The pilots’ union of India’s troubled Jet Airways said Sunday it will give the carrier’s new management two weeks to clear unpaid salaries, deferring its plan to take strike action. Jet has delayed payments to pilots, suppliers and lessors for months and defaulted on loans after racking up more than $1b in debt. The airline was bailed out on Monday by state-run banks, which have temporarily taken a majority stake in the company and given it a new loan of $218m. The National Aviators Guild, the union of Jet pilots, had planned to go on strike from April 1 because of non-payment of salaries. Jet on Saturday said it will pay December salaries to pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers but for now cannot pay more recent overdue wages. The pilots’ union has decided to give Jet’s new interim management until April 14 to clear salary dues “in conjunction with interim funding”, and deferred the plans of a strike until then, the National Aviators Guild said. <br/>
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Southwest said Friday it was pulling its Boeing Co 737 MAX jets from flight schedules through May, extending its earlier timeline from April 20, according to a company memorandum seen by Reuters. “This will impact the lines in May, but, now that the decision has been made, we can construct our schedule without those flights well in advance in hopes to minimize the daily disruptions,” the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association and the company said in the joint memorandum.<br/>
TUI remains committed to its Boeing 737 MAX orders despite two fatal crashes that have led to the grounding of the plane worldwide and caused the Anglo-German tour operator to issue a profit warning on Friday. TUI said its profit would fall by at least E200m this year due to the cost of substituting planes, loss of business and lower fuel efficiency - further evidence of the financial impact of the two deadly accidents after warnings from North American airlines. The holiday firm’s shares fell to an all-time low. Global airlines and travel groups have had to make contingency plans after 737 MAX planes were taken out of service following an Ethiopian Airlines disaster on March 10. David Burling, TUI’s board member responsible for airlines, said the travel company had “no intention” of changing its order for eight more MAXs on top of the 15 it already operates - one-tenth of its fleet. CEO Joussen said: “We are saving $1m per year per aircraft in fuel, but - and here comes the but - safety first.” TUI has little scope to cancel flights, as some airlines are doing, because the flights feed its hotel and cruise business. It is leasing planes complete with crews to replace those due to have been flown by 737 MAXs at the cost of $1m each per month, executives said, adding they had seen some tightening of the so-called wet-leasing market.<br/>
Indonesia’s Sriwijaya Air, which is operated by flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, has cancelled plan to lease two Boeing Co 737 MAX jets, a spokesman said Friday. “Due to the Ethiopian crash, the company felt it had to cancel the plan,” Sriwijaya Air spokesman Adi Willi Hanhari Haloho said. Haloho declined to name who the lessor for the Boeing jets was. Garuda Indonesia, which took over operational control of Sriwijaya in November, was the first airline to publicly confirm plans to scrap a 737 MAX order after the Ethiopian crash, in its case for 49 Boeing Co 737 MAX 8 jets. Garuda cited a loss of passenger trust following the two crashes, although it had been reconsidering the order before the latest disaster in Ethiopia. The company had met with Boeing on Thursday to discuss the scrapped order and its safety concerns over the Max 8 series, it said. Garuda will meet again with Boeing at the end of April to find “a win-win solution for both parties,” the statement staid.<br/>
HNA Group Co. agreed to sell control of airline caterer Gategroup Holding AG to RRJ Capital, the second major divestment in a week by the embattled Chinese conglomerate. RRJ will purchase all outstanding shares of Gategroup, the Swiss company said Friday. It didn’t disclose financial terms. The deal values Gategroup at about $2.8b, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The acquisition is expected to be completed in April, Gategroup said. RRJ, the Hong Kong private equity firm run by former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. banker Richard Ong, will be its sole shareholder after the deal. Temasek Holdings Pte will remain invested through a mandatory exchangeable bond. HNA was one of China’s most acquisitive companies until it began facing liquidity challenges and pressure from the government. <br/>
Samoa Airways is finalising an agreement to wet-lease a Boeing 737-800 from Malindo Air to operate its jet routes owing to the global grounding of the 737 Max fleet. Since commencing operations in November 2017, the carrier has used a 737-800 wet-leased from Italian carrier Neos. That was planned to be replaced by a 737 Max 9 at the end of March, but the global grounding of that fleet has resulted in the new-build jet being delivered into storage at Boeing Field. “Our lease with Neos couldn’t be extended and with the global grounding of the Max 8 aircraft, there is a huge worldwide shortage of narrow-body aircraft as airlines scramble to consolidate their schedules using their existing fleets and short-term leases from other operators”, says Samoa Airways CE Tupuivao Seiuli Alvin Tuala. The carrier and Malindo are now working to secure approvals from Samoan, Australian and New Zealand regulators for the new wet-lease, which it hopes will be secured by the end of the first week of April.<br/>
Thai AirAsia X has launched a new route operating four times a week from Bangkok to Fukuoka to open up a new tourism region in Japan for Thai travellers. "Due to issues with IATA Operational Safety Audits during the past six years, Thailand's airline industry ratings suffered," said Nadda Buranasiri, CE of Thai AirAsia X. "Yet AirAsia X has built credibility in operations," he said. "We plan to expand in the near future to Chinese destinations, as neighbouring countries are already our strength." The airline flies direct from Bangkok's Don Mueang airport to nine cities in four countries -- Seoul, Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo, Nagoya, Fukuoka, Shanghai, Tianjin and Brisbane -- using 10 Airbus A330-300 jets.<br/>