Ryanair cabin crew are threatening to strike by the end of next month if the company does not meet a series of demands from members, reports said Monday. Unions representing cabin crew, which the company pledged to recognise last December, met in Madrid Monday to discuss possible industrial action against the airline. Following the meeting, reports said a Spanish union spokesman told a news conference that unions would strike if Ryanair did not meet their demands by June 30th. Spanish, Portuguese, Belgian and Italian cabin crew unions were involved in the meeting in Madrid. They want the airline to apply national laws of the crews’ home bases to their employment terms and the company to negotiate with worker representatives chosen by unions. <br/>
unaligned
Airlines in the Philippines are under pressure to raise ticket prices to offset rising fuel costs and the peso’s plunge to an almost 12-year low, risking lower demand from travellers also hurt by the currency’s decline. “We will have to adjust prices accordingly,” said Lance Gokongwei, president of Cebu Air, which owns the nation’s largest budget carrier. Cebu Air and market leader Philippine Airlines said they’ve applied for regulatory approval to add fuel surcharges imposed on customers. Philippine Airlines incurs US$11m a year in additional costs for every $1 increase in the price of a barrel of fuel. The carrier consumes about 11m barrels a year, while the price of jet fuel has risen by $13 from January to April. Cebu Air’s costs are increasing by $13m a month from a year ago with jet fuel prices hitting $87 per barrel. <br/>
AirBaltic has placed a large follow-up order for the Bombardier CS300 as part of its new business plan to streamline its fleet to one aircraft type and expand its network. The airline announced a firm commitment May 28 for 30 additional aircraft plus options and purchase rights for a further 30. The aircraft from this order will start to be delivered from Q4 of 2019, according to Bombardier. AirBaltic was the launch operator of the CS300. The airline has taken 8 aircraft so far and has 12 more to be delivered between now and the end of 2019. Management under CE Martin Gauss has been conducting a strategy review for some time and identified several options. The most ambitious project was to add Tallinn, Estonia and Vilnius, Lithuania as new bases. <br/>