Union officials say pilots of Southwest Airlines pilots are suffering through an epidemic of fatigue due to poor scheduling practices by the airline, and that it is raising safety concerns. Union leaders said in an open letter Tuesday to Southwest CEO Robert Jordan and other executives that problems started last summer when the number of travelers returned nearly to normal pre-pandemic levels, and have gotten worse. The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, which is currently negotiating with the airline for a new contract, said the number of pilots asking to be relieved from a flight assignment because of fatigue jumped 330% in March compared with the same month in pre-pandemic years. “April is already setting fatigue records,” they said. “Fatigue, both acute and cumulative, has become Southwest Airlines’ number-one safety threat.” Southwest did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last summer, the nation’s fourth-largest airline was plagued by flight cancellations due partly to staffing shortages. The airline responded by hiring several thousand workers, executives have said.<br/>
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Indonesia’s Pelita Air Service has taken delivery of its first two Airbus A320s, as the charter operator prepares to launch scheduled services. The two aircraft landed at Jakarta’s Soekarno Hatta Airport on 11 April following a journey from Montpellier, France via Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, says Pelita. The aircraft also a bears a new company livery. Pelita’s acting president director Muhammad Fauzani says that the carrier will certify the jets prior to launching scheduled operations, and that their arrival marks a “historic moment” for the airline, which primarily focuses on charter operations. Pelita also has a new president director, with former AirAsia Indonesia chief Dendy Kurniawan to step into the role. Cirium fleets data indicates that in addition to the two A320s, Pelita has 28 in service aircraft. Fixed wing assets comprise five ATRs, three Air Tractor AT-802s, one BAE Systems Avro RJ85, and four Indonesian Aerospace-produced NC-212s. Pelita also operates 15 helicopters comprising eight S-76s, three Bell 412EPs, two Bell 430s, and two Indonesian Aerospace-Produced Bo105CBs.<br/>
EasyJet reiterated its plan to gear up operations to near pre-pandemic levels through the summer high season, as an easing of travel restrictions unleashes pent-up demand. Europe’s second-biggest discount carrier managed to narrow its estimated loss in a fiscal first half roiled by the rise of the omicron variant of Covid-19, and has turned its focus to bringing back capacity. Booking volumes for summer are currently tracking ahead of the same time in 2019, the company said. European airlines have seen a turnaround in ticket sales after authorities decided to live with the less-severe Covid infections and loosen travel curbs. EasyJet went from 50% of its 2019 schedule in January to 80% by March. The transition has been challenging, with the Luton, England-based carrier struggling to contend with rostering issues caused by renewed outbreaks among staff. “We’re confident in our plans for this year and beyond which will see EasyJet emerge as one of the winners in the recovery,” CEO Johan Lundgren said on a call with reporters. “We remain absolutely focused on creating shareholder value.” The company estimates its loss narrowed to between 535 million pounds and 565 million pounds for the first half ended March 31, compared with a 701 million-pound loss in the year-earlier period. Rising energy costs, the staffing issues and ramp-up challenges mean “the road to a full recovery remains long and bumpy,” said Allegra Dawes, senior airlines analyst at Third Bridge.<br/>
EasyJet has said an unprecedented wave of staff sickness has led to flight cancellations as the UK airline industry struggles to cope with a surge in demand that the low-cost carrier expects will increase in the coming months. The airline on Tuesday said there had been a “strong and sustained” recovery since the UK government lifted all travel restrictions in late January, with leisure bookings for the summer holidays soaring ahead of 2019 levels over the past six weeks. The rapid recovery follows two bruising years and has left carriers across Europe scrambling to restore flight schedules as they struggle to meet the growing demand for flying amid chronic staff shortages, caused by cost cuts during the pandemic and a new wave of Covid-19 infections. British Airways has cancelled scores of flights, while passengers at Manchester airport have been forced to queue for hours to get through security, and Heathrow this week said 12,000 new staff were needed across the airport. EasyJet has been one of the worst-hit airlines and has been forced to cancel hundreds of flights in recent weeks following a coronavirus outbreak among staff. The airline has cancelled 5 per cent of its flights over recent days, including 58 out of 1,500 flights on Tuesday. The airline typically plans for 6% of staff to be off sick at any one time, and can handle about double this before it needs to start cancelling flights. But some bases had been hit by as much as 20 per cent of its staff off work, making it impossible to run flights as planned, said easyJet’s CE Johan Lundgren. The cancellations have been made well in advance and most passengers have been rebooked to fly on the same day. Lundgren said it was the airline’s “absolute focus” to operate with as little disruption as possible in the coming weeks, but warned that absence rates had not started improving yet. The operational disruptions come as easyJet ramps up its flying schedules. It flew 80% of its 2019 number of seats in March, and expects to increase this to 90% in the current quarter, which runs from April to June.<br/>