Ryanair has detailed plans to set up a unit in Malta, adding to its growing stable of airlines. The Irish carrier will move six Malta-based Boeing 737s into start-up Malta Air and plans to grow the fleet based in the country to 10 aircraft within three years. In addition, 200 crew will move to local Maltese contracts, and Ryanair says it plans to create 350 jobs over three years.
Ryanair has detailed plans to set up a unit in Malta, adding to its growing stable of airlines.

The Irish carrier will move six Malta-based Boeing 737s into start-up Malta Air and plans to grow the fleet based in the country to 10 aircraft within three years.

In addition, 200 crew will move to local Maltese contracts, and Ryanair says it plans to create 350 jobs over three years.

Ryanair says the investment will give it access to North Africa markets from Malta. The Maltese government had on 9 June disclosed an outline of the plans saying that the Ryanair initiative would help develop the island nation into a southern European transit hub. "Malta Air will proudly fly the Maltese name and flag to over 60 destinations across Europe and North Africa as we look to grow our Maltese-based fleet, routes, traffic and jobs over the next three years," states Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary. "We look forward to working closely with the Maltese authorities over the coming years as we hope to add over 50 more aircraft to the Maltese register," adds O'Leary.

Source: FlightGlobal

EVA Air cabin crew have threatened to go on strike over working conditions, after a flight attendants' union voted overwhelmingly in favour taking strike action. The Taoyuan Flight Attendants Union has not announced if or when the strike could take place, but has not ruled out going on strike before negotiations with EVA Air restart on the 25th of June. Among its requests, the union is asking the airline for better working hours and wages for its cabin crew. EVA Air said on 7 June that it was "deeply disappointed" by the union's decision. It said, in a statement, that it had held multiple rounds of negotiations and meetings with the union to attempt reaching an amicable decision. "[We] believe that pragmatic dialogue and rational negotiation are the best ways to resolve disputes," EVA said.

Collins Aerospace is coordinating with safety regulators and its equipment clients after a GPS connection outage on its parts resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of flights, especially flights on aircraft operated by US regional carriers. The US Federal Aviation Administration had few details to share about the groundings on 8 and 9 June primarily caused by the Collins Aerospace GPS-4000S sensor that connects aircraft with GPS satellites. Affected carriers do not expect more delays or cancellations related to the problem as they wait for answers from Collins and the FAA. A Collins spokeswoman says the company "identified a technical issue" with one or more of its GPS products impacting availability to connect to the network. On 10 June the company says it "determined the root cause and the resolution". "We are engaging with our customers to ensure continued safe operational capability," she adds. "We are working to determine the cause of the problem, which may have resulted from a software update to the aircraft navigation systems," the FAA says in a statement. "The FAA tracks flights on radar in addition to using satellite technology so airborne aircraft are under continuous surveillance by air traffic control."