British Airways staff represented by the Unite union have "overwhelmingly" called for strike action over the airline's plans for job losses and changes to employment terms. At a gathering of over 1000 BA staff held near London Heathrow on 20 August, workers urged the Unite union to launch legal and industrial action against the airline. BA is making several thousand staff redundant and seeking to change the pay and conditions of other employees in response to the coronavirus crisis. The union argues that BA crews, ground staff and other workers face losing their jobs and up to 43% of their salaries. It also claims that some workers set to retain their positions could be placed on zero-hour-type contracts “that give them no stability or security”. "British Airways is reaping what it has sowed. It's systematic, brutal and needless attacks on its workforce will see it inevitably faced with strikes in the autumn along with the persistent threat of disruption through widespread legal action," says Unite assistant general secretary Howard Beckett. "This workforce was absolutely clear today; this fight will go all the way and it will last until BA stops behaving like an abusive Victorian mill owner." BA refutes that it uses zero-hour contracts and says it has received no notification of any ballot for industrial action. It highlights that it has reached an agreement in principal on restructuring with the Unite and GMB unions for its engineering and customer-facing Heathrow ground staff, as well as with the pilot’s union BALPA. The airline says the gathering appears to relate to 'below the wing' employees who work in airside roles in the ramp area and baggage handling. "We have to adapt to survive, so we will continue with the proper, lawful consultative process and we will keep inviting union representatives to discuss our proposals to the serious challenges we face. It is not too late to find solutions – as we have done with BALPA – and to protect jobs," BA comments. The carrier is currently operating less than a fifth of its regular flying schedule and is burning through more than £20 million ($26mn) per day.

Source: Cirium

Flight recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 shot down over Tehran captured 19 seconds of information after the first missile strike, and revealed discussions in the cockpit on the state of the stricken aircraft. Both the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorder were cut off after 19s and did not register the second missile strike about 6s later. Newly-appointed Civil Aviation Organisation chief Touraj Dehghani Zanganeh states that, until 06:14:56 local time on 8 January, both recorders indicated no unusual flight parameters and the aircraft was in normal condition. The aircraft had been operating flight PS752 to Kiev at a time when Iranian air defences were on high alert. Iranian investigators have already indicated that an alignment error with a ground-based surveillance system incorrectly suggested the aircraft was flying an unexpected track and was interpreted as hostile. Zanganeh says three pilots, including an instructor, were in the cockpit at the time. All three were aware of the abnormal situation and were busy dealing with the control and navigation of the aircraft after the first strike, with the cockpit-voice recording including remarks from the instructor about both engines being active. No information has been disclosed as to which part of the airframe bore the effects of the detonation. Two missiles had been fired at the aircraft, some 30s apart, but the flight recorders’ simultaneous cut-off – which the inquiry attributes to damage from the first missile – meant the second impact could not be assessed. “No analysis of the performance and effects of the second missile can be obtained from the aircraft’s [recorders] black boxes,” says the Civil Aviation Organisation. The inquiry had previously indicated that the second missile might have missed the aircraft, and that the first impact had been sufficient to bring the 737 down. Zanganeh says the recorder reading took place in the presence of representatives from Ukraine, the USA, France, Canada, the UK and Sweden, as well as a member of ICAO.

Source: Cirium

Eurowings will offer passengers the option of paying extra to keep the middle seat vacant, throughout the entire cabin, on all flights within Europe, after carrying out a "successful" trial of the measure. Lufthansa Group's low-cost unit says it has been testing the initiative for several weeks and it has "met with an exceptionally high level of interest". More than 5,000 free middle seats have been sold during the trial, adds the carrier. It has therefore decided to make the option available on all seat rows and across all of its European routes. "The positive feedback during the test phase showed us very clearly that our guests often want more comfort and distance on board," states Eurowings chief executive Jens Bischof. "Ultra-low-cost no longer works since[the Covid-19 pandemic, at least not in our home market Germany." Charging extra to keep the middle seat free and enable passengers to feel more socially distanced on board "will become a very important product for travel in the future", adds Bischof. Subject to availability, Eurowings passengers will be able to block the middle seat next to them for a fee starting at €18 ($21) per flight. There is no mandate requiring airlines in Europe to keep the middle seat free as a means of ensuring onboard social distancing. The European Commission in May issued guidance recommending that airlines should find ways of socially distancing passengers based on the "technical constraints" of aircraft cabins, but it stopped short of requiring seats to be blocked. IATA had warned on 21 April that the adoption of social-distancing measures on aircraft would make the economics of flying impossible. The association argued that if airlines were required to leave their middle seats free, their maximum load factor would be 66% when most carriers require 70% to operate profitably. Charging extra for a guaranteed empty adjoining seat could help airlines win back passenger confidence while simultaneously providing carriers with an additional ancillary revenue stream.

Source: Cirium