Ryanair's CE Michael O'Leary Monday warned that the company would not bow to some "laughable" demands from pilots and would rather see strike or disruptions than undermine the airline's productivity. The airline has been in talks with pilots since December, when it agreed to recognise trade unions for the first time in its history to avoid Christmas strikes. But talks with some unions have broken down and O'Leary warned investors Monday that the airline was likely to be targeted by strikes at Easter. "We have some jurisdictions where we are getting the kind of laughable demands for legacy-type inefficiencies," O'Leary said following quarterly results. "Frankly we will never agree to those ... if we have to take strikes or disruptions in those jurisdictions, then we will take those." <br/>
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Ryanair has warned that airlines operating out of the UK will struggle to raise fares for the key summer holiday season and into 2019, as uncertainty over how Brexit will affect Britons’ travel rights makes them cautious about booking holidays abroad. “We do not share the optimism of competitors and market commentators for summer 2018 fare rises,” Ryanair said alongside a quarterly results update. “The lack of clarity on Brexit continues to overhang fares and pricing on routes to [and] from the UK. We would, even at this early date, urge extreme caution on investor and analyst assumptions for fares in FY19 [full year 2019].” This followed a buoyant update from rival EasyJet last month, which talked of reduced competitive pressure on prices following a slew of airline bankruptcies across Europe. <br/>
China's Okay Airways is inviting foreign airlines to take a stake in the privately owned carrier as it prepares for a possible stock market listing in mainland China between 2020 and 2021, the company's president said Monday. Li Zongling said that Okay Airways wanted a "reputable" foreign airline to take an upwards of 10% stake in the Chinese carrier and that it has held talks with airlines in Europe and Asia. He declined to identify the airlines. "I hope international airlines who are interested in the Chinese market and in private Chinese carriers will look at becoming a shareholder in Okay Airways," he said, citing Emirates and SIA as examples of airlines he considered reputable. He said that Okay Airways had ambitions to become a more international company, with plans to eventually launch routes to Europe and America. <br/>
The South African aviation regulator has grounded 12 aircraft from the fleet of carrier CemAir after finding irregularities in the maintenance procedures of the aircraft. The South African CAA (SACAA) declined to give details of the aircraft affected. The SACAA said the suspension of the aircraft’s certificates of airworthiness was ordered Feb 2 after the discovery during an audit by SACAA inspectors that some aircraft serviced at CemAir’s aircraft maintenance organisation had been released back to service or cleared as airworthy by unqualified personnel. “This practice poses an imminent danger for crew members, passengers and the public at large, and has a direct impact on aviation safety, since the airworthiness status of the aircraft concerned cannot be confirmed and/or is questionable,” the authority said. <br/>