Finnair is being forced to cancel two-thirds of its flight owing to disruption from a labour dispute involving the country's postal service. Although the Finnish flag-carrier is not part of the dispute, the aviation labour union IAU is conducting a support strike on 25 November. This support strike will have "major impacts" on Finnair flight operations, the airline says, with vital services at Helsinki-Vantaa airport – such as ramp handling, fuelling, catering and maintenance – being affected. Finnair says it cancelled 26 services on 24 November, ahead of the industrial action, and expects to cancel nearly 260 others on 25 November – about two-thirds of the 377 planned. The cancelled flights include both short-haul European links and a number of long-haul services, including those to San Francisco, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok. Finnair chief operating officer Jaakko Schildt says the knock-on effect of the postal strike is affecting 20,000 of the airline's customers. "We are doing our best to mitigate the impacts to them," he says. "We are working to find suitable re-routings for customers impacted by this, but re-routing such a large number of customers unfortunately takes some time." IAU says its members will "cease all work" during the stoppage, but says the action will end when they return to their shifts on 26 November.

Source: FlightGlobal

Airline chief executives hoping that the development of electric aircraft will boost the industry's environmental credentials will have to wait many years yet, an expert has warned. Andreas Kloeckner from German aerospace research centre DLR outlined the current state of electric aircraft development at IATA's Wings of Change conference in Berlin on 19 November. He notes that current research is focusing on small commuter-sized electric aircraft of around 19 seats, but that transports such as these are unlikely to fly before the late 2020s. Larger aircraft that could match the capacity of an Airbus A320 or a Boeing 737 will require new technologies such a fuel cells or hydrogen power, probably working alongside batteries, and will not be ready until around 2040, Kloeckner estimates. "The solution that we believe we can do is build a hybrid electric aircraft where there will be a system of hydrogen combustion generator plus battery, or fuel cells plus battery,” Kloeckner says. Under current technology, powering an A320-size jet for just 1h would require a battery roughly the same size as the aircraft. Despite the technological challenges of creating electric aircraft, doing so would bring numerous benefits. As well as reducing carbon emissions and other pollutants, electric aircraft would produce significantly less noise and be easier and cheaper to maintain, on account of the reduced complexity of engines that have fewer moving parts. Electric motors can also be easily scaled, meaning that small engines can be as efficient as large ones. This offers the opportunity to alter the configurations of aircraft design. However, developing electric aircraft will also require huge investments in the infrastructure for hydrogen or fuel cells, which would need to be the same globally. Batteries are also only environmentally friendly if they are charged with electricity from sustainable sources, Kloeckner notes.

Source: FlightGlobal

Tanzania's foreign ministry has disclosed that Air Tanzania's latest De Havilland Dash 8-400 has been seized in Canada before its delivery flight to the carrier's base. The aircraft has been impounded "just days" before it was due to be flown to Tanzania, says the office of foreign affairs minister Palamagamba John Kabudi. It marks the latest development in a bizarre legal battle, centred on a compensation issue, with an individual identified as Hermanus Steyn who was behind the detention of an Airbus A220 in August. Previous interventions have also attempted to impound Boeing 787s. Kabudi's office says he has expressed "regret" over the latest seizure which follows a lawsuit filed against the country in a Canadian court. He has summoned the Canadian ambassador, the office adds, to explain why the Canadian government is "allowing" such judicial actions to take place. Air Tanzania has five Dash 8-400s on order, through the Tanzanian government, of which three have already been delivered. Two A220-300s are in service with the carrier but the airline is to take another pair under an order with Airbus placed in October.

Source: FlightGlobal