Qantas urges pilots to agree on pay deal for world’s longest commercial flights

Qantas urges pilots to agree on pay deal for world’s longest commercial flights

SINGAPORE: Australia's Qantas Airways has urged its pilots to reach agreement on a pay deal for the world's longest commercial flights or face being replaced for those routes.. The airline selected the Airbus A350-1000 as the preferred plane for the new routes to cities including London and New York in the first half of 2023, but it said that an order for up to 12 jets was contingent on reaching a deal with pilots by March.. Qantas and the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA), which represents the pilots, have spent months in talks over a new pay deal.. "Our strong preference is to reach an agreement with our pilots," he said in a statement after the memo was sent.. The profit decline was mainly due to weak sales in the United States as well as Japan, where the impact of the nation's sales tax hike hit auto demand, the company said in a statement.. Nissan, which downgraded annual forecasts three months ago, said its bottom-line profit was now forecast to be ¥65 billion for the fiscal year to March 2020, compared with an earlier estimate of ¥110 billion..