Pilots at Alaska Air Group Inc have voted to authorize a strike if agreement on a new employment contract cannot be reached, their union said on Wednesday. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), which represents over 3,000 pilots at the Seattle-based carrier, said 99% of those who cast their ballots backed strike-authorization. Alaska pilots, however, cannot walk off the job until the National Mediation Board grants them permission. The board will first have to determine that both the parties are at an impasse and further bargaining would not be productive. This lengthy and complex process makes it rather difficult for airline workers to strike. The last pilot strike at a US passenger carrier was at Spirit Airlines in 2010. Alaska said the vote would not impact its customers and operation as its pilots are not on strike. "We remain committed to reaching a deal to provide an updated contract that is good for Alaska's pilots," the company said. The vote, however, highlights growing labor tension in the U.S. airline industry. Almost all the major carriers are facing protests from their pilots, who are demanding higher pay and improvements in "fatiguing" schedules in their new contracts. United is the only major carrier that has reached an agreement with its pilots on new contract. The protests come at a time when the industry is grappling with staffing shortages after letting go thousands of pilots at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.<br/>
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The Biden administration has given its backing to a group of California-based flight attendants who won a lower court ruling that found Virgin America failed to abide by the state's meal and rest break law. The Justice Department's solicitor general told the US Supreme Court it should not take up an appeal after the 9th Circuit sided with flight attendants in a 2021 decision. The lower court said airlines could comply with both Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety rules and California's meal and break requirement by "staff[ing] longer flights with additional flight attendants in order to allow for duty-free breaks." Virgin America, which was acquired by Alaska Air Group in 2016, told the Supreme Court the decision could wreak "nationwide havoc in the airline industry" and require airlines to add multiple flight attendants per flights, and inevitably pilots, and "will displace paying passengers." Alaska Airlines said Wednesday it plans to file a response to the Justice Department, adding "uniform national standards are critical to ensuring the safety of the U.S. air transportation system. The application of individual state laws would introduce unacceptable levels of risk and complexity to air travel." Lawyers for the flight attendants said the impact would be limited to flights completely within California, adding "it is undisputed that Virgin can comply with those requirements by simply staffing any wholly-intrastate flights with an additional flight attendant - at the marginal cost of $100 per flight.<br/>
Lufthansa’s budget carrier Eurowings said on Wednesday it was not seeing fewer bookings due to consumers’ worries about inflation and recession amid the war in Ukraine. “We have had concerns that consumers’ worries might cloud booking numbers. However, bookings are getting better every day - yesterday, again, we had some 1,000 more compared to last year,” Eurowings CE Jens Bischof said. He added that the airline planned to offer more seats this summer than in 2019, before the COVID-19 crisis, but that it could not predict when it would return to profit as it still needed to see to what extent it could pass on oil price fluctuations to customers. <br/>
Ryanair Group Michael O'Leary said on Wednesday bookings looked very strong for the summer and the load factor should gradually rise to 94-95% in June-August, practically reaching pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels. Europe's biggest budget airline was likely to end this month with just over 15m passengers, up from 14.24m in April, which compared to just 1.04m in April 2021, O'Leary said. He expected the load factor to edge up to 92% in May from 91% in April. "Bookings over the last number of weeks have continued to strengthen – both the numbers are strengthening and average fairs being paid through the summer are rising," he said, highlighting strong bookings to beaches of Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece. He did not see any significant impact for Ryanair from recent airport delays in Stockholm, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Dublin, saying that by June-August additional staff should mean "security queues will not be an issue." Regarding the European Central Bank's expected rate hikes, O'Leary said that "certainly in the next 12 months there will be no impact whatsoever." "We're probably heading for an economic downturn or a recession, but 60% or 80% (of the population) have been working from home over the last 2 years and they have huge accumulated savings," he said. Although increasing fuel costs have been a challenge for the industry, O'Leary said that Ryanair had "80% of its fuel needs hedged out to March of 2023 at $70 a barrel... So, we are making a huge saving at the moment. We have a huge advantage over other airlines in Europe...and we are able to use that now to deliver growth." <br/>
The French unit of online travel agent Lastminute has been ordered by a court in Paris to stop reselling Ryanair flights or face fines of up to E1,000 per day. The Paris Court of Appeal has also confirmed that the travel site must pay Ryanair E50,000 for reselling its tickets without the airline’s consent, as well as making a contribution towards its legal costs. Ryanair has welcomed the judgment in the case, which is part of a wider battle that the Irish airline is fighting against “screenscrapers” – websites that take fares from Ryanair’s site and sell them on to their own customers, often with a mark-up. The French court’s decision kicks in next month. Dara Brady, Ryanair’s director of marketing and digital, said the airline’s right to determine the channels through which its products are sold is constitutionally guaranteed in France. “Ryanair’s direct-to-customers distribution model provides our customers with the best choice, care and lowest fares,” he said. “We again urge consumers to avoid screenscrapers such as Lastminute and book directly on the Ryanair website.” Ryanair has launched a flurry of legal actions against screenscrapers in Ireland, Britain, Europe and the US, where it is suing the parent company of Booking.com, one of the biggest travel sites on the web. The Irish airline says the websites that resell its fares operate outside the terms and conditions of its website, selling higher fares to passengers and making it difficult to enforce operational protocols, such as changes to Covid flying restrictions. Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s CE, has previously derided screenscrapers as a “pain in the ass” and has called on the European Commission to take action against them.<br/>
InterGlobe Aviation, the operator of India's biggest airline IndiGo, reported a larger loss for Q4 Wednesday as higher fuel costs more than offset a rebound in demand for air travel. After two years of pandemic-curtailed travel, airlines globally have made a comeback in recent months riding on a wave of pent-up demand that has encouraged them to bump up capacity. But the industry's recovery faces risks from a surge in global jet fuel prices, which neared 14-year highs in the quarter after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "Although traffic rebounded and demand was robust during the latter half of the quarter, we were challenged by high fuel costs and a weakening rupee," CE Ronojoy Dutta said. InterGlobe's aircraft fuel expenses soared 68.2% to 32.21b rupees ($415.31m) in the period, while total expenses surged 31.5%. Net loss came in at 16.80b rupees for the three months ended March 31, compared with a loss of 11.59b rupees a year earlier. However, the resurgence in air travel demand helped revenue from operations jump 29% to 80.21b rupees. Passenger load factor, or the passenger carrying capacity being used, rose to 76.7%.<br/>
Greater Bay Airlines was awarded designated status from the Hong Kong government, allowing the company to open negotiations with foreign countries to fly 104 routes, the head of the start-up carrier told the South China Morning Post on Tuesday. Algernon Yau Ying-wah, the airline's CE, confirmed that the company had received the official recognition, coming several months after local authorities granted it a five-year licence to operate scheduled commercial flights. "This decision puts us on the map with overseas authorities and allows us to commence talks and conduct the necessary procedures with them to fly our 104 routes," he said. But Yau noted it would be challenging for the company to launch its first flight until after July 1, citing the number of procedural hoops involved. He added that the date would not be good from a market-strategic perspective, as all eyes would be focused on the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule and the prospective visit by state leaders. The airline chief said the company aimed to first open routes to Southeast Asia, with a focus on popular holiday destinations for Hongkongers such as Thailand and Malaysia. The next phase would involve launching flights to cities in mainland China, such as Beijing and Shanghai, Yau said, noting that such locations involved additional procedures. When asked about the airline's preparations for opening flight routes, the CE said the company had filled most of its pilot positions and was ready to go.<br/>
Jetstar is celebrating its 18th birthday with a new lick of paint. The airline has unveiled a new tweaked livery for its upcoming fleet of A321LR aircraft. There are 38 NEO on order and the new-look on the tail and underbelly, and freshly branded wingtips, are courtesy of a special fuel-efficient paint. Jetstar is using a two-coat system consisting of a base coat and a clear coat. The airline says it lasts longer and reduces paint weight by up to 30%. That means a fuel saving of up to 108 tonnes each year across the whole A321LR fleet and a saving of nearly 350 tonnes of CO2 emissions. Jetstar Group CEO Gareth Evans said the arrival of the NEO fleet was one of the most significant milestones in the airline’s 18-year history. “These modern aircraft are world-class in terms of performance, comfort and sustainability, ensuring our customers will enjoy a new range of benefits on board,” Evans said. “In addition to flying on our most popular domestic routes, the long-range NEOs open up new international opportunities, providing us with an opportunity to expand our international network and deliver on our promise to offer more low fares to more destinations.”<br/>