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A union representing flight attendants for American Airlines Group Inc. on Friday asked workers to prepare for strike action after contract negotiations with the carrier failed to produce an agreement. “We remain apart on the key economics of the deal plus the company’s completely unacceptable demand for scheduling concessions,” the Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) said. APFA said it believes that the National Mediation Board (NMB) which is overseeing the negotiations will bring the parties together for a “last ditch” effort in the next two weeks. American Airlines and the NMB did not immediately respond to request for comment outside regular business hours. Lawmakers in the U.S. have urged the NMB to take steps to help about 80,000 flight attendants reach contract deals. Flight attendants at United Airlines, Alaska Air group, American Airlines and Frontier are among employees at more than a dozen airlines still working to reach new contract deals.<br/>

Qatar Airways PJSC is nearing a decision on a major widebody order split between Boeing and Airbus, according to people familiar with the matter. The Middle East carrier is looking at ordering about 200 jets, with a decision possible as soon as the Farnborough Air Show in the UK late next month, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing private matters. The airline is looking at a mix of Airbus A350s and Boeing 777X models, some of the people said, although the split hasn’t been finalized. The transaction’s timing could also still change and there’s no guarantee a deal will be reached, the people cautioned. Qatar Airways officials and representatives for Airbus and Boeing declined to comment. Bloomberg News reported in March that Qatar Airways was in early talks with both planemakers to renew its long-haul fleet. An order of that magnitude would follow major purchases by regional rival Emirates, which is also expanding its fleet with more of the Boeing 777X aircraft. Riyadh Air in Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is seeking to establish itself as a new force in the Middle East, putting pressure on the likes of Qatar Airways to maintain its growth path and keep its fleet fresh. Qatar Airways currently has 74 outstanding orders for the Boeing 777X and 18 of the larger A350-1000s, according to data from both manufacturers. A new order from Airbus would mark a fresh chapter for the European manufacturer’s relationship with one of its most important customers, following a bruising court battle over peeling paint on the carrier’s A350s. That dispute was settled in early 2023.<br/>

Japan Airlines will begin codeshare flights with India's top carrier IndiGo in October, a move that will improve access for travelers to and from the world's fastest-growing major economy. The deal, which lets the airlines sell tickets on each other's flights, was reached here Sunday and marks JAL's first new international partnership since the COVID-19 pandemic. It will cover flights will on two international routes: from Tokyo's Haneda Airport to Delhi and from Narita Airport to Bengaluru. The domestic routes have yet to be selected from IndiGo's network in India. JAL had been looking for a new partner in India after Vistara, with which it began codesharing in 2019, agreed to merge with Air India. IndiGo debuted in 2006 as a budget airline and now offers more than 2,000 daily flights to over 80 destinations in India and more than 30 international cities. It held a commanding 60.5% share of passengers on domestic routes last year, according to India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation. That put IndiGo far ahead of second-ranked Air India, which reached a codeshare agreement with JAL rival All Nippon Airways in April. Air India had a 9.7% share, followed by Vistara at 9.1%. IndiGo has stepped up its pursuit of growth with an order last year for 500 new Airbus A320 aircraft. The airline plans to introduce business class service this year. The International Monetary Fund forecasts India's economy will grow 6.8% in 2024, outpacing China's 4.6% and the U.S.'s 2.7% for the fastest pace of any big economy.<br/>

Cathay Pacific intends to make a decision on its future mid-sized widebody fleet by the end of the year, as it maintains its full recovery projection for Q1 2025. Cathay CE Ronald Lam says the carrier is in the middle of the fleet renewal campaign, with a decision to be announced within this year. The airline also has not decided yet how many aircraft it is looking to order. The new aircraft will likely replace its older Airbus A330-300s. The airline operates 43 A330s, some of which will undergo a retrofit with new regional cabin products from 2026. Lam’s comments, made on the sidelines of the IATA Annual General Meeting in Dubai, follow a series of aircraft orders in the past year. In December 2023, it placed a $2.7b order for six A350 freighters, while in September, it signed for 32 A321neo/A320neo narrowbodies, firming up options from a 2017 purchase agreement. The mid-sized fleet renewal campaign was first floated in November 2022, and Lam confirmed Cathay was looking at new mid-sized aircraft during a FlightGlobal interview a year later. Separately, Lam says Cathay and its low-cost unit HK Express are on track to fully recover its passenger flights by Q1 2025. The airline group’s passenger flights are currently over 80% of pre-pandemic levels. Cathay, which reported record annual profits for 2023, had previously expected to fully recover by end-2024. However a spate of flight cancellations at the start of the year – owing to staffing shortages – had led it to push the timeline back by three months. <br/>

Qantas Airways reached a multibillion-dollar agreement with Perth Airport for a new terminal and runway, a peacemaking pact that paves the way for a new long-haul aviation hub in Western Australia. Under the 12-year deal, Perth Airport will invest around A$3b ($2b) in the new infrastructure. In return, Qantas and its low-cost carrier Jetstar will relocate to the new terminal and add 4.4m seats each year to and from the city by the time the site opens in 2031, the airline said Friday. The two parties have long been at commercial loggerheads, including a years-long court battle over fees and capital costs under Qantas’ former CEO, Alan Joyce. Friday’s agreement, under new CEO Vanessa Hudson, draws a line under the dispute and will see Qantas add more services from Perth including flights to Auckland and Johannesburg from next year.<br/>

Qantas passengers travelling domestically may notice new systems for boarding from Monday, as the airline begins a rollout of new “Australian-first” procedures aimed at speeding up performance times. The improved boarding systems will be implemented across four major domestic airports, starting with Brisbane Airport on June 3, followed by Perth on June 10, Melbourne on June 17, and finally Sydney on June 25. While airlines have largely used systems such as boarding from the back to the front, or seating premium cabins and high-ranking frequent flyers first, Qantas’ new system will assign passengers a group number from one to six on their boarding passes, which will determine when the passenger can board. The location of a passenger’s seat in the aircraft will affect their number allocation, but cabin and frequent flyer status will still be a factor. The overhauled group boarding procedures will apply to all domestic routes departing Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, operated by Boeing 737 and Airbus A330 aircraft. The new procedures, which follow months of trials conducted from mid-2023, mark the “most comprehensive change” to the airline’s boarding processes in more than a decade, according to Qantas’ domestic CE Markus Svensson. “Group boarding is designed to minimise the time our customers spend waiting to board and allows them to get settled more quickly,” Svensson said.<br/>