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Ryanair members of the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) on Wednesday announced a further seven days of strikes as their latest walkout comes to an end, having caused little disruption for the low-cost airline. Some of the next round of strikes will coincide with multi-day strikes by Ryanair pilots and cabin crew in Spain. BALPA members said they will walk out again on Sept. 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 27 and 29. Ryanair’s Spanish pilots will also be on strike on Sept 19, 27 and 29, while the ninth of 10 strike days called by their cabin crew colleagues is due on Sept. 27. While widespread strikes over pay and conditions a year ago forced Ryanair to cancel hundreds of flights, the first series of strikes since then in Britain, Spain and Portugal has caused minimal disruption in recent weeks. Ryanair flights to and from Britain ran as scheduled over the last three days during BALPA’s latest strike, having also caused no cancellations during the union’s first walkout last month. So far only 14 Spanish flights have been affected by the industrial action, representing less than 1% of the Irish airline’s daily schedule to and from Spain.<br/>

Emirates President Tim Clark delivered a broadside against Airbus and Boeing as well as their biggest engine suppliers, saying he’s no longer prepared to take delivery of aircraft that don’t meet specifications. The veteran airline executive, who oversees the world’s largest international carrier, said he’s run out of patience with glitches that have held up new models or forced costly groundings for emergency repairs. He likened the nuisance to purchasing a new luxury car, only to have the dealer warn that the engine will need changing after three months. “That’s not going to happen any more,” Clark said Wednesday. “When they’re ready to give us what they’re contracted to do then we will have an assessment of the number and type of aircraft that are going to be used.” Delivered from one of the most respected executives in the aviation world, it’s a stern message that threatens to have repercussions across the industry. At stake are orders for more than 250 wide-body jets, which Clark said Emirates won’t take without a cast-iron guarantee of trouble-free performance. Both Airbus and Boeing have suffered performance setbacks with their aircraft, and Clark said he can’t be sure about the reliability of the Rolls-Royce Holdings engines that power the planes, or that the UK company has resolved issues with a turbine it supplies for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, of which Emirates has 40 on order. Clark’s warning comes against the background of a fleet review triggered by a deteriorating global economy and the looming demise of Airbus’s A380 superjumbo, around which Emirates had previously built its business.<br/>

Emirates aims to stay at its Dubai International Airport base for another decade as the sheikdom reviews the future of a partly built super-hub costing $36b. Dubai International, which attracted 90m passengers last year, could conceivably eke out annual capacity of as many as 115m travelers, Emirates President Tim Clark said Wednesday. Transferring other airlines to the newer Al Maktoum airport would give Emirates and sister carrier FlyDubai room to expand at their existing home, he said. Both Dubai International and Al Maktoum, which can now handle 25-30m people a year, are state-owned. So are Emirates and FlyDubai, which gives Clark more say about airport location than a typical airline chief. The aviation veteran, who has made Emirates the dominant player on inter-continental routes, said a review of Al Maktoum -- designed to serve as many as 250m passengers -- must assess if it will be suited to a time when everything from check-in to baggage processing and security will be done remotely or with little physical infrastructure. He said Dubai can’t have a “Jurassic” hub. <br/>

Southwest, the largest operator of Boeing’s 737 Max, expects regulators will certify the grounded jet to resume flight before Thanksgiving in the US, clearing the way for much-needed new deliveries by year’s end. “We’re assuming that we will have the go-ahead to return the Max to service by, call it the beginning to mid-November,” Southwest CFO Tammy Romo said Wednesday. United also is eager to get more of the workhorse narrow-body jet, which has been grounded worldwide since March after two crashes killed 346 people. Boeing has made changes to the flight-control system implicated in the disasters and has estimated that the Max would return to service early in the Q4. Southwest -- which had 34 Max aircraft in its fleet when the plane was grounded -- has removed the jet from its schedule until Jan. 5. The airline had expected to receive 16 more this year. The plane represented 8% of Southwest’s capacity, and the grounding has increased costs while it decreased revenue, Romo said. Southwest in July said Max woes had cut $225m from 2019 operating income. The airline will reintegrate the Max in “a very controlled and organized way and ramp up in a manner that we think is prudent,” she said. Investors have expressed concern that a glut of 737s returning to schedules as travel demand typically wanes could pressure fares. The carrier hopes to get “back on track” with its Max delivery schedule by the middle or end of next year, Romo said. Six shipments scheduled for 2020 could shift into the following year, she said.<br/>

Creditors of India’s bankrupt Jet Airways are likely to recover less than 10% of the carrier’s total outstanding dues in a liquidation scenario if no suitor succeeds in buying the airline, two sources told Reuters. The airline’s financial and operational creditors, who are owed nearly 300b Indian rupees ($4.20b) are likely to recover only $300-$400m from the sale of Jet’s assets, the sources, who have direct knowledge of the matter, said. “The expected recovery on owned planes and real estate is $300-400m after repaying debt tied specifically to those assets,” said one of the sources. The sources, who asked not to be named as they have not been cleared to discuss the matter with media, said Jet currently has some four to six Boeing and Airbus aircraft, and some real estate assets in India, on which there are some outstanding dues. The airline, less than a year ago, was operating a fleet of more than 120 planes that flew to dozens of domestic destinations and international hubs such as Singapore, London and Dubai. Once India’s biggest private carrier, Jet stopped flying in April after running out of cash, leaving thousands without jobs and pushing up airfares across the country. It was admitted to bankruptcy court in June after its lenders, led by State Bank of India, failed to agree on a revival plan. The Indian bankruptcy process allows lenders to sell the company as a whole or in parts to maximize recovery for creditors. Apart from the lenders the airline has 2,400 creditors including suppliers, vendors and employees.<br/>

A South African court Wednesday ordered the release of an Airbus aircraft leased by Tanzania’s national airline that was impounded as part of a compensation dispute. The A220-300 plane was impounded last month following a court application by a retired farmer who has claimed compensation from the Tanzanian government over the expropriation of his land. The plane had been scheduled to fly from the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, South Africa, to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, but was seized on an order issued by the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg. Roger Wakefield, of Werksmans Attorneys, said his client, an elderly farmer who asked not to be named, was owed $33m, including interest, in compensation from the Tanzanian government after his land in the country was expropriated several decades ago. The farmer was subsequently awarded the compensation in an arbitration, he said. On Wednesday, the High Court in Gauteng province ruled it did not have jurisdiction over the matter and threw out last month’s order.<br/>

BA owner IAG Wednesday appointed the top boss of its Iberia Express unit, Fernando Candela, as chief executive officer of its low cost airline Level. Candela will replace Vincent Hodder at Level and will take up the new role on Sept. 9, the company said. Level is IAG’s low cost brand with long haul bases in Barcelona and Paris Orly airport and short haul bases in Vienna and Amsterdam. IAG also said that Candela has been the top boss at Iberia Express for six years and was previously director of planning and management control at Air Nostrum.<br/>