Flight attendants at American Airlines have held picket rallies at 11 major airports in the US, over the airline rejecting new union contract proposals from the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents 25,000 of its flight attendants. The move is the latest in a series of industrial actions and disputes to have hit the US airlines industry as it recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic. Workers and unions say that the industry has sought to return to normal without addressing serious problems, especially around pay and staffing levels. Julie Hedrick, national president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, explained negotiations were initially delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but restarted in August 2021. Since that time the company has rejected improvements sought by workers. “We’ve been going without a raise since January 2019. It’s been many years since our flight attendants got a raise and a lot of our bases are in very high cost of living cities, such as Boston, New York, Chicago and Miami, so we’re definitely ready for a raise with the way everything has increased in price,” said Hedrick. She added: “Our staffing has also been cut. We’re back to flying the same amount of flights and hours we flew back in 2019, prior to Covid, with thousands of fewer flight attendants.” She noted the union is pushing for pay rises, better flexibility for flights, and improved operational reliability, as American Airlines reported a profit of $478m in Q3 2022, including record revenue.<br/>
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A Dutch court is set to rule on Thursday in the case of four men with links to Russia accused of mass murder for their alleged roles in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. MH17 was a passenger flight shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers and crew. At the time, the area was the scene of fighting between pro-Russian separatist and Ukrainian forces, the precursor of this year's conflict. Victims' representatives say the ruling will be an important milestone, though the suspects, all of whom face life sentences, remain fugitives. They are all believed to be in Russia, which will not extradite them. Moscow denies any involvement or responsibility for MH17's downing and in 2014 it also denied any presence in Ukraine. Prosecutors say the suspects, three former Russian intelligence officers and a Ukrainian separatist military leader, helped arrange and transport a Russian army BUK missile system into Ukraine that was used to shoot down the plane. They were charged with shooting down an airplane and with murder in a trial held under Dutch law. They could alternatively be convicted of manslaughter charges if judges at the Hague District Court find the act was not premeditated. Phone call intercepts that formed a key part of the evidence against the men suggested they believed they were targeting a Ukrainian fighter jet. Three of the men were tried in absentia and the fourth pleaded not guilty via lawyers he hired to represent him. None attended the trial.<br/>
Finnair Oyj revealed plans to eliminate about a quarter of its cabin crew posts in Finland after the closure of Russian airspace upended a business model based on flights to Asia, forcing the firm into steep cost cuts. Finland’s state-controlled carrier is looking to scrap as many as 450 of its 1,750 flight-attendant posts there and extend the outsourcing of cabin services if no deal on revised contracts is reached, according to a statement Wednesday. “We now need a genuine will from the negotiators to find solutions that would allow us to continue in-flight service with our own crew, and avoid redundancies,” CEO Topi Manner said. Finnair said in September it would drop its focus on East Asia due to ongoing coronavirus curbs and airspace closures following the Ukraine invasion, which rendered many services impractical and unprofitable. The strategy calls for a slimmed-down jetliner fleet and a lower-cost base. As part of the plan to slash expenses, Finnair has consulted with all of its staff on revised employment terms. Yet while agreements were reached with some groups there has been no accord with Finnish cabin crew, according to the company, whose shares traded 4.2% lower as of 1:29 p.m. in Helsinki. Proposals put forward concerning flight attendants, who comprised 40% of the airline’s 5,000 staff at the end of 2021, include crew utilization, hotel layovers, and pay-per-hour rules for longer flights. In the absence of a deal, Finnair said it may need to subcontract cabin services on flights from Helsinki to Thailand and the US, having already done so to Singapore, Hong Kong, and India, and from Stockholm and Copenhagen to Doha.<br/>
British Airways plans to launch flights from London Heathrow to Cincinnati (Ohio) next summer, part of its ongoing US expansion. The Oneworld carrier will begin serving Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International airport, which is in Kentucky, direct for the first time from 5 June. It will operate the route five times weekly during summer, dropping to four-times weekly during winter, using Boeing 787-8 aircraft. “This is the first time we’ve flown this route,” says British Airways’ director of networks Neil Chernoff. “Not only will this open up these destinations to customers on each side of the Atlantic, but it will also improve connectivity between the Cincinnati region, Europe and beyond, with opportunities to connect to our wider network via London.” Cirium schedules data shows it is the first scheduled service from London Heathrow to Cincinnati. SkyTeam carrier Delta Air Lines previously flew from Cincinnati to London Gatwick for four years before dropping the route in 2009. It marks the latest new route from British Airways, which this summer began flights to Portland for the first time. The carrier plans to boost frequency on its Portland service to daily next summer and take its Pittsburgh service to six-times weekly. British Airways also intends to add an eighth daily flight to New York’s John F Kennedy International airport.<br/>