Aer Lingus is to drop the mandatory wearing of make-up for its female cabin crew from November. The airline says it had been considering dropping the stipulation for mandatory make-up and for women to wear skirts before Virgin Atlantic made its announcement this week. Virgin Atlantic stated that from March 1st, the carrier had changed its styling and grooming policy. A spokeswoman for Aer Lingus said the airline had been considering similar changes as part of its rebranding exercise. It follows an announcement in January that the airline would be rolling out its new uniform later this year. Aer Lingus said its new uniform had been designed in partnership with staff “to reflect changing dress norms and to better meet the needs of our guest-facing colleagues. “The new uniform collection incorporates a range of wearer options including a trouser option for females and an ability to combine collection elements. Aer Lingus uniform staff guidelines for the new uniform are currently being completed, but Aer Lingus can confirm that these will not include mandatory use of make-up.”<br/>
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A group of unionized Southwest baggage handlers have urged a federal appeals court to rule that federal labour law did not preempt their claims that the airline violated a unique Illinois biometric law when it collected their fingerprints. In a brief filed on Wednesday, the workers told the 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals that because their collective bargaining agreement did not mention Southwest’s fingerprint-based timekeeping system, their claims did not have to proceed in union arbitration under the federal Railway Labor Act.<br/>
At least 28 of Jet Airways’ aircraft have now been grounded for defaults on lease payments, following the latest grounding of three aircraft on 7 March. Consistent with earlier disclosures, the airline repeated its claim that it is “actively engaged with all its aircraft lessors”, and that they “have been supportive” of its efforts to increase its liquidity. The lessors and aircraft involved in the latest grounding were not disclosed. FLY Leasing has confirmed that three Boeing 737-800s it leases to Jet are among the grounded aircraft, but it has not moved to terminate the leases as it waits on the carrier to move forward with its restructuring plan. It has however signalled that it may take back the jets if the plan does not progress by the end of the month. GECAS, BOC Aviation and MC Aviation Partners are among a wide group of lessors that manage aircraft in Jet’s fleet, according to Cirium’s Fleets Analyzer. The database shows that Jet has 49 aircraft in storage, including 30 737-800s and eight 737 Max 8s. It still has 72 aircraft in service.<br/>
Garuda Indonesia has rejected a proposal made by Malaysia’s AirAsia to acquire Citilink Indonesia, the former’s LCC subsidiary. “Citilink is doing better than AirAsia, even under Garuda’s new management,” Garuda Indonesia president director Ari Askhara said as quoted by tempo.co.id on Tuesday. He added that there had been no internal talks within Garuda and no orders from shareholders to sell Citilink Indonesia, nor had the airline received an official proposal from Air Asia Indonesia to buy the low-cost carrier. He conceded that talks had taken place between Garuda Indonesia and AirAsia since Pahala N. Mansury came on board to lead the former but assured they had been about possible cooperation, not an acquisition. On Monday, AirAsia Indonesia president director Dendy Kurniawan said the company was interested in acquiring Citilink because of the similarities between the two LCCs. “Both are LCCs. We are strong in international routes, while they [Citilink] are strong domestically. Both operate the Airbus 31. We have also a similar rating of pilots and cabin crew members,” Deddy added. <br/>
Ryanair CE Michael O'Leary would like a woman to take over as head of the group's mainline operation, although his preference for an internal candidate appears to limit his options in this regard. Explaining at the A4E Summit in Brussels on 6 March that he expected the new chief executive to be in place by year-end, O'Leary expressed a desire to "break from the past". At the same time, however, he suggests that a current Ryanair employee is the most likely appointee. "If I had a choice, I'd have a female, just because that would be a very significant break with the past in Ryanair," he says, adding that he thinks "it's likely to be an internal candidate, because they understand the business". Of the nine "senior executives" listed on Ryanair's website, just one is a woman: chief risk officer Carol Sharkey. "I would want somebody who has the opposite of my limited skillset," says O'Leary. "So, somebody female, empathetic, caring, kind. As opposed to a rapacious bastard like me for the last 30 years. I think it would be very good for the company." He clarifies that the process to identify the new mainline CE will not begin until Ryanair has released its full-year results.<br/>
Central and Eastern European LCC Wizz Air has taken delivery of the first of 184 Airbus A321neos it has on order at Airbus’s Hamburg final assembly plant. The aircraft is powered by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines and has a 239-seat, single-class layout. Wizz Air is an all-Airbus operator, with more than 100 A320-family aircraft in its inventory and 261 more scheduled to be delivered. Hungary-based Wizz is the largest customer worldwide for the A321neo model. Wizz Air CEO József Váradi said, “We are convinced that the A321neo will be a game-changer aircraft for Wizz, as we continue to grow at an industry-leading rate and expand our market reach across and beyond Europe."<br/>