IAG could consider buying more A380s from Airbus if the superjumbo was cheaper, CE Willie Walsh said, adding that he was also looking at planes for the airline group's new carrier Level. IAG already operates 12 A380s, and could be interested in buying more if Airbus improved the pricing, Walsh said, although the airline was not currently negotiating with Airbus. "The pricing that Airbus has offered in the past is unacceptable to us," Walsh said. "We've said very clearly to Airbus if they want to sell A380s they need to be aggressive on pricing and when they work out how to sell the aircraft, knock on our door and we'll talk to them." Airbus secured the future of the superjumbo when it agreed a deal with airline Emirates in January for up to 36 A380s worth as much as US$16b at list prices. <br/>
oneworld
The CE of IAG has denied the company will face any ownership issues as a result of Brexit, while dismissing as “nonsense” the spectre of a disruption to transatlantic flights. Willie Walsh said there would be no impact on the airline from Brexit since the UK govt would manage to agree an open skies deal with the EU and renegotiate a bilateral aviation pact with the US. His remarks came in response to a Financial Times report that the airline was facing a crunch due to EU ownership rules which state European airlines must be controlled by European citizens after Brexit. IAG is facing a battle to clear the EU’s 50% ownership threshold to avoid losing its European operating rights after Brexit, when UK nationals are no longer counted. <br/>
For the second time in 2.5 years, the board of the union representing American Airlines flight attendants has pushed out its president. Bob Ross resigned Friday as president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, 2 years into a 4-year term. Sources said Ross was pushed out after losing the backing of the majority of the union’s 14 directors. They are elected by members of the domiciles they represent, while the president is elected nationally. Nena Martin, the incumbent vice president, was selected to be interim president. In 2015, the board pushed out Laura Glading, an influential president who played a key role in enabling the American-US Airways merger, in an unsightly sequence. Facing board opposition, Glading agreed to retire in December. But the board forced her to retire even sooner, in October. <br/>
American Airlines is not backing down from its opposition to lease terms as part of a massive expansion of Chicago’s O’Hare International. American claimed last week that United Airlines cut a secret deal to get 5 more of the new gates that would be added during the expansion. United denies that claim. From American’s perspective, not much has changed since last week when the city formally unveiled its US$8.5b expansion plans, Leslie Scott, the airline’s senior manager of global communications, said. “The solution we presented is simple: Accelerate the construction of 3 American gates that are already included in Phase 1 of the redevelopment plan, thereby levelling the playing field and keeping the competitive balance at O’Hare,” Scott said. “To date, the city has dismissed that approach without explanation." <br/>