Lufthansa Group is aiming to revamp its digital offering to enabled customised products, faster bookings and a digital offering that matches big tech, chief executive Carsten Spohr has indicated. In a speech ahead of the group's AGM, Spohr says this will ensure passengers "feel the customised expression of the premium cabin" when they enter an aircraft in any class or on any route. Likewise, he suggests that an enhanced digital offering can make the entire experience smoother and more personalised. "We want to make booking a flight even easier, like ordering from Amazon or Uber," he adds. "We want to understand even more about their travel preferences, the way Spotify understands their taste in music." To reach this goal Lufthansa has created a workgroup called Digital Hangar, bringing together 600 staff from around the company to improve its offering across bookings, payments and travel arrangements. Its website states that the goal is to create the world's "best-connected travel experience" across the group's component airlines, developing new solutions for the industry across the flight itself, including travel to and from the airport, the check-in process and arrival, plus travel inspiration, search, selection and booking. Although it is unclear what final form this would take, it appears to crystalise the airline industry's thinking that its digital product often lags far behind rival industries. Executives have been known to bemoan the lack of one-click ordering, for example, which is common in e-commerce, or the length of time it takes to process refunds. Likewise, personalised offerings to passengers are limited, and the vast quantities of data that carriers harvest from their customers is under-utilised. Lufthansa's latest push could therefore signify one of the first large-scale attempts to change this. Elsewhere in his speech, Spohr notes that the carrier will induct the Airbus A350-1000 into its fleet in 2026 but that the Boeing 777-9 will not arrive until 2025. "We have ordered a total of 20 jets of this type. Actually, we should have been operating this aircraft in service for two years already. But, unfortunately, Boeing has major delays," says Spohr.
Lufthansa Group is scheduled to release its first-quarter results on 3 May.

Flydubai carried 3.37 million passengers in the first quarter, an increase of 50% compared to the same period last year. The Middle Eastern carrier says it has expanded its network to 120 destinations across 52 countries and grown its fleet of Boeing 737s to 76 aircraft. It operated some 25,800 flights during the quarter. Since the start of the year, the airline has launched flights to St Petersburg in Russia; Pattaya and Krabi in Thailand; Al Qaisumah, Al Ula, Gizan, Nejran and Neom in Saudi Arabia; Shymkent in Kazakhstan; Ashgabat in Turkmenistan; Mogadishu in Somalia; and Bergamo in Italy. Flydubai plans to add nine new summer routes between 21 June and 30 September. Destinations include Mykonos, Santorini and Corfu in Greece; Cagliari in Italy; Tivat in Montenegro; Trabzon and Bodrum in Turkey; Dubrovnik in Croatia; and Batumi in Georgia. The carrier also plans to ramp up operations for the summer travel period between 1 July and 30 September, increasing its capacity by 20% across the network. "To support this growth trajectory, Flydubai is currently undergoing a recruitment drive to add more talented professionals to its workforce and this includes pilots, cabin crew and various positions across the business," it adds.

American Airlines pilots seeking a new contract with the US major have voted in favour of authorising a strike. The Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents American's 15,000 pilots, says its membership voted "overwhelmingly" to approve the strike authorisation. The pilots voted throughout the month of April. "The strike authorisation vote is one of several steps APA has taken to prepare for any eventuality and use all legal avenues available to us for contract improvement and resolution," APA president Ed Sicher states. "The best outcome is for APA and management to agree on an industry-leading contract – achieved through good-faith bargaining – benefiting our pilots, American Airlines and the passengers we serve." APA members on 1 May intend to engage in "informational picketing" at "all 10 of the airline's major hubs". The union's board in November 2022 voted to reject a proposed tentative agreement for American's pilots. The Fort Worth-based carrier says on 1 May that it remains "confident that an agreement for our pilots is within reach and can be finalised quickly". The carrier adds: "The finish line is in sight. We understand that a strike authorisation vote is one of the important ways pilots express their desire to get a deal done and we respect the message of voting results. "Importantly, the results don’t change our commitment or distract us from working expeditiously to complete a deal. We remain focused on completing the handful of matters necessary to reach an agreement our pilots deserve." American is currently in direct negotiations with the APA, the carrier notes. An actual strike by American's pilots is not an imminent threat. Before a strike by APA members can commence, the US National Mediation Board must first offer the parties an opportunity to arbitrate the contract dispute. If either side declines the arbitration, both parties enter a 30-day cooling-off period, after which self-help – such as a labour strike or a lockout enacted by management – could be authorised only if a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) is not established. Under the terms of the US Railway Labor Act, if a dispute substantially threatens essential transportation in any section of the USA, the National Mediation Board notifies the US president, who may establish a PEB, which investigates the dispute during a 30-day period and advises the president and issues recommendations. The two parties subsequently can accept the PEB's recommendations, negotiate their own agreement or, after 30 days from the issuance of the PEB to the president, exercise self-help, unless the US Congress takes action. Members of Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) throughout May likewise will be voting on the authorisation of a potential strike, with the results of the vote tallied at the end of that month. United Airlines is also negotiating with its pilots over terms for a new contract. Delta Air Lines and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) on 1 March 2023 disclosed that they had agreed a new working agreement which includes more than $7 billion in cumulative pay increases over four years for the carrier's pilots.