Airline pilots won pay raises worth billions of dollars in new labor deals last year. Flight attendants are now pushing for similar improvements. Flight attendants from United Airlines, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines and others picketed Tuesday at dozens of airports around the US, demanding higher wages and a better quality of life. “We have been in a period of austerity for 20 years, and it’s time the industry paid up,” said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents cabin crews at United, Spirit, Frontier and others. The demonstrations mark the first mass pickets jointly held by the labor unions, which represent more than 100,000 flight attendants at U.S. airlines between them. New labor deals would come not just on the heels of pilot contracts, but also pay raises won by autoworkers, Hollywood writers and at major companies like UPS. Flight attendants at most of the largest airlines haven’t received pay increases since before the pandemic, which paused contract talks, while the cost of living rose sharply in recent years. American and other carriers told CNBC they are optimistic that they will reach agreements with their flight attendants in the coming months. Labor costs and fuel account for airlines’ two largest expenses. Flight attendants make an average of about $67,000 a year, according to the Labor Department, though pay can range from around $38,000 at the bottom 10th percentile to about $97,000 at the top. Inflation has been “the most difficult for our new hires,” said Julie Hedrick, national president of the Association of Professional Flight Attendants, which represents about 27,000 flight attendants at American. “We want [American] to come to the table and recognize what we’ve done to return this airline to profitability.”<br/>
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A winter storm descended on the US Northeast on Tuesday, dropping wet snow on New York City while snarling commutes, shutting schools and canceling hundreds of flights. About 2 to 3 inches has fallen in New York City, according to the National Weather Service. Parts of the lower Hudson Valley received close to a foot, while Long Island got up to 6 inches. The system is dumping snow on parts of the region while other places get only rain, said Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. “There is a real sharp cut off from heavy snow to nothing,” Oravec said. The snow is starting to taper off west of the city and will end throughout the region later Tuesday afternoon. Temperatures will be in the mid-30s F (1 C) Wednesday under sunny skies and that will get the melting started, said Bryan Ramsey, a meteorologist with the weather service. Hundreds of flights have been canceled into and out of the region’s airports — including LaGuardia, Boston Logan and Newark Liberty International — according to FlightAware.com. <br/>
The head of Canada’s air traffic controller union said he’s frustrated that the government has not shared with him the results of a UN agency audit that badly downgraded the country’s air travel regulatory, oversight and inspection regime. Canadian Air Traffic Controllers Association (CATCA) president Nick von Schoenberg said neither the federal government nor Nav Canada, which operates the civil aviation system, has shared the report by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in which Canada’s score had reportedly fallen by over 30 points, out of a total score of 100. That would put Canada under the international average for oversight and inspections. He said he’s wondering what the government might be hiding. “I haven’t actually seen the report, and that kind of bugs me,” he said. “Maybe if we read the audit, we would feel much more comfortable with that score. Maybe we’d feel a lot less comfortable.”<br/>Von Schoenberg says his own members are overworked and understaffed. He also said the government needs to hire more aviation inspectors in light of the damning report (inspectors are represented by a different union). Neither ICAO nor the government have made the document public, but draft copies were obtained by some media outlets in December. The confidential audit did not look at the safety of Canada’s aviation sector, but rather the country’s regulatory, oversight and inspection regime.<br/>
Boeing, hit by quality concerns following the incident with a door plug blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight early last month, reported that January was its worst month for new airplane orders since the height of the pandemic. The company announced Tuesday that it booked orders for only three jets, all 737 Max planes, to an unidentified customer. But it also had three 737 Max orders canceled, adding up to zero net orders for the period. The company last had three or fewer gross orders in June, 2020, when it had only one jet order. The last time that Boeing had zero or negative net orders was in January of 2021, when it had negative 1 net orders. The pandemic caused a temporary near halt in air travel and massive losses throughout the airline industry, which choked off demand for new jet orders. Boeing orders in the period were also hurt by a 20-month grounding of the 737 Max, its best selling model, following two fatal crashes of the jet that killed 346 people in late 2018 and early 2019. The very bad month for orders at Boeing followed 369 total net orders in December, a record month for the company, and a sign that its airline customers had recovered from the pandemic and were eager to add new aircraft to their fleets. That month capped the best year for orders for Boeing since before the 2019 grounding. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the Alaska Air flight, said four bolts needed to hold the door plug in place were missing from the aircraft that was delivered by Boeing to Alaska just this past October. While the NTSB has not identified who was responsible for the missing bolts, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told investors earlier this month that no matter its findings, “We caused the problem.”<br/>
Boeing CFO Brian West said Tuesday the company will move to a steady 737 production rate of 38 aircraft per month in the second half of 2024 after slowing the line following last month's mid-air cabin blowout on a 737 MAX 9. Lower aircraft delivery volumes, customer considerations paid to airlines as a result of the MAX 9 grounding, and the company's need to hold additional inventory from its supply chain will all contribute to cash usage in Q1, West said during the Cowen Aerospace & Defense Conference. Previously, Boeing said it was "cycling" at a rate of 38 narrowbody 737s a month, but West said that the planemaker is having to periodically pause the line as it focuses on quality in the wake of the incident. "We have to acknowledge that we have lots of things to focus on in terms of keeping the airplanes in position longer so that we can incorporate all the learnings that we're finding, and that's just fine," West said, adding that it will be up to the FAA to approve future rate increases. The FAA launched an audit of Boeing's 737 production line following the Jan. 5 accident where a door plug detached from a brand new MAX 9. It has also prohibited Boeing from increasing its MAX production rate without FAA permission. Boeing's suppliers are set this month to increase production of components to make the 737 to the levels necessary to build 42 planes a month. West said the planemaker has the cash necessary to handle the spike in extra inventory to keep its supply chain on solid ground.<br/>
Tui, Europe’s biggest travel company, is abandoning the London Stock Exchange in favour of listing its shares solely in Germany. A vote on Tuesday resulted in 98.35% of shareholders backing a company proposal to drop its UK listing, in what will be seen as the latest blow to London’s standing in international finance. The company said the result showed “there was a very clear vote in favour of delisting from the London Stock Exchange”. The move – which will see Tui retain its dual listing on the Hanover and Frankfurt exchanges – is expected to take place early this summer. The company had argued to shareholders that the axing of London would simplify its structure and improve liquidity, with some investors suggesting that shares traded solely in Germany could lower costs and provide “support for EU airline ownership”. Tui has said about 77% of share transactions are settled directly via the German share register, while less than a quarter of trading in Tui shares is in the form of UK depositary interests. Trading of Tui shares has previously attracted scrutiny. An attempted transfer in March 2022 of a large stake owned by the Russian steel, mining and banking tycoon Alexei Mordashov resulted in a criminal investigation in Cyprus, after an international media exposé raised questions about a potential sanctions breach. Mordashov’s stake remains frozen.<br/>