Canadian charter carrier Nolinor Aviation has boosted the salaries of its Boeing 737 captains, with pay increases ranging from 25% to 40%. The starting salary for a 737 captain at Nolinor is now C$175,000 ($129,000), with potential increases to a salary beyond C$250,000, the carrier said on 9 April. It calls the compensation package “the most generous among companies operating in northern Canada”. The Montreal-based passenger and cargo carrier – which operates older 737-200s, -300s and -400s in far-northern Canadian territories – says the deal is ”a bold initiative aimed at valuing and retaining talent within its team”. “Recognising the crucial importance of its pilots in maintaining the quality of service for which the company is renowned, Nolinor has announced a major revision of the salary grid for its Boeing 737 captains,” Nolinor says. The boost in pilot pay is complemented by more rest days and a “future review of the salary scale for first officers”. ”We are proud of the exceptional skills and dedication of our pilots,” says Marco Prud’Homme, president of Nolinor. ”Their ability to operate in extreme conditions, be it on gravel runways or frozen lakes, demands recognition commiserate with their expertise.” Nolinor says the salary increase is also intended to attract talent and combat the shortage of pilots. <br/>
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Scottish carrier Loganair is irritated that the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union Aviation Safety Agency is exacerbating problems with the post-pandemic supply chain. The airline states that constraints on parts availability have resulted in lead times for routine spares increasing from a “matter of hours to several days”, with a knock-on effect on the time needed to return aircraft to service. Loganair says industry forecasts predict a lessening of the issue over the course of this year. But the airline points out that it faces “unwelcome delays” in spares import, as well as recertification of parts, owing to the UK’s non-membership of EASA. “All of this has a direct impact on service delivery for our customers, which we have only been able to partly mitigate through increased aircraft standby coverage and efforts – backed by significant capital expenditure – to increase our in-house holding of aircraft spares,” it says in its latest full-year financial disclosure. The airline says its on-time performance has improved since its last financial year, spanning 2022-23, but the supply-chain issues are keeping it “below our targeted levels”. Loganair turned in a pre-tax profit of GBP10.96m for the 12 months to 31 March 2023, more than double the previous year, on revenues of GBP247.3m. The carrier states that this has enabled the “start of a repair” to its balance sheet, after two difficult years of trading.<br/>