Southwest Becomes First U.S. Airline to Cut Back Cleaning Protocols
1 With most major U.S. airlines in an arms race to create bigger and badder cleaning programs while partnering with brand names in the cleaning industry, Southwest Airlines became the first U.S. airline to reduce its cleaning protocols in the wake of the pandemic.
The airline began its new procedure this past weekend, in which the only surfaces it will wipe down between flights are tray tables and restrooms. More specifically, here’s what a Southwest spokesperson told us:
Beginning in May, members of the Ground Operations and Provisioning Teams would board during the turns and wipe down various high-touch areas on/around seats that had been occupied on the previous flight (arm rests, seat belts, etc.). Since feedback on that cleaning initiative was positive, Southwest is committed to maintaining a level of cleaning before every flight during the allotted turn times, even as flight schedules and loads increase. Ground Operations now will clean the tray tables at every seat, and all lavatories, with a broad-based disinfectant since those areas are deemed among the most “high touch” areas. Then, all interior surfaces will be cleaned overnight during the six to seven hour clean process. Of course, Southwest still offers sanitizing wipes onboard, upon request, to support Customer comfort.
That’s a whole lot of words, but I think the memo sent to flight attendants says it more clearly. Specifically:
As our flight schedule evolves, we are returning to standard turn times, which reduces the time available to clean between flights. In addition, we wanted to identify a solution that considered the feedback we received from our Employees, addressed our Customers’ concerns, and made the enhanced turn cleaning more efficient.
If this bugs you, well, you can always bring on your 12 oz of hand sanitizer and drench everything in sight.
Five U.S. Airlines Combine to Send 10,500 WARN Act Notices
2 Five major U.S. airlines — Alaska , Allegiant, Frontier, Hawaiian, and Spirit have recently sent WARN Act notices to more than a combined 10,500 members of their respective workforces about possible furloughs when the CARES Act expires on October 1.
The 10,500 figure represents more than 20% of the entire workforce of the five airlines, with Frontier & Hawaiian leading the way having sent a notice to more than 30% of their entire workforces.
Of major U.S. airlines, JetBlue has not yet sent any WARN notices out and Southwest has pledged not to lay off or furlough any workers involuntarily through at least December 31. In an effort to save jobs, labor unions are currently lobbying Congress to extend the CARES Act protections for airline workers beyond its current October 1 expiration date through as far into the future as March 31.
Hybrid Aircraft May Be Coming to an Airline Near You
3 Hybrid aircraft, designed to operate with passengers and cargo simultaneously, are closer to being put into use in the U.S. These aircraft are more common in other parts of the world, but — due to regulatory hoops — generally have not found a home with U.S. carriers. With airlines looking to get creative to recover lost revenue from the pandemic, the times are changing.
This past May, the FAA allowed airlines to begin carrying cargo in the passenger cabin provided the seats remained in place and the cargo was secure. Then in late July, the FAA stated that U.S. airlines could remove some seats in order to create more space for cargo. (“Yeah, we know”, many passengers said. “It’s called basic economy.”)
Delta, which is always willing to try new potential revenue opportunities, first informed the FAA of its invention to place cargo on its seats. It plans to offer cargo the same low-priced upgrades to Comfort+ and First Class it offers most passengers, in order to prevent even more medallions from receiving complimentary upgrades.
Delta’s engineering team believes it can convert just about any plane to a cargo hybrid, as the airline’s filing with the FAA covered nearly every type of passenger aircraft in the air today, including those not operated in the United States.
Virgin Galactic and Rolls-Royce Team Up
4 Virgin Galactic has signed an agreement with Rolls-Royce to build the engines for an aircraft it hopes to build that can fly at Mach 3 or faster and at altitude of 60,000 feet above the ground or higher. Why Virgin Galactic — a company that has so far focused on space travel — is trying to get into this market is entirely unclear.
The announcement comes just days after Rolls-Royce also agreed to work with Boom Supersonic on its Overture aircraft which will be a little slower but bigger than the proposed Virgin Galactic aircraft.
We’d suggest filing this under the “uh huh, sure, that’s gonna happen” category.
In Flight Entertainment: American Adds Apple+ While Alaska Removes Tablets
5 American Airlines is streaming Apple+ content aboard its aircraft via the free video streaming options available its app. The ability to stream Apple+ content in-flight is exclusive to American, and the airline will work with Apple to update the offerings regularly to reflect new releases on the Apple+ platform.
Apple hopes this will keep people still for long enough that the company can easily implant tracking tools into travelers’ brains. Meanwhile, American just hopes this distracts travelers from the fact that they are sitting in a middle seat with no legroom in the back.
That’s the good news. On to the bad: Alaska Airlines has permanently removed its inflight entertainment tablets in what the airline says is an attempt to lessen the number of interactions between passengers and crew. Alaska will still maintain the option for passengers to stream content onto their own devices, just don’t expect any Apple+ content streaming onboard Alaska aircraft.
Airline Potpourri
- Aer Lingus is expanding the routes it serves to the U.S. with its A321neo.
- Alaska and United are resuming service to Paine Field (PAE) after a 10-week hiatus for ramp resurfacing.
- AirAsia X has temporarily halted taking reservations on its website, but plans to resume when it feels it is prudent to do so… or before then if that day never comes.
- Allegiant has filed a supplemental request to the DOT with regards to its July 16 request to reduce service to 11 destinations.
- Emirates will resume A380 service between Dubai and Guangzhou (CAN).
- Kenya Airways restarted international flights on Sunday, serving 30 destinations from its Nairobi hub.
- TAP introduced new service this past weekend from Lisbon to Montréal.
Andrew’s Moment of Levity
Bacon and eggs walk into a bar. The bartender says “Sorry folks, but we don’t serve breakfast.”