South African Airways is resuming flights to destinations within the region, while the carrier's domestic services are still affected by industrial action. The airline says that it is "on the road to operational recovery" as a "growing number of our employees… are coming back to work". South African cancelled nearly all its flights on 15 and 16 November, when the strike began by the South African Cabin Crew Association (SACCA) and the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) to seek an improved pay offer. Intercontinental flights resumed on 17 November and are "now operating as usual and on an ongoing basis", the airline says. Flights to African destinations Accra, Harare, Lagos, Lusaka, Maputo and Windhoek will restart today, the carrier adds. But it confirms that "all" domestic customers continue to be rebooked on to flights operated by South African's budget subsidiary Mango and partner carriers Airlink and SA Express.
Noting South African's "no-work, no-pay" policy, acting chief executive Zuks Ramasia states that the carrier "would like to record its appreciation to those employees that have decided to return to work". The airline, for its part, has condemned "several incidents relating to intimidation against staff" by union members. "Describing some of our employees as 'traitors' and threatening that 'we know where you are' are flagrant methods of intimidation – and will not be tolerated by SAA," argues Ramasia. South African has sought advice from a labour court about "additional" union demands, which, the carrier says, "are not part of part of the conflict… [and] not procedural", and to address "non-compliance with picketing rules". Furthermore, the carrier has taken legal action against statements by SACCA and NUMSA, which, South African says, were "deeply regrettable, untruthful and without foundation". The airline insists: "SAA has never – and will never – compromise safety under any circumstances." While the cost of the strike for the company has "many elements", South African argues the reputational damage is "immeasurable". Ramasia describes the carrier's current situation as "difficult". Noting a "contribution by taxpayers to our sustainability", she argues that the state carrier "cannot afford salary increases at present". NUMSA and SACCA demand an 8% wage increase, South African says. The carrier has offered a 5.9% rise from March, if "funds are available at that time", it says. South African says that a mediation commission will "shortly" be reconvened to resolve the dispute.

Source: FlightGlobal

The first of Jin Air’s three Boeing 737NGs found with “pickle fork” cracks returned to service this week. The Korean Air-affiliated carrier says that repair and replacement work, conducted jointly with Boeing, was completed on Monday and the aircraft was returned to service on Tuesday. It tells Cirium that FAA and South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) had approved the outcome of the repair work after safety checks and test flights. “We have two more B737 NGs with same problem and expect the repair to finish within this year,” it says. The “pickle fork” is a piece of hardware which connects the wing to the aircraft fuselage. Cracking of the hardware could result in structural failure, which affects the structure integrity of the aircraft and results in loss of control. Global regulators have urged airlines operating 737NGs with more than 30,000 flight cycles to inspect their aircraft immediately for cracks. Aircraft that have logged 22,600-30,000 cycles should be inspected within the next 1,000 cycles.
Last week, MOLIT identified 13 737NGs that contain cracks, after inspecting 100 737NGs. Nine of these were identified in a first round of inspection in October and had clocked more than 30,000 flight cycles. MOLIT notified Boeing about the cracks, which then sent a team to South Korea on 31 October to commence repair work. It said it takes about two weeks to work on each aircraft and the affected aircraft will all be repaired by January 2020. The ministry did not specify which airlines operated the affected 737NG aircraft, but local media reports state that besides the three from Jin Air, five were operated by Korean Air, three by Jeju Air and two from Eastar Jet. The same reports indicate that Boeing’s team is working on the five 737NGs operated by Korean Air and two of three from Jin Air.

Source: FlightGlobal

United Airlines has joined American Airlines and Southwest Airlines in removing the 737 Max from its schedules until early March 2020, a change aligning US carriers' expectations even as Boeing projects the aircraft will be flying before year end. United now expects its 737 Max flights will resume 4 March. It previously had removed the aircraft from its schedules until early January. The move scrubs an additional roughly 3,300 flights from Chicago-based United's schedule. The carrier disclosed the change in a statement that provides no details about reasons behind the decision.
"Moving forward, we’ll continue to monitor the regulatory process and nimbly make the necessary adjustments to our operation and our schedule to benefit our customers who are traveling with us," the airline's statement says. Assuming the Max returns to service in early March 2020, United will have cancelled more than 16,000 flights as a result of the grounding, which took effect in March, its figures show. Earlier this month, American and Southwest pushed back their expected Max reentry dates. American's schedule now has Max flights resuming on 5 March, and Southwest set the date at 7 March. Despite those moves, several days ago Boeing issued a statement saying it expects the US Federal Aviation Administration will clear the Max to fly in December. Once that happens, airlines will likely need to run pilots through new training.

Source: FlightGlobal