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The post Alan Joyce Spotted On Tarmac With Qantas Ground Crew appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily.

Before the airline asked its senior executives to work as baggage handlers in an internal email earlier this month, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce was spotted on the tarmac in a high visibility jacket alongside ground staff.

A passenger photographed the CEO standing beside a cart on the tarmac. The photo was taken before Qantas requested senior executives work in operations in a letter earlier this month.

According to a Qantas spokesperson, the photo of Joyce is not new and was taken during a general visit to frontline teams, which the CEO regularly does.

Joyce is believed to have been visiting teams on the ground to gather feedback on the airline’s operations rather than working as a baggage handler.

Following the photo, Colin Hughes, the airline’s chief operating officer, sent an email to high-level staff stating that the company was looking for at least 100 managers to work in various airport roles for up to five days a week.

Mr Hughes indicated that there was “no expectation that you will opt into this role on top of your full-time position,” but that it was a necessary action in response to increasing criticism of Qantas’ ability to handle passenger demand.

‘You’ll be an embedded resource within the ground handling partners during your time in the contingency programme,’ Mr Hughes wrote.

‘This means you’ll get a roster, be scheduled to operate and be supervised and managed by our grand handling partners in live operations.’

Executives would sort luggage, scan tags, and even drive luggage tugs on the tarmac as part of the programme.

Under the extraordinary plan, managers would pack planes with people’s belongings and move cargo between flights.

‘It is our singular company focus to support our teams in getting our operation back on track and providing our passengers with the experience they expect from the airline,’ Mr Hughes wrote.

Qantas stated that the ‘contingency plan’ was implemented in response to failing to meet customer expectations.

‘We’ve been clear that our operational performance has not been meeting our customers’ expectations or the standards that we expect of ourselves – and that we’ve been pulling out all the stops to improve our performance,’ said a spokeswoman for the company.

‘As we have done in the past during peak travel periods, around 200 head office staff have assisted at airports since Easter.

The post Alan Joyce Spotted On Tarmac With Qantas Ground Crew appeared first on Travel Daily.

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The post British Airways Cuts 10,000 Flights From & To Heathrow appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily.

British Airways has announced yet another wave of cancellations, this time cancelling 10,000 flights to and from Heathrow until the end of March next year to react to the ongoing staffing shortages that have affected the aviation industry.

After London Airport extended the summer cap of 100,000 daily passengers maximum for another six weeks to the end of October and encouraged airlines to sell fewer flights, the carrier decided to reduce its short-haul schedule by 8%.

Heathrow has been having a hard time recovering from the Covid recovery. Its plight has been highlighted by the recent turmoil and lengthy lines that have crippled the airport throughout the Easter, spring break, and early summer holidays.

To alleviate the strain created by airport and airline staffing shortages, the major operator at the airport, British Airways (BA), has already cancelled tens of thousands of flights this summer.

While at the beginning of this month, it also halted sales for short-haul flights departing from Heathrow as it reassessed its forecast for the number of aircraft it would require in light of Heathrow’s capacity restriction.

British Airways said Monday that it would add cancellations to its timetable, following a trend that began in May and has gained traction as airlines and airports battle staff shortages that have created confusion at check-in and baggage services.

British Airways said on 22 October that it will be cancelling around 600 round-trip flights to and from Heathrow, with further reductions of 8% to the winter schedule that extends until the end of March.

Alternative flights on the same day would be available for most of the itineraries impacted, so the airline predicted that the overall effect would be “limited,” while some cancellations would be inevitable.

A BA representative said further cancellations might be necessary up to the end of October. However, “the great majority of our customers will travel as scheduled, and we’re safeguarding important vacation locations during half-term.”

In addition, we’re letting consumers know in advance that we’ll be making some changes to our schedule this winter, such as merging some of our shorter-haul flights to locations that now get numerous services. Any clients impacted by these changes will be offered a refund or rebooking with British Airways or another carrier.

Last month, the government promised a “slot amnesty” to make it simpler for airlines to reduce capacity. This has enabled BA and others to curtail their operations this year without losing the privilege of lucrative landing slots at Heathrow and other congested airports, which ordinarily have a “use it or lose it” regulation.

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The post Dubai’s Air Traffic Increase Indicates Strong Recovery appeared first on TD (Travel Daily Media) Travel Daily.

As pandemic restrictions were lifted, Dubai International Airport saw an increase in passengers during the first half of 2022. The upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar will increase traffic to the city-second state’s airport, according to its CEO.

According to Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports, the airport handled 160% more traffic in the last six months compared to the previous year as part of a global air travel rebound.

Even though Dubai’s key source market of China remains closed due to severe pandemic restrictions, the nearly 28 million people who have passed through the airport in the last six months represent roughly 70% of the airport’s pre-pandemic levels. Griffiths anticipates that traffic at the airport will return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of next year.

“It’s a very welcome increase in traffic,” Griffiths said.

International soccer fans will flock to Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central for the Middle East’s first World Cup, he added (DWC). From there, they’ll make daily trips to Qatar.

“We’ve seen a lot of demand at DWC for slot filings for airlines that want to run a shuttle service,” he said. “I believe the World Cup has a lot to offer and a lot to gain for the city.”

He said that Qatar Airways, low-cost carrier FlyDubai, and budget airline Wizz Air Abu Dhabi are among the airlines buying extra slots to shuttle soccer fans to the tournament from DWC.

Plans to transform Dubai’s southern desert airfield into a mega-aviation hub, first announced by Dubai before the 2008 global financial crisis, have stalled in recent years. As commercial flights were halted due to the pandemic, long-haul carrier Emirates parked many of its double-deckers Airbus A380s in Dubai.

As a key East-West transit point, Dubai’s air traffic is closely monitored as a barometer of the city-non-oil state’s economy. Emirates remains the cornerstone of the larger empire known as “Dubai Inc.,” an interconnected network of government-owned businesses.

Dubai International Airport handled nearly 56% more flights in the first half of 2022 than in the same period in 2021 when the more contagious coronavirus variants ravaged the industry.

In a sign of the industry’s health, Emirates announced last Wednesday that it would invest billions of dollars in retrofitting much of its Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 fleet. The airline received a $4 billion government bailout during the height of the pandemic.

The widespread removal of virus restrictions has resulted in a surge in air travel demand, crowding Dubai’s hub and causing havoc at airports around the world.

While Dubai has not experienced the chaotic crowds that have engulfed European hubs in recent weeks, Griffiths claims that global disruptions have affected its main airport.

“It’s obviously had an impact on growth because some of the capacity caps that they’ve imposed on airports like Heathrow have had an impact on our numbers,” he explained.

Emirates lashed out at Heathrow last month, refusing to cap departing passengers and cutting flights to the London hub. Emirates later agreed to temporarily limit flight sales.

Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine sent Russia’s wealthiest businessmen scrambling to save their assets from what became a widening dragnet, Dubai has seen a surge in Russian visitors to its beachfront villas and luxury hotels. The city is still one of Moscow’s few remaining flight corridors.

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