Lufthansa Group is not able to grow as fast as it would like to take advantage of growing demand for travel due to tightness in labour and maintenance markets, its CE said Tuesday. “Replacement parts, engines, pilots, infrastructure are all lacking,” Carsten Spohr said. Rivals are also struggling to grow as fast as they want and that means ticket prices will not fall as quickly as they have in the past, Spohr said. The group, which also includes Austrian, SWISS, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings, has been hit by delivery delays for A320 planes due to engine issues, while it is struggling to recruit enough staff quickly enough to fill the gap in the market left by collapsed rival Air Berlin. Lufthansa Monday ordered additional jets to reflect improving results at some units and to make up for delivery shortfalls. <br/>
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United is in talks with Airbus and Boeing over the purchase of wide-body, long-haul passenger jets to replace a fleet of 50 Boeing 767 aircraft, people familiar with the discussions said Tuesday. Airbus is expected to offer its upgraded A330neo jet against Boeing's 787 Dreamliner in a deal potentially worth some US$14b. All three companies declined to comment on the nature of the talks. A win in the jet production contest would be especially important for Airbus, whose struggling A330neo program has lost a number of recent bids to Boeing for wide-body, long-haul aircraft. United's fleet already includes Boeing 787s, and the carrier has firm commitments for an additional 14 jets scheduled for delivery through 2027. <br/>
About 80% of United's 88,000 workers are union members, but that has not prevented the carrier from strongly opposing an effort to organise its 2,700 catering workers. In January, diversified union Unite Here submitted signatures calling for a representational election to the National Mediation Board. The union said it had signatures from about 76% of the airline’s catering workers, more than the required 50%. United challenged the veracity of the signature list, and March 29 the NMB said it would investigate. Unite Here contends that United has fought its effort by suspending or terminating union leaders, posting anti-union messages in work areas and threatening workers with repercussions. The carrier called the allegations "baseless." <br/>
South Africa’s state carrier SAA requires a SAR5b (US$399m) cash injection in the current financial year to help it meet its financial obligations, a senior treasury official said Tuesday. National Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane told parliament the cash injection could however not come from govt, which has so far pumped SAR20b into the firm. Mogajane said treasury was willing to consider selling a stake in the airliner to a private equity partner. <br/>
SAS is expanding capacity across its entire network by half-a-million seats for its winter 2018/19 season, on solid market growth and higher passenger numbers. SAS said it will “fly 200 routes in its winter program for the first time and 18 new routes for the whole of 2018.” The winter program runs from the end of October through the end of March 2019. On intercontinental routes, SAS will increase frequencies from Copenhagen to Washington DC and Miami with 3X- and 7X-weekly departures from Copenhagen, respectively. Stockholm Arlanda-Miami service will be doubled. The Scandinavian capitals will see an increase in the number of flights to many European destinations. In addition, several new routes will be introduced. <br/>