AA Reacts to Hurricane Laura
1 With Hurricane Laura bearing down on the Gulf Coast, American Airlines detailed what disruptions it had planned for its operation due to the storm.
The airline canceled 19 flights yesterday, and has canceled 46 today (as of the last update from the airline) with another six already canceled for tomorrow. These are in addition to delays related to mechanical issues and other missteps throughout American’s network.
American has canceled all ops through Friday morning at three airports:
- Alexandria, LA (AEX)
- Beaumont, TX (BPT)
- Lake Charles, LA (LCH)
Lake Charles, you’ll note, is one of the 15 markets from which American will be suspending service in October, so, we’ll call this a practice run.
American is operating, albeit with a limited schedule, at three airports, all in Louisiana:
- Baton Rouge (BTR)
- Lafayette (LFT)
- Shreveport (SHV)
The hurricane made landfall early this morning in Louisiana and is expected to make its way north into Arkansas as a tropical storm before continuing on toward the Atlantic seaboard for days.
Virgin Atlantic and its Creditors Agree on Deal
2 Virgin Atlantic and its creditors have come to an agreement allowing the airline to survive and re-emerge (as a born-again Virgin) out of administration. The airline’s creditors voted Tuesday on a recapitalization deal in London’s High Court that will see VS’s debt reduced by 20% and a long-term, staggered payment plan created to repay debts.
Virgin Atlantic had submitted debt to the court earlier this month at just under $2 billion. Without today’s vote passing, the airline would have run out of cash to operate sometime next month and that would have been the end of the runway for the airline.
Although Tuesday’s decision is a major milestone, the process is not yet complete. The details will need to be approved by a final court hearing in the U.K. on September 2 followed by a U.S. hearing on September 3. As a backup plan, Virgin Atlantic is expected to make all seats from London to the US on the evening of September 2 available for $2 billion each.
Delta Removes Trip Extras
3 For those passengers who enjoyed paying for things they didn’t need just because it was on offer, today is a sad day. Delta Air Lines has removed its “Trip Extras” offerings from delta.com that allowed passengers to pay wildly inflated prices for priority boarding and mileage “boosts” for their upcoming Delta trip.
For the princely sum of $15, Main Cabin passengers could purchase priority boarding to secure overhead bin space. Mileage boosters were available, starting at $29 for 1,000 miles — or the princely sum of 2.9 cents per mile.
Lastly — and perhaps the only somewhat relevant change — Delta has removed the option to pre-purchase in-flight wifi. Previously, Delta offered wifi for $16 through the Trip Extras menu. Now the pre-purchase price is $19 at delta.com/wifi. One could have fun with numbers to point out that this is a 19% increase passed along to passengers, but it is also just a $3 increase. That’s not likely going to make or break anyone deciding if they want to purchase wifi, especially considering Delta already allows free texting. Regardless, it’s generally still a far better deal to buy in advance than paying those exorbitant prices onboard.
EASA to Begin 737 MAX Tests
4 The EU’s Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), is set to begin test flights of the Boeing 737 MAX from the very European city of Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning September 7. The EASA also confirmed it will perform test flights on simulators at London/Gatwick next week.
The announcement from the EASA comes one day after Transport Canada began its own test flights in the very Canadian City of Seattle. Presumably to keep up with its counterparts, when the FAA is ready to run tests, it’ll need to do so in Europe.
Both the EU and Canada are focusing on the maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS) of the aircraft, which contributed to crashes in both October 2018 and March 2019.
As we reported last week, Boeing has quietly renamed the MAX to the 737-8 to reduce customer fears about flying on the plane. Boeing is apparently not familiar with the idea that if it looks like a 737 MAX and it quacks like a 737 MAX…well, you know the rest.
Virgin Atlantic Announces Three New Routes to Pakistan with Real Pilots and Everything
5 Virgin Atlantic continues its busy news day, announcing three new routes from the United Kingdom to Pakistan, launching this December.
The airline will operate from both London/Heathrow and Manchester to Islamabad (ISB) and from Manchester to Lahore (LHE).
Virgin Atlantic is smartly moving into the U.K.-Pakistan market which is currently devoid of any direct service since Pakistan International Airlines was barred from operating in the U.K. for using, well, fake pilots. PIA plans to charter a HiFly A330 to return to the UK, using HiFly’s crew to operate the flights.
In the meantime, those interested in flying direct from Pakistan to the U.K. or connecting on to the United States with an assurance that their plane will come with seat belts, landing gear and qualified crew can do so on Virgin Atlantic. Of course, that’s provided it doesn’t go out of business.
Airline Potpourri
- Air New Zealand posted a loss of NZ$89 million for FY 2020, the first annual loss for the airline since 2002. The airline also does not expect long-haul international travel to return until at least 2021.
- Air Serbia resumes service to Brussels today from its Belgrade hub. The flight will operate 2x weekly.
- Alliance Airlines, which ironically is not part of an alliance, has ordered 14 Embraer 190s and will take delivery of the first of the 14 next month.
- Emirates is resuming service to two African destinations on September 3 — Conakry, Guinea (CKY) and Dakar (DSS).
- JetSmart has received a $7.8 million cash infusion from the Chilean government.
- Lauda Europe plans to operate its inaugural flight on September 13.
- Qantas is closing its B717 bases in both Cairns and Perth.
Andrew’s Moment of Levity
A man sued his airline for losing his luggage that included very important documents for a business meeting. The airline ended up deciding to settle the lawsuit before it went to court. The lawyer for the airline said “The case is lost. Let’s not make it worse.”