Ryanair suffered a significant shareholder revolt on Thursday over plans to pay CE Michael O’Leary a E458,000 bonus despite the airline furloughing staff and taking state support in response to the pandemic. A third of the carrier’s investors voted against the airline’s non-binding remuneration report, which included O’Leary’s bonus payout for the year up to the end of March 2020, at the annual meeting in Dublin. O’Leary’s base pay for the financial year ending in 2021 will be cut by half to E250,000. The rebellion was larger than what IAG suffered this month, when 20% of shareholders voted against its pay plan. This included a bonus of GBP883,000 for IAG boss Willie Walsh. It is the second year in a row Ryanair has faced protests from shareholders. Last year only 50% voted in favour of the pay report after O’Leary agreed a five-year contract, including 10m in share options. Investor adviser Institutional Shareholder Services had recommended a vote against the pay report for the financial year to the end of March because it was “difficult to justify”. The world’s biggest proxy adviser criticised a bonus that was about 92% of the maximum O’Leary could receive at a time when the aviation industry is in turmoil and suffering its worst crisis. Glass Lewis, the world’s second-biggest proxy adviser, had urged shareholders to abstain. In the final count, about 65% voted in favour, 33% against with 2% abstaining.<br/>
unaligned
Italy's national civil aviation authority, which has accused Ryanair RYA.I of failing to comply with COVID-19 health and safety regulations, on Thursday said it has held discussions with representatives of the budget carrier. The authority, ENAC, warned last month that it might ban the Irish airline over what it said were systematic failures over safety rules. Ryanair denied violating any of the measures. “ENAC reminded Ryanair of the requirement for the carrier to ensure that measures laid down in Italy to limit the health risks from coronavirus are respected on board its aircraft and on departure and arrival in national airports,” the authority said. It said the meeting, which took place on Wednesday, was conducted in a cordial atmosphere and that Ryanair had given a commitment to respect the rules and had agreed on the need for proper safety measures to support the recovery of the air transport sector. Irish state broadcaster RTE on Thursday quoted Ryanair CE Michael O’Leary as saying that reports of complaints about Ryanair’s adherence to public health requirements in certain Italian airports were completely untrue.<br/>
Southwest said Thursday it has now returned to service about half the 115 Boeing 737-800 aircraft it temporarily grounded after it discovered discrepancies in aircraft weight data. The airline said late Wednesday that “out of an abundance of caution, we have temporarily ceased flying the respective aircraft to enter the correct weights of the aircraft in question into the system and reset the program.” Southwest said the discrepancy in weight data is 75 pounds (34 kg). Southwest initially said the issue applied to 130 airplanes, but said Thursday the actual number was 115. The airline said the temporary halt to flights would “cause some delays and/or cancellations; however, we anticipate the impact to our operation to be minimal.” <br/>
A 27-year-old US-born yeshiva student has secured control of El Al Israel Airlines following a public share offering that was a government condition for the carrier to receive a 75% state-backed $250m loan. Eli Rozenberg’s newly created Kanfei Nesharim Aviation bought $107 million of shares that would give him a nearly 43% stake in Israel’s flag carrier, his spokesman said Thursday. Rozenberg, who resides in Israel, is the son of Kenny Rozenberg, chief executive of New York-based nursing home chain Centers Health Care. The government bought a 15% stake for $34m while the holdings of El Al's current owners, Knafaim Holdings, fell to 15.2% from 38%. Rozenberg in July had offered to funnel $75m into the airline in return for a 44.99% stake. The deal needs approval from parliament’s finance committee. Kanfei Nesharim’s spokesman said Rozenberg will meet Finance Ministry officials next week. He said once Rozenberg is approved, he will seek to make changes to El Al’s board and elsewhere to move the cash-strapped carrier forward. Kanfei Nesharim said it would invest heavily in improving El Al’s service and to upgrade its food service.<br/>
El Al is aiming to start restoring flights this month, beginning with a gradual resumption of cargo services on its aircraft. It says the cargo flights will begin returning on 21 September. El Al is intending to follow these flights with a restoration of passenger operations from 1 October. The scheduled services will cover a “limited number” of destinations in the USA and Europe. The carrier suspended its passenger operations in March and has since been immersed in an efficiency drive and effort to obtain vital funding. “It should be noted that the volume of flights planned at this stage is not material,” says the airline, which had originally expected its flights to remain grounded at least to the end of September. El Al adds that the total number of services will be determined by demand.<br/>
Israeli leisure carrier Arkia’s employees have agreed a restructuring which involves cutting about a quarter of the airline’s personnel, reducing its workforce to around 400. The agreement follows months of negotiations and includes a phased salary-reduction mechanism to be imposed across all the company’s activities – although it will not affect employees paid less than 8,000 shekels ($2,300) a month. Israeli trade union centre Histadrut has been closely involved in the talks. “We’ve performed CPR on Arkia and returned it to the world of aviation,” says Histadrut transport workers’ union chair Avi Edri. “There’s no better news for Rosh Hashanah than opening a workplace that has been quiet for six months,” he adds, referring to the Israeli new year holiday which begins on 18 September. But the “lengthy dialogue”, says Histadrut, has also resulted in an agreement to reduce the Arkia workforce to 400 employees. It says, however, that the company has “survived” as a result of the discussions and that it will “gradually return to activity”.<br/>
Emirates’ catering unit plans to start producing kosher food in the United Arab Emirates to meet growing demand in the Gulf nation after the recent diplomatic breakthrough with Israel. The production facility, called Kosher Arabia, will be a partnership between Emirates Flight Catering and CCL Holdings, a company founded by the head of the Jewish Council in the UAE. Operations are expected to start in January, according to a statement released by the airline on Thursday. The move follows the signing of landmark agreements by the UAE and Bahrain this week to start normalizing relations with Israel, setting in motion a potentially historic shift in Middle East politics. DP World, one of the world’s largest port operators, plans to make a joint bid for Israel’s Haifa Port, and the biggest banks in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have already signed cooperation pacts with their Israeli counterparts. Take up of kosher food in the UAE and the wider region is expected to grow quickly, according to Emirates Flight Catering CEO Saeed Mohammed. “Our partnership will cover all food channels and we will also explore opening restaurants across Dubai and the Gulf Cooperation Council.”<br/>
VietJet Air plans to resume passenger service on flights to Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, starting 29 September. From Ho Chi Minh City, the budget airline will operate one weekly flight each to Tokyo Narita and Seoul Incheon, as well as Hanoi-Taipei Taoyuan with the same frequency. “Passengers departing from Vietnam must have a medical certificate with a negative Covid-19 test result taken within three days before [departure] as well as [comply] with mandatory medical quarantine requirements of the host countries,” the airline says Thursday. Vietnam has suspended all international flights from 23 March. According to Cirium tracked flights data, in 2019, 85% of tracked passenger flights operated by Vietnam’s airlines were destined for domestic airports, at over 263,000 flights. In contrast, there were just 30,700 flights to the top five international destinations. South Korea accounted for 2.7% of total air traffic, followed by Taiwan, mainland China, Japan and Thailand, at 1.5-2% each.<br/>