Hawai’i to Reinstate Interisland Quarantine
1 The State of Hawaii’s interisland quarantine is back as Governor David Ige will require a 14-day sit for anyone traveling within the state and arriving on the Big Island, Kauai, Maui, or Molokai.
The governor had removed the interisland quarantine on June 16 as the state’s number of cases dwindled, and he flirted with the idea of removing the quarantine for international and mainland visitors as well — provided they could provide a negative test. But the cases in the state are going the wrong way, forcing the governor’s hand.
The refreshingly-named Sumner La Croix, economics professor emeritus at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, made the wildly-obvious point that reinstituting a quarantine isn’t going to help the state’s economy.
The new quarantine will be in place through August 31, although the governor will have the authority to end it early or extend it as needed. We’d be surprised if that didn’t happen.
Not an Error: Korean Air Shows Q2 Profit
2 After Q2 loss after loss from airlines big and small across the world, Korean Air managed to post a $125 million profit for Q2 2020 thanks to an incredibly strong cargo operation. Cargo sales increased 95% from Q2 2019 to an impressive $1 billion in revenue.
Korean Air and its rival Asiana benefit from enormous demand for smartphones, TVs and components from Korean conglomerate Samsung, and memory chips from powerhouse SK. (Go Wyverns!) Samsung and LG both beat earnings estimates for Q2 with SK tripling theirs, helping lead the surge for Korean.
It wasn’t all roses for Korean as revenue did drop by 44% from 2019. Passenger demand cratered the same as it did for the rest of the world. Korean cut its expenses in half from Q2 2019, from $2.6 billion to $1.3 billion.
But a profit is a profit, especially in 2020. Rumors from the airline’s headquarters at in Seoul are that it plans to use the Q2 operating profit to take everyone in Korea out to bbq.
United Extends Global Services for 12 Months
3 United Global Services members who were concerned about losing their super fancy elite status due to a lack of flying this year can breathe easy, just in time for the weekend. United will extend the status of its Global Services members for 12 months due to the pandemic.
The airline had already announced that it would extend other elite members status for a year but had held off on doing the same for its Global Services members since they are way more special and important. Global Services fliers on United are in the top tier of fliers for the airline and can be identified on-board with gold-plated seat belts, monogramed glassware, and an extra bag of salty snack mix. If you need to ask how much you need to fly and spend with United to earn the status…you don’t fly or spend enough.
GS members will also see a new perk start in January — complimentary access to United Club lounges while traveling on domestic itineraries. The perk was already offered on international trips, but by adding it to domestic flights, the top-tier elites can enjoy more complimentary pre-packaged, socially-distant snacks prior to boarding.
Sydney Treating Flights from Melbourne as International
4 In an effort to control the spread of the Coronavirus and respect various border closures within the country, Sydney and the government of New South Wales are treating flights coming from Victoria — the state that includes Melbourne — as international flights when arriving in Sydney.
Sydney is the only airport accepting flights from Victoria right now, but when they land they do not land at the domestic terminal but instead at T1 — the international terminal.
Travelers then go through a similar process to arriving on an international flight including identity checks — but a driver license is enough; passports are not required. Passengers will experience a health screening and are then sent directly to mandatory hotel quarantine. They may not pass GO, they may not collect $200, and they may not leave the hotel.
Once arriving at the passenger-funded quarantine hotel, visitors must bathe in vegemite quarantine for 14 days before being permitted to leave their room.
Air India Express Flight 1344 Crashes
5 Air India Express Flight 1344 crashed on landing Friday night in the Indian city of Calicut (CCJ) after having taken off from Dubai earlier in the evening.
There were 190 people on board the plane including 184 passengers, and six crew. At least 16 died in the crash including both pilots.
Another 46 people were seriously injured and are were transported to local hospitals. There was heavy rain in the area being reported at the time.
Airline Potpourri
- Air Europa will be shrinking its fleet by up to 20% in the coming months.
- American is returning
questionablehot food to its Admirals Club lounges on August 12. - Emirates will resume its service to Toronto/Pearson with 5x weekly A380 service beginning August 16.
- Qatar is resuming service to Auckland — via a stop in Brisbane — on August 19.
- Ryanair plans to operate up to 60% of its schedule in August that it had planned prior to the pandemic. To see what routes the airline will operate in August, you’ll need to submit a €6.99 schedule revelatory fee to the airline.
- SkyUp Airlines is introducing service to Istanbul from its Kiev (KBP) hub.
Andrew’s Moment of Levity
I bought a new sweater on Amazon this week, but when it got here it kept picking up static electricity. I returned to Amazon and they sent me another one free of charge.