Spain-based cabin crew at Ryanair plan to strike for 12 days this month to demand better working conditions, the USO and SICTPLA unions said on Saturday, raising the prospect of travel chaos as the summer tourist season gets under way. The announcement came on the final day of the crews’ current strike, which began on Thursday and forced Ryanair to cancel 10 flights in Spain on Saturday. Cabin crew will strike on July 12-15, 18-21 and 25-28 across the 10 Spanish airports where Ryanair operates, the unions said. “The unions and crew of Ryanair ... demand a change of attitude from the airline,” they said in a statement, calling for Ryanair to resume negotiations over issues including payment of the minimum wage. The unions also urged the government “not to allow Ryanair to violate labour legislation and constitutional rights such as the right to strike”. Ryanair said Saturday it expected “minimal (if any) disruption to its flight schedules in July as a result of minor and poorly supported Spanish labour strikes”. It added that “Air Traffic Control (ATC) strikes and airport staff shortages across Europe (which are beyond Ryanair’s control) may however cause some minor disruption and passengers whose flights are disrupted... will be notified by email/SMS.” Ryanair cabin crew unions in Belgium, Spain, Portugal, France and Italy had taken strike action in recent days but the low-cost airline said less than 2% of its flights scheduled over last weekend had been affected. <br/>
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Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary, the pioneer of low-cost travel in Europe, has warned fares will rise for the next five years because flying has become “too cheap” to make profits as industry costs spiral. His warning comes as ticket prices have risen in Europe and the US this summer as passengers return and some airlines cut capacity because of staff shortages. “It’s got too cheap for what it is. I find it absurd every time that I fly to Stansted, the train journey into central London is more expensive than the air fare,” he said. He said he expected a combination of high oil prices and environmental charges to push the average Ryanair fare up from E40 to between E50 to E60 over the medium term. O’Leary also fired a broadside at the British government and what he called “the disaster” of Brexit that had stopped airlines easily recruiting European workers, which the industry says has worsened staff shortages this summer. “This is without doubt one of the inevitable consequences of the disaster that has been Brexit,” he said. “Withdrawing from the single market, just so that they can say ‘We got Brexit done’ was the height of idiocy. But then they are idiots.” O’Leary turned Ryanair from a small regional carrier in the 1990s into the biggest airline in Europe by ruthlessly cutting costs, and passing these gains on to consumers through cheap ticket prices. “It has been my doing [making air travel cheap]. I made a lot of money doing it. But ultimately, I don’t believe air travel is sustainable over the medium term at an average fare of E40. It’s too cheap at that. But I think, you know, it will still be very cheap and affordable at E50 and E60.” Median fares from London to summer destinations in Portugal, Spain and Greece have all jumped compared with a year ago, although they are significantly lower than 10 years ago, according to data from Kayak.com. Prices from London to Athens, for example, have halved in the past decade.<br/>
An Indian domestic flight made an emergency landing in New Delhi on Saturday after its cabin filled with smoke soon after take-off for the central city of Jabalpur, the airline said. Passengers aboard the flight, operated by commercial carrier SpiceJet, were evacuated safely once the aircraft returned to Delhi's airport. "While passing 5,000 feet, the crew noticed smoke in the cabin," the airline said on Twitter. Video purporting to show the smoke-filled cabin quickly went viral on social media after the incident. No-frills carrier SpiceJet has been in the news in recent months, with another flight forced to make an emergency landing last month after its left engine caught fire, and aviation authorities coming down hard on the company for faulty training practices. The airline did not disclose how many passengers were on board Saturday's flight, but said the plane had landed "safely" and that an alternative flight had been "immediately arranged" for travellers. In June, a New Delhi-bound SpiceJet flight with 185 passengers on board made an emergency landing in the eastern Indian city of Patna after an engine caught fire.<br/>
New Caledonian carrier Aircalin is “working on” opportunities to grow its Asia network, following the launch of direct flights between Singapore and Noumea. Airline chief Didier Tappero, speaking at a launch event at Singapore’s Changi Airport on 2 July, says the airline will evaluate network requirements and did not rule out future network growth in the region. The carrier on 1 July began flying to Singapore from its Noumea hub, with twice-weekly flights operated by its Airbus A330neos, which it took delivery of in 2019. It will add an additional weekly flight from September. Tappero hopes to ramp up frequencies to four times weekly “as soon as possible”. Singapore is the airline’s second point in its Asian network, after Tokyo. The airline also previously served Osaka and Seoul. Tappero adds that the Singapore route allows it to feed traffic with its partner Air France for flights to France and Europe. As the French territory’s home carrier, Tappero says Aircalin’s “goal is really to promote New Caledonia”. On future growth, Tappero says: “It will have to be a natural way of expansion for Aircalin.” “We have done shuttle flights to Paris before, and it was quite a success, and we have the appropriate aircraft to do so now,” says Tappero, who was referring to its new A330neo fleet. He also hints at a “commercial agreement” signing with Singapore Airlines, but did not elaborate further. <br/>