JetBlue Airways could radically lower the price of business-class travel across the Atlantic, CE Robin Hayes said, giving the strongest signal yet that the carrier may jump into the world’s busiest aviation market. “We look at the obscene fares that carriers are charging in that market and we think we can bring price discipline,” Hayes said. While the company hasn’t taken a decision, “we think it’s a good opportunity, and when the time is right to take advantage, we may very well do that.” JetBlue would look to bring its Mint premium offering to bear on the North Atlantic. Hayes said that since its US rollout in 2014, the service with lie-flat beds has helped to halve the cost of transcontinental business-class flights. JetBlue could coexist well with discounters such as Norwegian, he said. <br/>
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The Ryanair-Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) deal means passengers need no longer fear strikes at the carrier’s bases in the Republic, for the time being at least. Following a dispute that ran for weeks, followed by protracted mediation talks and then a ballot, Ialpa members directly employed by Ryanair voted for an agreement on a system that determines pilot seniority. This in turn will help determine things such as base allocation and transfers, promotion, command upgrades – that is who takes command when 2 captains are flying an aircraft and play a role in allocating annual leave. Ryanair still faces potential disputes in other countries. The European pilot unions remained quiet since the one-day strike early last month, but they have presumably been watching as Irish pilots entered mediation and then voted on their agreement. <br/>
Norwegian intends to stick to its strategy to sell up to 140 aircraft, the airline wrote in an investor presentation Sept 4, confirming plans for large-scale asset disposals. The LCC hopes to “disclose news about the transaction” before the end of the year, CFO Geir Karlsen said, referring to efforts to hand on most of its big order for Airbus A320neo family aircraft to another customer. According to Airbus, Norwegian has firm orders for 65 A320neos and 30 A321neos (the LR variant capable of transatlantic range flying). “The Airbus A320neos are for all practical purposes for sale,” Karlsen said. The fate of the larger variant is not as clear as the airline may choose to keep some of them for Norwegian Air Argentina. The airline has also started selling of some of its older Boeing 737-800s, 6 of which are to leave the fleet this year. <br/>
Tata Sons may emerge as the controlling shareholder in AirAsia India by acquiring stakes held by airline’s chairman S Ramadorai and non-executive director R Venkataramanan, people directly aware of the matter said. The share purchase from the 2 board members comes at a time when the low-cost airline joint venture is plagued by rule-rigging allegations and senior management exits. Tata Sons is likely to snap up the shares as part of a clean-up and consolidation act. Ramadorai, former TCS CE, owns 0.5% in the carrier, while Venkataramanan, CE of Tata Trusts, holds 1.5%. The transaction, when done, will make Tata Sons the largest shareholder of the airline, increasing its stake from 49% to 51%. The remaining 49% is held by Malaysia’s AirAsia. <br/>
Ten people who were sick on a flight from Dubai to John F. Kennedy International in New York have tested positive for influenza or other common respiratory viruses, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. The test results thus far point to a variety of common illnesses, contracted before boarding the plane, rather than a single outbreak or flight-related incident, said the CDC. Emirates Airline flight 203 was quarantined upon landing Wednesday morning, after pilots on the plane had reported that more than 100 people had symptoms such as coughing, nausea and fever. The report, radioed ahead of landing, was concerning: Such a large number of ill passengers is unusual, and they were coming from a part of the world known for emerging infections such as MERS, a deadly viral respiratory illness. <br/>