July 2, 2020

Have a safe and socially-distanced holiday weekend. There will be no Cranky Daily tomorrow, July 3. The Daily will return on Monday. Don’t forget to wear your masks!

Hawaiian Adds Several Mainland Routes on August 1

1 With the state of Hawai’i opening up to travelers on August 1, Hawaiian Airlines is ready to resume flying to most of the pre-virus North American locations it stopped serving back in March.

Hawaiian has been flying only once-daily service from Honolulu to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle since March in addition to a limited amount of intra-island flying. With this announcement, Hawaiian will return service to eight cities from Honolulu, with Portland (PDX) coming back today, Sacramento later this week and then Boston, New York/JFK, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Oakland, and San Jose on August 1.

Service resumption is not just limited to Honolulu as the airline will ramp up service to several west coast cities from Kahului (OGG), Lihue (LIH), and Kona (KOA).

Lastly, despite the airline’s on-again/off-again relationship with the DOT and its exemption requests, Hawaiian plans to resume service to Pago Pago in American Samoa on August 6 now that it appears that government wants Hawaiian to resume service.


American Airlines To Close Flight Attendants Bases, Reducing Onboard Staffing

2 In an internal memo to its flight attendants late Wednesday, American Airlines said that it believed it will have as many as 8,000 too many flight attendants next summer, even if travel demand rebounds. Some of this is due to fewer flights, but the airline will also be reducing the number of flight attendants on long-haul aircraft.

In response, the airline began overhauling its flight attendant programs, including closing bases in St. Louis and Raleigh-Durham. Flight attendants at those two bases will now find themselves commuting to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Charlotte. There will also be “notable decreases” in staffing needs in Los Angeles, Miami, and Phoenix.

On long-haul flights, staffing will be reduced to FAA minimums plus 1 on all flights except on the 787-8 which will be at FAA minimums. Those minimums are 1 flight attendant for every 50 passengers. American’s largest aircraft, the 777-300ER has 300 passengers, so that means it will be staffed with only 7 flight attendants.

American had about 25,300 flight attendants in January. Approximately 900 have accepted early retirement buyouts with another 9,500 taking voluntary leave.


Alaska Secures Nearly $1.2 Billion in Private Funding

3 Alaska Airlines secured approximately $1.2 billion in private loans to give the airline further financial stability going forward.  

Alaska will use 61 of its owned aircraft as collateral to back the debt including 26 Boeing 737-800s, 16 Boeing 737-900ERs, and 19 Embraer 175s.

The aircraft used as collateral will remain encumbered until the debt is repaid: Series A ($966 million) will be repaid by Aug. 15, 2027, and Series B ($208 million) will be repaid by Aug. 15, 2025. Alaska can manage to pay off $1.2 billion by 2027, but the Mets will still be paying Bobby Bonilla through 2035.


Ryanair and its Pilots Agree on Pay Cuts

4 Ryanair’s pilots have agreed to a 20% pay cut that will be gradually restored over the next four years to help the airline through the post-virus world. BALPA, the pilots union, also agreed to work with Ryanair on productivity improvements on rosters, flexible working patterns, and annual leave changes.

Ninety percent of Ryanair’s British pilots voted, with 96% approving the new deal. Ryanair said that the agreement gives it a framework to flex its operation during the Covid-19 crisis and a pathway to recovery when the business returns to normal in the years ahead.

The airline and union celebrated the agreement at a reception at Ryanair headquarters that featured a cash bar. Appetizers were not served.


United Brings Beverage Service Back in All Cabins

5 Effective tomorrow, July 3, United is returning beverage service to all cabins on flights scheduled for one hour or more. Flights scheduled to clock in at 59 minutes or less will remain the domain of BYOB.

On flights two hours and 20 minutes or greater, beverage cart service will be back in economy with soft drinks, juice and water. Coffee and tea returns for flights departing prior to 9:45am local time and on all international and premium transcontinental flights.

Now the important part: booze. Beer & wine will return to economy cabins on international flights with premium liquor being available in premium cabins on international flights.


Airline Potpourri

  • Boeing will end the 747 program after the last 15 freighters are built over the next two years. It’s ok to weep.
  • In other Boeing news, the company announced its VP of Communication Niel Golightly has decided to go lightly into the wind as he resigned his position on Thursday due to a 1987 article he wrote about women in the military.
  • Eurowings updated its longhaul schedule with two destinations from its Frankfurt hub, Windhoek (Namibia) and Mauritius.
  • Global Crossing & Breeze Airways amicably settled their lawsuit that was filed in November when Lukas Johnson defected to Breeze. The two airlines appear to be friends again and are considering a joint Christmas card this holiday season. In other words, there is nothing of substance here.
  • Qatar will require all of its economy passengers to wear face shields.
  • Singapore pushed back its KrisFlyer miles expiration date another six months to June 2021.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

What did one American flag say to the other American flag?

Nothing…it just waved.

Happy Fourth of July!