ANA crew strike in Japan

Air travel in Japan was disrupted today as pilots and cabin crew at All Nippon Airways (ANA) staged a 24-hour strike.  Due to the strike, 137 domestic flights were said to have been canceled, and another 30 were delayed.  No international flights were disrupted.

Bloomberg News reports:

The Tokyo-based airline plans to cut 14 billion yen ($142 million) in labor costs in the fiscal year starting next month by slashing salaries and bonuses as passenger numbers slump. ANA has agreed to cut salaries of regular managers by 5 percent and was in negotiation with unions on pay adjustments for regular employees.

The four unions that are striking say that a difference between wages at ANA’s main airline and its subsidiaries will widen if it doesn’t take action, according to a statement dated March 15 on the Web site of Air Nippon Network Pilot Union.

The Mainichi Daily News adds that this is the first strike affecting ANA's domestic flights since April 2007.

ANA is Japan's largest domestic air carrier.

All Nippon to outsource cargo to ABX Air

In order to expand its capacity All Nippon Airways (ANA), Japan's largest domestic airline, will outsource some air cargo flights within Asia to ABX Air Inc. The deal marks the first such agreement between a Japanese air cargo carrier and an overseas airline on outsourcing flight and crew operations.

Beginning on May 15, 2007 ABX will operate 22 round-trip flights a week for ANA, according to a Bloomberg News item about the new agreement. ABX Air will fly two B767-200 aircraft for All Nippon in the Asian market, including Japan, China and Thailand. Reuters reports that most of the flights will be between Kansai International Airport in Osaka and a handful of major cities including Beijing, Bangkok and Hong Kong.

An article on MSN Money quotes ABX president and CEO Joe Hete, who said, "The Asian economy is the fastest-growing market in the world, and this agreement underscores ABX's commitment to grow its presence as an international provider of aircraft and aircraft-related services."

ABX has been trying to broaden its business beyond serving its major client, DHL, which accounted for 98% of ABX sales in 2005. The new deal with ANA is expected to generate about $22 million a year for ABX.

According to a Business Wire release, the agreement is for an initial period of two years, with an option for annual renewals thereafter. This is the first time the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) has approved a foreign carrier to conduct cargo aircraft operations on behalf of a Japanese airline.

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Recent DHC-8 landing gear problems in Japan

News media are reporting that a Bombardier DHC-8-103 airplane operated by Japanese regional carrier Amakusa Airlines Co. made an emergency landing in Kumamoto Prefecture in southwestern Japan because its landing gear failed to lower. A brief article on Bloomberg.com about the incident quotes officials of the Japanese Transport Ministry who said that the aircraft landed safely after the gear was lowered manually. There were no injuries to the 15 passengers and three crew aboard the aircraft.

This incident follows another a week ago when a similar aircraft operated by All Nippon Airways (ANA) made a nose gear-up emergency landing at Kochi airport in western Japan after the gear failed to deploy. That aircraft, a DHC-8-400, was carrying 56 passengers and four crew. None were reported to be injured.

An article about last week's emergency landing on FlightGlobal.com includes photos of the damaged aircraft after it came to a rest on the runway. The article says that live television pictures of the emergency landing in Kochi showed sparks from the nose as it made contact with the runway on the landing roll.

ANA subsequently grounded its entire fleet of Bombardier planes and the Japanese Transport Ministry ordered emergency inspections for all 36 Bombardier DHC-8s in use in Japan, according to CBC News in Canada. After the inspection, the aircraft were returned to service.

CBC News quoted Bombardier spokesman Marc Holloran who said this was the first incident of its kind since the so-called Q400 series of aircraft was put into service in 2000.