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American Airlines’ flight attendants’ union wants permission from the government to go on strike in 30 days. But you don’t need to worry about a strike screwing up your holiday travel plans. Airline employees are covered by the Railway Labor Act. Despite its name, the RLA covers both rail workers and airline employees and has significant differences from the labor law that regulates other US businesses. Most notably, it places severe restrictions on the ability of airline or railroad employees to go on strike when a contract expires. The Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents more than 23,000 members at American has not overcome any of the many legal hurdles it needs to conquer before the union could strike. That’s the case even though union members have not gotten a raise since 2019. If federally mediated union negotiations reach a point where no progress is being made at the table, the union or company management can ask federal meditators involved in talks to declare an “impasse.” The union can go on strike or management can lock out union workers only after a 30-day cooling off period that follows an impasse being declared. That declaration of an impasse is what the union is arguing should happen now. “The company has staked out a firm position on economic matters, and APFA has been clear that the company’s economic framework does not and will not work,” APFA President Julie Hedrick wrote in a letter to the federal agency overseeing talks. “No amount of future bargaining will change that, absent a release into a thirty-day cooling-off period.” But American Airlines argued Monday that there is no impasse in talks and that negotiations should continue. “Since resuming negotiations in 2021, the company has routinely met with APFA and presented proposals that maintain our commitment to paying our team members well and competitively,” said the airline’s statement. “For months now, we’ve had an industry-leading economic proposal on the table, and we continue to make progress on other items, including as recently as last week. We stand ready to continue working with APFA… to reach an agreement that our flight attendants have earned.”<br/>

British Airways owner IAG dangled the prospect of resuming dividend payments for the first time after the Covid-19 pandemic as soaring travel demand helps repair its balance sheet. The airline group, which also owns Spain’s Iberia alongside other carriers, said it would reinstate the payment once its balance sheet and investment plans were secure, according to a stock exchange filing ahead of a meeting with investors on Tuesday. The company said in a video on its website that returning money to shareholders is a key priority in the medium to long-term, adding that it is also looking at opportunities to acquire other businesses. “We are looking to consolidate the industry but once we’ve looked at the opportunities that are out there for inorganic growth, any excess cash that we have, we will also look to return that back to our shareholders,” CFO Nicholas Cadbury said. IAG dropped as much as 2.7%, reversing earlier gains of as much as 1.1%. The stock has risen about 29% this year. IAG last paid out a dividend in 2019, and scrapped a planned payout in 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Earlier this month, Ryanair Holdings Plc said it will pay a dividend of E400m and plans to hand over about a quarter of annual profit to shareholders. In a presentation for investors, the airline group also mentioned share buyback and special dividends as ways to give returns to shareholders. IAG set medium-term targets of an operating margin of 12%-15% and a return on invested capital of 13%-16%. The company said in its investor presentation that it will invest E2.5b in customer experience over the next three years, and E1.7b in IT and digital. <br/>