Members of Alaska Airlines’ pilots’ union plan on 1 April to picket outside of airports in Anchorage, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles as talks for a new contract with the airline have stalled in recent months, the Air Line Pilots Association states. "It has been nearly three years since the Alaska pilots began contract negotiations," ALPA says. "The current contract trails those from comparable airlines in several key sections and is not competitive when it comes to attracting and retaining pilots." The Covid-19 pandemic drags on yet US airlines are scrambling to hire pilots and staff similar to their position in 2019. Carriers expect a recovery of US travel demand in mid-2022, increasing the urgency of recruitment, the strain on existing flight crews to meet schedules, and the bargaining power of unions. Pilots from Canada plan to attend in solidarity at Alaska's informational pickets, ALPA says, reflecting the support of unions to voice their common grievances. Flight crews face record-high passenger violence during their shifts, while flight delays caused by storms and staff shortages at airports also drive unions to call for more flexible schedules. Members of the Allied Pilots Association union, which represents pilots of American Airlines, also plan to attend the Alaska picket in support. American pilots also protested on 10 March alongside members of Delta Air Lines’ pilots' union outside of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airport seeking more flexible schedules from Delta. Scheduling practices at American are also a concern among members of its pilots’ union.

Cathay Pacific is weighing whether to use a longer transatlantic route for its New York-Hong Kong service, rather than the current transpacific one. The airline says the transatlantic option relies on “strong seasonal tailwinds at this time of the year in order for flight to be between 16 and 17 hours”, and with these is “more favourable than the transpacific route”. However, Cathay adds that it is “monitoring the tailwinds situation on a daily basis as it is already tapering off”. The airline says the transatlantic route between New York JFK and Hong Kong International is just under 9,000nm (16,700km), and if adopted would be the first time Cathay flies over the Atlantic, Europe and Central Asia as a single sector. Schedules data indicates that Cathay’s four return flights scheduled on the Hong Kong-New York route in April will each cover approximately 13,000km. Cathay says the Airbus A350-1000s deployed on the route can “comfortably” operate a transatlantic routing in 16-17h “with similar fuel consumption to the transpacific flights”. Hong Kong is gearing up to lift restriction on flights from nine countries, including the USA, UK, Canada and Australia, from 1 April. In a 29 March travel advisory, Cathay says it is reviewing its April and May flight schedules in preparation, and has added more flights from Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, London Heathrow, Sydney and Tokyo Narita to its April schedule.

The European General Court has upheld the fines imposed on a number of airlines, including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Air France-KLM, for taking part in a pricing cartel between December 1999 and February 2006. The court on 30 March dismissed the actions brought by Martinair Holland, KLM, Cargolux Airlines, Air France-KLM, Air France, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Singapore Airlines Cargo seeking annulment of the decision or a reduction of the amount of the fines imposed on them. However, it annulled the European Commission’s decision in part for Japan Airlines, Air Canada, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, SAS Cargo Group, Latam Airlines Group and Lan Cargo. The Commission in November 2010 had imposed a fine on these carriers in a total amount of €790 million for infringing certain provisions of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Agreement on the European Economic Area and the Agreement between the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on Air Transport. Lufthansa and two of its subsidiaries were granted immunity from fines. In December 2015, the court upheld actions brought by the carriers against the EU decision. However, the Commission fixed the defective statement of reasons identified by the court and re-issued the penalties in March 2017.