Nearly 5,000 pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) served a notice to JetBlue Airways to open negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement, the union said on Wednesday. The pilots had negotiated a contract extension with the company at the time it was pursuing the now called-off merger with Spirit Airlines, the union said. "We now expect the company to come to the bargaining table prepared to negotiate terms on pay and working conditions in line with the standards and direction of the industry," said Justin Houck, head of the JetBlue ALPA master executive council. JetBlue did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company's CEO, Joanna Geraghty, last month pledged to return the airline to profitability by cutting costs through buyouts to employees in corporate, airport, and customer support functions. Pilots across North America are pressing for better pay and benefits, buoyed by a shortage of aviators amid a boom in air travel. Earlier this year, Southwest pilots approved a new labor agreement offering about a 50% pay raise over a five-year period.<br/>
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Flight attendants at Frontier Airlines are opposing an overhaul to the airline's operations - a key element of its turnaround strategy - saying the changes are not covered by their labor agreement and will "drastically upend" their lives. In a letter to Frontier CEO Barry Biffle seen by Reuters, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) union said it is filing a notice of dispute under the Railway Labor Act that regulates labor relations in the airline industry. Such disputes are resolved between management and labor in a process overseen by the U.S. National Mediation Board. Frontier has announced plans to rework its network to allow almost all of its planes to return to their stations every night. The so-called out-and-back model inspired by European budget carriers is meant to minimize flight cancellations and delays. The ultra-low-cost airline estimates the changes will improve productivity and save $200m this year, as it tries to return to sustainable profitability and deliver double-digit profit margins in 2025. Frontier was not immediately available for comment. The company's new operational model would be a shift from the typical method of U.S. airlines, which normally fly multi-day trips with two or three overnight stays for cabin crews. AFA said the new plan amounts to a wholesale change in the airline's business model that would drastically affect the compensation and out-of-pocket costs of flight attendants, effectively resulting in a pay cut.<br/>
Two people were injured when a Southwest Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence on Wednesday morning and had to make an emergency landing in Tampa, Florida, according to a spokesperson for Tampa International Airport. Southwest Flight 4273 was traveling from New Orleans to Orlando when the captain declared an emergency after experiencing turbulence aboard the Boeing 737 jet, the airline said in a statement. “The Captain declared an emergency, a requirement to deviate from a filed flight plan, and also requested that paramedics be available when the aircraft arrived to assess any potential injury,” the statement said. A passenger and a flight attendant were transported to a Tampa area medical facility, the airline added. The FAA is investigating the incident, a spokesperson told CNN. According to CNN Weather, storms that brought severe weather from the Ohio Valley to the Deep South on Tuesday were draped over the Gulf of Mexico this morning, causing strong thunderstorms in the area.<br/>
LATAM Airlines said on Wednesday its board gave approval to begin the process of re-listing American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) on the New York Stock Exchange. In a filing to Chile's stock exchange, the company said the process involves meeting various requirements from the NYSE and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and could take up to six months. The Santiago-based carrier traded ADRs, which foreign companies use to list their shares on U.S. stock exchanges, on the NYSE before declaring bankruptcy in 2020. The company emerged from bankruptcy proceedings with an $8b reorganization plan in late 2022. Re-listing will require consent from the principal creditors that supported the company's Chapter 11 reorganization plan, "without whom the company would not have emerged from the reorganization process," the filing said.<br/>
Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic said on Wednesday it would return to profitability this year after strong demand from holiday makers drove revenue up by GBP265m ($333m) to a record GBP3.1b in 2023. The airline, which is 49%-owned by Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), opens new tab, reported an adjusted pre-tax loss of GBP139m for 2023 compared to a loss of GBP206m in the prior year. CE Shai Weiss said the carrier had "capitalised on continued strong demand for leisure air travel and holidays". "A loss is never satisfactory; however, our performance and results illustrate that we have made really good progress in 2023, the plan is working, and Virgin Atlantic is on course to return to profitability in 2024," he said. The airline operated more flights than in 2019 using a fleet of 41 aircraft, which was four fewer than pre-pandemic levels, CFO Oli Byers told reporters. It flew 5.3m passengers to long-haul destinations such as the United States, the Caribbean and India. The airline's performance since the start of the year was "very encouraging", Byers said. "We've seen very strong demand from a premium leisure perspective and also some further recovery in corporate travel," he said. Corporate travel, which unlike leisure has not fully recovered since the pandemic, dipped towards the end of 2023, but was looking stronger this year and was trending up to around 80% of pre-pandemic levels, he said.<br/>
Ryanair booked 183.7m passengers in its financial year ending 31 March 2024, in line with guidance it revised downwards after delays last year in deliveries of Boeing 737 Max jets. The low-cost carrier, the biggest operator in Europe by passenger number, had originally been targeting 185m passengers for its financial year just ended. However, it last year scaled this target back to 183.5m citing Boeing delivery delays last spring and autumn. In releasing March traffic results today, Ryanair confirms it carried 183.7m passengers for the 12 months to 31 March 2024. That marks an increase of 9% on the 168.6m it handled in the previous year and is well above the 148.6m high it carried in its 2019 financial year before the pandemic. Ryanair’s load factor for the year stood at 94% – an increase of one percentage point over the previous year. The Irish carrier had originally hoped to pass the 200m passenger mark for its new financial year just begun. But continuing delivery delays – it now expects to receive 17 fewer Max aircraft by this June than originally planned – have prompted it to lower its passenger expectations to between 198-200m for the 12 months ending 31 March 2025.<br/>
Kazakh carrier Air Astana’s budget airline spin-off, FlyArystan, has secured its own air operator’s certificate, five years after it emerged. While FlyArystan commenced services in May 2019 it has conducted them under the AOC of its parent airline. Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan states that it has completed a five-stage certification of FlyArystan with its inspectors carrying out the work in Almaty. The certification was conducted in co-operation with Irish Aviation Authority representatives. FlyArystan’s fleet of 18 Airbus A320s and A320neos – with six more aircraft arriving this year – is Irish-registered. “This makes it the right time for FlyArystan to obtain its own operator certificate, reflecting the increased size and operational complexity of the airline,” says Air Astana Group chief Peter Foster. Aviation Administration of Kazakhstan states that the process has involved such activities as demonstration flights, simulations, and checks on emergency evacuation procedures. “This represents a significant moment in the development of the aviation industry in the republic of Kazakhstan,” says the regulator’s director general Catalin Radu. “This is a confirmation of the company’s readiness for safe and quality aviation activities.” Air Astana says FlyArystan was granted its AOC on 1 April. “Under its own AOC, FlyArystan will be able to align operations more effectively with its low-cost carrier model and pursue additional growth opportunities,” it adds. The carrier will be able to have its own IATA designator code. Air Astana will continue to wholly-own FlyArystan. But it says that the separate AOC provides a regulatory framework for the airline to expand, and is “vital” to the subsidiary carrier’s development.<br/>
Namibia's first privately owned scheduled passenger airline, FlyNamibia, has renewed its air service licence in the wake of a high court ruling that set aside a government flying prohibition. FlyNamibia filed an urgent court application in March after the commission refused to extend its licence for another five years as it missed an application deadline. Last month, Esi Schimming-Chase, a High Court judge, reviewed and set aside the commission's decision, and referred FlyNamibia's application back to the commission, to be considered again. "Following a period of discussions and an urgent application to the High Court of Namibia in response to an initial notification of rejection from the Transport Commission of Namibia, we are thrilled to inform our passengers and partners that the licence has now been renewed," the airline said in a statement. "This development allows us to continue our operations without interruption, including the upcoming launch of our new routes to Victoria Falls and Maun (Botswana)." FlyNamibia operates domestic routes from Eros Airport in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, to Ondangwa, Katima Mulilo, Luderitz and Oranjemund, as well as regional routes between Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek and Cape Town International.<br/>
Vistara, co-owned by Tata Group and Singapore Airlines Ltd., addressed pilots’ concerns over pay cuts and fatigue, people familiar with the matter said, after an en masse sick leave by pilots and crew shortage forced the Indian carrier to cancel more than a hundred flights. CEO Vinod Kannan assuaged pilots’ worries about the new salary structure on Wednesday in a virtual meeting, according to people familiar who asked not to be identified because it was a closed-door discussion. Kannan told them there will be opportunities to earn more after the airline is merged with Air India Ltd., one of the people said. The manpower shortage led to 106 Vistara flights being canceled since Monday, according to data from FlightAware, an aircraft tracking and data company. Vistara typically operates more than 300 flights a day. Pilots are upset with Vistara for aligning its salary structure with Air India Ltd. — a move that will reduce their guaranteed pay to 40 flying hours from 70 hours a month, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday. Kannan said those who did report to work faced tightly planned roasters and many fatigued pilots exhausted their flying hours limit during flight delays, the people said. This further snowballed the disruptions in Vistara’s flight schedule. Kannan assured the pilots that the carrier will improve its roster to give adequate rest time and if required, scale back its network to ensure buffer in case of delays, the people said. Vistara’s operations were expected to turn normal by the weekend, according to a local news report.<br/>