SAS said late Thursday it reached a deal with unions to end a week-long strike by pilots that has grounded 380,000 passengers. SAS CE Rickard Gustafson said the airline and the unions agreed on a 3.5% salary increase in 2019 as part of the new three-year collective agreement. He said flights would be resumed as soon as possible, but it would likely take up to 24 hours before operations were entirely up and running again. SAS had canceled more than 4,000 flights through Thursday since pilots went on strike on April 26 over wages and working conditions. “I can with relief inform our customers and our staff that we now can put this conflict behind us. We have tonight signed a new collective agreement with our four pilot unions,” Gustafson said. Close to bankruptcy in 2012, SAS sold assets and cut wages and thousands of jobs in return for a life-saving credit facility. It has been profitable in the last four years, but fuel costs are rising and overcapacity is still squeezing the sector. Pilots had been seeking around a 13% pay hike, to make up for the 2012 wage cuts. SAS, which is part-owned by the Swedish and Danish governments, said that would entail significant cost increases that would seriously damage competitiveness. “The agreements between SAS and the pilots’ unions concern predictability of scheduling, job security and salaries. In addition, the previously cancelled agreements concerning collaboration and career paths have been reintroduced,” SAS said. <br/>
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Azul has registered to participate in a bankruptcy auction for the assets of struggling carrier Avianca Brasil scheduled for next week, potentially walking back a previous decision not to participate. The airline confirmed through a representative that they had registered, although he said no decision had been made whether to actually place a bid. The bankruptcy auction is set for Tuesday. Avianca Brasil filed for bankruptcy in December and will auction some of its most coveted airport slots, which grant airlines the right to operate flights out of crowded airports. Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico first reported Azul’s registration earlier on Thursday. Avianca Brasil, which is the country’s fourth largest airline, has been so strapped for cash in recent months it has been kept afloat by loans from its competitors, who sought to keep the airline alive until the auction. If Avianca Brasil ceased operations before the auction, it would also lose its slots. Its fleet has been dwarfed from a high of 60 planes late last year to fewer than 10 in late April.<br/>
Air China has posted a 2019 Q1 profit that increased 3.6% year on year (YOY) from CNY2.7b ($402.2m) from CNY2.6b. For the first three months, Air China’s revenue was CNY32.6b, up 3% YOY. After deducting non-recurring profits and losses, Air China’s net profit was CNY2.6b. “In the first quarter of 2019, the group achieved positive operating result by optimizing production organizations, increasing operating efficiency, refining yield control and maintaining strict cost control,” the carrier said. Total operating costs went up by 4.8% YOY to CNY29.6b, although items like general administrative expenses were down 2.4%.<br/>
A crater surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by police marks the spot where Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 plunged to earth after a terrifying six-minute flight, killing 157 people and sending Boeing, the plane’s manufacturer, into turmoil. In the seven weeks since the disaster, the grief of family members has been joined by growing frustration over what they say is a lack of information from authorities and the failure to receive the remains of their loved ones. “We don’t know if they have our daughter’s body. We don’t know if they have pieces of her body,” Nadia Milleron, whose daughter Samya Stumo died in the crash, said in an interview. She says she’s spoken to mothers of other victims who also crave some “physical confirmation.” The Ethiopian government says human tissue has been gathered by a team led by Interpol and Blake Emergency Services, a Derbyshire, England-based company that specializes in identifying victims of disasters that will test the material for DNA. The government has said it would provide temporary death certificates, which could help with insurance and probate. Precise identification will be difficult because of the nature of the March 10 crash. Robert A. Jensen, chairman of Kenyon International Emergency Services, a Houston-based disaster-management firm not involved in the Ethiopian crash, said the site clean up appeared to happen so quickly that some materials may never be recovered. Processing such a site would normally take weeks or months. Crews need to dig until they reach dirt that wasn’t damaged, he said. Asrat Begashaw and Biniam Demssie, spokesmen for the state-owned Ethiopian Airlines, didn’t respond to messages seeking comment on the cleanup or comments of family members. <br/>