Pilots at British Airways have voted to accept a new pay deal, ending a dispute which led to industrial action in September that cost the airline millions and prompted parent company IAG to revise down its full-year profit forecast. The British Air Line Pilots Association (BALPA) said on 16 December that its members employed by BA had voted almost nine to one in favour of accepting a pay and conditions deal proposed by arbitration service Acas and recommended by the union. BA pilots went on strike on 9 and 10 September, forcing the airline to cancel more than 4,500 flights, although 2,200 were later reinstated. Industrial action had also been planned for 27 September but was later called off by BALPA in order to prevent "irreparable damage" to the airline's brand. IAG in September put the cost of the strike at €170 million ($190 million) and reviewed its full-year forecast. The airline group said that operating profit before exceptional items would be €215 million lower than the pro-forma figure of €3.48 billion achieved in the previous year. It had, at the time of releasing its outlook at the beginning of the year, expected operating profit "in line" with the €3.23 billion reported for 2018.

Source: Cirium

Delta Air Lines and biofuels maker Gevo say the airline will buy 10 million gallons (39.4 million litres) of biofuel annually in an effort to reduce the carrier’s carbon footprint and meet global aviation sustainability goals. The Atlanta-based airline has committed to carbon-neutral growth and to reducing emissions 50% by 2050. While more expensive than conventional fossil fuels, sustainable aviation fuel can provide significant environmental benefits because the lifecycle carbon footprint can be up to 75% less than conventional jet fuel, the companies say in a joint statement on 17 December. “Long-term investments such as our agreement with Gevo are critical to Delta’s goal to lower our carbon footprint while planning for a more-sustainable future,” says Graeme Burnett, Delta’s senior vice-president of fuel management. “Fuel is an airline’s biggest area of impact and therefore presents our greatest opportunity to drive solutions that care for the planet.” Gevo adds that fuel to be supplied to Delta is composed of “inedible, industrial corn products”, with its patented process separating the sugar from the proteins in the corn product. “The sugars are then used to make the jet fuel, while the proteins are fed to livestock,” the company says. “After capturing and converting the livestock manure into biogas digestors that can displace fossil-based natural gas, the solids produced are used as fertiliser for the fields, thereby creating a continuous, renewable manufacturing cycle.” Delta’s agreement with Gevo follows a $2 million investment in Northwest Advanced Bio-fuels for study of a facility to produce sustainable aviation fuel and other biofuel products from forest floor debris, which was announced in September. The study should be completed in 2020, upon which the airline will assess next steps. If successful, Delta’s biofuel project could provide about 10% of its annual jet fuel consumption on the West Coast and serve as a blueprint for future projects, the airline said in September. Gevo’s fuel will be produced in its facility in Luverne, Minnesota and will be available to Delta between 2022 and 2023.

Source: Cirium

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has downgraded the safety status of Venezuela, assigning it a Category 2 rating under the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program. The rating shift comes after it was determined that Venezuela’s Civil Aviation Authority is not adequately complying with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) safety standards about regulating and supervising local airlines. As a result, Venezuelan airlines are banned from adding flights to the United States. Flights between both countries were prohibited on 1 May by the US Department of Transportation and Homeland Security due to political unrest in the South American country. In 2017, European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which assesses the safety of airlines individually, prohibited Avior Airlines from operating flights to the EU. The airline remains on the blacklist.

Source: Cirium