Iberia faces more strikes
MADRID, 22 February 2013: Thousands of striking workers of Spanish flag-carrier Iberia protested noisily in Madrid, Wednesday, furious at management’s plans to cut 3,800 jobs following its merger with British Airways.
To the din of horns and smoking firecrackers, workers massed outside the company’s headquarters, waving red and yellow Spanish flags and signs such as “Get your dirty hands off Iberia” and “British go home”.
That was a reference to British Airways, which merged with Iberia in 2011 to form the International Airlines Group (IAG), in a tie-up aimed at slashing costs.
LH faces bigger strike
BERLIN, 3 Sept 2012: Cabin staff at German airline Lufthansa will hold a fresh strike which is expected to have a bigger impact than recent walkouts, their union said Sunday.
The UFO labour union said the strike would begin on Tuesday, but they were still discussing what time it would begin and which airports it would affect.
But this action is expected to have a wider impact than Friday’s walkout. That action lasted eight hours and mainly affected Europe’s third-biggest airport Frankfurt, forcing the airline to ground 190 of 360 flights.
LH staff stage strike
BERLIN, 31 August 2012: Cabin staff at German airline Lufthansa will stage walkouts in Frankfurt from 0300 GMT on Friday (0900 Bangkok time), their union said late Thursday.
The walkouts would last until 1100 GMT, (1700) the UFO labour union said.
Long-haul flights to Asia departing late afternoon could face delays. Passengers should check with Lufthansa offices on possible disruption of connecting services in Europe and longer check-in times at Frankfurt airport.
Strike hit Kingfisher flies
July 16, 2012 by AFP
Filed under Aviation, News, South Asia
NEW DELHI, 16 July 2012: India’s struggling Kingfisher Airlines said late Saturday its services would return to normal after a strike by employees over long overdue pay forced cancellation of more than three dozen flights.
The announcement came after the airline’s owner Vijay Mallya told workers in an open letter that “damaging the future of Kingfisher in the public’s eyes is not going to produce cash” to pay wages and keep the carrier aloft.
The walkout, the third in under two weeks, came after the airline — which owes vast sums to banks, suppliers and staff — won more time from lenders this month to come up with a recovery plan to avert bankruptcy.
Court warns striking Air India pilots
NEW DELHI, 24 May 2012: A judge threatened contempt of court proceedings against striking Air India pilots on Wednesday, as they vowed to stand firm in their clash with the debt-ridden airline’s management.
Delhi High Court judge Reva Khetrapal ordered more than 400 pilots at the ailing state-run carrier to explain why they had not returned to work despite a judicial order two weeks ago.
About 100 pilots, who have been claiming sick leave rather than calling an official strike, have been sacked by Air India since the action began on 8 May.
Iberia grounded by strike
MADRID, 10 April 2012: Spanish airline Iberia said it had cancelled 124 flights on Monday as pilots began a series of one-day strikes to protest against conditions at new low-cost offshoot Iberia Express.
Pilots’ union SEPLA has vowed to strike every Monday and Friday until July 20 — a total of 30 days — in its battle against the budget airline, which began flying on 25 March.
Iberia cancelled 124 flights, or 38% of the 330 scheduled services, a company spokeswoman said, affecting many passengers returning home after Easter holidays.
Kingfisher halts overseas flights
MUMBAI, 15 March 2012: India’s beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines said Wednesday it had curtailed its overseas flights to avoid losing further cash as it struggles to keep flying amid mounting operational difficulties.
“We would like to confirm that we are curtailing our wide-body overseas operations that are bleeding heavily,” said spokesman Prakash Mirpuri in a statement.
The debt-laden carrier has returned a leased Airbus A330-200, a mid-sized long-haul airliner, but it did not say how many flights would be affected.
Kingfisher, which is already facing severe disruption due to strikes by pilots over unpaid wages, flies to eight overseas destinations, including London, Dubai and Hong Kong.
Later in the day, India’s director general of civil aviation E.K. Bharat Bhushan said the situation was “causing distress to the travelling public and a matter of concern”.
Kingfisher cancels more flights
MUMBAI, 13 March 2012: India’s cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines cancelled nearly a fifth of its flights Monday, including at least one international route, after its staff staged a strike over unpaid wages.
Kingfisher said its schedule was also affected after the company was suspended last week by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) from a global payments system.
The airline issued a statement blaming “employee agitation on delayed salaries” and the IATA suspension for the cancellations, which it said would hit close to 20% of its already reduced service.
Kingfisher faces pilot strike
MUMBAI, 5 March 2012: The chief executive of India’s cash-strapped Kingfisher Airlines has met pilots and urged them not to strike over a delay in paying salaries, the airline said on Sunday.
“Sanjay Aggarwal met a group of pilots and appealed to them not to stay away from flying duties which would potentially affect the operating schedule,” Kingfisher spokesman, Prakash Mirpuri said in a statement.
Kingfisher did not say how many pilots had threatened to stop work. Read more
Frankfurt airport strike goes to court
FRANKFURT, 29 February 2012: A German labour court said Tuesday it would decide this week whether strikes by 200 tarmac workers at Frankfurt airport in an increasingly bitter pay dispute are legal.
The Frankfurt Labour Court said in a statement that airport operator Fraport and airline Lufthansa had filed for temporary injunction against further strike action by some 200 so-called apron control staff.
TTR Weekly notes that just a week before ITB Berlin, Europe’s largest travel show, opens the dispute could hinder the travel arrangements of thousands of travel executives, worldwide, who will be taking flights to Frankfurt to connect with domestic services to the German capital early next week. Read more
