Virgin Atlantic Airways is seeking 200 pilots to help operate its flying schedule starting next summer, even as the European air-transport industry remains in the grip of a staffing shortage. The UK carrier plans to hire first officers across both its Airbus SE and Boeing Co. fleets, according to a statement Friday. About 100 pilots will be needed for summer 2023, followed by 60 in 2024 and a further 40 the year after that. Virgin is recruiting pilots after all those placed in a pool at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and passed an interview returned or agreed start dates. The company says it’s a more attractive employer than other airlines due to the attractions of its long-haul routes, with 10,000 people applying for 800 cabin-crew and 45 pilot posts in an earlier hiring push. Would-be recruits must have a minimum 1,500 flying hours on relevant aircraft, including 200 in the past 12 months. The move comes as airlines across the world rush to take on workers after scaling back as travel ground to a halt during the coronavirus crisis. European transport chaos this summer is due to a shortage of 1.2m workers across the EU, the World Travel & Tourism Council said this week. Emirates said separately it will add a third daily flight from London’s Gatwick airport from July 27 through Aug. 3 to help accommodate passengers affected by capacity curbs at the UK capital’s Heathrow hub. The extra trips will be operated by Boeing Co. 777 aircraft after Gatwick was able to secure sufficient ground-handling resources. Emirates will operate six daily flights to Heathrow during the period, while services to London Stansted will resume from Aug. 1 as planned with five weekly connections, going daily from September.<br/>
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Virgin Atlantic Airways extended the suspension of its London-Hong Kong flights by almost seven months to late March due to “ongoing operational complexities” even as the Asian city gradually eases some of the world’s tightest Covid-19 restrictions and people start to travel once again. The UK-based airline intends to resume the service on March 26, rather than the start of this September as previously planned. Customers who were due to fly between September and March can rebook, request a refund or convert their ticket into a voucher, Virgin said. Hong Kong has been largely closed off for much of the pandemic, with the government barring flights from countries including the UK for several months and also imposing mandatory hotel quarantine for as long as 21 days. While quarantine has been reduced to seven days and the flight bans have been lifted, along with a mechanism that suspended routes if an airline carried too many infected passengers, the city is far behind most of the world in reopening. Virgin initially canceled flights from London Heathrow to Hong Kong on Dec. 21 as the omicron coronavirus variant swept through the UK. The carrier said it has also suspended cargo-only services and will review those “on an ongoing basis.” Heathrow to Shanghai passenger services remain suspended until March due to a ban on direct UK-China flights. The conflict in Ukraine is also playing a part. With Russian airspace presumably continuing to be off limits into September, the flight time from London to Hong Kong would be an hour longer than normal, while the return leg would be extended by one hour and 50 minutes, Virgin said. <br/>
Ryanair pilots and crew went on strike at the Charleroi airport near Brussels on Saturday, leading to dozens of flight cancellations. The airline employees are demanding a salary hike, saying the post-pandemic revival of air traffic means Ryanair’s bottom line is back on track. “We did our part to help the company during the COVID period, by accepting a 20 percent pay cut. We believe that now that the company will gain millions in profits, we should gain back our salaries, which were negotiated before COVID,” Kevin, a chief purser, said. A union leader from CNE told Belga news agency that Ryanair, based in Ireland, has indicated that activity has climbed back to 115% compared to its 2019 level. Around 80 flights at Brussels and Charleroi airports were cancelled over the weekend, affecting 13,000 travellers, RTL TV reported. Ryanair has reached an agreement with striking staff in other countries. The company announced on Thursday it reached a five-year agreement with labour unions representing pilots in France and in Spain to improve work conditions.<br/>
El Al said Sunday it was returning Boeing 777-200ER aircraft to its fleet to meet high travel demand during the summer. Israel's flag carrier sidelined six 777s at the outset of the COVID-19 crisis when it halted all flights between March and September 2020 amid plunging demand. Its aging 747s had already been retired and replaced by 15 new Dreamliner 787 aircraft on long haul routes to North America and Asia. The airline has six 777 planes with an average age of nearly two decades and said it would return some of them to service for its routes to Bangkok, Phuket, Athens and Dubai -- destinations it said are in demand. "The return of the planes will make it possible to expand the flight schedule in the peak season and even allow additional destinations," El Al said. It added that the aircraft, some of which were used on cargo routes, have passed all tests and adjustments needed to return to the skies.<br/>
Oman Air, the Sultanate of Oman's national airline, said it will operate 10 weekly flights instead of seven weekly flights between Muscat and Kochi, Delhi, and Chennai in India between August 1, 2022, and October 29, 2022. "We are pleased to announce additional frequencies to Kochi, Delhi, and Chennai effective next month as part of our comprehensive plans to better serve our international markets and meet our guests’ travel expectations during the holiday season," said Hamad bin Mohamed Al Harthy, Regional Vice President Sales - Indian Subcontinent & Asia-Pacific. The airline will operate a total of 122 flights per week between Muscat and its 8 Indian destinations with the additional 18 flights per week, offering 10 flights per week in each direction to Delhi, Kochi, and Chennai, 7 flights per week to Bangalore, Mumbai, Kozhikode, and Hyderabad, as well as 3 flights per week to Goa.<br/>
India's newest budget carrier Akasa Air, which is backed by billionaire Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, has opened ticket sales for its first commercial flights starting Aug. 7, the airline said in a statement on Friday. Akasa's initial network will include a total of 56 weekly flights between the western cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad and the southern cities of Bengaluru and Kochi on its new Boeing (BA.N) 737 MAX planes, it said. "Akasa Air's network strategy is focused on establishing a strong pan-India presence and providing linkages from metro to tier 2 and tier 3 cities across the country," said Praveen Iyer, the airline's co-founder and CCO. Iyer said Akasa will expand its network in a phased manner, connecting to more cities as it adds new aircraft each month. Akasa's commercial launch comes at a time when domestic air travel in India has seen a sharp recovery with airlines flying over 57m passengers in the first six months of the year, up 238% from a year ago, government data showed. This is helping airlines such as IndiGo, India's biggest carrier, and Vistara, a joint venture between Singapore Airlines and Tata Sons, to boost capacity and utilisation levels. Air India, under its new owners the Tata Group, and full-service carrier Jet Airways, which has come out of bankruptcy, are close to finalising new plane orders. Akasa, which has a total of 72 Boeing planes on order, will directly compete with other budget carriers like IndiGo, SpiceJet and GoFirst.<br/>