Qantas has pulled three of its Boeing 737 planes from service after finding hairline cracks but have said they will not ground all 737s they fly. Three planes have now been affected by cracks in the “pickle fork” structure between the wing and the fuselage. On Thursday, the aircraft engineers union said the airline should ground the entire 737 fleet. But in a press conference on Friday morning, the airline said it had checked all the relevant planes, and would not ground any more so as to “minimise disruption to customers”. Under global aviation regulations, 737s have to be urgently checked for cracks, within seven days, if they have completed more than 30,000 cycles. Planes with between 22,6000 and 30,000 cycles, also have to be checked, but within 7 months. One cycle is effectively one takeoff and landing. For Qantas, all three of the planes with cracks were between 22,600 and 30,000 cycles. The airline has no 737s with more than 30,000 cycles. On Friday, the airline said it had now checked all planes with more than 22,600 cycles, and found no further cracks. Andrew David, the head of Qantas domestic said: “We are focused, right now, on those in scope, which is the 33 that have done between 22,600 cycles and 30,000 cycles”. <br/>
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A strike by BA pilots last month and other disruption hit summer quarter profits at parent company IAG. The operating profit at the umbrella company for BA, Aer Lingus, Iberia, Vueling and Level dropped to E1.425b from E1.530b in the same period last year. The pre-tax profit fell by 10.4% to E1.262b despite a 2.3% rise in passenger revenue to E6.536b as carryings rose by 3.1% to 34.5m. The group warned that full year profits would be E215m down on the 2018 result of E3.85b at current fuel prices and exchange rates. The strike by pilots at BA and threatened industrial action by Heathrow workers cost IAG E155m. IAG’s performance in the three months to September 30 was also affected by a E136m hike in fuel costs. CEO Willie Walsh said: “In quarter 3 we’re reporting an operating profit of E1,425m before exceptional items, down from E1,530m last year. “These are good underlying results. As we said in September, our performance has been affected by industrial action by pilots’ union Balpa and other disruption including threatened strikes by Heathrow airport employees. “In addition, our fuel bill increased by E136m during the quarter with fuel unit costs up 4.2% at constant currency. “At constant currency, passenger unit revenue decreased by 1.1% while non-fuel unit costs were up 1.1%.”<br/>
Greek airline Sky Express said Thursday it had signed an agreement with Qatar Airways to cooperate on flights connecting Doha with the Greek islands, in a boost to the country’s key tourism industry. Tourism accounts for about a quarter of economic output in Greece, which saw a record number of about 33m visitors last year. The privately owned carrier, which competes with Aegean Airlines’ subsidiary Olympic Airways on domestic routes, flies to 24 Greek destinations, including the popular islands of Corfu, Santorini and Crete on ATR42 and ATR72 twin engine turboprop aircraft. Sky Express said the deal would allow passengers to travel across its network.<br/>
American Airlines' flight attendants union still has safety concerns about the Boeing 737 MAX and is demanding an active role in the relaunch of the grounded aircraft, its president told Boeing's CE in a letter seen by Reuters. "The 28,000 flight attendants working for American Airlines refuse to walk onto a plane that may not be safe and are calling for the highest possible safety standards to avoid another tragedy," Association of Professional Flight Attendants President Lori Bassani said in the letter. The letter, dated Oct. 30, followed two days of congressional hearings in Washington during which lawmakers grilled Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg about the development of the 737 MAX following two crashes that killed 346 people and led to the aircraft's worldwide grounding in March. American Airlines Group is the second largest US operator of the 737 MAX, with 24 jets in its fleet at the time of the grounding and dozens more on order. Bassani told Muilenburg that the hearings show breakdowns in supervision of the 737 MAX and raise questions about the FAA's resources for oversight. Bassani was in Washington on Wednesday meeting with dozens of elected officials. According to the letter, she wants to make sure her group has all the information needed to assess the safety of sending her crews back to work once the aircraft receives FAA approval.<br/>