American Airlines Group persuaded a federal judge to temporarily block an alleged work slowdown by mechanics that the carrier says has become “devastating” to its operations. American sought the order three weeks after asking for a temporary injunction against the TWU-IAM Association, which represents more than 30,000 mechanics, baggage handlers and other airport ramp workers. A July 1 trial set in the case isn’t soon enough, the carrier said Friday. A judge in Fort Worth, Texas, granted the airline’s request for a temporary restraining order late Friday afternoon. American had asked the court to order the union and its members to stop slowing aircraft repairs or other work and to stop refusing overtime or assignments away from their normal location. The union’s “illegal conduct has dramatically escalated and has become devastating to the airline’s operations, customers and employees,” American said in the court filing. Union members “have dramatically expanded their illegal slowdown activities, and are creating an operational crisis causing significant damage to American, the traveling public and American’s employees.” The latest filing intensifies a standoff between the two sides after federal mediators suspended contract talks in April, saying they didn’t see a way to resolve differences. TWU-IAM is the only major union at American that still lacks a unified contract following the carrier’s merger with US Airways in 2013. The slowdown has forced American to cancel 722 flights in the 23 days since it filed the original lawsuit last month, the airline said. The number of affected passengers has escalated to 11,000 daily, or more than 175,000 since the original May 20 filing, it said.<br/>
oneworld
Japan Airlines received Friday its first delivery of a new Airbus A350 passenger jet at Tokyo International Airport, also known as Haneda airport. The delivery marks the first introduction in Japan of the cutting-edge jet manufactured by Airbus. The aircraft will be used for services connecting Tokyo and Fukuoka from September. The A350-900 passenger jet arrived at Haneda airport after departing from Toulouse, France, on Thursday. JAL has ordered 18 A350-900 jets, which each have 369 seats. It also plans to purchase 13 A350-1000 jets, which have more capacity. At a hangar at Haneda airport, JAL workers greeted the new aircraft with a banner that read, “Welcome! New wings for a new era.” <br/>
Malaysia Airlines is warning that it is unlikely to break even in 2019 amid capacity and cost pressures, despite improvements to its Q1 operating performance. In a quarterly trading update today, the airline's group CE Izham Ismail says he expects 2019 to "remain extremely challenging". "The competitive environment is expected to continue to tighten in 2019, driven by overcapacity in the region," he says. "This is largely driven by the price-sensitive leisure market which directly impacts yield. "While the airline has hedged against fuel and foreign exchange, we will continue to be impacted by such external volatilities - including the ongoing trade war between the US and China - and do not foresee to break even this year." During the January-March quarter, Malaysia Airlines posted a 2% increase in its revenue driven of an "aggressive sales initiatives on the back of a much softer market". This also helped to lift passenger numbers by 5% to 3.38m. Passenger yields remained flat at MYR0.23 ($0.06), while overall load factors dipped 0.2 points to 75.2%. Initiatives such as offering prepaid baggage and seat selection have also helped to raise its ancillary revenue by 23%. No other details were shared by the privately-owned carrier.<br/>