No sign of a breakthrough emerged in talks between WestJet and its pilots Wednesday, as the company's CEO deemed the union's expectations unrealistic while the Air Line Pilots Association slammed the airline for trying to "publicly villainize" its workers. WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said late Tuesday the two sides remained far apart on key sticking points — especially wages — as bargaining heats up and the clock ticks down on a strike deadline. "The gap is still massive," von Hoensbroech said from the bargaining venue, a hotel north of Toronto. Neither the company nor the union provided a concrete update Wednesday on the state of negotiations. More than 1,800 pilots at WestJet and its Swoop subsidiary are poised to potentially walk off the job as of 3 a.m. MT on Friday after the union issued a strike notice Monday night. The standoff has left thousands of passengers with travel plans for the May long weekend and beyond hanging in limbo. In recognition of that uncertainty, the airline is offering refunds to passengers who cancel flights scheduled until May 21, and fee-free changes to bookings within the same period. The potential strike has already created a drop in bookings for the airline, which hasn't turned a profit since 2019, said von Hoensbroech. "We have gone through three years of a pandemic that has left very deep scars," he said. While the carrier is still recovering, its latest offer to the union would see wide-body plane captains earn $350,000 in total compensation annually by the end of the collective agreement term, according to a letter to flight crew from the company and obtained by The Canadian Press. Narrow-body captains would earn $300,000. "Immediately upon the effective date, WestJet pilots would have had the highest narrow-body first officer and captain top-step wage rate in Canada," the Monday night letter states. The union says the figures don't tell the full story.<br/>
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Swiss regional carrier Helvetic Airways is leasing another pair of Embraer 190s, which will be sourced from TrueNoord. The aircraft will be place under three-year operating leases with the airline. They will take Helvetic’s fleet to 18 E-Jets, including six E190s. Helvetic also uses 12 of the re-engined E2 family, comprising eight E190-E2s and four E195-E2s. “These additional availabilities allow Helvetic Airways to maintain a stable flight schedule even under the current challenging conditions,” says chief executive Tobias Pogorevc. He says they will enable the carrier to provide greater planning certainty to passengers, with a “high level” of reliability and punctuality. TrueNoord has identified the aircraft as a pair originally delivered to leisure group TUI’s Belgian airline in 2013 – as OO-JEB and OO-JEM – and used by the carrier since. Helvetic will base the twinjets in Zurich and, in addition to flying them on its scheduled network, will use them for tour operations and wet-lease capacity. Pogorevc says the E190s are “the perfect addition” to its fleet. TrueNoord’s sales manager for Europe, Ahmed Ali, says the lessor has made the aircraft available ahead of the summer peak, “despite the supply chain and MRO challenges”.<br/>
Dutch carrier Transavia has cancelled hundreds of flights through to the end of June as it grapples with a shortage of aircraft. On top of the 5% of flights already axed in April and May because of the capacity shortage, the carrier said on 16 May that a further four flights per day have been cancelled through to the end of May, while on most days in June between 10 and 20 flights have been culled. The cancellations include services from its Amsterdam, Eindhoven and Rotterdam bases. The Air France-KLM budget operator says the action is necessary because it has six fewer aircraft than planned going into the summer peak season: three because of delayed deliveries of jets, two because of repairs needed to aircraft involved in collisions with ground vehicles, and one because of late-running maintenance work. In the latter two cases, the carrier cites repair and maintenance delays caused by the shortage of spare parts that has been felt across the industry as it emerges from the Covid-19 crisis. Reports suggest the delayed aircraft deliveries relate to Transavia’s leasing of several Boeing 737-800s that used to be operated by grounded Romanian carrier Blue Air. Transavia had previously cited delays in the commissioning of some of those aircraft.Transavia notes that “more than 95% of our flights continue as planned”, but warns it is yet to establish whether cancellations will need to continue into July and August. It will release more details for those months on 25 May, it says. Alongside Transavia France, Transavia’s Dutch operation has been leading the capacity recovery at Air France-KLM, with the two carriers recently forecast to operate a combined 135% of 2019 available seat kilometres this year, versus a group total of 95%. <br/>
Aircastle, a lessor to Indian budget airline SpiceJet Ltd , told a tribunal on Wednesday that settlement talks with the company over unpaid dues were inconclusive. The Ireland-based lessor earlier this month sought to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against SpiceJet over non payment of lease rentals and other dues. The airline owes Aircastle around 500m rupees ($6m), a lawyer present at the hearing told Reuters. The company's settlement offer was not good enough and talks had not reached anywhere, the lessor told the tribunal which will next hear the case on May 25. SpiceJet, which sought time from the tribunal to respond to Aircastle's bankruptcy plea, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The Indian carrier has been scrambling to raise funds amid a string of quarterly losses and as local competition heats up. Last week it said it had begun to revive 25 of its grounded fleet using its own money and a $50 million line of credit through an Indian government scheme. But rival Go First's recent bankruptcy proceedings have spooked international lessors who are staring at a long legal battle to pull their planes out of the country. Following this, Spicejet's lessors, including SMBC Aviation, have in recent weeks submitted over half a dozen requests to India's aviation regulator to de-register their planes and fly them out as dues remain pending. The airline said last week it had no plans to take similar action and file for insolvency. "Our lessors have supported us through the thick and thin and continue to do so and we are grateful for their support and confidence," it said.<br/>
Jetstar passengers will need to arrive at the airport earlier after the airline tightened check-in and bag-drop times in a bid to improve its reliability and punctuality. From next Tuesday, the budget carrier will close check-in for domestic flights within Australia and New Zealand 40 minutes prior to departure, bumping it up from 30 minutes. The carrier will also cut the check-in time allowed for international flights by 15 minutes, requiring passengers to complete check-in and bag drop-off 60 minutes before departure. The boarding gate for international and domestic flights will close 20 minutes before the flight departs, up from 15 minutes. Jetstar’s COO, Matt Franzi, said the airline was working to strengthen its operations while delivering low-fare flights. “We know our performance hasn’t been up to scratch and we are working hard to boost punctuality and reliability,” he said. It comes after the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics released figures in April finding Jetstar was the least punctual airline in Australia, with 7.1% of flights cancelled. Last year, about 4,000 Jetstar passengers were left stranded in Bali for up to a week after mass flight cancellations. The carrier said the new check-in times bring it in line with other budget airlines. Bonza, Australia’s newest budget airline which launched earlier this year, also closes check-in and bag drop-off for domestic flights 40 minutes prior to departure. However, the boarding gate closes 10 minutes before departure, giving its passengers 10 minutes longer than Jetstar customers to get to the gate. Jetstar’s new rules are on par with Ryanair, an Irish budget carrier that operates across the UK and Europe. Ryanair shuts check-ins 40 minutes before flights depart, and closes boarding 20 minutes before departure.<br/>
AirAsia Malaysia is focusing on strengthening its position in Asia following the three-year slump in the travel industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic. CEO Riad Asmat said that with the commencing new route in Kertajati, Indonesia, today, it is vital for the company to grow its position in Indonesia. "Currently, we are flying to 12 destinations in Indonesia from the time of the pandemic, and there are many things we need to re-establish our position back to the pre-pandemic (level). And hopefully, we will grow even more, and soon we will launch new routes, particularly in Indonesia,” he told Malaysian reporters at Kertajati International Airport, Indonesia, here today. AirAsia Malaysia today celebrated its maiden flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kertajati in West Java, Indonesia. The inaugural flight departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 at 9.05 am and landed at Kertajati International Airport at 10.20 am local time. AirAsia is the first airline to connect Kuala Lumpur to Kertajati, Indonesia, with two weekly flights, and it is the only international connectivity out of Kertajati, bringing the Greater Bandung and Cirebon metropolitan areas, as well as parts of West Java and Central Java provinces closer to Kuala Lumpur.<br/>