oneworld

At least 3 senior employees are to leave Cathay Pacific amid a fresh round of staff departures at the struggling airline. Two general managers and the head of a business support unit were understood to have resigned, as industry analysts warned job cuts were inevitable at the carrier, which has been hit hard by the protests in Hong Kong. But insiders Tuesday sought to play down the suggestion the exits were the start of a wider reshuffle of the carrier’s 27,000-strong workforce. The airline’s GM of digital transformation Leslie Lu is leaving to pursue interests outside the company. Other changes include the departure of corporate affairs GM Patrick Yu, as well as the head of one of its customer service teams, according to multiple sources. <br/>

Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon continued to witness sliding passenger traffic figures, with inbound traffic for November falling a whopping 46% year-on-year. This was a further slowdown compared to figures for October, which saw a 35% drop year-on-year. The carrier continues to see decreases in passenger numbers in its latest traffic figures, amid weakened travel demand, and as it braces for capacity cuts in the new year. For November, Cathay and Cathay Dragon carried about 2.62m passengers, a 9% drop year-on-year. This was less than the 2.7m passengers it carried in October. Passenger load factor fell 3.2 percentage points to 80.1%, while ASKs fell 1.5%. By market, Mainland China and Northeast Asia traffic remain weak, while demand to and from the US before the Thanksgiving week was likewise lower. <br/>

IAG urged prime minister Boris Johnson and his new govt Wednesday to conduct an independent assessment into Heathrow airport expansion plans. Johnson himself has said he is opposed to expansion but parliament has approved the GBP14b plans, which include building the first full-length new runway in the London area for 70 years, although they are being challenged in the courts. Sector regulator, the CAA, is scheduled to announce planning and early construction costs for the expansion this week. The expansion plans would depend on Britain changing how it allocates slots to airlines. Currently Heathrow is dominated by IAG but rules governing the allocation of slots are under review by the govt. Other airlines, notably Virgin Atlantic, plan to increase their flights from the expanded Heathrow. <br/>

British Airways has taken a nosedive in UK passengers’ opinions and is now rated just above Ryanair at the bottom end of the airline rankings. The carrier was among the worst rated for food, seat comfort and value for money on both short and long-haul services in the annual Which? poll. BA questioned the accuracy of the survey, which is based on 6,500 readers’ opinions rather than comprehensive data, and found the best short-haul airline to be Aurigny Air, a small Channel Islands turboprop operator. However, the results will make for further unwelcome reading for BA, the formerly self-proclaimed “world’s favourite airline”, which celebrated a centenary this year. On long haul, only American Airlines – BA’s code-share partner on transatlantic routes – fared worse. <br/>

British Airways is exploring the possibility of using 3D printers to create aircraft parts in the future. The airline said these printers would be located at airports around the world to reduce delays for customers and emissions caused by transporting items. The airline’s innovators predicted that non-essential cabin parts would be first on the list to be generated, including pieces of tray tables, entertainment systems and toi­lets. While these components do not impact the safe operation of the flight, the airline said they could reduce the number of seats or toilets available for customers and cause delays as engineers wait for the parts to be flown in. Ricardo Vidal, Head of Innovation at BA, said this area of technology had never been more important to ensure sus­tainability and a seamless travel experience. <br/>

SriLankan Airlines will add 18 new points to its codeshare agreement with fellow oneworld member Qatar Airways, building on the partnership that first began in 2016. SriLankan will be adding its code on Qatar’s flights out of Doha to European cities such as Helsinki, Budapest, Munich, Lisbon and Edinburgh. The expanded codeshare also includes points in North and South America, such as Chicago, Houston and Sao Paolo. Qatar, meanwhile, will codeshare on SriLankan flights to Gan Island in the Maldives via the latter’s Colombo hub. Qatar flies 4 times daily between Doha and Colombo, with a mixture of Airbus A350-900s and Boeing 777s. SriLankan flies 11 times weekly between both cities, with its A330s and A320 family aircraft. <br/>

A mechanic who worked for more than 3 decades for American Airlines Group pleaded guilty Wednesday to tampering with a plane in the middle of contentious contract negotiations. Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani admitted to gluing a piece of foam to block a module that reports speed, pitch and other critical flight data on a plane that was scheduled to carry 150 passengers from Miami to the Bahamas in July. Alani, who had worked for American since 1988, said that he didn’t want to harm passengers, but was trying to delay or cancel the flight in the hopes of getting overtime work. American earlier this year sued the unions that represent the mechanics, accusing them of causing an operational crisis by slowing down repairs and refusing overtime. American has said the slowdown caused more than 1,200 delays and cancellations. <br/>