Members of Ryanair’s British pilot union voted on Wednesday in favour of strike action later this month in a dispute over working conditions, the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) said. According to the union, there will be a two-day strike from Aug. 22, and a second strike from the early hours of Sept. 2 until just before midnight on Sept. 4. In an email sent by BALPA to its members, the union said its members had sent a “very clear and powerful message to the company”, with 79.5% of the ballots cast backing the action. “Notwithstanding the result of the industrial action ballot, BALPA remains committed to finding a negotiated and agreed settlement to the current trade dispute,” it said. The decision to strike is a setback for management at Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, who in recent months said they had largely resolved an industrial relations dispute with pilots and cabin crew. Ryanair said the strike action had the support of less than 30% of its pilots as only half were members of BALPA. “This BALPA industrial action has no mandate from Ryanair pilots, is ill-timed just 10 weeks before Brexit, and will cause unnecessary disruption to customers holidays and travel plans,” the airline said. “We have written to BALPA asking them to return to talks, and we apologize sincerely to customers for any uncertainty that BALPA’s ballot may cause them.” Ryanair agreed in late 2017 to recognize unions for the first time, triggering a series of damaging strikes last year that ended when the airline signed collective labor agreements with several pilot unions throughout Europe. But BALPA has said pilot union colleagues in Spain, Ireland, Sweden and Germany have made “little, if any, meaningful progress” in talks with Ryanair. Story has more background.<br/>
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Sri Lanka’s state-run carrier could post a loss of as much as $160m this financial year, as tourist arrivals in the island nation fell following the Easter bombings in April. “The forecast (for fiscal year ending March 2020) soon after the Easter Sunday attack is about $160 m... but I’ll be happy if I can cap it around $100-$120m,” said Vipula Gunatilleka, the CEO of SriLankan Airlines on Wednesday. Islamist militants on April 21 bombed churches and luxury hotels across Sri Lanka, killing more than 250 people and severely denting its tourism sector, one of the country’s top revenue streams. That loss would however be marginally narrower than the $168m reported in the fiscal year to end-March 2019, Gunatilleka said.<br/>
A co-founder of India’s biggest airline IndiGo, Rakesh Gangwal, said reports that a truce had been brokered between him and another co-founder Rahul Bhatia over disagreements on corporate governance were “false and misleading.” In a letter here dated Aug. 5, Gangwal told the board of IndiGo's parent InterGlobe Aviation that issues between him and Bhatia remained unresolved. Gangwal last month alleged violations of corporate governance rules at InterGlobe, calling for India’s securities regulator to intervene. At the center of Gangwal’s complaint were Bhatia-controlled IGE Group’s significant controlling rights over IndiGo, which he alleged allows them to carry out “questionable” transactions. In the latest letter, disclosed by InterGlobe to exchanges on Tuesday, Gangwal said he did not back a proposal by the airline to expand its board of directors to 10, arguing that it would benefit IGE and help it “rework and dilute” an agreed-upon policy on related-party transactions. <br/>
India's Vistara will receive its first of six Boeing 787-9s in February 2020, according to the carrier's CE Leslie Thng. Speaking at the launch of the full-service airline's first international route — from Delhi to Singapore — Thng added that Vistara is nearly doubling its fleet this year, from 22 aircraft on 1 January to a projected 41 by the end of December. As that process continues, it will take two more former Jet Airways Boeing 737-800s by the end of August, and another nine Airbus A320neos by the end of the year. The two ex-Jet 737s will be the last of nine that Vistara has committed to take. <br/>
Air Arabia reported on Wednesday a 75% jump in its net profit for Q2 2019 as revenues rose on the back of growth in passenger traffic. The airline said it recorded Dh210m in profits for the quarter, bringing profits in H1 2019 to Dh338m — up 47% year-on-year. This was as passenger numbers for Air Arabia went up by 16% to three million. Turnover for the second quarter rose by 22% to Dh1.14b, bringing turnover for the first six months of the year to Dh2.17b — up 20%. Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Thani, chairman of Air Arabia, said the financial performance was driven by cost control measures, improved yield margins, and strong passenger demand. “The global and regional aviation industry continued to be impacted by pressing economic challenges and escalating geopolitical tensions during the first half of this year,” he said. “Despite that, Air Arabia managed to register record performance supported by strong passenger demand, momentum growth, and operational efficiency.”<br/>