Flight International - November 10, 2015

AIR TRANSPORT

14 | Flight International | 10-16 November 2015 flightglobal.com

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INTERIORS

New cabins for Air Canada A330s

Air Canada

ST Aerospace has secured a cabin reconfiguration contract with Air

Canada for eight Airbus A330-300s.

The lead aircraft will be inducted in the first quarter of 2016, with

the last twin-aisle targeted for redelivery a year later. The work will see

additional premium-economy seats, an enlarged economy-class cabin

and the integration of audio- and video-on-demand systems. ST Aero

also will conduct maintenance checks on all eight widebody twins.

The maintenance provider has previously undertaken similar work

for Air Canada’s Boeing 767-300 fleet.

L

uxembourg-based freight op-

erator Cargolux is facing more

pressure from its LGCB union,

which will ballot members over

industrial action.

The union – which is trying to

obtain job security by blocking

the company from outsourcing

flightcrew and ground personnel

– claims there has been a “lack of

any meaningful progress” in talks

over a new collective agreement.

LGCB has become increasingly

concerned over the build-up of

the carrier’s Milan-based opera-

tion, Cargolux Italia, the fleet of

which has been gradually ex-

panded. Cargolux has been trans-

ferring aircraft as part of a cost-re-

duction strategy, given the

pressures on the dedicated

freighter sector.

The union, which wants to

limit Cargolux Italia’s operations,

claims it has put forward propos-

als for $10 million in labour sav-

ings, much of it from pilots.

While acknowledging that a

strike would have “consequenc-

es” for the airline, the union ar-

gues that it has “no choice” but to

look at industrial action.

It states that it will conduct a

ballot “shortly”.

The ballot will put more pres-

sure on the airline when the sides

enter a new round of collective

bargaining talks, scheduled for 11

November. The current labour

pact expires on 1 December. ■

DISPUTE DAVID KAMINSKI-MORROW LONDON

Cargolux under pressure

as union row intensifies

SAFETY JON HEMMERDINGER WASHINGTON DC

ALPA recharges

call for outright

li-ion battery ban

Pilot body says ICAO safety panel’s decision not to prohibit

carriage of fire-prone lithium cells poses risk to flightcrews

T

he Air Line Pilots Association

(ALPA), the largest US pilots’

union, has repeated calls to end

air shipments of lithium-ion bat-

teries, after an international body

stopped short of recommending a

ban from commercial aircraft.

ALPA says the decision by the

International Civil Aviation

Organisation’s dangerous goods

panel does not protect pilots from

a well-documented threat posed

by the transport of lithium-ion

batteries. Describing ICAO’s fail-

ure to act as “unacceptable”,

ALPA president Tim Canoll says

lives are being put at risk.

“Until ICAO develops im-

proved packaging regulations...

that guarantee that lithium battery

fires will not spread, an interim

ban on shipping them on all air-

craft is essential to safeguarding

air transportation,” he says.

“We hope that ICAO will ulti-

mately make the right decision for

protecting passengers, crews and

cargo by instituting an interim ban

on shipping,” he adds.

While full details of the ICAO

panel’s recommendations have

yet to emerge, it is not calling for

an outright ban on the carriage of

lithium-ion cells – a move already

adopted by some passenger air-

lines. It does, however, recom-

mend that lithium-ion batteries

only be transported if they are

charged to no more than 30% ca-

pacity.

ICAO has been discussing the

issue since at least 2007, but flight-

crew concerns have intensified

following the loss, after in-flight

fires, of two Boeing 747-400Fs – a

UPS aircraft in Dubai in 2010 and

an Asiana Airlines freighter off the

South Korean coast in 2011.

Investigators believe that in

both cases the li-ion batteries car-

ried as cargo contributed to the

fatal accidents. ■

imageBroker/Rex Shutterstock

A UPS 747-400F was lost in Dubai following an in-flight blaze

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