American Airlines Group is offering $1,000 bonuses and several times normal pay to employees for the holidays to avoid a repeat of staffing shortages that contributed to thousands of flight cancellations recently. Mechanics, reservations agents, baggage handlers and some others will receive the cash reward for perfect attendance on all days they’re scheduled to work from Nov. 15 through Jan. 2, the airline told employees Monday. Flight attendants, including those on call, can earn a 150% pay premium if they work on specific high-demand days, and another 150% for no absences over the holiday period. The Fort Worth, Texas-based carrier is negotiating with its pilots union on possible incentives. American is making sure that November and December flight schedules “are built to meet customer demand and that they are fully supportable by our staffing,” the carrier told employees. US airlines are under pressure to ensure smooth operations over what could be the busiest holiday travel period since the pandemic started in March 2020. Carriers are ramping up hiring to replace workers who took early retirement or buyouts when lockdowns gutted travel. About 2,600 American Airlines flight attendants will return from leave this month and next. “These incentives show that American is willing to pay up now in order to avoid operational meltdowns during peak periods,” Ravi Shanker, a Morgan Stanley analyst, said in a report. “These incentives are also likely to be less expensive” for American than the cost of widespread flight disruptions.<br/>
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Finnair has added Tokyo Haneda to its schedules for summer 2022, as it focuses on serving Japan amid uncertainties over the reopening of China to non-essential travel. Subject to travel restrictions, that will bring to six the number of Japanese airports served by the Oneworld carrier – one more than it flew to pre-pandemic. Alongside the Haneda service, Finnair will also fly to Tokyo Narita, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo. ”Before the pandemic, Japan was our single largest market outside our home market Finland,” notes Finnair CCO Ole Orver. The Helsinki-based carrier will also operate new services to Busan in South Korea and Dallas in the USA during the summer season, it says on 9 November. The summer schedule largely reflects Finnair’s continued strategic focus on connecting Europe to “key Asian megacities” as the airline industry emerges from the pandemic, despite the absence of connectivity with China. In July 2019, the airline operated around 150 return flights to Japan, Cirium schedules data shows, accounting for about 17% of Finnair’s overall available seat kilometres (ASKs) for the month. Cirium data also shows that China – to and from which non-essential travel is restricted for the foreseeable future – was a big market for the airline. In July 2019, Finnair’s services to mainland China accounted for 124 return flights, or around 13% of its overall ASKs for the month. When 31 return flights to Hong Kong are included, that proportion rises to around 20%. Finnair’s website shows virtually no mainland China flights are currently available to book in summer 2022, aside from a few Shanghai services. Pre-pandemic in summer 2019, the airline also served Beijing, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Nanjing and Xi’an.<br/>
British Airways plans to replenish its depleted workforce with as many as 4,000 new employees by next summer as it prepares for a wider rebound in air travel, CEO Sean Doyle said. The IAG unit will add pilot, cabin-crew, ground-staff and back-office posts, Doyle said Monday. BA currently employs about 30,000 people, so that the move would boost headcount almost 15%. “We’re actively recruiting,” Doyle said on a flight to New York from London. “It’s exciting to be rebuilding the airline and to be creating opportunities again after two years where we haven’t been able to fly much.” After slashing about 10,000 jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, BA now faces a tighter labor market as it seeks to rebuild staffing and capture its share of the travel rebound. The airline has been negotiating with unions to revive short-haul operations from London Gatwick airport on a lower-cast basis, while ramping up flights from its Heathrow hub after the US lifted border curbs. <br/>
Morocco's national carrier Royal Air Maroc said Tuesday it would start regular direct flights to Israel, taking off a year after the kingdom normalised ties with the Jewish state. The service linking the countries' respective commercial capitals Casablanca and Tel Aviv will take off on December 12, two days after the first anniversary of Morocco's "resumption of relations" with Israel under a deal brokered by the former US administration. The service aims to "respond to the needs of the Moroccan community in Israel which has strong links with its country of origin", the airline said in a statement carried by the official MAP news agency. "It also aims to allow tourists and businesspeople to travel between Morocco and Israel," it said. The airline said it would offer three flights per week, later moving to five. The decision comes after the first direct commercial flight between the countries, by Israeli airline Israir, landed in Marrakesh in July. That was soon followed by a visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. Morocco's normalisation of ties with Israel followed similar announcements by a string of other Arab countries starting with the United Arab Emirates, in deals brokered by former US president Donald Trump's administration. In return, Washington recognised the kingdom's sovereignty over the disputed territory of Western Sahara.<br/>
The first Qantas A380 superjumbo returned to Australia after almost 600 days of storage in California's Mojave desert. The plane touched down in Sydney 3.11pm local time after an epic 18 hour, 58 minute, 16,000 kilometre non-stop flight from Dresden, Germany, where the giant aircraft underwent maintenance and had new landing gear installed. Qantas has brought forward the return of its A380s fleet several times since the relaxation of borders were announced. CE Alan Joyce previously predicted the aircraft would not fly again for the airline until 2023. Strong demand for flights to the US and UK have seen the airline bring forward the return of the A380s to service to April 2022, when two superjumbos will resume Sydney-Los Angeles flights. Three more will re-enter service on the London route from July 2022. This was previously not expected to happen until November next year. "That shows the confidence we have in getting our flagship aircraft back in the air," Joyce said last week.<br/>