Ryanair pilots in Ireland are deciding whether to go on strike over pay, after the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association, a branch of the Forsa trade union, launched a strike ballot. Since Ryanair began recognising unions in Dec 2017, the airline has faced numerous strikes and conflicts with employees over pay and working conditions across European markets. The ballot began July 23 and will conclude Aug 9, Forsa said, adding the decision to ballot “reflected the frustration and disappointment of pilots with the lack of progress in ongoing pay talks with the company.” Forsa said it plans to continue to engage with Ryanair to try and bring talks to a satisfactory conclusion with a meeting with management scheduled July 30. Ryanair pilots based in the UK are also in the process of deciding on whether to strike, with ballot results due Aug 7. <br/>
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The EC has approved the tie-up of Air Nostrum and CityJet, just 1 year after the two companies announced at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2018 the intent to create what they described as the “largest pan-European regional airline group” with a combined fleet of close to 100 aircraft and annual revenues of some E700m. Wednesday, the EU’s antitrust regulator said that the proposed transaction would raise no competition concerns because the companies “have moderate market shares, a sufficient number of competitors remains on the market, and the barriers to entry are low.” Brussels received notification of the proposal June 19 and analysed the deal under the EU’s normal merger review procedure. <br/>
Air Peace airline said Wednesday that the airworthiness of their planes has nothing to do with the incidence that involved a flight from Port Harcourt that had “hard landing” in Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos. Monday, an Air Peace Boeing 737-300 was on approach to Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos from Port Harcourt when the “nose wheel collapsed on landing on the runway and the nose wheel gear tire sheared off”. The Air Peace safety manager said the pilot landed the airplane harder than intended and this affected the nose-wheel of the aircraft. “Our preliminary in-house investigation indicates that in a bid to make a positive touchdown as required by procedures during such wet weather operations, the pilot landed the airplane harder than intended.” <br/>