| 19-03-10 |
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AFX UK Focus |
DUBLIN, March 19 (Reuters) - Cabin crew at Irish airline Aer Lingus will vote for a second time to decide whether to accept a cost-cutting package, the company said, in a move that could prevent more layoffs or strikes at the carrier.
After an initial vote, cabin crews represented by the IMPACT trade union became the only one of five employee groups to reject the plans presented by Aer Lingus management to stop the depletion of its cash reserves.
On March 9, Aer Lingus said it would impose compulsory redundancies for almost a quarter of its 1,000 cabin crew and cut salaries for the rest as a response to the lack of cooperation by IMPACT.
But, as required by law, it started a 30-day consultation period with employees before sacking them.
"The company now awaits the outcome of this re-ballot," Aer Lingus, which has fended off two hostile bids by bigger Irish rival Ryanair, said in a statement after talks at Ireland's Labour Relations Commission.
A negotiated settlement with the union could prevent the kind of strife seen at British Airways, where cabin crew were set to begin a three-day strike this weekend.
(Reporting by Andras Gergely, editing by Leslie Gevirtz) Keywords: AERLINGUS/
(andras.gergely@reuters.com; +35315001518; Reuters Messaging: andras.gergely.reuters.com@reuters.net)
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| 12-03-10 |
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AFX UK Focus |
By Simon Johnson and John Acher
STOCKHOLM, March 12 (Reuters) - SAS said it had struck a deal with pilots and cabin crew to freeze salaries and reduce pensions and allowances under a cost-cutting plan to return the Scandinavian airline to profit.
SAS, collectively half-owned by Sweden, Norway and Denmark, said on Friday the new collective agreement would bring over 500 million crowns ($70 mln) in savings and the news of the deal sent its shares up more than 6 percent.
Last year was one of the worst ever for the aviation industry, but SAS has long been struggling with high costs. Unions have up to now resisted changes needed to compete with no-frills flyers like Ryanair.
The airline said cost cuts from all unions for 2009 and 2010 now totalled 2.1 billion crowns. Overall savings under the Core SAS restructuring plan were 7.8 billion crowns, it said.
"We have made a new collective agreement that gives a lot of benefits to the company," Danish Cabin Attendants Union chairman Verner Jensen told Reuters.
Lars Heindorf, analyst at ABG Sundal Collier said the deal and the projected savings had been widely expected as it was one of the demands key shareholders made in order to support a planned 5 billion crown cash call by the airline.
"There would have been no rights issue if they hadn't done a deal," he said.
Shares in SAS were up 6.3 percent in Stockholm at 0958 GMT.
HARD LANDING
SAS made a pretax loss of 3.4 billion crowns in 2009 after losing 1.0 billion the year before and has been forced to turn to shareholders for more cash to keep flying and complete its latest restructuring plans.
The new issue will be the second by SAS in just over 12 months.
Chief Executive Mats Jansson said in a recent newspaper interview that the company would probably be sold to a rival when it has completed its turnaround plans.
German carrier Lufthansa and Air France KLM have both been linked with the Scandinavian airline.
In February, Sweden's government sought parliamentary permission to sell down its 21.4 percent stake in the airline, though it said such a move was a long way off. Norway and Denmark said they were also open to reducing their stakes.
SAS has said 2010 will be another tough year and Jansson doesn't expect the airline to return to profit before 2011.
(Editing by Sonya Dowsett) ($1=7.151 Swedish Crown) Keywords: SAS/
(Stockholm Newsroom, +46-8-700 1017, e-mail: stockholm.newsroom@reuters.com)
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| 12-03-10 |
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AFX UK Focus |
STOCKHOLM, March 12 (Reuters) - SAS said on Friday it had struck a deal with pilots and cabin crew to freeze salaries and reduce pensions and allowances under a cost-cutting plan to return the Scandinavia airline to profit.
SAS, half-owned by Sweden, Norway and Denmark, said the new collective agreement would bring over 500 million crowns ($70 mln) in savings.
The airline said cost cuts from all unions for 2009 and 2010 now totalled 2.1 billion crowns. Overall savings under the Core SAS rescue plan were 7.8 billion crowns, it said.
The deal with unions was one of the demands of key shareholders for backing SAS's plans to raise 5 billion crowns ($700 million) in a rights issue.
The issue will be the second by SAS in just over 12 months.
Last year was one of the worst ever for the aviation industry, but SAS has long been struggling with high costs.
Unions have resisted changes needed to compete with no-frills flyers like Ryanair despite years of restructuring programmes.
SAS made a pretax loss of 3.4 billion crowns in 2009 after losing 1.0 billion the year before.
While the Scandinavian airline says 2010 will remain a tough year, industry body IATA sees the industry recovering faster than it had initially expected.
On Thursday, IATA said airlines would lose $2.8 billion this year, half the $5.6 billion loss it forecast in December.
(Editing by David Cowell) ($1=7.151 Swedish Crown) Keywords: SAS/
(Stockholm Newsroom, +46-8-700 1017, e-mail: stockholm.newsroom@reuters.com)
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| 11-03-10 |
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AFX UK Focus |
PARIS, March 11 (Reuters) - Air France and Ryanair clashed over subsidies after the French carrier accused its low-cost Irish rival of putting pressure on regional authorities to give unfair support as the price of using their airports.
Air France said it had complained to the European Commission about what it described as "open-ended subsidies" in the form of discounts, preferential treatment and marketing help from regional airports in violation of European rules.
The Irish airline hit back, saying it had not received any such state aid whereas Air France had.
"We pay no attention to false claims from high-fares, fuel- surcharging airlines like Air France. They can't compete with Ryanair so they complain instead. Ryanair is investing millions in regional French airport whereas Air France ignores them," Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara said in an email response.
Air France said it had filed a complaint to the European Commission at the end of last November. The move came to light in a newspaper report earlier on Thursday.
The airline, part of the Air France-KLM group, said in a statement that not only had Ryanair received unfair help in exchange for using regional airports, but had done so on the back of traditional carriers such as Air France.
"The aid obtained by Ryanair is often financed by the proceeds of landing fees paid by other airlines operating at those airports," the privatised French airline said.
(Reporting by Marie Maitre, Andras Gergely) Keywords: AIRFRANCE RYANAIR/
(marie.maitre@reuters.com; +33 1 4949 5331; Reuters messaging: marie.maitre.reuters.com@reuters.net)
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