Star Alliance has been named the globe’s Best Airline Alliance for the fourth year running and its Los Angeles Lounge Best Airline Alliance Lounge for the fifth year in a row. The feats were announced at the Skytrax World Airline Awards, part of the recent Paris Air Show. Star Alliance CE Jeffrey Goh credited “the trust and loyalty of the many hundreds of millions of customers” that fly with the network each year. Goh also paid tribute to the “vigour and dedication of the Star Alliance workforce, who consistently go to great lengths to make the customer journey more efficient, seamless and enjoyable every day. “We benefit from the diverse strengths of over 430,000 proud employees across our 28 member airlines, which affords us the capacity to offer a holistically unrivalled passenger experience,” he said. <br/>
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A strike by EVA Air cabin crews entered its fourth day Monday, causing widespread disruptions and overshadowing the delivery of the carrier’s first Boeing 787-10. The airline, operating at around 40% capacity, has canceled more than 850 flights to date, affecting about 105,000 passengers. It also suspended all bookings until June 29 in the wake of the first labour action by its cabin crew members. The crews are demanding pay and benefits on par with carriers such as SIA and Cathay Pacific. They are requesting an increase in overseas allowance pay from TWD90 (US$3) to TWD150 per flight hour. They also want overnight rests on 9 regional round-trip routes, instead of having the same crew work both legs of the journeys. The Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union is set to hold a second vote June 29 to decide whether the strike will continue. <br/>
Lufthansa revealed new developments in its strategy, including turnaround plans for Eurowings, at its capital markets day Monday. The carrier said that Eurowings will focus on short-haul services in the future as its long-haul activities will be transferred to its Network Airlines segment, and unit costs at Eurowings should be cut by 15% by 2022. Lufthansa also changed its dividend policy, which is expected lead to higher payouts for shareholders. The carrier said that in the future, 20% to 40% of its net income should be regularly distributed to shareholders. Lufthansa specified that the new payout is adjusted for one-time gains and losses. In the medium term, the company aims to raise its free cash flow to more than US$1.14b a year. Lufthansa said that Brussels Airlines will also go through a turnaround in Q3 2019. <br/>
Brazil's civil aviation regulator will take back grounded airline Avianca Brasil's slots in Sao Paulo's coveted domestic airport as part of a plan to redistribute them later, according to a decision published in the govt's official gazette Monday. Avianca Brasil filed for bankruptcy in December and saw its operations progressively diminish until they were suspended in late May. The airline was Brazil's No. 4 carrier and had planned to auction its airport slots July 10, in hopes of raising at least US$140m. But without the Sao Paulo slots, which represent the most lucrative portion of all the airline's slots, it is unclear whether the auction will still take place. Brazil's top 3 airlines, Gol, LATAM, and Azul had all expressed interest in the slots, and spent millions in effort to secure them. <br/>
A blossoming partnership between Ethiopian Airlines and Collins Aerospace is broadening the airline’s already sizable MRO services business while helping the supplier gain a foothold in a region primed for growth. The agreement will see Ethiopian establish repair capabilities on several Collins-supplied De Havilland Dash 8-400 components. The airline will support its own fleet and offer services to other operators of the former Bombardier turboprop. Collins will use the shop to support African customers as well. If IATA’s long-term forecast for demand is any indication, Africa—despite being the smallest of world-region markets the association tracks—will need its share of MRO services in the next 2 decades. The latest IATA outlook has Africa’s passenger growth at a 4.6% CAGR through 2037. <br/>