Seven trade unions representing Ryanair cabin crew in 5 countries threatened Friday to hold a strike in late September unless the airline agrees to improve working conditions. The carrier suffered its worst ever strikes this summer, but secured a breakthrough in August when it reached a deal with striking Irish pilots and said it was hopeful it could secure deals in other markets soon. But Friday, unions representing cabin crew in Italy, Portugal, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands threatened in a joint letter to hold "the biggest strike action the company has ever seen" unless changes are made to their conditions. The unions are demanding local contracts under local law rather than the Irish contracts. The unions said the strike would take place in the last week of September and that a decision would be made by Sept 13. <br/>
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Ryanair said it would not cut its Dublin-based fleet this winter after IALPA voted to accept a collective agreement, bringing to a close weeks of tense negotiations and a series of strikes. The carrier’s board has decided to restore 6 aircraft destined for transfer to Poland this winter to Dublin and has also withdrawn the notice it had given 300 Dublin-based pilots and cabin crew that their jobs were at risk, it said. In July, Ryanair warned it would cut its Dublin-based fleet from 30 to 24 aircraft for winter 2018 because of rapid growth at its Polish charter airline and a downturn in forward bookings and air fares in Ireland, partly caused by strikes. It said 300 pilots and cabin crew would be given notice that their Dublin-based jobs were at risk in a move Forsa, the union of which IALPA is a branch, called “provocative” at the time. <br/>
A Ryanair pilot and 3 other industry veterans hope to raise at least US$100m in Switzerland this week to launch a low-cost, long-haul airline that defies the economic forces which have grounded some small European carriers in recent months. The new airline — as yet unnamed — will focus initially on serving North America, and expects to undercut larger, established carriers with a cut-price service from Basel airport. The founders believe their business model will avoid the problems which hit other carriers. Their move comes just weeks after the collapse of SkyWork airline, which served European destinations from Bern airport. The Basel project could launch in mid-2019 if its fundraising is successful. The airline expects to have a cost base 30% lower than established network carriers and to be profitable in its third year. <br/>
EasyJet CE Johan Lundgren does not see the pressure on European airlines easing up, as operational challenges continue to bite. “In Europe, I don’t have a great deal of hope that things will get better,” Lundgren said, giving the example of ATC delays that will “not get better by themselves.” This means airlines must focus on mitigating disruption, rather than expecting any improvement. Lundgren sees data playing a key role. Meanwhile, EasyJet is working to address several other operational challenges. The airline is working to integrate the assets that it acquired from Airberlin in December last year, transitioning the Berlin Tegel operation from wet-leased aircraft to its own fleet. “We always knew it was going to be a difficult year, because we have been operating an inefficient program,” he said. <br/>
Airline fuel should be priced at US$52 per barrel, according to the president of Emirates. Tim Clark said that he believes that air fuel is “hugely overpriced.” “If you are at $77 or $83 dollars [per barrel] it should be $52. That’s where it needs to be,” he said. “Those people, those countries, those entities that say they can’t make money on $52, they need to be doing something else.” Additionally, Clark said fuel is “capped out” and unlikely to rise in price going forward. “The forward curve is flat,” he said. “There’s a certain amount of flakiness going forward that fuel will rise above where it is today. That’s my view.” According to Clark, fuel prices at Emirates are now approximately 44% higher than they were during the same time period in 2017. <br/>
AirAsia X is considering adding Airbus A321neos and A321LRs to its fleet for future route development and frequency increases. The carrier notes in a recent quarterly results presentation that the narrowbodies could offer variable cost savings of up to 16% and fixed cost savings of up to 5% compared with its A330 fleet. If it were to proceed with the mixed-fleet plan, A321s could operate around 64% of its core Malaysian unit's network, flying on routes up to 7.9h with 192-236 seats. The A330s – including the 100 A330-900s it has orders and commitments for – would then operate longer routes. The dual-fleet proposal would allow AirAsia X to "grow markets with a smaller aircraft and defend markets with a bigger aircraft", says the carrier. <br/>
Flybe has rolled out a new livery as part of its rebranding exercise. The airline adopted its current, purple livery only about 5 years ago and some of its fleet are still in the previous white and pale blue scheme. It is understood the airline decided on the latest colour scheme as being simpler and thus more in tune with its “Close to you” brand positioning. To minimise expense, the airline will paint around 10 aircraft a year into the new scheme as they become due for scheduled maintenance and repainting. The entire fleet, comprising mainly Bombardier Q400s plus a smaller number of EmbraerE175s, will be repainted by 2025. The airline said the new, in-house designed colours aimed to create a simpler, cleaner look. Aircraft still in the company’s former white and blue livery will be the first to be re-painted. <br/>
Kuwait’s aviation regulator has suspended the AOC of carrier Wataniya Airways for 3 months. Comments by a Kuwaiti govt minister suggest that the year-old airline’s operations and network could be taken over by state-owned Kuwait Airways. The suspension comes days after Wataniya said it was “partially suspending” its operations after the loss of several of its fleet to maintenance problems and a dispute with the Greek lessor supplying them. The regulator warned Wataniya Aug 25 that if it did not improve the quality of its operations by Sept 6, it would initiate the suspension. This followed a series of cancellations and delays that left hundreds of Wataniya’s passengers stranded abroad. The Kuwaiti govt stepped in and told Kuwait Airways to mount special flights to bring more than 1,500 stranded passengers home. <br/>