AFA calls for halt to all leisure travel, calls for volunteers to work in hospitals

The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA) today released the following statement on the Department of Transportation’s show cause order proposing parameters for initially implementing the authority granted to the Secretary of Transportation by Sections 4005 and 4114 of the Coronavirus Aid, Recovery, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act). AFA President Sara Nelson said:

“We applaud the Department of Transportation for taking swift action to define continued essential service, which will help curb exposure and spread of the virus. We encourage the administration to take additional steps to cut redundant service that puts airline workers at unnecessary risk. DOT should have the full support of lawmakers and the entire administration to coordinate air travel with this as the objective and AFA will support those actions with comments and pressing for further legislative action.

“The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA supports government and airline efforts to focus on fighting the virus and limiting spread through aviation. To be clear, this is only applicable if the airlines take part in the CARES Act relief. This ties together the health crisis and financial crisis that we must confront at the same time.

“Our union has been working with officials to promote a government coordinated effort to maintain only essential service until our nation has flattened the curve of this virus.

“Our airlines – with flight attendants, pilots, and all of the people on the frontlines of aviation – have played a role in repatriating Americans who were overseas as this global emergency spread and our airlines have transported both medical professionals and supplies to communities to help fight the virus. Aviation’s First Responders have been on the frontlines of helping to deliver both people and supplies, as well as uniting families who are grieving or rushing to be with those who have fallen ill due to the virus or many of life’s tragedies. Some are traveling for medical treatment unrelated to the pandemic. Passenger aircraft carry the vast majority of mail and cargo. For all of these reasons air service is essential, although should be planned to limit contact and exposure such as designating certain flights as cargo only when applicable.

“To be clear, we have been and are currently calling for a halt to leisure travel and coordinated efforts to limit passenger flights to essential service only. We are resolute about this, but it is not an easy task and we support our airlines and our government in navigating this complicated but necessary planning.

“Our union is also calling for Flight Attendant volunteers to help our medical community. As flights are pulled down, it may be that aviation’s first responders have time to help. We are discussing with government and medical support services the critical need for extra hands – either through virtual on-line assistance or hands on at hospitals and medical centers. Flight Attendants who are willing to help may be in a unique position to do so, with our baseline immediate response training and skills among our membership that include credentialed medical professionals. Last night AFA posted a volunteer form for Flight Attendants to indicate their desire to volunteer.

“We must all work together to take actions that eradicate the threat of COVID-19. Aviation’s first responders will continue to do everything we can to support our country’s efforts to save lives and restart our economy.”

Virgin Atlantic parks its last three Airbus A340-600s at Bournemouth

Virgin Atlantic Airways on March 24, 2020 decided to ferry its last three Airbus A340-600s (G-VWIN, G-VFIT and G-VNAP) from Prestwick International Airport (PIK) to Bournemouth (BOH) for storage. The last revenue flight was operated on March 8, 2020.

Last revenue flights:

G-VWIN – March 7, 2020 – flight VS58 Bridgetown, Barbados – London (Gatwick)

G-VFIT – March 8, 2020 – flight VS412 Lagos – London (Heathrow) (last revenue flight)

G-VNAP – February 15, 2020 – flight VS58 Bridgetown, Barbados – London (Gatwick)

Virgin Atlantic took delivery on July 22, 2002 of the first A340-600 (G-VSKY) as the launch customer. The type entered revenue service on August 1, 2002 on the London (Heathrow) – New York (JFK) route.

Above Copyright Photo: Virgin Atlantic Airways Airbus A340-642 G-VNAP (msn 622) (A big Virgin Atlantic thank you) LHR (Antony J. Best). Image: 945086.

Top Copyright Photo: Virgin Atlantic Airways Airbus A340-642 G-VWIN (msn 736) LHR (SPA). Image: 934153.

Virgin Atlantic aircraft slide show:

Virgin Atlantic release this tribute to the type:

Farewell and thank you to our A340-600s

BY: MICHAEL OAKES

At 15:04 on Tuesday 24 March, G-VWIN Lady Luck touched down on a positioning flight to Bournemouth airport. This marked something of a momentous occasion – as it would be the final Virgin Atlantic flight for our trusty workhorse, our Airbus A340-600.

We intended to retire our remaining A340s from the fleet early this year as part of our fleet transformation plan: The 787 joined our fleet between 2014-2018, A350 deliveries are now well underway, and the A330neo will join the fleet from late 2021 to complete the modernisation of our entire fleet over a ten-year period. The result will be one of the youngest fleets in the skies, halving our average aircraft age by 2024 to just 5.3 years and reducing our carbon emissions by 32 percent.

With the recent developments in our response to the global impact of Covid-19 it made sense to bring forward retiring the A340s from service, so G-VFIT Dancing Queen made its final passenger flight earlier in March, and have moved to a new home in Bournemouth last week, along with G-VNAP Sleeping Beauty and G-VWIN Lady Luck, both of which had also touched down there earlier that day. You may still get to see them in the sky, flying charters for their new owner.

One of the last A340 flight departures. Photo by John Powell from our engineering team.

These, our last three A340s, together spent close to 180,000 hours in the sky over more than 21,000 flights during their time in the Virgin Atlantic fleet. Ironically, in all her years flying with us, Lady Luck never made it to Las Vegas.

We took delivery of our first A340-300, G-VBUS Lady in Red, back in April 1993.

Richard with Princess Diana naming G-VBUS, Lady in Red. Read the full story of our first Airbus here

We were the launch customer for the longer A340-600, flying the first ever commercial service on the type in August 2002. At the time the A340-600 joined us, it was the longest commercial aeroplane in the skies (the Boeing 747-8 later stole the title by just 93cm).

“Our hangar was first opened in a celebration ceremony to unveil the world’s first Airbus A340-600 to enter passenger service; G-VSHY. The unveiling called for a great celebration complete with a visit from Richard Branson, Claudia Schiffer and dancers hanging from the ceiling while Liberty X performed!” The aircraft then flew off with staff and invited guests to star at the Farnborough Airshow” – Terry Flynn, Manager – Aircraft Assets

Ten A340-300s and 19 A340-600s have graced the Virgin Atlantic fleet in total, traveling the length and breadth of our network and indeed the globe, from New York to Sydney – and many places in between. One of them even scored a cameo role in the 2006 Bond film, Casino Royale! (you can read all about our association with James Bond here)

Back in the 90s we adopted the #4Engines4Longhaul slogan for the fleet, which was the style at the time. However, as newer, more efficient twin-engine aircraft entered the scene, our quad-engine fleet became more expensive to run – and created higher carbon emissions. And while some of our customers continue to maintain an almost fanatical admiration for them, many others prefer to fly on other aircraft (exacerbated by the incredible experience our new A350s offer). But you can’t deny there’s a certain charm and charisma about the A340 that many of us are so fond of.

In 2018 we actually brought one back from retirement. Sleeping Beauty Rejuvenated re-entered service after a couple of years in storage, giving our people and customers more time to enjoy her. We won’t be able to do that again, but you can read all about her story, and that of the “A Big Virgin Atlantic Thank You” that you may have seen on her here.

Ian’s story

Having been on the first A340-600 Training course in Toulouse in 2002, I was amongst the first Virgin Engineers to certify our first aircraft delivered that year G-VSHY, I not only worked the aircraft in Heathrow but in New York and later in Lagos and Delhi.

Following on from the highly successful -300 that served us so well, Airbus built on that foundation to heavily stretch the forward and rear fuselage with large ‘plug’ sections, upgraded the much needed power requirements with the 50k lb thrust of the RR Trent engines and increased efficiency of various system modifications and improvements to make a formidable, solid built aircraft that has stood the test of time but without changing the design philosophy.

Personally one area that impressed me was the redesign of the centre landing gear for the increased payload, not only to now include 4 wheels but had the ingenious facility to tilt both ways in “Dip” for landing and “Trail” for stowing in the gear bay on retraction.

I am proud to have been involved with the aircraft from the start.

So, on behalf of the many millions of passengers and pets who flew on them and the pilots, engineers, cabin crew and airport teams who knew this graceful and elegant flying machine so well; Thank you and Godspeed, old friend!

We thought we’d end this post with the words (and photos) of some of the many people who flew our A340s through the years…

This photo was taken on G-VWEB in her final flight as a Virgin Atlantic aircraft in Tarbes. The aircraft in shot is G-VJAM which was soon to be delivered to us. Out with the old, in with the new. – Adam Pursey, senior first officer.

Collecting Bubbles (G-VFIZ) from Manila at sunrise for a 14 hour empty flight to Heathrow. – Martin Curtis-Goodall, cabin services supervisor

Bringing back an empty A346 from Manilla back in August 2018 was a wonderful experience. – Alex Gojkovic, cabin service supervisor

July 2013 G-VNAP landing into Heathrow – Jane Unwin, Safety Investigator

G-VRED – An early morning start in Newark with New York in the background.- Andrew Murdoch, senior first officer

Last A340-600 flight for me. Last operational flight with my father and probably the last time I will fly a four engined aircraft.- Andrew Murdoch, senior first officer

My personal favourite 346 moment was seeing these kids from Three Bridges Primary on a visit to our Heathrow hangar. Their little faces gazing up at G-VFIT in wonderment, so lovely to see! – Gareth Neale, Manager, corporate communications

Giving Lady Luck as much runway as possible on its return flight from Tupelo. – Tom Minto, Manager, Aircraft Maintenance

Dropping G-VBUG off at San Bernardino to be scrapped was a strange trip but a special one with a great crew. – Simon Flood, senior first officer

My very first flight as crew, G-VFIZ “Bubbles” gave me my wings! – Amber-Jayne Fitch, cabin crew

The A340-600 aircraft was my favourite aircraft to fly and work on (sorry Boeing guys!) Funny enough i have great memories from 2012 of bringing back the European team from the Ryder Cup that year. It was touch and go as to whether they would win the Cup but we obviously had full confidence in them as we sent G-VWIN to bring them back from Chicago Rockford airport. Bye old girl, you’ll be missed. – Patrick O’Callaghan, cabin crew

VBUG delivery day in Toulouse – 28 Feb 2007. Our final A346 – Nik Blundell, Head of group capital accounting

End of an era. Always my fave aircraft-so sad to see them go. Will miss them a lot… -Michelle Gray, cabin crew

Nairobi Inaugural with a crew led in the cabin by Eddie – Lish Kelly, Trainer, flyer.

Group 801 visiting G-VFIZ, Bubbles, on our Airbus aircraft visit on 22/03/17 – Amy Perry, cabin crew

Retirement flight of G-VBUG – Helen Newcombe, cabin services supervisor

Our A340 fleet:

G-VFIT	Airbus	A340-642	Dancing Queen
G-VYOU	Airbus	A340-642	Emmeline Heaney
G-VRED	Airbus	A340-642	Scarlet Lady
G-VWEB	Airbus	A340-642	Surfer Girl
G-VNAP	Airbus	A340-642	Sleeping Beauty Rejuvenated
G-VAEL	Airbus	A340-300	Maiden Toulouse
G-VBUS	Airbus	A340-300	Lady in Red
G-VFLY	Airbus	A340-300	Dragon Lady
G-VHOL	Airbus	A340-300	Jetstreamer
G-VSEA	Airbus	A340-300	Plane Sailing
G-VSKY	Airbus	A340-300	China Girl
G-VAIR	Airbus	A340-300	Maiden Tokyo
G-VELD	Airbus	A340-300	African Queen
G-VFAR	Airbus	A340-300	Molly
G-VSUN	Airbus	A340-300	Rainbow Lady
G-VATL	Airbus	A340-600	Miss Kitty
G-VBLU	Airbus	A340-600	Soul Sister
G-VBUG	Airbus	A340-600	Lady Bird
G-VEIL	Airbus	A340-600	Queen of the Skies
G-VFIZ	Airbus	A340-600	Bubbles
G-VFOX	Airbus	A340-600	Silver Lady
G-VGAS	Airbus	A340-600	Varga Girl
G-VGOA	Airbus	A340-600	Indian Princess
G-VMEG	Airbus	A340-600	Mystic Maiden
G-VOGE	Airbus	A340-600	Cover Girl
G-VSHY	Airbus	A340-600	Madame Butterfly
G-VSSH	Airbus	A340-600	Sweet Dreamer
G-VWKD	Airbus	A340-600	Miss Behavin

Eurowings reduces its schedule to about 10% of previous schedule

Eurowings has made this announcement:

Due to the ever-increasing spread of the coronavirus and the resulting drop in bookings as well as numerous entry restrictions, Eurowings recently had to drastically adjust its flight schedule. The flight program on offer has been temporarily reduced to around ten percent of the previous capacity. The flight cancellations will be gradually implemented in the booking systems and passengers will be informed about changes and rebooking possibilities.

A focus of the reduced flight schedule will continue to be the repatriation flights from the most important holiday regions, enabling Eurowings European citizens to return safely to their home countries. In recent weeks Eurowings has already flown home about 20,000 passengers on more than 100 flights.

In detail the reduced program looks like this:

Eurowings flights from Düsseldorf

From Düsseldorf, Eurowings operates up to nine flights a week to Hamburg and Berlin, up to six flights a week to Vienna, Zurich and London and up to two flights a week to Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona, Rome, Milan, Lisbon, and Thessaloniki.

Eurowings flights from Hamburg

From Hamburg, Eurowings operates up to nine flights a week to Stuttgart and Düsseldorf and up to six flights a week to Cologne/Bonn.

Eurowings flights from Cologne/Bonn

From Cologne/Bonn, Eurowings offers up to six weekly flights each to Hamburg and Munich as well as up to nine weekly connections to Berlin.

Eurowings flights from Stuttgart

From Stuttgart, Eurowings currently flies its passengers up to nine times a week to Hamburg and Berlin and up to twice a week to Zagreb.

During the Easter holidays there may be deviations from the basic flight program.

In other news, Eurowings and Lufthansa are introducing further measures to ensure physical distance between passengers during their journey.

From March 27, 2020, neighboring seats on board in Economy Class and Premium Economy will be blocked and remain free on all flights from Germany. This also applies to flights within Germany.

This regulation does not apply on flights to Germany, because the airlines top priority remains returning as many people as possible to their home country.

In addition, from now on all Eurowings and Lufthansa flights at domestic airports will only be handled at building positions wherever possible given the existing airport infrastructure and official regulations. This measure intends to help pas-sengers avoid having to take bus trips. Where this is not possible at short notice, twice as many buses will be operating, which has also been the case for the last few days.

Both measures will apply until April 19, 2020.

Eurowings and Lufthansa have already taken numerous measures to increase the distance between passengers along the entire travel chain, for example at check-in counters or when boarding and disembarking from the aircraft. The service on board has also been adapted regarding the current physical distancing measures.

Germanwings and Eurowings Europe take a temporary break

Due to all the entry bans and curfews, the two airlines Germanwings and Eurowings Europe, which fly on behalf of Eurowings, will temporarily leave their aircraft on the ground and take a break. The flight schedule of Eurowings Germany will also be significantly reduced – with exception of the return flights and the aforementioned fuselage program at major German stations. These measures are designed to reduce the financial consequences of the slump in demand. They complement the already planned savings in personnel, material costs and project budgets as well as other liquidity measures. Eurowings is currently engaged in constructive discussions with its operating partners and trade unions on short-time working.

Eurowings aircraft photo gallery:

ANA cuts more flights for the summer season

All Nippon Airways (ANA) will temporarily change its flight frequency to and from select cities.

Changes to the FY2020 summer schedule (March 29 – April 24)
A total of 11 flights serving 9 routes to the following cities will be affected by the changes announced today, bringing the total number of affected flights during the summer schedule (March 29 – April 24) to 3,943 serving 71 different routes.

* Before the changes, ANA planned to serve a total of 4,653 flights serving 72 routes from March 29 until April 24.

Today’s announcement is marked in yellow and unaffected flights are marked in grey.

Asia / Oceania

North America / Panpacific

Europe

Flight schedule for Narita = Hong Kong (NH1929/1930)

ANA will continue to closely monitor the situation and will take appropriate action when needed.

ANA Aircraft photo gallery:

Southwest transports volunteer health care workers to New York

Southwest Airlines released this statement and photo:

While so many of us continue to feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, no one knows what is happening quite like our medical professionals. These brave souls soldier on in the midst of tremendous risk and exposure, constantly putting the needs of others above their own. Their selfless sacrifice is a beacon of light during such a dark time in our world, and no amount of gratitude and praise would ever be enough. Because of their courage, our family, our friends, our coworkers, our neighbors, and more have a fighting chance.

More than a dozen healthcare professionals from Atlanta answered the call this past Friday evening to serve in New York. This photo embodies it all: bravery, courage, and sacrifice. If it were easy, everyone would do it, but we know that is not the case. Thankfully, this group and countless others do it each day, and for that we are forever grateful and in their debt. So to all the first responders, medical professionals, healthcare workers, and anyone else on the front lines today and every day to keep us safe, thank you.

Photo: Southwest Employee Dayartra E.

British Airways parks most of its Boeing 747-400s

British Airways has ferried the pictured Boeing 747-436 G-BNLY to Bournemouth (BOH) for storage. The Jumbo has been taken out of service. The airliner was painted in the 1984 Landor livery to help celebrate 100 Years of flying.

Five Boeing 747-400s are being moved to BOH today and 5 to Teruel Airpot (TEV), Spain tomorrow.

The aircraft are being moved from Heathrow Airport due to the reduced schedule and aircraft parking constraints.

British Airways is storing its Boeing 747-400s at Bournemouth, Cardiff and Teruel.

There appears to be three active BA 747-400s as of April 4, 2020 (G-BYGC, G-BYGG and G-CIVY).

British Airways now has over 30 aircraft parked at Bournemouth.

British Airways aircraft slide show:

British Airways to suspend all operations at Gatwick Airport

British Airways has announced it is suspending all flights from London’s Gatwick Airport effective April 1, 2020.

Photo: Gatwick Airport.

Transavia Airlines (Netherlands) cancels all flights until May 6

Transavia Airlines (Netherlands) has made this announcement:

A lot of countries are setting access restrictions because of the coronavirus. This makes it difficult or even impossible to travel in and out of countries. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs advices only to travel abroad if this is necessary. That is why we have decided to cancel all flights from the Netherlands from Monday, March 23 to Wednesday, May 6. If your outbound flight is before May 7, and your return flight is after that date, we will cancel your whole booking. The main booker will receive a message from us via email.

Repatriation
We still carry out repatriation flights for the ministry of Foreign Affairs. If you are still in a foreign country and want to go home to The Netherlands, register yourself at the platform Special Assistance Abroad.

After May 6
The Dutch government announced new restrictions in the Netherlands on March 23. For now, these have no effect on our flight schedule, but we may also have to cancel flights after May 6. We follow the advice of the World Health Organization and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment. If you book a flight that departs after May 6, this flight might be cancelled. In that case you will receive an email. For the value of your booking you will receive a voucher from us, with which you can later book a new ticket.

Transavia (Netherlands) aircraft photo gallery:

Lufthansa agrees on short-time work

Lufthansa has made this announcement:

More than 27,000 employees of Deutsche Lufthansa AG will be affected by short-time work
Agreements applies to cockpit, cabin and ground staff
Agreement with pilots union “Vereinigung Cockpit” pending
The Supervisory Board, Executive Board and Management have voluntarily waived part of their salary

Lufthansa has signed agreements with its works council and trade unions to introduce short-time working for cabin and ground staff in Frankfurt and Munich. This also applies to the management. An agreement with the pilots union “Vereinigung Cockpit” has not yet been reached.

The extent of reduced working hours is determined for employees depending on the loss of work and can be up to 100 percent. For some of the employees, reduced working hours began retrospectively in March 2020. The agreements apply to at least 27,000 employees of the approximately 35,000 employees of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

“With short-time working, we want to secure jobs of our employees in these difficult and unusual times. Our goal remains trying to avoid redundancies. The agreement of short-time work is an essential prerequisite for this. We will have to constantly review the economic parameters,” says Michael Niggemann, Chief Officer Corporate Human Resources and Legal Affairs at Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

Based on the current agreements, Lufthansa for the time being is increasing the short-time working allowance up to 90 per cent of the net salary lost through short-time working. How long Deutsche Lufthansa AG can pay these top-up amounts depends largely on the duration of the crisis.

In solidarity with all employee groups, the Lufthansa Supervisory Board, Executive Board and Management will also participate in the measures. The members of the Supervisory Board have voluntarily waived 25 percent of their compensation, the members of the Executive Board have waived 20 percent and managers not affected by short-time working have waived between 10 and 15 percent of their monthly basic compensation. The voluntary waiver of remuneration for the Supervisory Board, board members and all managers in Germany will apply from April 1, 2020 for at least a period of six months until the end of September.

The proposal to discontinue the dividend for the 2019 financial year will further help in securing liquidity of Deutsche Lufthansa AG.

More than 30 companies in the Lufthansa Group, whose employees have German employment contracts, have already or will gradually fall under reduced working hours. These measures also come in effect for airlines in the Lufthansa Group in Austria, Switzerland and Belgium.

Lufthansa aircraft photo gallery:

American Airlines operates the last Boeing 767 revenue flight

American Airlines had previously announced it was moving up the retirement of its 17 remaining 209-seat Boeing 767-300 ERs to May 2020. Previously the target retirement date was early 2021.

Due to the extraordinary downturn in passenger demand, the downsizing carrier has apparently again moved up the target retirement date as it will operate newer aircraft on its remaining long-range routes.

On Monday, March 30, 2020 the airline operated the last revenue flight for the Boeing 767. The pictured Boeing 767-323 ER N347AN (top) operated a repatriation flight from Lima, Peru to the Miami hub. Flight AA 9441 arrived in Miami at 8:39 pm (2039) (local time) on March 30, 2020 closing out an era for American Airlines.

Today’s flight from Miami to San Juan with N347AN was cancelled.

Instead N347AN was ferried to Roswell, NM on March 31, 2020 as flight AA9648.

N347AN joined the other Boeing 767-300s in storage at Roswell, NM.