with its employee representative committees. Aer Lingus is recruiting the pilots as it continues to expand its European and transatlantic networks. <br/>
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Norwegian Air Shuttle has agreed a 3-year collective labour deal with its Scandinavian pilots, allowing the carrier to continue to grow, it said Wednesday. “The agreement will provide the Norwegian Group with predictability and stability during the period,” it added. A growing shortage of pilots across Europe has forced several airlines, including Norwegian Air and competitor Ryanair, to cancel flights in recent months, and has led to staff poaching among carriers. The framework deal, encompassing 1,000 pilots, or about one-third of Norwegian’s worldwide total, is still subject to local adjustments and will be put to a referendum among union members, a spokesman said. The agreement with Norwegian, Swedish and Danish pilots gives competitive terms and conditions, the company added. <br/>
Passenger traffic at Ryanair grew by 8% to 11.8m customers in October, the same volume the airline carried in September. Almost a million new customers used the airline last month in comparison with Oct 2016, when the airline carried 10.9m passengers. Ryanair’s load factor increased by 1% to 96%, slightly below the load factor recorded in both August and September. On a rolling annual basis the airline’s traffic grew by 12% to 128.2m customers in the year to October. That was up slightly on the rolling annual traffic in the year to September. Commenting on the figures, Ryanair’s Kenny Jacobs noted that “these figures include the flight cancellations announced in September” <br/>
Saudi Arabia's Flyadeal will issue a Request For Proposals to both Airbus and Boeing for the supply of up to 50 narrow-body aircraft by year-end. The carrier's CE, Con Korfiatis said: “We're looking at around 50 aircraft including options. This will be with the manufacturers,” he said. “We expect to issue that RFP very shortly over the next month.” Earlier in October, Saudi Arabian Airlines Group DG, Saleh bin Nasser al-Jasser, told Reuters talks would focus on a firm order for around 30 aircraft with the A320neo and B737 MAX under consideration. Flyadeal was launched in September and currently operates three A320-200s on flights covering Jeddah, Riyadh, and Gassim. <br/>
Pakistan International Airlines is planning to close 3 European destinations after New York, already losing up to US$8b every year as foreign airlines are taking more than 50% passenger load to international destinations . Pakistan Airline Pilot Association (PALPA) president captain Khalid Hamza termed the decision a big blunder showing lack of commercial aviation experience on the part of the current airline management. PIA is planning to close down routes of Barcelona, Milan and Paris after the recent closure of New York, he added. The executive committee of PALPA has decided to approach the Senate and NA standing committees to brief them on the disastrous impact of the shrinking network. The carrier has already suspended its operation in Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Bradford, Glasgow Chicago, Moscow and Istanbul. <br/>
Nok Air has successfully raised THB1.7b (US$51m) through a share offering. The company issued 1.1m shares at a subscription price of THB1.50, according to a stock exchange filing. The entire issue was subscribed by existing shareholders. Nok has struggled to raise funds in 2017. At the end of May, Nok Air raised THB1.2b ($35m) from a rights issue to its existing shareholders. This fell short of the THB1.5b it had originally sought to generate. Out of the 625m shares offered at that time, only 511m shares were taken up. THAI, which used to hold a 39.2% stake in Nok, decided not to take part in the issue. This led to a dilution of its shareholding in Nok to 21.57%. A report in the Bangkok Post, citing sources, indicates that THAI decided to subscribe to the new issue following a leadership change at Nok. <br/>