BALPA, the union representing British Airways pilots, has released this statement: BALPA’s industrial action ballot of members in British Airways has now closed, with a 93% vote in favour of industrial action on a 90% turnout. BALPA General Secretary, Brian Strutton, said: “This strong result demonstrates the resolve of BA pilots, and shows BA that it must table a sensible improved offer if a strike is to be averted. Sadly three days of ACAS talks have not moved the company’s position one iota. Settlement of this dispute is in BA’s hands. “We do not wish to inconvenience our customers which is why we have tried to resolve this matter through negotiation starting last November – it is BA who has regrettably chosen to drag this out into the summer months.” BALPA believes the cost to BA to settle dispute in full is significantly less than the cost would be of even a single day’s strike action. BA is making massive profits as a result of the hard work and dedication of staff, including because of sacrifices made during hard times. Thankfully BA is no longer in a fight for survival so, like the airline’s senior managers and directors, pilots deserve a small fraction of that profit via, for instance, a profit share scheme. We currently do not have dates for any potential strike action and will issue an update on this in due course. We remain hopeful that this dispute can be resolved before strike action, but we remain committed to action if necessary.

Source: world Airline News

Star Alliance operator EgyptAir is preparing to offer additional capacity on the route from Cairo to London, following the temporary suspension of British Airways services. The Egyptian ministry of civil aviation says it has "increased" the seat capacity of EgyptAir flights on the London Heathrow sector in response. British Airways is halting flights to Cairo for a week owing to security concerns, although it has not specified their nature. EgyptAir says that "additional flights" have been assigned to accommodate passengers affected by cancellations from other airlines. Extra services will be provided through deployment of a Boeing 787 on the Heathrow route, says the civil aviation ministry. Lufthansa had reportedly intended to suspend Cairo flights as well, but appears to have backtracked on the decision.

Source: FlightGlobal

Czech investigators have determined that a Boeing 737-800 crew's failure to comply with sterile cockpit procedures during an approach to a wet runway contributed to its landing long and overrunning onto rough ground. The US-registered Swift Air aircraft had been operating from Heraklion to Pardubice on 1 August last year. Cockpit-voice recordings captured a "lively discussion" between the pilots on topics "not directly related to the flight performance" for the "whole time of approach and landing", says Czech investigation authority UZPLN. The aircraft overflew the threshold of runway 27 at a height of 64ft and touched down at 965m (3,166ft) – almost 40% along the 2,500m runway – after a prolonged flare. UZPLN says the crew "did not perform" a landing calculation in spite of acknowledging the wet runway status from approach control and the tower. The selection of 30° flap and the 'autobrake 2' setting was "most likely only by guess and prior experience" with landing at Pardubice, it adds. While the first officer, who was flying, queried whether to use a higher autobrake setting, the captain responded that this would not matter because reverse-thrust would be available.

Source: FlightGlobal