British Airways pilots have begun a two-day strike in an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions. Tens of thousands of passengers have been told not to go to airports, and BA says most have made alternative arrangements. Both BA and the pilots' union Balpa have indicated that they are willing to start new talks. Nonetheless, the vast majority of BA flights taking off from the UK on Monday and Tuesday have been cancelled. There was also a knock-on effect to flights on Sunday, because planes and pilots needed to be in position for prior and subsequent journeys. Dozens of flights were cancelled and further unforeseen cancellations could happen on Wednesday. In its most recent announcement, BA said: "We remain ready and willing to return to talks with Balpa." Meanwhile, Balpa's general secretary, Brian Strutton, said: "It is time to get back to the negotiating table and put together a serious offer that will end this dispute." It is the first time BA pilots have walked out and the action could cost the airline up to £40m a day. Some 4,000 pilots will strike and almost all of the 1,600 flights that were due to fly will be grounded.

Source: BBC

Swedish might not be one of the world's most widely spoken languages – but most people are now familiar with the term "flygskam". This "flight shame" campaign to make people think twice about travelling by air because of concerns about the aviation industry's impact on climate change is gathering pace – and it is already having an impact on passenger numbers in its country of origin. As more people sign up to movements on social media carrying hashtags such as #StayGrounded and #FlyingLess, airlines face more public pressure than ever to show that they are serious about cutting carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Growing social awareness and public debate has given politicians in the Netherlands and Sweden the ammunition to pursue attempts to introduce an EU-wide environmental tax on aviation, and it has pushed the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to consider introducing an aircraft emissions grading system that will enable people to make more informed choices and opt for the most fuel-efficient carriers when booking a flight.
Airline industry representatives say they have yet to see a meaningful reduction in passenger numbers as a result of flygskam. Behind the scenes, however, they are stepping up efforts to publicly communicate the efficiency measures they are putting in place, in the hope that they can wrest control of the debate from the hands of an increasingly vocal anti-flying lobby.

Source: FlightGlobal

Emirates president Tim Clark has run out of patience with the failure of aircraft and powerplant manufacturers to deliver service-ready hardware from day one.
The outspoken airline chief has put contract negotiations with Airbus and Boeing on hold as he waits for issues to be addressed around GE Aviation and Rolls-Royce powerplants which have afflicted the Boeing 777X and 787. He also expressed his concerns about the Rolls-Royce Trent 7000 and XWB which respectively power the Airbus A330neo and A350. Clark says that the airframe and engine manufacturers have a poor track record in being able to deliver aircraft that work as they should from service-entry and is tired of the need for airlines and OEMs to “work together” to tackle the problems. “I’m a little bit irritated that over the years we as an airline, and the industry, have been subjected to the requirements of the propulsion manufacturers, and to an extent the airframe manufacturers, where we are expected to deal with quality-control issues, design issues etc, and operate these aircraft and engines and take whatever consequences there are when they don’t work.” Clark says that airlines need “99.5%” dispatch reliability: “We are not in a business to deal with aircraft that don’t function properly. The reason we buy new aircraft is to get five to six years of hassle-free operations on a technical basis.”

Source: FlightGlobal