Talks on a resolution of the dispute between Ryanair and a group of its Irish pilots will take at least 3 days, it has emerged. Ryanair and the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) – part of trade union Fórsa – met mediator Kieran Mulvey Monday in an effort to settle differences that have led to 5 strikes at the airline over the past month. Mulvey told the parties he has set aside 3 days, Monday to Wednesday, for the talks and he asked the sides to refrain from public comment during the mediation. Ryanair last week proposed Mulvey, a former chairman of the Workplace Relations Commission, as an independent mediator, following calls by Ialpa-Fórsa, which represents the pilots, for independent third-party involvement. About 100 of Ryanair’s 350 Irish-based pilots held their fifth 1-day strike Friday. <br/>
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Alaska Airlines is tight-lipped on the matter, but SFO officials say they’re working closely with the carrier to open a much-needed airport lounge in newly built space at the airport’s Terminal 2. Airlines at San Francisco International are eager to keep customers happy even before they board the planes, scrambling to offer more airport lounges with fancier food options and other amenities. The growth of airport lounges occurs as more travellers at SFO find themselves heading to the airport even earlier to ensure they don’t miss their flights due to traffic congestion or long lines at security. The phenomenal success of credit cards offering lounge access as a perk also means more of the masses are finding themselves getting into what were once an elite oasis of relative tranquillity for business travellers. <br/>
The spectacular theft of a 76-seat plane from the Seattle airport by a ground crew employee is prompting an industrywide review of how to thwart such insider security threats, though it remains unclear what steps airlines might take. Investigators are continuing to piece together how 3½-year Horizon Air employee Richard Russell stole the empty Bombardier Q400 turboprop Friday evening and took off on a roughly 75-minute flight, executing steep banks and even a barrel roll while being tailed by fighter jets. He finally crashed into a forested island south of Seattle. Port of Seattle commissioner Courtney Gregoire called the theft from Seattle-Tacoma International "truly a one-in-a-million experience," but added, "That doesn't mean we can't learn from it." <br/>
Southwest Airlines abruptly grounded 66 Boeing 737 aircraft in its fleet last Wednesday after issues with the carrier’s aircraft weight records were discovered. In an internal memo to employees on the matter, Southwest said: “ (Wednesday) we discovered the weights being sent to our Dispatch Operation did not match our other weight records for a number of aircraft in the fleet. As a result, and out of an abundance of caution, we have stopped flying those aircraft to recalculate the weights of the aircraft in question and reset the program.” The groundings come just 2 months after the DoT Inspector General's office announced it was launching an investigation into whether FAA inspectors had been too lax in their safety and maintenance-related inspections and oversight at Southwest. <br/>