ALGUNAS NOTAS

• ATW Daily News
  United, flight attendants exchange opening proposals
  Tuesday April 14, 2009
  United Airlines' 16,000 flight attendants represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA will seek "to substantially increase our pay" during negotiations launched last week on a new contract, according to the union, while UA management will seek to eliminate "uncompetitive" restrictions on scheduling and cooperation with other airlines that it claims exist in the current contract amenable Jan. 7, 2010.
  UA is launching negotiations for new contracts with six unions representing nearly 90% of its workforce this month and is seeking to reach agreements on work rules and compensation that will allow it to compete effectively with its rivals. The talks are not expected to be easy, with workers looking to at least partially recover benefits cut during UA's lengthy bankruptcy restructuring. The talks with the flight attendants could be headed for National Mediation Board intervention if an agreement is not forged by Aug. 7 (ATWOnline, April 7).
  In a letter sent to AFA membership last week, UA MEC President Greg Davidowitch said increased pay would be "our number one priority." He added that in the union's opening proposal, "We make it clear that we expect United flight attendants to lead the industry in hourly rates of pay." AFA also will seek "a single pay scale with an extension in longevity raises. . .[as well as] shorter duty days and longer legal rests."
  In a letter sent last week to Davidowitch, UA Senior VP-Labor Relations Douglas McKeen wrote that while the airline aims to be "open, honest and fair" and reach accord "through good faith bargaining," it has a number of key "objectives" it is seeking in the new contract. Management wants "to remove or alleviate uncompetitive restraints on United's ability to partner with other airlines, select hotels, acquire or dispose of assets, or take advantage of network opportunities," he explained. "Our proposals will also eliminate scheduling restrictions that are uncompetitive."
  He added that UA additionally will push for a "minimum flying requirement applicable to all flight attendants," complaining that "a significant number of flight attendants. . .[trade] away all or most of their trips while they remain on full benefits. . .United can no longer afford to carry these flight attendants who are not interested in working."
  Discussions with the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents 16,000 UA employees, began last week. Their contract becomes amendable Dec. 31. IAM claimed that United has won $4.6 billion in concessions from its members and that negotiators now must work at "bridging a canyon of distrust."
  
  
  by Aaron Karp
  Other News
  Tuesday April 14, 2009
  Australian Transport Safety Bureau has classified the Emirates A340-500 tail strike incident at Melbourne on March 20 as "significant" and an "accident," while other sources cited pilot error in the incident. The aircraft was on its way to Dubai with 225 passengers. While neither ATSB nor Emirates commented further, sources at MEL told ATWOnline that it appeared there was an input error to either the Less Paper Cockpit computer, which calculates takeoff speed, or the flight management computer, which calculates thrust settings. The EK crew used Runway 16, which is 3,657 m. long, and upon reaching the calculated takeoff speed rotated but could not sustain flight. The A340's tail made contact with the runway. The pilots were able to get airborne but struck runway approach lights and disabled the runway's instrument landing system antenna. The crew flew the aircraft safely over Port Phillip Bay and dumped fuel before smoke in the cabin forced an early return for an overweight landing. Sources at Emirates revealed that the two pilots resigned on April 2.
  
  ATW Daily News
  
  Qantas 737 suffers altimeter fault similar to doomed THY aircraft
  Monday April 13, 2009 Qantas and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said they will consult with and assist Dutch crash investigators after a QF 737-800 last week suffered a radio altimeter malfunction similar to the one that is suspected of causing the loss of a Turkish Airlines -800 on approach to Amsterdam on Feb. 25.
  Qantas Flight 1020, an -800 operating from Hobart to Sydney on April 7, experienced the radio altimeter fault on approach. According to a QF spokesperson, the -800 was "at approximately 100 ft. when the captain's radio altimeter indicated that the aircraft was at around 10 ft., about where the auto thrust activates full retard on the throttles."
  As in the THY crash, the captain's altimeter was indicating a different set of data than the first officer's (ATWOnline, March 5). "Upon noticing the fault, the captain immediately disconnected from the auto thrust and manually flew the aircraft into Sydney," the spokesperson said. "It is Qantas flight operations policy for pilots to guard the thrust levers and fly with hands on the levers when the aircraft is on auto, which ensures that should a fault with the thrust levers occur, the pilots are immediately able to fly manually."
  The carrier self-reported the incident to ATSB, which confirmed it will investigate due to the similarity of the fault to the assumed cause of the THY crash. The QF spokesman told ATWOnline that "there is no suggestion by the ATSB that Qantas or its pilots were at fault. This investigation is simply to assist European regulatory authorities."
  A preliminary investigation by the Dutch Safety Board revealed that the only fault discovered on the aircraft was in the captain's radio altimeter, which suddenly changed from 1,950 ft. to read -8 ft. in altitude although the right-hand altimeter functioned correctly.
  
  
  by Geoffrey Thomas
  BA, Unite trade proposals for cabin crew concessions
  Monday April 13, 2009
  British Airways and cabin staff represented by Unite sparred over the carrier's proposed cost-cutting measures last week, with the union proposing Friday a "major package of negotiated efficiencies, temporary cost savings and deferred payments worth millions over the next two years."
  The airline expects to report a fiscal 2008-09 operating loss of approximately £150 million ($220.3 million) and also expects severance costs of £75 million (ATWOnline, April 6). Operating loss for the current year is expected to be similar.
  Early last week, BA issued a series of proposals asking its 13,500 flight attendants to accept a reduction in annual leave to 34 days from 36, a two-year pay freeze and a reduction in long-haul bonuses as part of an effort to lower its £567.9 million flight operations budget by more than 14%, The Times reported. The carrier also wants to establish different work rules for new hires (including promotions and raises based on merit rather than seniority), reduce long-haul layovers and remove one flight attendant from its 777s, according to the paper.
  "Like all airlines, we have been hit by a worsening economic crisis and to respond to this we need to improve productivity and performance across the airline," BA said. "Rather than present any firm proposals we have put together a list of ideas and opportunities on how we could reduce cabin crew costs."
  In response, Unite said it offered a package "aimed at securing both the long-term security of employees and industrial peace during current difficulties" at a meeting last week with CEO Willie Walsh and other board members. The union was clear that any concessions would be temporary.
  Among the measures proposed by Unite are a companywide deferral of pay awards for the current fiscal year, deferral of incremental pay increases for those earning basic pay of more than £14,500 and reduced work hours aligning with BA's schedule cuts. It called the measures an "interest-free investment by BA's workforce" that "must be repaid as the company returns to operating profitability in the near future." Unite National Secretary for Aviation Steve Turner said BA's fortunes "will improve alongside an upturn in the global economy."
  Unite cautioned that it will "not accept wholesale restructuring of the business smuggled through under the guise of the global slump." BA did not respond publicly to Unite's announcement.
  
  
  by Brian Straus
  
  
  
  
  Transforman a Click en aerolínea regional
  Luego de funcionar como línea de bajo costo por casi cuatro años, Click de Mexicana cambiará su modelo de negocios y abandonará ese esquema para convertirse en una aerolínea regional, informó Adolfo Crespo, director de servicios al clientes y comunicación corporativa. Como parte del cambio ahora se denomina MexicanaClick y ofrecerá servicio de primera clase en el mercado nacional como lo ofrecía su troncal Mexicana de Aviación. El servicio de primera clase se podrá incorporar gracias al cambio de flota que inició Click a partir de este mes al sustituir paulatinamente sus aviones Fokker F-100 por unos Boeing 717-200, los cuales en noviembre del año pasado habían estrenado nueva imagen como el resto de la flota del grupo. A finales del año pasado su director general, Isaac Volin, informó que Mexicana mantendría solo algunas rutas domésticas, entre ellas Mazatlán, Cancún, Monterrey, Mexicali, Tijuana y Culiacán. Con la incorporación de esta aerolínea de bajo costo al modelo regional, en el que operó hasta julio de 2005, el pasajero nacional tendrá tres aerolíneas importantes en este segmento. Además de Click estará Aeroméxico Connect -que opera con aviones Embraer y en el que también se ofrece servicio de primera clase- así como Aeromar. Además esta empresa ya cuenta desde 2007 con el certificado de seguridad IOSA que entrega la Asociación Internacional de Transporte Aéreo, IATA por sus siglas en inglés, y que la coloca como una aerolínea segura. (Reportera: Lilián Cruz) Reforma, Negocios, p.5.