Pilots Hold out for Better Offer
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ISSN 1718-7966 SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 / VOL. 458 WEEKLY AVIATION HEADLINES Read by thousands of aviation professionals and technical decision-makers every week www.avitrader.com WORLD NEWS Cebu supports Mactan-Cebu Airport expansion Cebu Pacific, expressed its support of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport’s expansion. The airline currently operates 27 routes from Cebu to other domestic and inter- national destinations. The Mactan-Cebu International Airport expansion project aims to modernize the Philippines’ second largest aviation hub. The passenger terminal building’s current capacity accommodates 4.5M passengers per year. With the expansion, the Mactan International airport will Pilots in France increase its annual capacity to 8M are among the best paid. passengers per year. Photo: ETS Aviation New transit facility at Birmingham UK Birmingham Airport has announced Pilots hold out for better offer the completion of a new purpose- Industrial action simmers over Europe built transit facility, allowing connect- ing passengers to pass through the The transfer of pilots between a AF-KLM announced intentions to fear, reportedly, that management terminal with even greater speed mainline carrier and a low cost or invest €1billion into the Transavia will eventually seek to replace Air and efficiency. regional subsidiary is common prac- venture to allow the low cost unit France flights with services oper- The new facility is set to transform tice but the integration of such busi- to compete in the no-frills market, ated by Transavia, whose pilots earn the airport’s ability to cater for long ness models is not always that easy however members of the French considerably less. haul services, as arriving passengers – as we have seen with Air France in National Union of Airline Pilots have According to Air France, who are travelling onwards on a con- the past few weeks. since the beginning of necting flight can now remain airside, A pilot strike at the “On their part, the pilot unions have not the strike action, the without having to pass through im- French flag carrier that airline’s CEO Alexandre migration or be processed through put forward any proposal demonstra- began on September 15 de Juniac spent over security again. has drained about €20m ting their willingness to find a solution.” 40 hours in meetings a day from the airline’s Air France with pilot representa- AA plans Dallas – Beijing service coffers. The conflict tives. Air France has American Airlines has filed an appli- started with Air France-KLM’s urgent been concerned that this invest- been submitting new constructive cation with the U.S. Department of need to break into the European low ment would drive more jobs out of proposals on a daily basis to resolve Transportation for the right to op- cost travel market with the creation France and reduce pilot salaries. this conflict. “On their part, the pi- erate new service from Dallas/Fort of an LCC offshoot called Transavia lot unions have not put forward any Worth International Airport (DFW) Europe. There is very little room to A number of pilots at Air France, proposal demonstrating their will- to Beijing Capital International Air- maneuverer for Air France to develop who earn up to €250,000 a year, ingness to find a solution,” the air- port (PEK) beginning next summer. its short-haul European business any are against the plans to develop line said in a statement. Once approved, the new route will further. So, the solution seems to lie Transavia, which currently serves be the first nonstop flight connect- within the hugely popular low cost holiday destinations across Europe Plans for Tansavia Europe have ing Beijing and Dallas/Fort Worth. airline market. and the Mediterranean. The pilots Continued on page 4 INTELLIGENTLY DEFINING AVIATION ™ CONFIDENCE WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST WWW.GATELESIS.COM GA Telesis is not just a provider of component, maintenance and engine overhaul services; we own and manage a significant fleet of commercial airplanes and jet engines. More important, we understand the nuances related to maintaining your assets cost effectively. Contact our asset management professionals to learn more about our strategies for maximizing the value of your assets. 3 AviTrader WEEKLY AVIATION HEADLINES AIRCRAFT & ENGINE NEWS IAG converts eight A330-200 options into firm orders IAG has decided to convert eight GECAS completes purchase and leaseback A330-200 options, previously with Philippine Airlines for two Airbus A321s announced, into firm orders for Spain’s flag carrier Iberia, which GE Capital Aviation Services Limited (GECAS), will become a new operator the commercial aircraft leasing arm of GE, today of the A330-200. The aircraft announced the completion of a purchase-and- Iberia to will be delivered from the end leaseback transaction with Philippine Airlines become new 2015 and will be equipped with operator of involving two new Airbus A321 aircraft. The two the efficient GE CF6 engines. Iberia’s all Air- aircraft — one delivered in August, and the other A330-200 bus fleet already includes eight earlier this month — will be used to expand the Photo: A330-300s. airline’s fleet. Philippine Airlines, the flag carrier Airbus of the Philippines, operates a fleet of some 50 aircraft to more than 40 destinations. Recycled cooking oil powers Finnair flight to New York Ethiopian Airlines signs order with Boeing Finnair will oper- for 20 737 MAX 8s ate its flight from Helsinki to New Boeing and Ethiopian Airlines announced an order York on Septem- for 20 737 MAX 8s. The order, previously unidenti- ber 23rd, with an fied on the Boeing Orders & Deliveries website, Airbus A330 us- is worth more than $2.1bn at list prices and also ing environmen- includes options and purchase rights for a further tally sustainable 15 737 MAX 8s. The order represents the largest biofuel, coinciding single Boeing order by number of airplanes from with the UN Cli- an African carrier. “Today’s order underlines our mate Summit tak- commitment to our 15-year strategic plan, ‘Vi- ing place in New sion 2025′, in which Ethiopian will strive to be- York on the same come the leading airline group in Africa carrying day. As a leader 18 million passengers per annum,” said Tewolde in the sustainable Gebremariam, CEO of Ethiopian Airlines, during a development of visit to the Association for the Promotion of Tour- commercial avia- ism to Africa National Forum in Chicago. “The 737 Recycled cooking oil powers Finnair’s flight to New York with an A330 aircraft tion, the airline Photo: Finnair MAX will form a key component of that strategic believes strongly vision, enhancing our single-aisle fleet and keep- in proactive measures to manage environmental performance. Most of an airline’s en- ing us at the forefront of African aviation.” vironmental impact arises from aircraft emissions during flight, and switching to a more sustainable fuel source can reduce net CO2 emissions by between 50 and 80%. The biofuel mixture powering the flight to New York, provided by SkyNRG Nordic – a joint venture Airstream arranges purchase and onward between SkyNRG and Statoil Aviation – is partly manufactured from cooking oil recycled lease of one ATR42-500 from restaurants, an example of a biofuel alternative to ordinary jet fuel that significantly Airstream International Group has arranged, in reduces net greenhouse gas emissions while also being sustainable in its own right. Finnair collaboration with a large US based lessor, the and its partners insist on the cultivation of biofuel sources that neither compete with food purchase and onward lease of one ATR42-500 to production nor damage biodiversity. Aviation biofuel is a proven and exhaustively tested Hevilift Group. MSN497, previously owned and technology – Finnair first flew with biofuel in 2011 – but at more than twice the price of operated by Danish Air Transport, Denmark, will conventionally produced jet fuel, it is not yet economically viable for any airline to operate be used on dedicated mining contracts in Pap- with exclusively. This demonstration flight is made possible thanks in part to cooperation ua New Guinea. This is the second ATR aircraft with Airbus and SkyNRG Nordic. Along with its partners Finnair is also currently investi- transaction that Airstream has completed involv- gating the possibility of establishing a biofuel hub at Helsinki Airport. Finnair is active as ing both DAT and Hevilift. The aircraft will shortly well in the Nordic Initiative for Sustainable Aviation, a group of airlines,Photo: Embraer airport Photo: operators, Embraer Photo: Embraer ferry to Cairns, Australia where it will undergo manufacturers and government ministries working to accelerate the development of sus- pre service modifications before joining the He- tainable biofuel for aviation in the Nordic countries. vilift operation. SEPTEMBER SEPTEMBER15, 2014 / Vol. 15,SEPTEMBER 456 2014 / Vol. 15, 456 2014 / Vol. 456 4 AviTrader WEEKLY AVIATION HEADLINES ...continued from page 1 now been scrapped in favour of a faster implementation of the Transavia project in France. The expansion of Transavia in France is vital for Air France, notably in order to defend the Group’s po- sition at Orly, as highlighted by an experts’ report published in July 2014 and supported by the SNPL. It is now urgent for the French carrier to implement this plan. The scenario is echoed at Lufthansa where the German pilots union have so far failed to negotiate with the airline over an early retirement scheme. The union has already held four strikes this year over the matter. The issue at hand is that the German pilot union wants Lufthan- sa to carry on with a scheme permitting flight crew to retire early by the age of 55 but still receive up to 60% of their remunera- tion before regular pension payments begin. On the flipside, Lufthansa believes the scheme is no longer relevant considering increasing life expectancies, and in addition to a recent ruling by the courts that allows pilots to work until the age of 65.