Tag: action (Page 2 of 2)

European Pilot Group Demands Action over Ryanair Sick Leave Policy

November 14, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

DUBLIN (Reuters) – The European Cockpit Association (ECA) pilot group has urged regulators to take action over what it described as a “safety hazard” caused by Ryanair’s <RYAAY> approach to flight crews’ sick leave, according to a letter seen by Reuters.

Europe’s largest budget carrier has spent the last two years negotiating improved pay and conditions with its pilots and cabin crew after a revolt by some staff forced it to recognize trade unions for the first time.

The ECA, which represents pilots’ associations in 33 European countries, said Ryanair adopts a practice of systematically questioning absences due to certified sickness, leading to investigative and disciplinary meetings where staff are threatened with potential dismissal.

Asked about the ECA’s concerns, a Ryanair spokeswoman said the airline operates “a standard sick pay scheme, and like all employers, manages absenteeisms”.

The airline, which has never had a fatal crash and has one of the youngest fleets in Europe, regularly cites safety as its top priority.

The ECA said it raised the issue with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) a year ago but that Ryanair’s “problematic approach” to flight crew’s sickness has not substantially changed.

“In fact, we are concerned that the safety hazard created by this approach remains fully in place, must be considered endemic, and quite evidently is not adequately addressed by the competent national authority: the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA),” the letter dated Nov. 5 said.

A spokeswoman for the ECA confirmed it had sent such a letter to the regulator, the second in a year, and that it was concerned that the safety hazard related to Ryanair’s policy remains unaddressed.

In the letter, the ECA said it was aware that the EASA raised the matter with the IAA following the initial complaint but that the Irish regulator told one of the ECA’s member groups that it was satisfied there was not a systematic issue of crews flying while unfit due to fear of sanction at Ryanair.

The IAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Citing letters sent to staff, the ECA said Ryanair or broker agencies overseeing agency workers used by the airline have gone as far as threatening to halt pilots’ career progression, due to their sickness rate.

The pilot group called on the European regulator to ensure the IAA adequately fulfils its safety oversight role by summoning Ryanair to stop the practice of intimidating letters and investigative proceedings and also carry out an independent confidential survey among Ryanair crew.

(Story by Conor Humphries and Padraic Halpin, editing by Giles Elgood)

FILE PHOTO: A Ryanair commercial passenger jet takes off in Blagnac near Toulouse

Southwest Will Speed Up Inspections of 38 Used 737 Airplanes

November 11, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Southwest Airlines Co <LUV> said Monday it will complete inspections on 38 737 airplanes it acquired from foreign air carriers by Jan. 31 that may not meet all U.S. aviation safety requirements.

The planes are part of 88 pre-owned Boeing <BA> 737 aircraft Southwest bought between 2013 and 2017 from 16 foreign carriers. The speedier checks come after inspections of 39 used planes turned up previously undisclosed repairs and incorrectly completed fixes. Southwest used multiple contractors to conduct the reviews of the planes’ maintenance records when they bought the planes.

“We have a plan in place to inspect the 47 remaining aircraft, nine of which are currently in heavy checks, no later than January 31, 2020 – five months earlier than the original FAA accepted completion date of July 1,” Southwest said in a statement on Monday.

Southwest said its inspections to date “did not stem from any suspected safety concerns with the aircraft.” It added its “continuous assessment of the ongoing inspections has revealed nothing to warrant the expedited timeline” but will meet it nevertheless.

In 2018, Southwest agreed to conduct a complete physical inspection on each of these pre-owned aircraft over a two-year period after a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) safety inspector in May 2018 discovered discrepancies in records for some of 88 aircraft.

Since then, Southwest said it has completed the nose-to-tail inspection of 41 aircraft without any findings that suggested an “adverse impact on continued safe operation.”

An Oct. 24 memo from H. Clayton Foushee, director of the FAA Audit and Evaluation Office, made public on Monday said the Southwest inspections turned up at least 30 previously unknown repairs and 42 major repairs that were found “not to meet FAA airworthiness requirements.” Some required “immediate corrective action to bring the aircraft back into compliance.”

The memo added “the data collected to date would indicate that a majority of” the planes to be inspected do not meet FAA airworthiness requirements.

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee noted on Monday that the 2018 discovery prompted a full records review by Southwest Airlines of all 88 aircraft that found 360 major repairs previously unknown to the airline because they were not disclosed in the contractors’ initial review.

Foushee’s memo said Southwest grounded 34 planes in November 2018 for inspections. The committee said as a result some planes were grounded “for immediate maintenance to bring them into regulatory compliance as a result of these newly discovered prior major repairs.”

The FAA then sent an Oct. 29 letter to Southwest seeking additional information about the uninspected planes and questioned whether they suffered specific damage items. It also raised concerns about Southwest’s “slow pace in completing the evaluation of aircraft.”

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Roger Wicker said in an Oct. 30 letter to the FAA that its concerns about Southwest’s used planes correspond “to concerns that have been brought to my attention by whistleblowers as part of my investigation into aviation safety.”

The committee said the FAA allowed Southwest to continue to operate these aircraft and as a result “Southwest Airlines appears to have operated aircraft in unknown airworthiness conditions for thousands of flights.”

The FAA said Monday that after receiving Southwest’s response it determined the airline has “met the requirements for immediate inspection and risk assessments on these aircraft.”

The FAA added it “is requiring more frequent updates on the progress of completing all the requirements.”

(Reporting by David Shepardson; additional reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

FILE PHOTO: A number of grounded Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft are shown parked at Victorville Airport in Victorville, California

Boeing Statement On Lion Air Flight 610 Final Report

October 25, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

CHICAGO, Oct. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Boeing (NYSE: BA) issued the following statement regarding the release today of the final investigation report of Lion Air Flight 610 by Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT):

“On behalf of everyone at Boeing, I want to convey our heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in these accidents. We mourn with Lion Air, and we would like to express our deepest sympathies to the Lion Air family,” said Boeing President & CEO Dennis Muilenburg. “These tragic events have deeply affected us all and we will always remember what happened.”

“We commend Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee for its extensive efforts to determine the facts of this accident, the contributing factors to its cause and recommendations aimed toward our common goal that this never happens again.”

“We are addressing the KNKT’s safety recommendations, and taking actions to enhance the safety of the 737 MAX to prevent the flight control conditions that occurred in this accident from ever happening again. Safety is an enduring value for everyone at Boeing and the safety of the flying public, our customers, and the crews aboard our airplanes is always our top priority. We value our long-standing partnership with Lion Air and we look forward to continuing to work together in the future.”

Boeing experts, working as technical advisors to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, have supported the KNKT over the course of the investigation. The company’s engineers have been working with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other global regulators to make software updates and other changes, taking into account the information from the KNKT’s investigation.

Since this accident, the 737 MAX and its software are undergoing an unprecedented level of global regulatory oversight, testing and analysis. This includes hundreds of simulator sessions and test flights, regulatory analysis of thousands of documents, reviews by regulators and independent experts and extensive certification requirements.

Over the past several months Boeing has been making changes to the 737 MAX. Most significantly, Boeing has redesigned the way Angle of Attack (AoA) sensors work with a feature of the flight control software known as Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). Going forward, MCAS will compare information from both AoA sensors before activating, adding a new layer of protection.

In addition, MCAS will now only turn on if both AoA sensors agree, will only activate once in response to erroneous AOA, and will always be subject to a maximum limit that can be overridden with the control column.

These software changes will prevent the flight control conditions that occurred in this accident from ever happening again.

In addition, Boeing is updating crew manuals and pilot training, designed to ensure every pilot has all of the information they need to fly the 737 MAX safely.

Boeing continues to work with the FAA and other regulatory agencies worldwide on the certification of the software update and training program to safely return the 737 MAX to service.

Interjet Denies That it’s in Technical Bankruptcy

September 3, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

IT IS NOT TRUE THAT INTERJET IS IN TECHNICAL BANKRUPTCY

The handling of the information published by Bloomberg is irresponsible.
The news agency made a misinterpretation of the judicial review filed by Interjet in its legal dispute with the Internal Revenue Service of Mexico.

Mexico City, August 30, 2019.- Interjet categorically denies that it is bankrupt as published by the Bloomberg news site. The news agency made a misinterpretation of the constitutional claim filed by the airline in the dispute that it holds with the Internal Revenue Service of Mexico (SAT).

Bloomberg had access to a file that by law is not supposed to be public. In a judicial dispute, the only persons entitled to consult the records are those authorized by the parties involved in the trial.

At no time, the company has recognized the existence of a technical bankruptcy as this media outlet states.

It should be noted that bankruptcy can only be declared by court order, and cannot be self-imposed by the debtor or any other entity. It’s a legal process through which the insolvency of a company has to be proved. This is not the case of the current situation of Interjet because the company continues paying its debts.

Bankruptcy cannot be declared by a company or by an individual, and this determination corresponds to a court.

Interjet reserves its right to pursue any available legal actions against Bloomberg.

British Airways Pilots to Strike for 3 Days in September

August 24, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

LONDON, Aug 23 (Reuters) – British Airways pilots are to go on strike for three days in September, their union said on Friday, in a dispute over pay that could disrupt the peak summer holiday season.

Last month, the pilots overwhelmingly voted for industrial action and the airline, which is part of IAG, failed in a court bid to stop them.

“The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) has today given notice to British Airways that it will call on its members to strike on 9th, 10th and 27th September 2019,” the union said in a statement.

“It is clear, following discussions with members over the last few days, that BA’s most recent offer will not gain the support of anywhere near a majority of its pilots.”

British Airways said the strike action was unjustifiable as their pay offer was fair and that the strikes would destroy the travel plans of tens of thousands of customers.

“We are now making changes to our schedule. We will do everything we can to get as many people away on their journeys as possible,” the airline said in a statement.

“However, it is likely that many of our customers will not be able to travel and we will be offering refunds and re-bookings for passengers booked on cancelled flights.”

The airline said it was exploring options to supplement its fleet with aircraft and crew from other airlines, known as wet-leasing, and working with partner airlines to schedule larger aircraft to take more customers.

(Reporting by Alistair Smout; editing by Stephen Addison)

Air Force Again Halts Boeing KC-46 Tanker Deliveries

April 3, 2019 / WIL BALDWIN

April 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. Air Force said on Tuesday that it again stopped accepting deliveries of Boeing Co’s KC-46 tanker aircraft after finding foreign object debris in the planes.

Back in February, deliveries of the aircraft were halted by the U.S. Air Force because of the same issue in one of the aircraft. Deliveries resumed in March after Boeing ramped up the inspection process.

“Our inspectors identified additional foreign object debris and areas where Boeing did not meet quality standards,” U.S. Air Force spokesperson Captain Hope Cronin said.

The decision to halt acceptance of the planes was made on March 23, the Air Force said, adding that the problem was not with the aircraft itself but with the process in place for building it.

“We are currently conducting additional company and customer inspections of the jets and have implemented preventative action plans,” Boeing said in a statement.

“We have also incorporated additional training, more rigorous clean-as-you-go practices and FOD awareness days across the company to stress the importance and urgency of this issue.”

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

Ryanair, CEO Suit Filed In U.S. Court

November 7, 2018 / WIL BALDWIN

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ryanair Holdings Plc (RYA.I) and longtime Chief Executive Michael O’Leary have been sued in New York by a shareholder that said Europe’s largest airline defrauded investors and inflated its share price by overstating its ability to manage labour relations and keep costs down.

The complaint was filed on Tuesday night in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan by an Alabama pension fund, seeking class-action status and damages for investors in Ryanair’s American depositary shares from May 30, 2017 to Sept. 28, 2018.

Ryanair did not immediately respond on Wednesday to requests for comment.

The complaint said Ryanair misled investors in regulatory filings and conference calls about its labour stability, including “industry leading” contracts with pilots and cabin crews, and its positive impact on operations.

It said the truth came out as labour unrest forced the Dublin-based low-cost carrier last December to recognise unions for the first time, and led this summer to costly strikes that stranded thousands of passengers in several countries.

“Unbeknownst to investors, the company’s historical profit growth was built on an undisclosed and unsustainable foundation of worker exploitation and employee turnover,” the complaint said. “The decline in the price of Ryanair ADSs was the direct result of the nature and extent of defendants’ fraud finally being revealed to investors and the market.”

Ryanair cited labour issues on Oct. 1, when it cut its full-year profit forecast. Its share price closed that day more than one-third below its level in mid-March.

O’Leary, Ryanair’s chief executive since 1994, said last month he hoped to reach labour agreements with all of the carrier’s major unions before Christmas.

ADSs on June 30 accounted for 43.7 percent of Ryanair’s issued ordinary shares, assuming all were converted into ordinary shares, the company has said. Ryanair’s market value is roughly $16 billion, according to Refinitiv data.

The lawsuit was filed by the City of Birmingham Firemen’s and Policemen’s Supplemental Pension System. Its law firm Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd specializes in securities fraud.

It is common for shareholders to sue companies in the United States after what they consider unexpected share price declines.

The case is City of Birmingham Firemen’s and Policemen’s Supplemental Pension System v Ryanair Holdings Plc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 18-10330.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Bill Berkrot)