Scandinavian airline SAS has suspended 1,700 flights in the coming months due partly to a two-week pilot strike in July over collective agreements and delayed aircraft deliveries. SAS, whose biggest owners are Sweden and Denmark, grounded some 3,700 flights during the crippling strike which the airline said put the carrier's future in doubt. SAS said on Friday 1,700 flights, roughly 4% of the total number of flights, had been cancelled in September and October. Travellers had been informed and re-booked to other flights, it said. "It is the effects from the strike but also delayed deliveries of aircraft and some other factors," a SAS spokesperson said, adding that the company does not see lower demand. SAS said last week it had secured bridge financing during US chapter 11 bankruptcy protection proceedings through a deal with US private equity firm Apollo Global Management. The carrier, which even before the pandemic was losing money amid rising competition from low-cost carriers, filed for the protection in July, a day after the strike was launched. The Swedish government has rejected a plea for more cash, while Denmark has said it might write off some debt and inject fresh funds if SAS found support also from new private-sector investors.<br/>
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A group of investors led by container giant MSC Mediterranean Shipping Co. and German airline Deutsche Lufthansa could offer about E850m for Italy’s national airline ITA Airways, newspaper Il Messaggero reported. The group may make a bid on Monday for 80% of ITA, aiming to create a global leader in cargo and passenger travel by integrating MSC assets, according to the paper, which did not say where it got the information. Another group headed by Certares Management LLC, a US travel and tourism-focused investment firm, is offering about E600m to E650m for 60% of ITA, with the rest staying in the hands of Italy’s finance ministry, it added. A successful sale of ITA, the successor to troubled flag carrier Alitalia, would mark a big win for caretaker Prime Minister Mario Draghi in the wake of a series of failed divestments by previous administrations over the course of more than a decade. The sale “won’t be left to the next government, we have to do our duty,” Draghi told reporters on Aug. 4. Finance Minster Daniele Franco said at the time that new proposals from bidders had been requested but that none had so far been fully compliant with government requests. Delta Airlines could seek a stake in ITA as part of the bid from the group including Certares and Air France-KLM, la Repubblica reported on Aug. 19.<br/>
Wages for cabin crews at Swiss International Airlines AG are likely to rise as the airline attempts to retain staff, said Chief Executive Officer Dieter Vranckx. In an interview with the newspaper NZZ published on Saturday, Vranckx said Lufthansa-owned Swiss will likely offer higher wages to staff next month as inflation crimps the cost of living. “Wages will most likely be adjusted upwards,” he said. Airlines around the globe slashed staff and canceled flights during the pandemic. Now they’re struggling to find enough workers to crew flights as passengers return to travel. Currently, the average salary for entry level cabin crew is just 4,000 Swiss francs ($4,170) per month, the newspaper reported. Switzerland’s cost of living is among the highest in Europe. Swiss has repaid a federal government loan it took to stay afloat during the pandemic and has returned to profitability, Vranckx said. The company will enter contract negotiations in September with its pilots in hopes of avoiding a strike. <br/>
Two pilots with Africa’s largest airline reportedly fell asleep at the controls and missed their window to land while flying into Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, on Monday, according to an aviation news site. The Ethiopian Airlines pilots were operating a Boeing 737-800 from Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, when they reportedly fell asleep at 37,000 feet and were unable to be reached by air traffic control, according to a report by The Aviation Herald. According to the site, the pilots were woken by an onboard alarm that began blaring when the plane passed the point of descent and the autopilot disconnected. After nearly 30 minutes, the “disconnect wailer woke the crew up, who then maneuvered the aircraft for a safe landing on runway,” according to The Aviation Herald. Ethiopian Airlines would not confirm that the pilots fell asleep, but in a statement, the company said the crew members involved had been suspended pending an investigation. “Appropriate corrective action will be taken based on the outcome of the investigation,” the airline said. Monday’s passenger flight was flying from Khartoum to Addis Ababa, a route that takes about two hours. It was not immediately clear how many passengers were on board, but the Boeing 737-800 has a capacity of up to 189 passengers depending on the layout. The 737-800 is an older model, which Boeing has since tried to replace with the 737 Max 8, the model involved in the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed 157 people. Alex Macheras, an aviation expert, commenting on Monday’s incident, said that pilot fatigue remained widespread and was a major danger in air travel.<br/>
Major airlines such as Cathay Pacific Airways have scheduled 12% more flights to Hong Kong next month compared with July, but the frequency is still less than a third of rival Singapore. Airlines said Hong Kong's strict Covid-19 regulations for arriving aircraft crews remained a barrier to any increase in service. But experts said Singapore and Hong Kong had taken different approaches to reopening to air travel and the latter's more cautious approach could be a benefit in the long run. Cirium, an aviation analytics firm, said figures for about 40 carriers, including Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa, showed 926 flights to Hong Kong in June and 1,190 in July. The company said airlines had scheduled 1,335 flights for August and 1,331 flights in September. But flights scheduled for Singapore were more than three times the number of those destined for Hong Kong. Cirium said there were 4,215 flights in June rising to 4, 635 in July, 4,748 flights scheduled for August and 4,651 for September. Flights into Bangkok were almost double that of Hong Kong at 1,928 in June, 2,460 in July, with 2,581 scheduled for this month and 2,555 for September. "The major global airlines' schedules into Hong Kong remain speculative beyond October 2022," Cirium's Mike Arnott said. "This is in line with statements made by carriers like Cathay Pacific that adding flight capacity would be limited until flight crew restrictions are lifted."<br/>
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has proposed increasing the frequency of flights between Thailand and China from three per week to 15, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT). The CAAT said it received a letter from the Chinese aviation authority this week enquiring about the possibility of increasing the number of international passenger flights. According to the CAAT, China said it can allow up to 15 flights, up from three, per week from Thailand. It asked the CAAT to consider ramping up flights to the same frequency in the opposite direction. The CAAC has asked the CAAT to submit the flight routes that Thai airlines want to operate to see if Chinese airports can accommodate the extra flights. Currently, China does not allow additional flights to some cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou due to limited capacity. The CAAT said the agency expects to submit the flight routes next week following this Thursday's discussion with the Thai airlines. If granted, flights could resume as early as next month. According to the CAAT, China's Covid-19 restrictions remain firmly in place and the extra flights are intended to accommodate essential travel demand including business travel.<br/>
Lessons from one of Australian aviation’s most serious safety incidents appear not to have been learnt after a Singapore A350 came within just two minutes of departure with key sensors covered up. The new incident on 27 May occurred two months after the ATSB published its four-year report detailing a near identical situation on a packed A330 in Brisbane where the aircraft departed. The ATSB then noted how speed sensor problems in 1996 led to two fatal crashes that killed more than 200 people. On Friday, a new preliminary ATSB report, released early, revealed how a Singapore A350-941 was just two minutes from departure yet had covers on its key pitot speed sensors. The investigation revealed the two aircraft maintenance engineers tasked with the removal of the covers failed to do so. The potential safety incident was only prevented because a quick-thinking aircraft refueller on an adjacent bay noticed the covers were on and alerted the engineers. Aircraft are fitted with pitot probe covers when parked at Brisbane Airport to prevent mud wasps building nests within and blocking their pitot probes, which are used to measure air pressure to calculate airspeed. “A known hazard at Brisbane Airport, mud wasps can rapidly build nests in aircraft pitot probes,” noted ATSB director of transport safety Dr Michael Walker. “An aircraft being cleared to commence taxiing and then commence take-off with all pitot probe covers still fitted is a serious event.” Two maintenance contractor ground crew engineers — a licensed aircraft maintenance engineer (LAME) supervising an inexperienced aircraft maintenance engineer (AME) — had been assigned to conduct scheduled receipt, dispatch, certification, and maintenance duties for the Singapore Airlines A350 aircraft during a two-hour turnaround at Brisbane. As pushback approached, the covers remained in place until an aircraft refueller, working at an adjacent bay, observed them and alerted the supervising LAME. Story has more.<br/>