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The union representing more than 4,500 Air Canada pilots has reached an agreement in principal that would allow a combination with the much larger labour group, Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA). The Air Canada Pilots Association and ALPA recently signed a “merger agreement”, which has been approved by Air Canada’s master elected council and will now be voted upon by the airline’s pilots and ALPA’s executive council and board. “This milestone brings both associations one step closer to achieving the pilots’ joint goal of advancing the piloting profession and aviation safety in Canada and the United States,” the unions say. “By working in unity, we are confident we will be stronger together.” The Air Canada pilots’ union is the largest such labour group in Canada, representing both passenger and cargo pilots. The tentative agreement was signed following a major win for ALPA – a new contract for Delta Air Lines pilots that includes $7b in cumulative increases over the next four years, for a 34% pay raise by 2026. Pilots across the industry have been winning hefty pay raises amid the pilot shortage and more general wage inflation, with US carriers such as Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines recently concluding new contract negotiations. Air Canada reported making C$168m ($125m) in Q4 2022, its first profitable quarter since the end of 2019. <br/>

Greek operator Aegean is expecting to introduce another nine Airbus A320neo-family jets this year, and take its fleet to 76 aircraft. Aegean says the initial booking indications for the year are “particularly encouraging”, with international traffic and summer sales trends exceeding pre-crisis levels. Its network will cover 161 destinations with flights out of eight bases. Aegean has 30 single-aisle aircraft – comprising 16 A321neos and 14 A320neos – on direct order with the airframer and is taking another 16 through lessors. “Use of a higher number of [A320neo-family] aircraft will bring unit-cost savings in fuel per seat, partially mitigating the higher interest rates impact and high inflation across Europe,” says the carrier in a full-year financial disclosure. Aegean turned in a net profit of E107m for 2022, after two years of losses, based on revenues of E1.34b. It attributes the performance to a combination of “robust” demand for Greek travel, higher unit revenues, the fleet modernisation, and partial hedging which helped offset fuel prices. Capacity last year was 10% down on the pre-crisis level, but the recovery meant this reduced to just 1% in Q4. “The result validates the effectiveness of our strategy, despite the challenging start,” says Aegean chief Dimitris Gerogiannis. The carrier has fully repaid all loans drawn down from four Greek banks during the pandemic, three years ahead of maturity. Total cash remains above E500m. Aegean, however, will not be paying a dividend – for the fourth year in succession – because it wants to preserve cash to invest in a maintenance and simulation centre, and potentially buy out rights of the Greek state.<br/>

The Minister of Civil Aviation Mohamed Abbas Helmy on Wednesday attended the signing of a number of cooperation protocols between EgyptAir, Air Cairo and a number of international tour operators in various countries of the world. EgyptAir signed a cooperation protocol with a number of tourism agents to transport nearly 8,000 tourists from a number of German cities directly to Luxor and Hurghada within the coming six months. Air Cairo signed a cooperation protocol for three years with Sun Express, according to which the latter will participate in the marketing and distribution of Air Cairo trips between tourist attractions in Egypt and various cities in German-speaking countries (Germany, Switzerland and Austria) and several other countries. The protocol will benefit from the marketing power of Sun Express and the operational power of Air Cairo, which has the youngest fleet in Africa and a strong operating network that serves the incoming tourism movement to the cities of the Red Sea and there to tourist attractions in Egypt.<br/>

Asiana Airlines has appointed a female outside director for the first as part of strengthening its environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) management. The company will hold a regular shareholders' meeting at its headquarters in Seoul on March 31, according to the company, Wednesday. At the shareholders' meeting, Asiana Airlines will appoint Kang Hye-ryun, Ewha Womans University Business Administration Professor Emeritus, Yoon Chang-bun, a Kim & Chang Law Firm Advisor as outside directors, and Jin Gwang-ho, Asiana Airlines Safety and Security Director, as the internal director. The term of office for all appointees will be three years. Professor Emeritus Kang Hye-ryun has been a professor in the Department of Business Administration for 27 years and is an expert in management and education. Asiana Airlines said Professor Kang will be able to contribute to the company's ESG management initiatives. "The appointment of the first female outside director to strengthen ESG management was made by the Outside Director Candidate Recommendation Committee," Asiana Airlines said.<br/>