Ryanair faces its first-ever pilot strike the Friday before Christmas as a German union it has promised to recognise makes a show of force following a breakdown in initial negotiations. Vereinigung Cockpit said Thursday that pilots will walk out from 5 am to 9 am after the airline refused to meet with 2 of 5 representatives the labor group sent to talks. “Ryanair’s delegation did not even enter the room,” union president Ilja Schulz said. “We tried to see what could still be negotiated but it wasn’t much. Our lesson learnt is Ryanair has not changed a bit.” Ryanair said the strike is “unjustified” given that the sides have agreed to meet again Jan 5, adding that the pilot council which attended the talks had not been elected by its own staff and contained 1 person who is currently in litigation with the company. <br/>
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Ryanair hopes to operate its German flights as normal Friday during a 4-hour strike called by German pilot union Vereinigung Cockpit and thinks many of its pilots may not take part, COO Peter Bellew said. "I would be very unsure about how many of our pilots will support this tomorrow," Bellew said, adding that the airline would be able to "catch up" by flights departing later if there was disruption. Bellew described the action as a "bolt from the blue" after good dialogue with the union at a meeting Wednesday and said he would consider working with other unions instead of VC. The Vereinigung Cockpit union said it was unhappy with the Irish airline's approach to talks. A separate meeting with Portuguese pilot union SPAC Thursday was "very amicable" he said. <br/>
Ryanair has lost its High Court action for defamation against 3 pilots. A jury found a Sept 2013 email “Pilot update: what the markets are saying about Ryanair” did mean the airline was guilty of market manipulation. However, in their majority verdict of 9 or more, they found Ryanair had not proved malice by the 3 defendants. As the court had found the update was published on an occasion of qualified privilege, which is only lost where malice is proven, there was no defamation. Ryanair said: “We welcome the jury’s decision that the RPG statements were defamatory. We are disappointed with the ruling on malice and have instructed our lawyers to immediately appeal.” <br/>
Former motor racing world champion Niki Lauda has offered to buy Austrian holiday airline Niki, a company he founded, but Ryanair has pulled out of the bidding. A consortium of family-owned logistics firm Zeitfracht and maintenance group Nayak also decided against an offer, increasing Lauda’s chances of repurchasing an airline he set up in 2003. “I can confirm that Niki Lauda handed in an offer (for Niki),” his spokeswoman said, declining to say how much he offered or whether he had teamed up with anyone. Niki’s administrators, who had asked for binding offers by Thursday, have been racing to find an alternative buyer for its assets before it loses its take-off and landing slots, its most attractive asset. Other interested parties include Thomas Cook and Swiss carrier PrivatAir. Sources have said IAG is also interested. <br/>
Condor has leased 7 aircraft during the holiday season to fill a capacity gap left by Airberlin subsidiary NIKI, which filed for bankruptcy and immediately ceased operations Dec 13. The additional capacity offers more than 68,000 seats to destinations including the Canary Islands and Baleares Islands (both in Spain) over the Christmas/New Year’s peak season throughout early January. The immediate insolvency of NIKI has left thousands of passengers stranded. For example, Dec 16 NIKI canceled 63 flights to and from Palma de Mallorca (Spain). Condor will schedule extra flights from Vienna, Zurich and Palma de Mallorca. From Germany more capacity is available from Cologne, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Munich. <br/>
Eurowings said Thursday it has canceled nearly 300 flights from the rest of its winter schedule. A spokesman for Eurowings said it had slightly less capacity available than it initially planned for, and that the reduced capacity amounted to less than 1% of that originally provided for until the end of March. Lufthansa last week abandoned plans to buy failed rival Air Berlin's Austrian airline Niki due to competition concerns. Most of the flights being canceled, which amount to less than 1% of the winter schedule until March, are on domestic German routes, the Eurowings spokesman said, adding that the changes were not set in stone and some routes could be added back at a later point in time. Eurowings had expected to increase its fleet to 210 aircraft from 160 had Lufthansa acquired both LGW and Niki from Air Berlin. <br/>
Boeing confirmed Thursday an order from Flydubai, for 175 narrow-body jets in a deal valued at US$27b at current list prices. The largest single-aisle jet order in Middle East's history also comes with an option to buy an additional 50 jets, the planemaker said. "This is our largest order in our 8-year history and our third order with Boeing," Flydubai CE Ghaith Al Ghaith said. Reuters reported in November the airline was close to placing orders with Boeing. Flydubai, an all-Boeing operator owned by the govt of Dubai, first ordered 75 single-aisle 737 MAXs in 2013. Boeing has racked up 640 net orders for the narrow-body aircraft in 2017. <br/>
Pegasus Airlines has converted 25 Airbus A321neo options to a firm order, based on an initial commitment made in 2012. Pegasus, which was historically a Boeing operator, placed a firm order for 58 A320neos and 17 A321neos in Dec 2012—along with 25 options—to support its expansion plans to 2023. At the time, deliveries of the CFM International LEAP-1A powered aircraft were scheduled to run until 2022 and the order was valued at US$12b at list prices. Dec 20, Airbus announced that Pegasus had firmed the 25 options. The aircraft will be supplied in Airbus’ Cabin Flex configuration, which includes door and fuselage changes aimed at improving cabin space utilisation, as well as provision for greater under-floor fuel capacity for up to 4,000nm transatlantic range. <br/>