Stephen Hillier has received parliamentary approval to become the new chair of the UK Civil Aviation Authority, with one of the former Royal Air Force chief of the air staff’s first tasks to be helping to steer its departure from European Union Aviation Safety Agency control. The CAA on 7 May named Hillier as its preferred candidate to succeed Deirdre Hutton. His selection was endorsed on 9 June by the House of Commons’ cross-party transport committee. Speaking to committee members on 5 June, Hillier had outlined his ambitions for the UK aviation regulator in a post-EASA era, and detailed the sector’s challenge in recovering from a coronavirus-driven collapse in demand for air travel. “My task is to make sure that we continue in the CAA to be a world-class regulator,” he says. “What is going to be the biggest challenge is the amount of change that we are now facing. “In addition to the safety functions, we have a clear role to look after consumers in every respect,” he says. “People are also interested in how we take responsibility for our regulation back from EASA and looking at how we recover in an environmentally sustainable way.” Hillier identifies his first priority was continuing the CAA’s primary duty: “to protect the safety of those who fly and those who are on the ground underneath platforms that are flying”. Secondly, he identifies the need – as exposed during the coronavirus crisis – to “generate greater resilience in the aviation sector” to cope with such shocks. “We need to deal with rapidly changing technology and the increasing exploitation of unmanned systems, drones and the space environment,” he says. “We need to deal with rising consumer expectations. I need to make sure that the CAA has the capabilities, the agility and the adaptability to be able to function in that environment.” Pointing to the UK regulator’s long contribution of knowledge and expertise to EASA – an organisation that it will leave before the end of 2020 ­– he notes: “It is not as if we are starting from a blank sheet of paper. The sheet of paper has EASA written on it at the moment. We are working from that as our baseline, and then on what we need to do to take our national responsibilities, and still have relationships with EASA, ICAO and the like.” Hillier points to his “lifelong experience of working in aviation in highly regulated environments and leading at a strategic level in complex and demanding positions”, including being chief of the air staff for a three-year period concluding in July 2019. Having first gained a private pilot’s licence at the age of 17, his career in the RAF included being a pilot on Panavia Tornado GR1/4 strike aircraft and air officer commanding the service’s 2 Group organisation. The latter post included having responsibility for the operation and safety of its air transport, tanker, and intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance aircraft fleets. Hillier’s appointment awaits final confirmation by UK transport secretary Grant Shapps.

Source: Cirium

The union representing US flight attendants has called on Congress to extend government financial assistance for airlines through the end of the year. The payroll support program, part of the CARES Act passed by Congress in March, designed to help airlines manage through the coronavirus crisis, runs out on 30 September. In return for $25 billion in government support, airlines agreed to maintain a network of skeleton service and pledged no involuntary layoffs or furloughs until that date. But the Association of Flight Attendants says this is not enough time for the airlines to get back on stable financial footing following the pandemic. The union has asked for Congress to extend the programme through the end of 2020 in order to avoid mass layoffs at the end of September if passenger demand does not return. “The programme is set to expire on September 30 and the time to prepare for October 1 is now,” Susannah Carr, a United Airlines flight attendant and union representative, tells a hearing of the US House of Representatives’ Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on 9 June. “When CARES was written it was expected the industry would be closer to full recovery by the fall. It is clear now, that will not happen. At a minimum, Congress should extend the program through the New Year,” Carr says. So far, about 40,000 flight attendants across the US, or 35% of the country’s flight attendant workforce have taken voluntary leave offered by their airlines, she adds. Major US airlines are still running significantly reduced operations, though many have said they have seen a small uptick in bookings as lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders across the country are being eased. But United has told employees that it will likely only need about 15% of its flight attendant workforce for the month of June. It is unclear when and how travel demand will return, making it almost impossible for airlines to plan beyond a few weeks out. United received about $5 billion of government payroll aid. Airline trade industry group Airlines for America (A4A) and pilots’ union Air Line Pilots’ Association, International (ALPA) did not respond to requests for comment on the testimony. Safey issues and protection from the virus remain important issues in travelers’ decision-making process of whether they will return to the air and if so, when. The flight attendants’ union also says airlines are not doing enough to inspire passengers’ confidence to return to air travel. Calling the coronavirus pandemic “the biggest crisis aviation has ever faced” Carr says that “a hodge-podge of individual voluntarily-adopted measures” by airlines have put workers and passengers at risk of becoming sick. She encouraged Congress to pass emergency safety and health rules that would mandate airlines abide by “enforceable, mandatory, national standards” including additional cleaning protocols, social distancing measures and requiring all passengers to wear face coverings. “It is clear to anyone working a flight that the current environment of inconsistent and voluntary airline policies is not working as it should,” Carr says. “These airline policies and practices are poorly communicated to crew and passengers alike, leaving flight attendants to risk our health and safety while attempting to manage the otherwise avoidable conflicts that result,” she adds.

Source: Cirium

South African Airways’ rescuers are seeking creditors’ approval for a further postponement to the deadline for publishing a business plan for the embattled flag carrier. The rescue practitioners have previously secured four extensions to deadlines for publishing a plan – the most recent to 8 June – since SAA entered the rescue process in December last year. But three unions, representing the majority of SAA personnel, have sent a letter to the practitioners seeking a further postponement to 15 June. A draft business rescue plan has already been distributed to employees and creditors, and had been awaiting the inclusion of submissions from the respective workers’ and creditors’ committees following consultations scheduled for 4 June. The practitioners state that there have been “meaningful engagements” with the creditors’ committee regarding the draft plan, but that the employees’ committee wanted instead to consult via the ‘leadership compact’ unveiled on 1 May by the government’s department of public enterprises. “This consultation has not occurred,” the practitioners add. Legal representatives for the three unions – NUMSA, cabin crew association SACCA, and pilot group SAAPA – have objected to the business plan’s being published on 8 June, and have sought the extension. “The practitioners thought it would not be appropriate to proceed with the publication of the business rescue plan without conveying the request of the unions that represent a majority of the SAA employees,” the practitioners state. “Should such request be approved the practitioners will do everything possible to limit the negative impact of the extension of the publication date.” They point out that any extension “will not stop” the practitioners from taking necessary measures to conserve cash and protect the interests of the airline.

Source: Cirium