Air Canada has unveiled a number of initiatives aimed at easing airport congestion as it deals with ongoing strong demand for air travel coupled with lower staffing levels. The measures, announced after a 23 June meeting between the airline, Canada's federal transport minister and other aviation stakeholders, include increasing minimum connection times by 30min for new bookings, and rescheduling or cancelling peak-time flights out of Toronto and Montreal. "As all businesses worldwide are finding, restarting after Covid is an extremely complex task and we deeply appreciate our customers' understanding and patience during these often-frustrating times," states Air Canada chief executive Michael Rousseau. The Star Alliance carrier says it plans to operate "below its pre-pandemic capacity as the industry stabilises", with 80% of its June 2019 schedule running this month. Air Canada has 32,000 employees – down from 33,000 prior to the pandemic – and is in the process of recruiting more staff members. In addition to recalling "virtually all available employees", it has hired more than 2,000 front-line airport employees and 774 call-centre staff over the last six months, and is offering overtime as well as "drawing upon recently retired employees with special expertise". To make things run more smoothly while staffing levels are ramped back up, Air Canada has introduced new self-service reaccommodation tools which allow passengers with delayed or cancelled flights to rebook or request a refund through its mobile app or website. It has also introduced a "goodwill policy" enabling passengers travelling through Toronto Pearson airport to increase their connection times at no cost, while the minimum connection times on all new bookings from Toronto and Montreal have been increased by half an hour. The airline says it has rescheduled or cancelled some peak-time flights from Toronto and Montreal in order to "conserve resources and reduce stress on third-party service providers by smoothing passenger flows". Air Canada says it has also redeployed aircraft from its Jetz charter fleet to help move delayed baggage, and has reassigned employees from other bases to help out in specific airports. "The airline continues to evaluate other measures to enhance the functioning and stability of the air transport system and is committed to working with its partners on further improvements," adds Air Canada.

Airbus has selected two German companies, KLK Motorsport and Modell- & Formenbau Blasius Gerg, to design and manufacture the rear structure of its in-development electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Lightweight design specialist KLK Motorsport and Blasius Gerg, a model and mouldings manufacturer, will work together to develop an ultra-lightweight rear fuselage, the European airframer says. Both suppliers are based in Hohenthann, southeast of Munich, and previously co-operated on projects. Airbus notes the two companies provided a high-visibility carbonfibre canopy for the airframer's high-speed helicopter demonstrator Racer. The rear structure for the in-development CityAirbus NextGen will require "high-end" lightweight composite solutions and components, the airframer adds. Its head of urban air mobility, Jorg Muller, states: "Directly interacting with the centre fuselage and the wing, the rear structure will leverage both suppliers' expertise in homogeneous design for Formula E and Formula One vehicles, while complying with the most stringent safety and reliability standards." Airbus unveiled its CityAirbus NextGen prototype in 2021. It recently selected Thales and Diehl for the development of flight control computers and Spirit AeroSystems for its wings. The airframer says it is also working closely with industrial and institutional partners to lead the development of urban air mobility (UAM) ecosystems. It recently teamed up with ITA Airways to develop UAM services in Italy, and launched an air mobility initiative in Germany.

Over 700 check-in staff working for British Airways have voted for strike action this summer in a dispute over pay. Unions representing staff are demanding that a 10% salary cut imposed at the peak of the pandemic be immediately reversed. IAG-owned BA says it is "extremely disappointed" with the result, which follows an offer of a 10% bonus to account for lower salaries. This offer, the airline says, was accepted by staff in other areas of the business. Union members balloted by GMB and Unite voted overwhelmingly in favour of the action, raising the prospect of widespread disruption at BA this summer. “The problems British Airways is facing are entirely of its own making," states Unite national officer for aviation Oliver Richardson. "It brutally cut jobs and pay during the pandemic even though the government was paying them to save jobs. “In the case of this dispute, they have insulted this workforce, slashing pay by 10% only to restore it to managers but not to our members. BA is treating its loyal workforce as second-class citizens, and they will not put up with it a moment longer." The unions and BA will now enter a short period of negotiation, failure of which would result in strike days being announced. BA says it remains "fully committed to work together to find a solution" and intends to keep customers updated on the status of their flights. The vote applies to just under half of its Heathrow-based customer-service staff. Several airlines across Europe are facing strike action by employees, as a tight labour market and runaway inflation prompt demands for improved terms and conditions.