star

United is offering its pilots triple pay to pick up trips for most of January to help ease a staffing shortage driven by the rapid spread of the omicron variant of Covid-19. United, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, SkyWest, Alaska Airlines and other carriers have cancelled more than 10,000 combined flights since Dec. 23, citing a combination of bad weather and a surge in sick calls from crews that tested positive for Covid. The disruptions come during what airline executives forecast as the busiest days since the start of the pandemic. On Friday, airlines canceled nearly 1,500 US flights, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. United canceled more than 200, about 11% of its mainline schedule. United and the pilots ’union, the Air Line Pilots Association, reached an agreement for higher pay to cover open trips, Bryan Quigley, United’s senior VP of flight operations said Friday in a staff note. Pilots will be offered three-and-a-half times their pay for flying open trips between Dec. 30 and Jan. 3 and triple pay for picking up trips between Jan. 4 and Jan. 29, the note said. “Due to the rapid spread of the COVID Omicron variant, we are currently seeing record levels of pilot sick calls,” the pilots’ union wrote to its members. “The impact on the operation is clear and United has experienced a correspondingly large number of cancellations over the past week.” United’s flight attendants are also getting extra pay to pick up trips and other airlines including JetBlue, American, Southwest and Spirit have also jacked up crew pay to avoid holiday flight disruptions.<br/>

Airlines in Japan are exercising their ingenuity to tap new income streams as their main lines of business suffer losses amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Major Japanese carriers have branched into new businesses or are wringing the last drops of value out of their retiring aircraft. With the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus compounding their worries, airlines are at a crucial juncture. This month, JAL was set to launch a business to assist Japanese companies in marketing their goods online to consumers in China. Using an exclusive page of the WeChat communication app from leading Chinese IT firm Tencent, JAL will help Japanese companies promote, sell and deliver their products. The airline will also support the tasks of collecting and delivering local specialties from around Japan. ANA Holdings last autumn began selling interior equipment from its aircraft through an online auction run by Yahoo Japan. Put up at auction were seats of the type used in first class on international flights, which normally would have been discarded when no longer needed, as well as window frames of large aircraft. Both JAL and ANA have also begun to sell their in-flight meals on the ground. Previously, they had sold such convenience food as instant noodles, but now both have upgraded their offerings to include frozen in-flight meals, which have become hit products. The airline industry remains in an enervated state, with passenger numbers on international flights yet to recover from a 90 per cent plunge from pre-pandemic levels. Even domestic flights tend to be less than half full, although the New Year holiday period has been an exception. Both airlines are expected to log a net loss on their consolidated statements for the fiscal year ending on March 31, marking a second consecutive annual loss. The awaited upturn in their performance has been slower than expected.<br/>

The way Air New Zealand serves its onboard snacks will change in 2022, at least temporarily, as the airline looks to prepare for when the Omicron variant of COVID-19 spreads in the community. From January 1, the airline will provide its onboard snack to customers when they disembark the aircraft rather than during the flight. The change also means tea and coffee will temporarily not be served at all. "Customers look forward to their cookie, popcorn or bliss bites so rather than pause food and beverage service, we have made the decision to offer our popular snacks to our customers to enjoy when they arrive at their destination," Air NZ Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty said. "It's anticipated that we will soon see the Omicron variant within the New Zealand community, so we are making this change now to further safeguard our customers and crew." Masks will continue to be mandatory for all customers onboard and must be worn throughout the duration of the flight. <br/>"Masks are one of the key ways to limit transmission, so making this change will enable our customers’ masks to be kept on throughout the flight and ensure they are as safe as possible while onboard an Air NZ aircraft," Geraghty said. The temporary change to snacks will be reviewed on a regular basis. Water will still be available upon request on all flights.<br/>