The largest US pilots' union and US lawmakers have urged civil aviation agency ICAO to review its global pilot training standards – requests coming in a wake of two deadly Boeing 737 Max crashes. In requesting the review, the Air Line Pilots Association and lawmakers have not taken heat off Boeing but have suggested better pilot training standards may be needed. Controversy about the degree to which pilot actions contributed to the crashes has simmered since the two accidents, as have questions about a fast-track ICAO commercial pilot license called the "multi-crew pilot license" (MPL).
"Recently I wrote a letter to… the secretary general of the International Civil Aviation Organisation asking for a global review of pilot training qualification standards," ALPA president Joe DePete told lawmakers on 17 July during a House Transportation Committee aviation safety hearing.

Source: FlighGlobal

American Airlines' mechanics unions have urged the Federal Aviation Administration to assign additional inspectors to the carrier, saying a recent court order potentially threatens the safety of American's operation. The FAA confirms it is more closely watching American due to its dispute with the TWU-IAM Association, which represents the carrier's mechanics and other ground service employees. "The FAA increases its oversight anytime there is tension between labour and management," the agency said. The FAA does not say it has assigned additional inspectors to review American and defers further comment to the carrier. American did not respond immediately to requests for comment.

Source: FlightGlobal

HONG KONG-Air New Zealand has committed to increasing the number of single-use plastic items that it will remove from its operation this year by more than double, from 24 million to nearly 55 million items. This month the airline removed individual plastic water bottles from its Business Premier and Premium Economy cabins, as well as from its Works Deluxe offering on Tasman and Pacific Island services under five hours in duration. This is expected to divert more than 460,000 bottles from landfill annually and reduce carbon emissions by more than 300,000 kilograms per year by reducing weight on the aircraft. Individual plastic sauce packets are being removed from Business Premier cabins on mainland North America and Hong Kong services, and these will be eliminated entirely from the global network by the end of October. Customers will instead be served sauce in reusable dishes which is expected to prevent around 200,000 plastic packets going to landfill each year. The airline is also set to roll out coffee cups made from plants rather than plastic across its domestic and international networks from October, while plastic water cups will be transitioned to recyclable alternatives from September. The previous commitment targeted coffee and water cups on Air New Zealand's domestic network where the majority of cups are used, however, the scope has now expanded to introduce the lower impact cups across the international network, lifting the total number of cups being replaced this year from 14.7 million to 44.5 million.

Source: World Airline News