American Airlines has welcomed the United States department of transportation’s final approval of a joint business agreement with Qantas. American and the Australian flag-carrier now have the opportunity to jointly offer more products that will better serve customers flying between the United States and Australia and New Zealand. This has been a longstanding business objective of the partnership.“We look forward to working closely with our valued partner, Qantas, on this new joint business,” said American chief executive, Doug Parker. “We now have the opportunity to launch new routes and provide enhanced service with better schedules, additional frequent flyer benefits and continued investments in the overall customer experience. “We are grateful to secretary Chao and the department of transportation team, as we welcome this fantastic news for our customers and team members.” Final approval follows the department’s tentative approval of the joint business in June.

Source: Breaking Travel News

UK pilot union BALPA is giving British Airways "one last chance" to negotiate on pay and benefits after the carrier lost a High Court bid to prevent strike action. Pilots on 22 July voted to strike over pay. The next day, a High Court judge ruled that the ballot had been issued correctly and that the result could therefore stand.

BA says it will appeal the judgement, but is also urging the union to return to talks. "We are very disappointed with today's decision," stated the IAG-owned carrier on 23 July. "We will continue to pursue every avenue to protect the holidays of thousands of our customers this summer." BALPA describes the delay caused by the court action as frustrating. "BA could have spent this time coming back to the negotiating table instead of trying – and failing – to tie us up in legal knots," states general secretary Brian Strutton. "We have still not set any strike dates to give BA one last chance to commit to negotiating on pilots pay and rewards with us at Acas later this week," he adds.

Source: FlighGlobal

Cuban investigators have attributed the fatal Boeing 737-200 crash in Havana to a miscalculation of aircraft weight and balance before take-off, rendering the aircraft uncontrollable once airborne. The Global Air aircraft (XA-UHZ) came down shortly after take-off from Havana, with the loss of 112 passengers and crew. Cuban regulatory authority IACC states that the “most probable” cause of the crash, according to information obtained from the flight recorders, was the “crew’s errors in weight-and-balance calculations”. The IACC says simulation of the accident, based on flight data, showed the 737 had adopted an excessive nose-high pitch after rotation, before losing speed, stalling and crashing. The trajectory of the extremely short flight suggests the aircraft’s centre of gravity was well aft of the limits. The Cubana flight was operated for the Cuban flag carrier by Mexican carrier Global Air, also known as Damojh Airlines. The IACC co-operated with the US National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing, and also Mexico’s accident investigation agency, because the aircraft was registered in Mexico.

Source: FlightGlobal