Ryanair Holdings faces its first-ever strike as crews in Italy prepare to walk out as part of a push for unionization and company-wide contracts, and staff in six other countries also consider action. Pilots and flight attendants in Italy plan to walk off the job for four hours from 1 p.m. local time on Dec. 15, according two unions. Workers in markets including Ireland, where Ryanair is based, will announce ballot results in coming days, according to a person familiar with the plans. Pilots in Ireland, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Portugal and the Netherlands, as well as Italy, have formed local labor councils in recent weeks in order to press for collective bargaining outside Ryanair’s own employee representative committees. The move also opened up the possibility of strike action. Ryanair has been left vulnerable after a staffing mix-up required it to squeeze six months of pilot leave into half that time. The crisis was exacerbated by the poaching of crew by other airlines, forcing the Dublin-based carrier to cancel more than 20,000 flights and propose a new pay deal in order to maintain other services. The take-up of the offer has been slow as some staff seek to exploit the opportunity to boost their leverage with the company. The Italian Anpac union said in a letter to the Ryanair that the planned strike concerns the right to negotiate collective labor agreements, as well as issues including social security, health care and vacation planning. The FIT-CISL union said separately that the action had been deferred from Dec. 10 at the request of the Italian transport ministry.<br/>
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Canada’s WestJet Wednesday announced a joint venture with Delta to boost trans-border flights and said it expects to nearly double the number of aircraft owned by the carrier by 2020 as it target both cost-conscious passengers and higher-paying customers. Canada’s second-largest carrier is evolving from a single brand into “a model of multiple airlines,” offering higher-end service while also launching an ultra-low-cost carrier in 2018 to target customers on a budget, CE Gregg Saretsky said. “We just got to the point where the single brand can no longer fulfill all the missions we’re seeking to fulfill,” he said. WestJet also said it had struck a preliminary agreement with Delta to coordinate schedules for new non-stop flights in the US and Canada, along with frequent flyer points. WestJet said the agreement is expected to be signed in the first half of 2018 and will likely take effect in 2019 after Delta and WestJet receive all required regulatory approvals.<br/>
Nearly 5,000 JetBlue flight attendants are traveling to DC Wednesday to file paperwork to form a union. The JetBlue attendants are coordinating with Transport Workers Union to file pro-union authorization cards with the National Mediation Board. The goal is to hold a union election for a new flight attendants local within TWU, the union said. The move followed a dedicated organizing drive from TWU, which is now headed by former Local 100 President John Samuelsen, who rose to prominence as the head of the union representing the city’s subway and bus workers. Out of the 4,800 JetBlue flight attendants going to D.C., the largest contingent comes from JFK Airport in Queens. Some 2,200 workers based at JFK are taking part in the unionizing effort, TWU said. “This is the biggest and most important organizing drive in the airline industry in decades,” Samuelsen said. JetBlue did not welcome TWU’s efforts to unionize its flight attendants. In September, management began distributing flyers and emailing staffers with its own messaging: Inviting in a “third-party” union was a bad idea.<br/>
Scandinavian leisure carrier Primera Air has ordered two more Boeing 737 MAX 9s, taking the original order signed in May 2017 from eight to 10 aircraft. Primera Air said the amended order will further enhance the carrier’s growth potential with possibilities of adding even more new routes to its already extensive network. The airline is part of Primera Travel Group, which has travel agencies and tour operating companies in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. “Being the first airline in the world to take the Boeing 737 Max 9-Extended Range into service gives Primera Air a fantastic opportunity and position to grow new traffic on routes that so far have been either underserved or simply very expensive,” Primera Air president and owner Andri Már Ingólfsson said. At the same time, Primera Air said it has signed an agreement with Aviation Capital Group for the sale and leaseback of three Boeing 737 Max 9s that the carrier has on order from Boeing scheduled for delivery in 2019. The total value of the three aircraft is $360m. Under the terms of the agreement, the aircraft will be leased back for 12 years.<br/>