Disruption to air travel for thousands of Tigerair customers looms this weekend as pilots are set to take industrial action as an industrial dispute deepens at the airline. The Australian Federation of Air Pilots and fellow union VIPA - which together represent more than 80% of Tigerair pilots - said their members would to take disruptive action from the morning of Friday May 4 through to midnight Sunday unless there is a breakthrough in bargaining. The carrier has assured customers it has plans to minimise disruption, including moving passengers onto its parent airline Virgin Australia's services. If the protected industrial action goes ahead the unions' members will refuse to fly aircraft that have "allowable defects" - minor faults that do not need immediate repair - and will not fly any hours outside of their published roster. <br/>
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President Donald Trump praised crew members and passengers of a Southwest Airlines flight for their handling of an emergency landing 2 weeks ago after an engine exploded. Trump met in the Oval Office with 5 crew members and 5 passengers from Flight 1380, saying that they were “some incredible people.” The visit was the crew’s first public appearance since the April 17 incident. Pilot Tammie Jo Shults, who joined Southwest in 1994, was in the first cohort of women Navy pilots to transition to tactical aircraft and served as an instructor pilot flying the EA-6B Prowler and F/A-18 Hornet. Trump said Shults and the rest of the crew “displayed exemplary leadership” during the episode. “You were calm and strong and cool.” <br/>
US commercial pilots are one of the few remaining strongholds of America’s diminished labour movement, but Flexjet is trying to upend that conventional wisdom. Anti-union advocates are watching as a battle between the Teamsters and the jet-leasing company plays out, with one non-profit group representing Flexjet employees who are pushing to get the union out. Some 550 pilots will start voting Wednesday on whether to embrace the company’s entreaties to dump the Teamsters, which arrived at Flexjet just a few years ago. The govt-supervised vote, which will be held electronically through May 30, comes 2 years after the pilots narrowly voted to join the union. Since then, the Teamsters have been unable to secure a contract deal with the company. <br/>
Icelandair Group company Loftleidir Icelandic is in the running to acquire 49% of Portuguese carrier SATA Internacional. Earlier this year, aviation firm SATA Group announced plans to divest 49% of its mid- and long-haul arm, SATA Internacional, for a minimum of E3.7m (US$4.5m). “The only pre-qualified buyer who submitted a statement of interest is Loftleidir Icelandic,” a SATA spokesperson confirmed. To qualify, Loftleidir Icelandic had to demonstrate that it has the financial capacity and management experience to be a SATA Internacional shareholder and hold a clean corporate record. Bidders will be asked to produce a strategic plan for the airline, maintaining SATA lnternacional’s Portuguese, European and US presence, and growing the airline into new markets. <br/>
The founder of small, start-up carrier OneJet is banking that a decade of megamergers among US airlines has left it with perfect conditions to compete. The airline started flying 3 years ago, going after business travellers for companies like FedEx in midsize cities that large carriers pulled back from following the wave of consolidation. Now it's trying to grow, taking a page from the playbook of some of the bigger airlines in purchasing another carrier. OneJet said Tuesday it is buying Ultimate Jet Charters, a corporate shuttle service. OneJet operates about 180 flights a week. It flies 7-seat jets and is transitioning to larger 30-seat used Embraer E135 aircraft, said CE Matthew Maguire. He said this will help the operation grow to some 400 weekly flights by the end of the year. <br/>
Emirates Airline has temporarily grounded some aircraft to optimise operations as demand slows and fewer flight crew are available. The carrier, responding to reports that 6 Airbus A380s and 14 Boeing 777s are in storage for the month of May at Dubai World Central, confirmed it has “some aircraft units on the ground over slower periods, which is common industry practice.” The airline said fleet deployment and operating schedules are regularly reviewed to make sure they are in line with seasonal travel patterns and to ensure optimal utilisation across its network. A spokesperson confirmed flight crew numbers were about 100-150 down on where Emirates should be. However, Emirates president Tim Clark recently said the flight crew shortage is a “short-term thing and we are working hard to overcome it." <br/>