Ryanair expects some disruption to flights in the coming months as it discusses union recognition and working with pilot unions, CE Michael O'Leary said Tuesday. The airline averted widespread strikes ahead of Christmas by announcing plans to recognise pilots' unions for the first time in its 32-year history and is talking with unions across Europe on formal recognition. "We are very close to concluding agreements in Spain and Italy and expect them to be finalised within the next month," O'Leary said. "We're not making as much progress in other countries, most notably Ireland and in Portugal. We expect some disruptions, possibly over Easter, maybe over the summer period," he said. COO Peter Bellew said separately that Ryanair expected to achieve a collective wage agreement in Germany over the coming months. <br/>
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Ryanair expects to be carrying between 170m and 180m passengers a year in 2020, the company's CE said Tuesday, saying growth would be driven by flights serving France and Scandinavia. "In 2020, I think we will be doing about 170, 180m passengers a year," CE Michael O'Leary, adding that the figure for the year to the end of March 2018 would be 130m. "One of the upsides of recognising unions is that France and Scandinavia have now opened up. We have no bases currently there... so there will be growth there," he added. The airline carried some 120m passengers in the year to the end of March 2017 and has a target of 200m passengers by 2024. <br/>
Eurowings is in talks with former motor racing champion Niki Lauda and others to lease planes and crew to reach a goal of growing its fleet to 210 planes, Eurowings' CE said Tuesday. "Yes, we are also talking to Lauda about whether and to what extent he can provide us with capacity," Thorsten Dirks said. "There are many options," he added, but declined to say with which other parties Eurowings was in talks. Lufthansa had planned to grow Eurowings to 210 planes by buying Air Berlin's Niki and LGW units, but it ended up scrapping the Niki purchase after the EC indicated it would veto the deal. Niki was bought by Lauda instead. Even without the Niki deal, Eurowings is growing its fleet to about 190 planes from 160 this summer. It has hired 2,000 new crew over the past few months. <br/>
Laudamotion, the rebranded bankrupt Airberlin subsidiary NIKI, plans to launch operations March 25, owner Niki Lauda confirmed. Lauda retook ownership of the bankrupt carrier in January and rebranded it as Laudamotion. He said the company is working intensively for the launch. “This is not easy, as we are starting from scratch, but we are now in final planning. Today, I can’t say how many aircraft will be available, because some of them are in maintenance and we don’t know exactly when we will get some aircraft from Lufthansa,” he said. Lauda said he will announce network, service plans and fleet details next week. “The flights we are operating for Condor are already able to book passengers,” he said. Condor said in February it will market selected Laudamotion flights. <br/>
El Al asked the global aviation regulator to help it secure rights to fly over Saudi Arabia, which would reduce flight times and costs for the carrier. Saudi Arabia would violate UN-sanctioned regulations should it allow Indian planes en route to Israel to fly over its airspace without granting the same access to Israeli carriers, CE Gonen Usishkin wrote in a letter addressed to Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, president of the ICAO. The one-sided approval would be discriminatory on the part of Saudi authorities, who would not reciprocate the access to El Al “solely” because it’s “an Israeli airline,” Usishkin said. Ushishkin requested that the ICAO “take action in accordance with its authority and responsibilities vis-a-vis Saudi Arabia, to procure permission for El Al to fly above Saudi Arabia”. <br/>
Hawaiian Airlines announced Tuesday it intends to purchase 10 Boeing 787-9s with options for 10 additional aircraft, a deal valued at US$5.4b at current list prices if all purchase rights are exercised. Hawaiian selected GE GEnx engines for the new aircraft; deliveries will begin Q1 of 2021. Hawaiian said its selection of the 787-9 came after a competitive bid process that also included the Airbus A330-900. “We were in the enviable position of choosing between two outstanding models for our flagship aircraft of the future,” Hawaiian president and CE Peter Ingram said, ultimately choosing the Dreamliner as “the best aircraft for modernising our fleet in 2021 and beyond … its expanded seat capacity and extended range will allow us to expand within our current route network and [to] new destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.” <br/>