JetBlue Airways pilots will shift their focus to negotiating a standalone bargaining agreement with the company, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) said on Wednesday. Due to uncertainty around the company's merger with Spirit Airlines, JetBlue pilot leaders are shifting focus from a joint collective agreement between pilot groups from both airlines to a JetBlue-only contract, the ALPA said.<br/>
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Aer Lingus pilots pledged to continue seeking a pay increase of more than 20% as their dispute with the airline looked destined for the Labour Court. The Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (Ialpa) and Aer Lingus agreed to refer the pay row to the court after talks at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) ended without resolution this week. A message to members from Ialpa president, Captain Mark Tighe, confirmed that the union had sought an increase of 23.88% to cover inflation and the fact that pilots’ last pay rise was in 2019. Capt Tighe pledged that the union’s executive would continue to pursue “a pay increase that will be acceptable to the pilot body”. Aer Lingus said on Wednesday that pilots sought increases significantly higher than 12.25% over three years that a company pay tribunal offered in December, which most other staff accepted. The airline said the pilots’ union’s “failure to engage in the WRC process in a responsible manner risks investment, growth and jobs” at Aer Lingus.<br/>
Airline passengers in Europe face another summer of air-traffic control delays, a leading budget airline boss has warned. Marion Geoffroy, UK managing director for Wizz Air, told The Independent’s daily travel podcast that delays caused by air-traffic control “would not be remedied” in summer 2024. During the summer of 2023, airlines and their passengers faced frequent delays across Europe due to pressure on air-traffic control. Shortages of controllers were exacerbated by closures of airspace over Ukraine. “We know for sure that in July and August, we will be accumulating delays,” said Ms Geoffroy. But, she said, “buffers in the schedule” would allow the operation to stay on track. In the summer of 2023, airlines blamed air-traffic control limitations for many cancellations – including easyJet grounding the same flight on successive nights. Summer 2024 will see an increase in traffic of at least 5%, according to the pan-European air-traffic coordinator, Eurocontrol. Pressure will increase due to extra flights to and from Germany for the Euro 2024 football championships in June and July, and serving Paris for the Olympics shortly afterwards. Eurocontrol has set out five priorities for the summer: Air-traffic control to deliver the agreed capacity; Airlines to have realistic scheduling; All to prioritise the first rotation of aircraft; All to ensure disciplined flight plan execution; and All to contribute to better managing convective weather. A spokesperson for Eurocontrol said: “Overall, we are seeing strong support from the entire aviation industry for this strategy and we are confident that this combined effort will pay off.”<br/>
Poland should scrap plans to spend billions on a huge hub airport in the centre of the country and instead spend some of that money on developing regional airports, a top Ryanair executive said, amid uncertainty over the future of the project. The new government is re-examining plans for the construction of the Solidarity Transport Hub (CPK), which was envisaged to be operational in 2028, serving 40m passengers per year. Construction work has yet to begin and the project has faced criticism over its cost and scale.<br/>However, its supporters say the creation of a huge airport with high-speed rail connections around the country would give Poland an important economic boost. "What I would say is use a fraction, and I mean a fraction, of that CPK budget to help the local regional airports develop, help them to grow, and the economy will continue to flourish," Jason McGuinness, Ryanair's CCO, told Reuters in an interview. Investment in regional airports would be positive for Ryanair as it seeks to double its business in the fast-growing Polish market and expand across eastern Europe over the next decade. McGuinness spoke during a trip to Poland to discuss moving flights to other locations in Poland from Warsaw's Modlin airport. Ryanair says that an inability to agree with Modlin management on expanding the airport followed by further unsatisfactory collaboration left it with no option but to further downsize its operations there.<br/>
Air Moldova’s air operator’s certificate has been revoked by the country’s civil aviation authority, over a failure to maintain minimum requirements. The measure, taken on 20 February, follows suspension of the carrier’s AOC six months previously. According to the civil aviation authority the airline has been undergoing restructuring for more than six months but has “not presented any evidence” over that period demonstrating removal of “non-conformities”. It adds that the carrier does not have any operational aircraft and “does not meet the minimum requirements” for holding an AOC. Air Moldova’s AOC was suspended in August last year. The airline’s inability to show, at the end of the subsequent six months, that it had at least one aircraft with a valid airworthiness certificate made the revocation “inevitable”, the authority states. Air Moldova representatives were invited to each of the authority’s meetings on the matter, it adds, but did not attend. “If the company wants to resume flights, it can initiate a new certification process, in order to obtain the AOC, in accordance with national regulations,” the authority says.<br/>
Middle Eastern carrier Emirates is to expand its Latin American reach with services to the Colombian capital Bogota by mid-year. It will commence the daily service on 3 June, operating the route with 354-seat Boeing 777-300ERs configured in three classes. Emirates will fly to Bogota as an onward connection from its flights from Dubai to Miami. The airline cites the elevation of Bogota airport – some 2,500m above sea level – for the need to serve the route through a stopover. Miami has been chosen for its Latin American tourism and trade connections. Bogota will become the carrier’s fourth South American destination after Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. “We’ve long wanted to serve Colombia,” says Emirates Airline president Sir Tim Clark, adding that there is “huge demand” for travel to Bogota. He says the new route “underscores our deep commitment to South America”, and will offer increased business and leisure travel opportunities.<br/>
Taiwan's Starlux Airlines has placed an order for five Airbus A350 freighters and three A330neo widebody passenger jets, its CE said on Wednesday. Starlux CEO Glenn Chai announced the order on the sidelines of the Singapore Airshow, adding that the company would also take an option to order five more freighters. The A330neos will be delivered in 2025-2026, followed by the freighters, said Benoit de Saint-Exupery, the senior vice president of sales at Airbus' commercial aircraft business. The A330neos and A350 freighters are powered by Rolls Royce's Trent 7000 and Trent XWB-97 engines. Starlux, the island's newest full-service airline, launched its first flights in 2020 and serves destinations including Tokyo, Bangkok, Hanoi, Singapore, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Flights to Seattle will start in the middle of this year, Chai said, saying Starlux wants to become a transit airline for passengers from Southeast Asia to North America. The freighters will be Starlux's first freighter aircraft. Taiwan is an important cargo hub, especially for goods from South Asia to North America, Chai said. The all-Airbus operator competes against the island's long-established carriers China Airlines and Eva Airways. Airbus' A350 freighters are set to come into service in 2026, bringing as much as a 40% reduction in fuel consumption and carbon emissions compared with previous-generation Boeing 747 freighters, the European planemaker says.<br/>
Vietnamese budget carrier VietJet on Thursday said it had agreed to a provisional deal to order 20 A330neo wide-body airliners from Europe's Airbus as the airline grows its long-haul route network. The multi-billion-dollar commitment, which confirmed an earlier report by Reuters, was announced at the Singapore Airshow, making it one of the biggest deals so far at Asia's largest aerospace event. Demand for wide-body jets is surging as air travel rebounds after the pandemic, though the air show has been overshadowed by a warning from home carrier Singapore Airlines that fares are now coming under pressure from overcapacity. Qantas Airways (QAN.AX) and Air New Zealand Thursday flagged delays to deliveries of Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 jets respectively, as manufacturers struggle with supply chain issues. Deliveries of VietJet's new planes will start from 2026, and the deal is expected to become a firm order in a few weeks, said Airbus commercial aircraft executive vice president of sales Benoit de Saint-Exupery. VietJet, one of Asia's largest low-cost carriers, said the A330-900 order will replace is fleet of leased A330-300s - an earlier model. This will be VietJet's first wide-body purchase. Airbus is anxious to prolong sales of its A330neo as it amortises upgrade costs and preserves its longstanding A330 line, which the newer A350 is gradually superseding. The latest deal highlights the growth of VietJet, which said on Wednesday it is expanding in destinations such as Australia, India, China, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and Thailand. The carrier has some 108 Airbus jets and 200 Boeing jets on order, according to the two planemakers' websites.<br/>