Ryanair has asked the High Court for an order preventing its Irish-based pilots from going on strike next week. Ryanair is seeking an injunction preventing the trade union Forsa, which is the parent union of IALPA, from striking for 48 hours commencing midnight Aug 22nd in a dispute over pay and conditions. The action is also against a number of pilots who are members of IALPA, including that union’s president Evan Cullen. The airline is also seeking a declaration from the court that Forsa’s ballot for the proposed strike action and its notice of strike action served on Ryanair earlier this week was unlawful. The airline claims that the proposed strike would be in breach of an agreement the parties agreed to in 2018. <br/>
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Southwest Airlines has announced plans to offer interisland flights across Hawaii, officials said. Southwest announced Thursday it will begin offering flights from Hilo as early as next year. Two different flights are expected to travel 4 times daily in each direction beginning Jan 19, 2020; from Hilo on Hawaii island to Honolulu and from Lihue on Kauai to Honolulu, airline officials said. There is a "good opportunity here for us, and we believe that we've got a phenomenal offering for the people of Hilo, whether they're flying just to Honolulu or whether they want to connect on to the 90-plus destinations that we have on the mainland as well," said Steven Swan, Southwest strategic planning director. The airline did not say when flights traveling to and from the US mainland to Hilo International would begin, officials said. <br/>
Icelandair is conducting a review of its long-term fleet strategy. The carrier has suffered from the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX—it has 5 MAX 8s and 1 MAX 9 in its fleet, plus an additional 3 -8s and 6 -9s on order—but said the review is unrelated to this. To fill holes in its summer schedule since the MAX grounding in March, the carrier has wet-leased 2 Boeing 767s, temporarily acquired a 757, and also brought in 2 De Havilland Dash 8-400s from domestic sister company Air Iceland Connect. Icelandair is one of the largest users of the Boeing 757 outside the US with more than 20 in its fleet and has used the type on its relatively thin, long routes between Europe and North America, connecting at its Reykjavik hub. The MAX was not only intended to replace some of those aircraft, but also to expand the fleet. <br/>