Ryanair has reached an agreement with German union Verdi relating to pay and conditions for cabin crew that will be put to workers for approval next Tuesday, the airline said Thursday. Ryanair has been hit by a series of strikes across Europe despite bowing to pressure to recognise unions for the first time almost a year ago. The 2-year Collective Labour Agreement covers all the airline's cabin crew based in Germany and confirms the application of German labour law and includes pay increases and other benefits, Ryanair said. Verdi, which represents about 1,000 Ryanair cabin crew in Germany, said the agreement would only become final once its members had been able to vote on it. Ryanair said last month it hoped to reach deals with all of its major unions by Christmas, seeking to end disruptions which have hit its profit and shares. <br/>
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Investigators are slowly piecing together clues of how Indonesia’s worst air disaster in two decades transpired, raising questions over how a near brand-new Boeing jet that had recurring instrument failures was cleared for its ill-fated flight. The Lion Air Max 8 plane’s angle-of-attack sensor was replaced the day before the Oct 29 crash after erroneous readings on a previous trip, the Indonesia NTSC said Wednesday. Faulty airspeed readings plagued the jet on its last 4 flights before it plunged into the Java Sea. The revelations spurred Boeing to alert operators of the 737 Max aircraft worldwide that the airflow sensor can provide false readings in certain circumstances. That warning and the investigation team’s statement suggest the pilots on JT610 may have been battling with the aircraft as its computers commanded a dive. <br/>
Saudi LCC Flynas said terms available from engine makers may determine whether it awards a multi-billion-dollar wide-body jetliner order to Airbus or Boeing. Flynas has begun negotiations for Airbus A330neo or Boeing 787-9 planes, and is also engaged in detailed talks with turbine suppliers including Rolls-Royce, CE Bander Almohanna said. While engines have always been central to aircraft orders, exclusivity deals on models like the A330neo, where Rolls is the only supplier, have hurt airlines’ bargaining power. Turbine manufacturers are also struggling to keep pace with deliveries amid a series of glitches, with Rolls saying last month it had handed over only 10 A330 powerplants this year out of the 30 scheduled. Flynas’s order, likely to be placed next year, will comprise at least 10 planes and probably more, Almohanna said. <br/>
Aerolineas Estelar Latinoamerica will begin to offer a direct flight from Caracas to New York more than 2 years after the route disappeared from its itineraries. Isolated Venezuelans have few options when flying. Carriers such as Delta Air Lines, Latam Airlines and Avianca have scrapped flights to Caracas for security reasons as well as the virtual impossibility of getting money out of the country. While American Airlines still offers routes to Venezuela, it indefinitely suspended its direct flights to New York in 2016, claiming low demand. Estelar’s website does not detail exactly when they will begin to offer the route and for what price. A Maracaibo travel agency is offering tickets through the airline starting late this month for about US$570 round-trip. <br/>
Flight attendants at Air Wisconsin Thursday voted overwhelmingly to authorise a strike. Air Wisconsin is a vendor regional carrier at O’Hare Airport for United Airlines, operating under the United Express regional banner. The AW flight attendants, represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, voted 99% to authorise a strike, as contract negotiations that have gone on for well over 2 years have yielded no tentative agreement. Negotiations have been overseen by the National Mediation Board, who will be a factor in whether Air Wisconsin flight attendants do walk out. If there is no progress in negotiations in the days ahead, the NMB could declare negotiations deadlocked, a move that would release the company and the union into a 30-day “cooling off” period, after which Air Wisconsin flight attendants could establish a strike deadline. <br/>
More than half of Virgin Atlantic’s pilots are being balloted on strike action because they say the airline has refused to recognise their union or consult with them about proposed changes to their benefits. If they approve industrial action, pilots could strike around Christmas. Virgin does not recognise the Professional Pilots Union, which represents 450 of its 800 pilots, and instead deals with Balpa. “Our members have mandated the PPU to negotiate, but for the last 2 years it appears the company has chosen to ignore the majority of its pilots and deal only with a union that speaks for the minority. That’s a fundamental mistake,” said a PPU spokesman. Craig Kreeger, Virgin CE, wrote to pilots last week to explain changes to their terms and conditions, which the PPU said were “a cost-cutting exercise”. <br/>
Southern African carrier Air Botswana has taken delivery of the first of 2 ATR 72-600 turboprops, which were ordered immediately before the Farnborough Air Show in July. The second aircraft is planned for delivery before the end of the year. The new aircraft will upgrade Air Botswana’s existing fleet of 3 ATR 42-500s and one ATR 72-500. The new aircraft will be configured with a 70-seat, dual-class cabin and will be equipped with the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127N engine, which features a super-boost option that equates to carrying 4 more passengers than would otherwise be possible from hot-and-high airfields such as the Botswanan capital Gaborone and regional centre Maun, as well as the biggest hub in southern Africa, Johannesburg. <br/>
AirBaltic is planning to open its first aircraft bases outside of the Baltics after 2020 and is nearing a decision on its Airbus A220 options. AirBaltic has 50 Airbus A220s on order, plus 30 options, which the airline will use to replace its current fleet of Boeing 737s and Bombardier Q400s. Over the coming days, AirBaltic’s 14th A220-300 will join the fleet. AirBaltic CE Martin Gauss said Thursday that 36 of the A220s will be used for direct replacements. The remaining 14 firm A220s will be used to grow the fleet by 2 aircraft per year, over the next 7 years. Gauss said that, under the current business plan, airBaltic is expecting to fly all 80 A220s and it is very likely the 30 options will be firmed from next year. The 11 remaining 737s will be phased out by the end of 2020 and the Q400s will be returned to their lessors around 2022-23. <br/>
Volotea, a Spanish LCC specialising in point-to-point service between Europe’s secondary cities, plans on steady growth in fleet, network and revenues next year. The airline’s fleet is expected to grow to 34 aircraft, chief sales officer Pierfrancesco Carino said Thursday The fleet will include 16 or 17 Airbus A319s, he said, thanks to the delivery of 3 used A319s, while acquisition of a fourth A319 has yet to be closed. Volotea operates the A319s in a 156-seat configuration. The rest of the fleet consists of 125-seat Boeing 717s, which were “very good to begin with” when the carrier was founded in 2012, Carino said, but are being replaced by the longer-range, greater-capacity A319s. Volotea targets 2022 for a single-type fleet. The airline flies 293 routes and plans to expand to 319, with 36 new routes and 10 withdrawals. <br/>