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Air Canada pilots will be in legal strike position on Sept. 17 Air Canada is finalizing plans to suspend most of its operations, likely beginning Sunday, as talks with the pilot union near an impasse over inflexible wage demands, the country's largest airline said on Monday. The airline and its low-cost subsidiary Air Canada Rouge are preparing to gradually suspend flights over three days, potentially starting as early as Sept. 15. The carriers operate nearly 670 flights daily. Unless an agreement is reached, the carrier or the union are likely to issue a 72-hour strike notice or a lockout notice that triggers a three-day wind down plan. The shutdown could affect 110,000 passengers daily. Air Canada is allowing customers with travel scheduled between Sept. 15 and 23 to make changes right now to their booking at no cost. Customers can also elect to cancel flights and receive a credit for future travel instead. If a strike or lockout notice is issued and a traveller's flight is cancelled, Air Canada will notify those affected and they'll be eligible for a full refund — but they won't be entitled to any additional compensation under Canada's existing Airline Passenger Protection Regulations. Barry Eidlin, an associate professor of sociology at McGill University, said that the standoff between Air Canada and the pilots union is standard, as far as negotiations go. He added that Canadians negotiating union contracts this year have done so in the context of high inflation, which has really eaten into Canadian workers' paycheques.<br/>

Deutsche Lufthansa AG is considering taking a stake in AirBaltic Corp. ahead of the Latvian state-owned carrier’s proposed initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter. Talks are at an early stage and no decision about an investment has been made, said the people, asking not to be identified discussing confidential deliberations. Air Baltic’s management has been gearing up for an IPO by the end of 2024, though CEO Martin Gauss has indicated it could also occur in the first half of 2025. Lufthansa declined to comment, as did AirBaltic. Latvia has said it plans to keep at least 25% of AirBaltic after the IPO. Its Ministry of Transport, which is managing the sale, declined to comment. Acquiring a stake in AirBaltic would fit Lufthansa’s broader approach of building investments in national flag carriers with the option of later increasing ownership. Earlier this year, Lufthansa received approval to purchase a 41% stake in Italy’s ITA Airways, the successor to Alitalia, adding to its existing holdings in carriers in Switzerland, Belgium and Austria. Shares of Lufthansa reversed earlier gains and were down 0.5% as of 2:42 p.m. in Frankfurt. AirBaltic bonds rose the most in almost a month. The company’s management is determined to play a role in further consolidation of Europe’s aviation market. CEO Carsten Spohr met this month with Portuguese government officials as the German airline group weighs a possible investment in state-owned TAP SA. The German airline has operated flights with AirBaltic under a code-share agreement since 2021. Earlier this year, Lufthansa’s Swiss subsidiary used Air Baltic aircraft under a leasing agreement, where Swiss-ticketed flights were operated by the Latvian carrier using its planes and crew.<br/>

Passengers on board a Singapore Airlines flight were stuck in the plane for about four hours on the tarmac of a Hong Kong airport on Tuesday (Sept 10) after it was grounded because of a technical issue. Flight SQ893 was slated to take off at 3.40pm from Hong Kong International Airport for Singapore. Passengers disembarked from the plane at about 8pm, and the flight was eventually cancelled. Tan, a 59-year-old passenger who declined to give her full name, said the captain had informed the passengers earlier in the afternoon that there was an issue with the plane, and that engineers would be conducting further checks. She added that her fellow passengers stayed calm while they waited in the plane, although there was a brief moment when the lights and air-conditioning went out, making the cabin “warm and stuffy”. In the meantime, they were given juice and water, she added.<br/>

Preliminary information suggests there was a loose part inside the engine that caught fire on a plane as it landed at Wellington Airport, 11 days ago. The ATR-72 aircraft - Air NZ Flight NZ5366 from Christchurch to Wellington - landed with smoke trailing behind it. Passengers were evacuated and the runway closed for a time as emergency services responded. Talking to RNZ on Wednesday, E tū official Savage said that engineer information received by the union was that the Pratt & Whitney engine involved was brand new and had been installed on the aircraft in Christchurch. “The fault appears to be the actual engine itself, rather than any of the work that was done by the Air NZ engineers,” Savage said, noting necessary checks were carried out. “The information that we had was it appears that a part inside the engine, possibly one of the rotors on the turbine, was loose, that there was a vibration, and that it caused either damage or shearing to one of the oil lines. And then the oil leak is what caused the smoking and the fire in the engine. I have to stress that is just preliminary information that we have, but it does appear that it was the engine that was the problem,” Savage told RNZ. The Transport Accident Investigation Commission is investigating the incident.<br/>