Spanish trade union UGT has called on ground staff for Iberia at Madrid's Barajas airport to go on strike at the end of August. The strikes are due to take place at Spain's largest airport Aug 30 and 31, the UGT union said, and would coincide with another strike planned at Barcelona's El Prat airport. The union's main demands are more full-time contracts, training, and the use of new vehicles. A spokeswoman for Iberia said the company was always open to dialogue and negotiation and would do all it could to avoid the strike. Failing that, the company would make efforts to minimise its impact on customers. It was not immediately clear how many employees would be called on to participate and whether other unions were likely to join the strike. <br/>
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American Airlines will pay US$22.1m to settle allegations it falsified times when it handed off mail, including items sent to US soldiers stationed abroad. The Justice Department said Tuesday that American picked up mail for the US Postal Service at 6 locations in the US, and Defense Department and State Department locations overseas. American transferred the mail to foreign postal agencies or other recipients, then submitted electronic scans of bins to show deliveries were made correctly and on time. American says the allegations are several years old and it has invested in new equipment and procedures to handle the mail. In 2016, American disclosed it was under investigation regarding international-mail contracts from 2009 and 2011. <br/>
American Airlines will tweak first class to add more leg space, extra in-seat power, and other amenities after passengers complained about the product on some retrofitted short-haul aircraft, but the carrier will keep economy as it is, the airline’s CFO Derek Kerr said Tuesday. “We are modifying certain things in the first class of that aircraft that, when we originally rolled it out, were not done properly,” Kerr said. American introduced what it called its ”Project Oasis” configuration in late 2017 when it received its first Boeing 737 Max aircraft, and then began rolling it out to other aircraft. In first class and economy class, American reduced legroom and removed personal televisions, arguing they cost too much and quickly would become obsolete. It also shrunk the size of some bathrooms. <br/>
Pilots and cabin crew at Cathay Pacific Airways described a "white terror" of political denunciations, sackings and phone searches by Chinese aviation officials amid anti-govt protests gripping the former British colony. Cathay was caught in the middle of the crisis 11 days ago, when China demanded it suspend staff involved in the protest movement. The firm agreed, firing 2 pilots, but has since been plunged into turmoil after CE Rupert Hogg was replaced last week. Another pilot, Jeremy Tam, who is also a pro-democracy lawmaker, said Tuesday that he and others had quit the airline as the internal political pressure was intolerable. "That (China's aviation regulator) has reached into Hong Kong and directly pressured a local airline is undoubtedly 'white terror'," he said. <br/>