A Spanish court has described Ryanair's policy of charging a fee for hand luggage as "abusive" after a passenger was fined for taking a carry-on bag without a special ticket. The passenger was forced to pay a E20 fine to bring her 10kg luggage on board. The airline said it would not change its bagging policy. The airline has a policy of charging customers an additional fee for carrying anything more than one personal item on board. Larger bags can also require a luggage fee. In its ruling, the Commercial Court ruled that the woman should be refunded with interest. It called Ryanair's cabin baggage policy "abusive" in respect to the customer's legal rights under Spanish law. It ruled the policy to be null and void and told Ryanair "to remove it" from its terms and conditions. <br/>
unaligned
Norwegian Air Shuttle has appointed Jacob Schram as its new CE, filling the gap left when co-founder and long-standing CE Bjorn Kjos left the airline in July. Schram will start his new role Jan 1, 2020. Geir Karlsen, who has been acting CE since Kjos stepped down, will continue as CFO and deputy CE. “[Schram’s] extensive management experience from global companies, proven leadership skills, strong commercial consumer orientation and impressive track record of value creation will greatly benefit Norwegian as the company enters into a new phase,” board chairman Niels Smedegaard said. The carrier has been facing financial difficulties linked to its ambitious fleet and expansion drive over the past few years, and has more recently pledged to focus on profitability over growth. <br/>
When Swiss regional carrier SkyWork went bust last year, it left its former hub at Bern Airport without any regular scheduled flights. Airport bosses felt the country’s capital needed more than just a handful of charter and govt flights, so they decided to try something different. Little more than one year after the last SkyWork flight, Bern Airport executives announced ambitious plans to crowdfund a replacement airline, FlyBair. Since its launch Nov 1, the crowdfunding campaign has raised just shy of US$700,000 of its initial $1m target, with 12 days still remaining. Following the first round of funding, the group will look to raise an additional $1.5m. FlyBair will only market flights and sell tickets, it turn to partners to handle operations. Swiss charter company Lions Air would be responsible for operations. <br/>
Emirates has revised its previous tentative agreement for Boeing 787s, opting to take 30 of the 787-9 variant rather than the larger 787-10. Deliveries of the aircraft, worth US$8.8b, will commence in May 2023 and continue for 5 years. The airline had originally indicated, 2 years ago, that it would order 40 787-10s to be taken from 2022. But the deal was not subsequently firmed and no engine selection was made. Emirates chairman Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum also stated that its agreement for the 777X would be cut back to 126 aircraft from the previous figure of 150. Its original 787-10 deal had a conversion right to the 787-9. But Emirates states that the rejigged deal involved its exercising a "right to substitute" the 777X for 787s, under an agreement with the airframer. <br/>
It took Tim Clark a long time to face up to the climate crisis. The president of Emirates was no climate change denier. But he was pretty sceptical about some of the claims. Not now, though. "The stark reality of climate change is with us. I'm a climate change believer. I have to say, it took me a long time to get there. And we [in the aviation industry] aren't doing ourselves any favours by chucking billions of tons of carbon into the air. It's got to be dealt with," he said. It's a frank admission from one of the most powerful people in an industry that has many commercial reasons to bury its head in the sand. Emirates, which also includes a big cargo operation, burns through an astonishing 100m barrels of oil each year. So finding a viable alternative to fossil fuels is not going to happen any time soon, Clark says. <br/>
EasyJet and Airbus have signed a MOU to jointly assess the potential of hybrid- and full-electric aircraft for short-haul flights across Europe. The research project's aim is to define what is needed for "large-scale introduction" of electric aircraft and how that would impact "infrastructure and everyday commercial aircraft operations", EasyJet indicates. CE Johan Lundgren states that by identifying the "detailed technical challenges and requirements" of operating hybrid- and full-electric aircraft, the budget carrier can "help shape the technology and airline networks of the future". He adds: "We hope this will be an important step towards making hybrid electric planes a reality.” In 2017, EasyJet disclosed a partnership with US start-up Wright Electric, which is working on an all-electric short-haul airliner. <br/>
SpiceJet and Bahrain's Gulf Air have signed a MOU to explore opportunities for cooperation. This includes interlining and codesharing, coordinating cargo services, along with opportunities to collaborate in pilot training and engineering services. "The signing of this MOU between the two carriers aims at initiation of collaboration between the two carriers, and further strengthening the strong ties between India and the Kingdom of Bahrain," says SpiceJet. Cirium schedules data shows that SpiceJet does not fly between India and Bahrain, and the only operators are compatriot Air India and its Air India Express subsidiary, as well as Gulf Air. These routes are mostly operated by Gulf Air, which flies from Bahrain to Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kozhikode, Kochi, Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai and Trivandrum. <br/>