Ryanair’s labour crisis deepened Monday as pilots in Germany voted to strike in a dispute over pay and conditions. Crews could walk out at 24 hours’ notice after more than 96% of respondents backed industrial action in a poll, the Vereinigung Cockpit union said. It set an Aug 6 deadline for the carrier to avoid disruption by submitting terms that could form a basis for negotiations. “So far Ryanair has not made any proposal with which we could work,” said Ingolf Schumacher, the union’s chairman of industrial relations, adding that the latest round of exploratory talks Friday had “yielded no progress.” Ryanair scrapped more than 600 flights last week amid strikes by Irish pilots and cabin crew in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium. <br/>
unaligned
VietJet Aviation, the Vietnamese carrier that handed Boeing a US$12.7b aircraft order this month, said Q2 profit jumped after more people flew its international flights. Q2 pre-tax profit rose 44% from a year earlier to VND950b (US$41m), said Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, VietJet’s founder and CE. Revenue gained 52% to VND8.6t, aided by record sales of in-flight food and insurance purchases, she said. VietJet, with 60 Airbus narrow-body planes in service, has another 370 single-aisle airplanes on order from Boeing and Airbus as it undertakes one of the biggest international expansions by a budget airline in Southeast Asia. The carrier faces competition in the region from Indonesia-based Lion Air and Malaysia-based AirAsia Group, both companies also big customers for single-aisle aircraft. <br/>
IndiGo said engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney should be able to provide enough spare turbines to get its Airbus A320neo jets flying this quarter after costs from grounded planes helped push it to the worst 3-month result since listing in 2015. “We remain cautiously optimistic and hope that these issues are resolved at the earliest,” CE Rahul said Monday, while adding that he is “not happy about the situation.” Things should improve “in the current quarter” as new turbines arrive, he said. Durability issues with Pratt engines have been a headache since IndiGo took its first A320neo in 2016, causing delivery delays and groundings that have forced the carrier to lease older, less-efficient jets. That’s hurt margins already under pressure from fuel costs and a local fare war, leading profit to drop 97% to US$4m in the 3 months through June. <br/>
A Flydubai pilot faces disciplinary action after failing an alcohol test in Nepal Sunday before being due to operate a flight to the UAE, the airline said. The captain was "tested and discovered to have a blood alcohol level above the legally acceptable level" after a fellow crew member raised concerns the pilot was intoxicated, a Flydubai spokeswoman said Monday. Flydubai is investigating the incident, the spokeswoman said, adding that the pilot would be reprimanded. The pilot, who was tested before boarding the plane, was deemed unfit to fly and a replacement crew was sent to Kathmandu to operate the flight to Dubai, the airline spokeswoman said. The flight arrived in Dubai 10 hours and 30 minutes later than originally scheduled. The pilot was not identified. <br/>
Hundreds of passengers on a Norwegian Airlines flight were forced to get off the plane after boarding at a Florida airport when a passenger made a comment about a bomb because he was unhappy with his seat. The Orlando Police Department says officers responded to a gate at the Orlando International Sunday evening as the London-bound plane was prepared to close its doors. Police officials say the male passenger was upset over a seat and made a comment about a bomb that was overheard by other passengers. Nothing suspicious was found, and the airplane eventually took off. Police officers questioned the man and turned the investigation over to the FBI. A police spokesman said Monday he didn't know if the man who made the comment was allowed to re-board. <br/>
Alaska Airlines is apologising for an overbooking situation in which a gay couple was asked to relinquish their seats to a heterosexual pair. "We mistakenly booked 2 people in 1 seat. We are deeply sorry for the situation, and are investigating the details," the carrier said, adding that it has a "zero-tolerance policy for discrimination of any kind." In acknowledging its error, the airline said the gate agents involved in the incident did not realise the men were a couple. Federal rules allow carriers to set their own criteria for picking passengers to bump, but the practice can be costly, both in damage to an airline's reputation and in compensating those compelled to give up their seats. An analysis of govt aviation data last year found passengers bumped from Alaska Airlines flight received the highest average compensation of US$1,605. <br/>