TAP has warned that strikes by cabin crew at the end of the month will have the effect of "seriously affecting the company's results", as it cancels a swathe of services set to take place on 25-31 January. The Portuguese flag carrier has axed 1,316 flights, impacting some 156,000 passengers, ahead of action called by the SNPVAC union. This, the airline estimates, will bring a direct cost of €48 million ($52 million), comprising €29.3 million in lost revenue and €18.7 million in passenger compensation. It also forecasts losses of an additional €20 million from the potential impact on sales for other days and "suboptimisation of other flights with reaccommodated passengers". An earlier two-day cabin-crew strike, in December, cost TAP €8 million, it notes. However, it asserts that there has been "a considerable advance" in negotiations with SNPVAC since that action, and that agreement has been reached on 12 of 14 points of dispute, such as the placing of an additional crew member on Airbus A321LR medium-haul services to improve crews' workload. Outstanding issues concern pay, which TAP says is being decided upon in court, and the addition of a purser to long-haul flights, responsible for the handling of money, which TAP says would cost "several million euros" and place it at a competitive disadvantage with its European rivals. "The decision to go ahead with a strike from 25 to 31 January demolishes all the work done to bring the parties together, leaving thousands of TAP customers with their plans jeopardised and seriously affecting the company's results," says the airline. "In a year that is especially important for the implementation of the restructuring plan, and which faces added challenges, such as rising inflation, fuel prices and uncertain demand, the decision taken by the SNPVAC general assembly is unfortunately an obstacle on the path we have been following." SNPVAC has been approached for comment.

A class-action suit has been filed against Southwest Airlines, accusing the US carrier of having misled investors about its ability to operate during severe weather. New York-based law firm Bronstein, Gewirtz & Grossman filed the lawsuit against Dallas-based Southwest and certain of its officers on behalf of all persons and entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Southwest securities between 13 June 2020 and 31 December 2022. The law firm is encouraging such investors to join the class action, which seeks to recover damages for alleged violations of federal securities laws. The firm's complaint challenges the accuracy of Southwest statements about its operations and contends that the airline failed to disclose certain issues related to its scheduling technology and flight schedule. Southwest, the suit also argues, "did not discuss how its unique point-to-point service and aggressive flight schedule could leave it prone in the event of inclement weather". The airline says that it does not "have anything to share at this time on that pending litigation". Flight cancellation rates for US majors Southwest, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines increased sharply after 20 December as a severe storm swept eastward from the Midwest and temperatures plummeted. Southwest suffered the worst operational disruption among US majors during the holiday period spanning 20 December 2022 to 2 January 2023

Air France-KLM has confirmed that it will not make an approach for a stake in ITA, following the disclosure of Lufthansa's bid for the Italian carrier on 18 January. In a statement, Air France-KLM says it has "informed the Italian government that the group will not participate in the bidding process for the acquisition of an equity stake in ITA". It notes that a decree issued by the Italian government in December "requires the involved airlines to acquire the majority of the shares in ITA object of privatisation in each phase and to ultimately hold the majority of capital of ITA at the date of the total exit of the Italian government". Air France-KLM previously explored becoming a commercial partner to ITA alongside US airline Delta Air Lines, as part of a bid by New York investment fund Certares. The consortium was nominated as the sole bidder for negotiations with the Italian government in September, but the talks later concluded without agreement. Air France-KLM says it will "continue to closely monitor the privatisation process and hereby reasserts its strong interest to maintain its commercial relationship with ITA, which is a SkyTeam member". ITA was launched as a successor to former flag carrier Alitalia in October 2021, taking on much of its fleet, staff, branding and other assets.