London's Metropolitan Police has vowed to "do everything in its power to prevent and stop" any attempt to disrupt operations at Heathrow, after reports that climate-change activists planned to fly drones within the UK airport's restricted airspace on 13 September. The threat came from a group named Heathrow Pause, a faction within the Extinction Rebellion movement. Its attempt to ground flights was envisioned to be part of a wider protest at Heathrow. Responding, the Met Police notes that Heathrow is "part of our national infrastructure" and states: "We will not allow the illegal activity of protesters to cause misery to thousands of air travellers. The dangers of flying drones in airspace used by airliners carrying passengers are stark and the consequences potentially very severe." Heathrow Airport says that while it agrees on the need to act on climate change, this is a global challenge that requires constructive engagement and action. "Committing criminal offences and disrupting passengers is counterproductive," it states. "Flying any form of drone near Heathrow is illegal and any persons found doing so will be subject to the full force of the law. We are working closely with the Met Police and will use our own drone-detection capability to mitigate the operational impact of any illegal use of drones near the airport."

Source: FlightGlobal

United Airlines has pushed the scheduled return of Boeing 737 Max flights out another six weeks until 19 December, axing thousands more flights in the process. The Chicago-based carrier's schedules previously had Max flights resuming in early November. United did not respond to questions about what factors prompted the change. The December date comes just prior to the busy end-of-year travel season. American Airlines' schedules still have the jet returning on 3 November, while Southwest Airlines has removed Max flights from its schedules until 6 January. Some analysts have described a November return as optimistic considering Boeing's projected timeline and the uncertainty of the process. Boeing hopes to submit certification materials to the US Federal Aviation Administration in September and for regulators to lift the grounding before year end, but concedes the process remains highly uncertain. Airline executives anticipate the FAA could clear the jet four to six weeks after receiving the certification package, though actually getting aircraft back into the skies will take additional time. United says the six-week pushback causes 2,800 flight cancellations in November and 1,700 in December. Those add to United's roughly 10,300 Max-induced cancellations between March and November, bringing its total number of cancelled flights to 14,800. "United has gone to great lengths to minimise the impact on our customers’ travel plans. We’ve used spare aircraft and other creative solutions to help our customers," the carrier says in a statement. "We are continuing to work through the schedule to try and swap and up-gauge aircraft to mitigate the disruption." Several days ago United said it received regulatory approval to ferry its 14 grounded 737 Max to the Arizona desert for "short-term storage".

Source: FlightGlobal

Ryanair is facing intensified industrial action in Spain as the SEPLA pilot union has announced strike dates for 19, 20, 22, 27 and 29 September. Around 900 pilots will be invited to walk out in protest at the closures of Ryanair bases in Lanzarote, Tenerefe, Las Palmas and Girona, eliminating a total of 120 jobs. The action would take place alongside strikes by Spanish unions USO and SITCPLA, which represent cabin crew. They have called for action across the country on 1, 2, 6, 8, 13, 15, 20, 22, 27 and 29 September. SEPLA accuses Ryanair of seeking to establish a series of "low cost of a low cost" companies to drive down wages and standards. It cites the establishment of a base in Palma de Mallorca by Ryanair subsidiary Lauda and the creation of Buzz Air, a Polish subsidiary that is offering pilot jobs in the Canary Islands. The union says Ryanair is continuing to hire pilots, and argues that this "would make these layoffs inadmissible". SEPLA also questions whether Ryanair has followed the correct procedures in dismissing employees. SEPLA president Oscar Sanguino states that the union will continue to engage with Ryanair in an effort to avoid the strikes: "We will exhaust all the ways to avoid this, but we remember that we are only defending our jobs." Ryanair is facing the threat of industrial action in several European countries by pilots and cabin crew who accuse the airline of providing poor employment conditions. Responding to the strikes called by SEPLA, SITCPLA and USO, the budget carrier states: "As the closure of Ryanair's loss-making winter bases in the Canaries cannot, and will not, be reversed, these strikes are unnecessary and doomed to fail." The base closures are "irreversible until such time as the Boeing Max delivery delays are resolved", adds the airline. It notes that it will have 30 fewer Boeing 737s than planned this winter as a result of those delivery delays. "This aircraft shortage has forced [us] to close some loss making winter bases, and cut aircraft numbers at others," it says. "These difficult decisions have affected many Ryanair bases this winter, not just in Spain but across eight other countries." Ryanair also argues that as "almost all" the traffic at the Canary Islands bases originates overseas it "can be better served by aircraft based in other EU countries" without such "high costs and inefficiency". The airline – which expects to cancel six Spanish flights on 1 September and eight the following day – warns that the calling of strikes "just eight weeks before Brexit" amounts to "an act of great self-harm" by the unions.

Source: FlightGlobal