Ryanair flight attendants in 4 European countries said they plan to follow pilots in staging walkouts over the coming weeks as the airline faces its biggest confrontation yet with organized labour. Spanish, Portuguese and Belgian cabin crew will strike July 25 and 26, the Portuguese union SNPVAC, said Thursday. Italian flight attendants will join the action July 25, while workers in Germany and the Netherlands won’t strike on those days due to local labour rules. The unions set the first dates for strikes just a day after crew stationed at most of Ryanair’s 86 bases across Europe met in Dublin to draw up a list of common demands. These include access to unpaid leave, a living wage, fair universal pensions and an end to charges for food, water and uniforms. The strikes may involve as many as 5,000 attendants and affect 200 flights. <br/>
unaligned
EasyJet said over 1,000 more flights were canceled in June than in the same month in 2017, mainly because of French and Italian air traffic control strikes. The airline said there were 1,263 cancellations in June 2018, equivalent to around 2.7% of planned capacity and up on the 213 experienced in June 2017. Around 900 were because of French and Italian industrial action, with a further 150 attributed to adverse weather conditions and ATC restrictions. Ryanair said July 4 that ATC strikes and staff shortages caused over 1,100 flight cancellations in June compared to just 41 cancellations in same month last year. EasyJet said it operated around 51,000 flights in June 2018—an average of 1,700 flights a day—and carried more than a quarter of a million passengers per day totalling 7.9m in the month across its European network. <br/>
Airbus has failed to break deadlock with AirAsia over the fate of a multi-billion-dollar order seen as key to the future of its A330neo passenger jet, people familiar with the matter said. AirAsia co-founder Tony Fernandes visited the planemaker this week for talks aimed at shoring up and increasing the existing order for 66 jets, but left Toulouse without signing a deal after what one source described as challenging talks. The future of the deal with the airline's AirAsia X long-haul unit is crucial to the latest version of the A330, a key source of profits at the European group. Sources say relations between Airbus and AirAsia, which has ordered almost 600 single-aisle jets, have deteriorated following management changes at the planemaker and due to differences over prices and advance payment schedules. <br/>
Hawaiian Airlines' new CE says he's ready to battle Southwest Airlines whenever the budget airline brings its discount airfares. Peter Ingram, who took the helm at the Hawaiian March 1 after being CCO and CFO for 12 years, says the island carrier has already competed effectively for years against 3 large airlines — Delta, United Airlines and American — on its home turf. "I'm very confident that we have a cost structure that will allow us to be competitive," Ingram said . Southwest has announced plans to launch services to several Hawaiian islands, but has yet to offer a launch date or specific schedule details. Ingram said he's not too worried, saying the airline's new batch of fuel-efficient Airbus A321 long range jets and its unique focus will help it in any fight with Southwest. <br/>
Air Madagascar said it launched its new domestic subsidiary, Tsaradia, July 2, pushing ahead with a key part of the turnaround plan it is undertaking with strategic partner Air Austral. Tsaradia has a fleet of 4 ATR 72s and 3 DHT Twin Otters and will fly to 10 destinations from its hub in the Madagascan capital of Antananarivo. Earlier this year, Air Madagascar and Air Austral set out plans to align their fleets, jointly developing their Saint Denis de la Reunion and Antananarivo hubs and boosting their long-haul and domestic networks as part of a major plan to be the leading player in the Indian Ocean. That followed a strategic partnership deal La Reunion-based Air Austral closed with Air Madagascar in Nov 2017 that saw it take a 49% stake. <br/>