Virgin Atlantic Cargo is to reintroduce its summer service to Chicago with daily flights to and from the city as of April 27.

Customers already benefit from a year-round service to the region in the form of daily flights linking London and Detroit – but, with the addition of these Airbus A330-300 services, the capacity offering will increase by 16 tonnes a day. The extra services will also provide US customers with quick connections to the UK and Europe, as well key markets in India and South Africa.

John Lloyd, Senior Vice President, Cargo, said the Chicago service, “has enabled us to strengthen our year-round presence in the US Midwest, where are have very strong support from our customers on both sides of the Atlantic.”
According to Lloyd, even before the start of the seasonal services to Chicago, UK commitments already account for more than half the total capacity. UK cargo exports are expected to be wide ranging and to include fresh fish, flowers and perishables as well as airmail.
“For customers in the US,” he went on to say, “the early morning arrival of our Detroit and Chicago services into London means we can help them to quickly connect to markets across Europe and to other online destinations such as Johannesburg and Delhi.”

Virgin Atlantic’s Chicago flights will touch down at London’s Heathrow airport at 07.55am, enabling same day connections to India and South Africa, as well as with Virgin’s road feeder services.

Change of direction for United?

United Airlines workers have voted to approve contracts that will effectively improve the salaries of some 30,000 baggage handlers, gate agents and other groups employed by the carrier. Although United said last year that it would not be outsourcing more jobs in baggage handling or customer services until at least 2019, clearly that strategy has been reviewed – and ultimately reversed.

In all, there are seven deals tabled that relate to a 30% increase in wages over the next five years, along with US$100m in lump sum payments. Included in the deal is protection against outsourcing; more than that, there is an undertaking to bring more airport work in-house at the carrier’s Los Angeles and San Francisco hubs.

All change at Philadelphia?

Any Philadelphia International airport subcontractor who is paying its workers less than US$12 an hour may need to reconsider the arrangement. Unless they do, there is the distinct possibility of their being evicted from the station.

Late last year the city’s now mayor, Jim Kenney, announced plans to this effect. Eviction would, of necessity, be the last resort, for the mayor was more concerned with gaining compliance.

One local union, 32BJ SEIU, which does not actually represent the airport staff, nonetheless praised the move; in the past it has accused several subcontractors of failing to comply with the lease agreement since it went into effect in 2015.

Whilst no compliance date has been given, it is thought that the situation will be addressed sooner rather than later.