Brazilian planemaker Embraer said Tuesday that American Airlines has placed a firm order for three new E175 aircraft, which will be operated by its Envoy Air subsidiary. According to Embraer, the deal was valued at $160.2m and will be included in the company’s 2021 Q4 backlog. The deliveries are expected to be concluded by the end of 2022.<br/>
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British Airways has offered a one-off bonus to 20,000 pilots and crew, the latest sign the carrier is trying to rebuild relations with its employees as the travel industry recovers from the pandemic. The airline has informed unions of the plan to offer a 10 per cent bonus to operational employees that includes aircraft crew and ground staff. Pilots have been offered a 5% bonus in separate negotiations with their union Balpa. The bonuses are part of a pledge by Sean Doyle, who became chief executive of BA in October 2020, to restore morale among staff and improve services for passengers. He said last month that staff needed to be put “back at the heart of the company”, although he warned there needed to be “honest conversations about what it takes to compete” in the aviation industry. Big airlines often had a profit-triggered bonus, one union representative said, but BA lost E3.9b in 2020, its most recent financial year, and there have been no payouts for several years. In the past, the airline has paid out smaller bonuses when the business has hit its annual targets, but a figure of 10% is unusually high, according to another person familiar with the matter. Unions have yet to formally discuss the proposal with members, according to two people involved with the talks, and have until the end of the month to respond. One union executive cautioned that while a bonus or rise in pay would always be welcome, it should be properly negotiated to avoid a “suboptimal outcome”. BA confirmed the proposals and said they were a “gesture of thanks to colleagues”. The airline has been dogged by difficult labour relations for years, including the first strike by pilots in its history in 2019.<br/>
Airbus is preparing to go head-to-head with one of its largest customers in a legal battle that includes claims for hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and an allegation that one of its best-selling aircraft is defective. The case centres on claims by Qatar Airways that the paint on its fleet of Airbus A350 long-haul aircraft is flaking, resulting in the grounding of 21 planes. The European plane maker will state next week in its defence filing that the claims are groundless, and an attempt by the airline to gain compensation because of the impact of the pandemic on its operations, according to written arguments it presented in the High Court in London last month. Qatar, which operates 34 A350-900s and 19 A350-1000s, first complained in late 2020 after one of its aircraft was sent to Ireland to be painted in a livery for this November’s football World Cup in the Gulf state. Some abnormalities were found under the original paint when it was stripped off ahead of the application of the new colour scheme. Airbus, according to court documents filed by Qatar, recommended “approximately 900 patch repairs” to the damage. Things escalated throughout last year, with the Gulf carrier in May first threatening to refuse delivery of further jets. The airline subsequently grounded 13 of the aircraft on the orders of its regulator in August and said it would refuse to receive any more of the jets until the situation was resolved. In December, Qatar filed a claim in London’s High Court. The Gulf carrier has now grounded 21 of its jets on the orders of its aviation regulator. It also has another 23 on order but has halted further deliveries. The high-stakes battle is being watched closely by the industry. Aircraft makers will usually move heaven and earth to avoid a court battle with a big airline — they would generally only see a customer in court if it had gone bankrupt and there was a need to secure ownership of expensive planes, according to industry experts. See story for more.<br/>
QantasLink is set to begin regular international hops to Timor-Leste on its Embraer E190s, under its ongoing wet lease agreement with Alliance Airlines. Further, Qantas has announced Darwin will become a new jet base for its growing E190 fleet. The Flying Kangaroo is currently operating five Alliance E190s under the arrangement, however, has planned to operate at least eight. The announcement comes hot off the heels of the news that Qantas will continue to operate its Kangaroo Route connecting Australia and London via Darwin, due to Western Australia’s ongoing border uncertainty. At least four E190s will soon be based in Darwin to service key QantasLink routes across regional Australia, as well as a new permanent passenger service from Darwin to Dili in Timor-Leste. Qantas has been operating weekly flights between Darwin and Dili since February 2021 in partnership with the Australian government, in order to “maintain critical passenger and freight links with Timor-Leste”, however, this service is now planned to ramp up and become a permanent commercial route. QantasLink will initially operate three flights per week to Dili on its E190s, ramping up to five flights each week from July. The regional carrier has also announced three new domestic routes from Darwin to Canberra, Cairsn and Townsville, all to be performed also on its E190s. The airline said that combined, both announcements will boost both employment opportunities and tourism in the Top End, with at least 90 new pilots, cabin crew and engineering roles to be introduced.<br/>