unaligned

WestJet passengers faced more flight disruptions Tuesday despite a deal reached over the weekend to end a strike by its mechanics, as the airline says full resumption of operations “will take time.” The airline said it cancelled 75 flights scheduled for Tuesday and expected eight more cancellations on Wednesday. That was on top of 104 delays Tuesday according to tracking service FlightAware. WestJet said it scrubbed 1,051 flights between Thursday and Monday. Some 680 members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association had walked off the job on Friday evening despite a directive for binding arbitration from federal Labour Minister Seamus O’Regan. The tentative agreement was announced late Sunday night, but the strike had already disrupted the travel plans of tens of thousands of travellers over the Canada Day long weekend. WestJet said in a statement Monday that “further cancellations will be required over the coming days.” It noted the following day that it had “taken significant strides” to resume normal operations, with 125 of WestJet’s 180 fleet active across the airline’s network. The Calgary-based airline said part of the challenge it faces is that its aircraft are parked at 13 airports across Canada, and in several cases, the crews need to be transported to the aircraft for retrieval.<br/>

LATAM Airlines said on Tuesday it intends to proceed with the process of re-listing American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) in tandem with the first secondary sale under the so-called registration rights agreement, which certain shareholders requested. The Santiago-based carrier started the process of re-listing ADRs on the new York Stock Exchange in April and said back then that the process could take up to six months. In a filing to Chile's stock exchange, the company said it intends to re-list ADRs at the same time as the secondary sale will take place, but pointed out that it is uncertain when those events will take place. About the secondary sale, LATAM Airlines said in the statement that it will occur exclusively in the United States and other jurisdictions outside of Chile, and it will be done through the emission of new ADRs.<br/>

Six passengers among dozens injured in severe turbulence on a flight from Madrid remain hospitalized in Brazil, where their plane had to make an emergency landing, Air Europa said Tuesday. Of the rest, 303 have made it safely to their destination of Montevideo more than a day after the rattling experience Monday, it added in a statement. The Uruguay-bound plane, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with 325 passengers on board, was diverted in the early morning hours of Monday to the airport of Natal in northeast Brazil after experiencing "severe turbulence," according to the airline. Forty passengers were taken to hospitals and clinics in Natal for treatment of "abrasions and minor traumas," the health secretariat of Brazil's Rio Grande do Norte state said. Air Europa said most of the injuries were "bruises and contusions." "At the moment, only six passengers remain in the hospital" in Natal along with some of their companions, said the airline.<br/>

The Labour Court is using powers it has under the Industrial Relations Act 1990 in its latest effort to break the deadlocked Aer Lingus pilots’ pay dispute. Following nine hours of talks on Monday, the court told the company and the Irish Air Line Pilots’ Association (Ialpa), part of trade union Fórsa, that it would exercise its power under section 26(5) of the Act to formally intervene in the row which has prompted the cancellation of almost 400 flights. That provision allows the court to sidestep the normal process, where the two parties ask it to intervene, and decide itself that there are grounds to step in to “investigate” an industrial dispute. Normally, employers and unions attempt to resolve disputes through their own procedures, then go to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC). If this does not work, they jointly ask the Labour Court to deal with the issue. In this case, the court has decided not to wait for a joint referral and to instead intervene to find a solution. That involves both parties filing submissions by close of business on Tuesday before attending a one-day hearing on Wednesday.<br/>

Ryanair flew a record 19.3m passengers in June, up 11% from a year earlier, the low-cost airline said on Tuesday. Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers expects to fly a record 198m to 200m people for its financial year to end-March 2025, up 8% to 9% on the previous year. The Irish carrier said in May that it would have to keep peak summer airfares flat to modestly ahead of last year, rather than the 5% to 10% rise it had expected due to weaker consumer sentiment. Its flights were on average 95% full in June, unchanged on a year earlier. Ryanair carried 18.9m passengers in May, equalling its previous monthly record.<br/>

Some Ryanair Holdings pilots have asked the airline for the right to turn down flights to Tel Aviv as concerns grow about flying to the country during the war. Two pilot organizations, Germany’s Vereinigung Cockpit and the Ryanair Transnational Pilot Group, have asked Ryanair to review the crewing policy for Israel flights. The approach would better match what’s in place at other airlines such as Deutsche Lufthansa AG and EasyJet Plc, the RTPG wrote in a letter to Ryanair in early June. Airlines have taken different approaches to flying to the Middle East after the Israel-Hamas conflict intensified in October. EasyJet paused services to Israel until October while Wizz Air Holdings Plc, British Airways and Air France-KLM resumed flights earlier this year. Ryanair restarted Tel Aviv flights in June following the reopening of the airport’s low-cost terminal. Israel’s airspace remains open after closing in April. The VC, a German union representing almost 10,000 members, wrote an open letter to Ryanair last week supporting the RTPG’s earlier letter about the navigational and security concerns around flying to Israel and Jordan. Both organizations have called on Ryanair to implement a “comprehensive daily risk assessment” to allow crews to decide whether they should fly to destinations in conflict zones. “Whether a deployment to Tel Aviv is accepted should be decided by the pilots themselves due to the situation in the Middle East and the resulting restrictions and mental stress,” the VC said in a statement. <br/>

Gulf Air launched its new direct flights from Bahrain to Munich, Germany, on July 1, further enhancing its European network and connecting Bahrain to key destinations worldwide. The inaugural flight from Bahrain to Munich Airport was welcomed with a ceremonial water salute upon its arrival at Munich International Airport (MUC) and a host of celebratory activities at both Bahrain International Airport (BIA) and Munich International Airport (MUC). These new route, operated with the state-of-the-art Airbus 321neo aircraft, will offer four weekly flights on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. A Gulf Air spokesperson said: “The launch of Munich service is a key step in Gulf Air’s global network expansion strategy, connecting the Kingdom of Bahrain to a thriving hub of business and leisure in the heart of Europe. This new route embodies our commitment to bridging Bahrain with key global markets, further fostering tourism and trade in alignment with the Kingdom’s economic vision.”<br/>

Comac’s ARJ21 has completed its first high-altitude flight in China, marking the regional jet’s first regular high-altitude operations. The first flight – operated by prolific ARJ21 customer Chengdu Airlines – flew from Kashgar to Tashkurgan in China’s Xinjiang region. The flight will operate three times weekly and marks Chengdu Airlines’ first foray to Tashkurgan. According to Comac, Tashkurgan’s airport sits at about 3,260m (10,695ft) above sea level, and is Xinjiang’s first high-altitude airport. Chinese civil aviation data also shows there to be 24 airports across the country classified as high-altitude (operating at 2,438m and higher). The latest development also comes as Comac develops a higher altitude variant of its C919 narrowbody. Tibet Airlines is the variant’s launch customer, having placed 40 orders during the Singapore Airshow in 2024. Meanwhile, the ARJ21 continues to expand its international presence. In mid-June, Chengdu Airlines operated the ARJ21’s first flight in Central, flying between Kashgar to Khujand in Tajikistan. <br/>

Cebu Pacific Air reached a preliminary agreement to buy 152 single-aisle jets from Airbus in a deal worth $24b at list price, the company announced on Tuesday. The order by Philippines low-cost carrier will be the biggest jet purchase in the country’s history, the airline said in a stock exchange filing. As part of the agreement, Cebu will buy 102 A321neo jets with options for another 50 planes. “When finalized, the deal will be a significant milestone for the local airline industry,” Chief Executive Officer Mike Szucs said in the statement. The order confirms an earlier Bloomberg News report on the carrier’s purchase plans. Airlines often win large discounts on aircraft orders so the final price Cebu will pay will be much lower. The A321neo is Airbus’s best-selling plane and the planemaker has a backlog that runs well into the next decade for the jetliner.<br/>

Grounded Australian carrier Bonza Aviation has formally entered liquidation following a second creditors meeting on 2 July at which liquidators were appointed. It comes after administrators for the carrier, Hall Chadwick, earlier this month axed all remaining staff when no firm buyer emerged for Bonza. Bonza, which launched operations at the start of last year using Boeing 737 Max jets, grounded flights and entered administration at the end of April. ”The administration process is designed to maximise the chances of the company or as much as possible of its business continuing in existence; or if this is not possible, to achieve a better result for the company’s creditors than that which would result if the company had been immediately wound up,” Hall Chadwick says. "Unfortunately, the administrators had not received any offers for the sale of the company business and/or assets at the conclusion of the campaign. The decision to put the company into liquidation now triggers the Fair Entitlements Guarantee (FEG), the [Australian] Federal Government scheme of last resort that provides financial assistance for unpaid employee entitlements in insolvency.”<br/>