Cabin Crew

Union officials in Sweden say some 400 cabin crew members have gone on strike after they failed to reach an agreement with three airlines over working hours. The union, called Unionen, says the stewards who work for TUIfly Nordic, Novair and Primera Air went on strile on Tuesday. It says it wants its members to work a maximum of 42 hours a week, while the employers want to be able to schedule the cabin crew to work up to 60 hours a week. The three airlines fly for package holiday organizers Apollo, Fritidsresor and Solresor.

Union officials in Sweden say some 400 cabin crew members have gone on strike after they failed to reach an agreement with three airlines over working hours. The union, called Unionen, says the stewards who work for TUIfly Nordic, Novair and Primera Air went on strile on Tuesday. It says it wants its members to work a maximum of 42 hours a week, while the employers want to be able to schedule the cabin crew to work up to 60 hours a week. The three airlines fly for package holiday organizers Apollo, Fritidsresor and Solresor.

LONDON — Retiree Richard Moore arrived at Heathrow with a suitcase of summer clothes for a Miami cruise only to be sent to Denver. Susan Danby wondered whether plans for a joint 50th birthday celebration in Las Vegas would be a losing bet. The start of a three-day strike by cabin crew at British Airways spurred chaos and passenger angst yesterday as union members promised more airline and rail walkouts in the coming weeks while Britain prepares...

BANGKOK — Four Thai “ladyboys’’ have been recruited as flight attendants for a start-up charter airline that says it will be Thailand’s first to include transsexuals among its cabin crew. P.C. Air, which will fly to several Asian destinations, had its first training session this week for 30 recruits, including four from “the third sex.’’ Thailand is known for its tolerance for transvestites and transsexuals, known locally as “katoeys’’ or “ladyboys.’’ But while katoeys are prominent in entertainment, frequently appearing on television series and in...

LONDON — A British Airways computer specialist was charged yesterday with plotting suicide bombings — including one he allegedly planned to carry out himself. Prosecutor Colin Gibbs alleged that Rajib Karim, a native of Bangladesh, deliberately took a job with the airline to further an unspecified terrorist conspiracy. Gibbs told the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court that the 30-year-old plotted over the past four years with unidentified contacts in his home country, Pakistan, and Yemen.

DUBLIN - Aer Lingus Group PLC will slash its workforce by almost one-fifth and reduce wages for better-paid employees as the Irish airline seeks to cut costs and survive the recession. A total of 676 positions will be eliminated, and salaries of more than $51,000 a year will be reduced, Aer Lingus said yesterday. Chief executive Christoph Mueller said that the outlook for Ireland’s second-biggest carrier is poor and that more jobs may have to go to ensure the company’s viability.

BANGKOK — Four Thai “ladyboys’’ have been recruited as flight attendants for a start-up charter airline that says it will be Thailand’s first to include transsexuals among its cabin crew. P.C. Air, which will fly to several Asian destinations, had its first training session this week for 30 recruits, including four from “the third sex.’’ Thailand is known for its tolerance for transvestites and transsexuals, known locally as “katoeys’’ or “ladyboys.’’ But while katoeys are prominent in entertainment, frequently appearing on television...

LONDON — British Airways and the union representing its cabin crew were no closer to resolving a dispute over pay and conditions yesterday as a strike that has grounded thousands of flights entered its third — and busiest — day. Operations at the airline were put under more strain than over the weekend as there are far more flights packed into normal scheduling. The airline said it operated 273, or 78 percent, of its long-haul flights and 442, or 50 percent, of its short-haul flights over the first two days of the strikes.

LONDON — British Airways’ cabin-crew union may vote as early as next week on extending a strike that grounded flights for tens of thousands of Britons during one of the United Kingdom’s busiest holidays for air travel. The third day of the second phase of a walkout by flight attendants passed yesterday with no sign of a resolution to the dispute. British Airways canceled more than 200 flights from its main base at Heathrow Airport over the long weekend, according to the Unite union, which represents the carrier’s 12,000 cabin crew.

LONDON -- Last-minute talks aimed at averting a 48-hour strike by thousands of British Airways PLC cabin crew members will continue today after unions were unable to reach an agreement in weekend talks. Whatever the outcome regarding the planned strike tomorrow and Wednesday, the airline already has canceled 1,300 flights to and from London airports, including Heathrow and Gatwick, to allow its customers time to make alternative travel arrangements. The Transport and General Workers Union has proposed other walkouts Feb. 5-7 and...

LONDON — British Airways’ cabin-crew union may vote as early as next week on extending a strike that grounded flights for tens of thousands of Britons during one of the United Kingdom’s busiest holidays for air travel. The third day of the second phase of a walkout by flight attendants passed yesterday with no sign of a resolution to the dispute. British Airways canceled more than 200 flights from its main base at Heathrow Airport over the long weekend, according to the Unite union, which represents the carrier’s 12,000 cabin crew.

LONDON — British Airways and the union representing its cabin crew were no closer to resolving a dispute over pay and conditions yesterday as a strike that has grounded thousands of flights entered its third — and busiest — day. Operations at the airline were put under more strain than over the weekend as there are far more flights packed into normal scheduling. The airline said it operated 273, or 78 percent, of its long-haul flights and 442, or 50 percent, of its short-haul flights over the first two days of the strikes.

LONDON — Retiree Richard Moore arrived at Heathrow with a suitcase of summer clothes for a Miami cruise only to be sent to Denver. Susan Danby wondered whether plans for a joint 50th birthday celebration in Las Vegas would be a losing bet. The start of a three-day strike by cabin crew at British Airways spurred chaos and passenger angst yesterday as union members promised more airline and rail walkouts in the coming weeks while Britain prepares...

LONDON — A British Airways computer specialist was charged yesterday with plotting suicide bombings — including one he allegedly planned to carry out himself. Prosecutor Colin Gibbs alleged that Rajib Karim, a native of Bangladesh, deliberately took a job with the airline to further an unspecified terrorist conspiracy. Gibbs told the City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court that the 30-year-old plotted over the past four years with unidentified contacts in his home country, Pakistan, and Yemen.

DUBLIN - Aer Lingus Group PLC will slash its workforce by almost one-fifth and reduce wages for better-paid employees as the Irish airline seeks to cut costs and survive the recession. A total of 676 positions will be eliminated, and salaries of more than $51,000 a year will be reduced, Aer Lingus said yesterday. Chief executive Christoph Mueller said that the outlook for Ireland’s second-biggest carrier is poor and that more jobs may have to go to ensure the company’s viability.

Air France's 15,000 cabin crew employees disrupted service for a third day yesterday to protest cuts in staffing, grounding about 12 percent of flights, including long-haul trips to North America. Air France-KLM Group stock fell 6.9 percent in Paris after its French unit said 88 percent of 1,000 scheduled flights would operate yesterday. Cabin-crew unions called a strike for Oct. 29 to Nov. 2 as they seek to halt plans to cut staff levels on Airbus SAS single-aisle jets. Air France is seeking to cut costs following an earnings slump.

Airline officials say flight attendants spotted a mouse in the pantry of a Boeing 757, prompting Nepal Airlines to cancel a Bangkok-bound flight, evacuate passengers and tow the jet to a hangar to hunt for the rodent. Airline spokesman Raju K.C. says the mouse is believed to have boarded the plane at the Katmandu airport Monday through a food catering truck. He says the animal darted out of the pantry toward the back of the plane, where it remained unnoticed by the few passengers who had boarded.