September 2, 2020

Oops, our bad: We reported that Spirit was beginning 3x-daily service from Orange County (SNA) to both Las Vegas & Oakland. Spirit will actually be operating 3x-daily total from SNA, with two flights to Oakland and one to Las Vegas each day. We have paid a $39.99 mistake fee to Spirit for our error and a $29.99 republishing fee to print this correction.

United to Cut More Than 16,000 Jobs Next Month

1 United Airlines announced today that it is cutting 16,370 jobs next month when the CARES Act funding expires on October 1. Most of the job losses will be furloughs, giving the airline the option to recall some employees when demand does return.

The 16,370 employees represent approximately 1/6 of United’s total employee figure at the end of 2019.

The good news — if there is any — is that the number is far lower than the 36,000 employees who were WARNed that their jobs were at risk earlier in the summer. More than 7,000 United employees took some form of early buyout or unpaid leave to lessen the number of involuntary separations.

The expected involuntary cuts include 6,920 flight attendants, 2,850 pilots, 1,400 management jobs, 2,010 mechanics and 2,260 in airport operations.


Delta Helps Former Partner Gol Refinance Loan

2 Anyone who ever had to ask their parents to co-sign a loan or be a guarantor on an apartment lease knows the feeling that Gol had this week, as the airline had a $300 million loan from 2015 come due on Monday that it could not pay. It had used its then-partner, Delta, to guarantee the loan, granting Gol a better interest rate at the time.

But now, despite the airlines ending their partnership last year when Delta bought a stake in LATAM, the Atlanta-based airline was still on the hook when the loan came due.

Delta ended up working with Gol to “replace the existing loan guarantee with a smaller loan secured with incremental collateral,” Delta said in an internal memo. To provide collateral for the new, refinanced loan, Delta provided 18 “Keep Delta My Delta” employee buttons from the mid-2000s when the airline was fending off takeover attempts along with an eight-week stash of biscoff cookies, and 2,000 SkyMiles.


Hawaiian Issues Furloughs

3 Hawaiian Airlines sent notice to flight attendants and pilots that will be furloughed on October 1 when the CARES Act expires. Hawaiian had previously warned that it might need to cut as many as 2,135 jobs, including 956 pilots and flight attendants.

Hawaiian’s overall flight attendant numbers will be reduced by 816, 341 of which would be involuntary furloughs. The balance of the 841 took buyouts or unpaid leave offered by the airline. Hawaiian is also cutting 173 pilot positions, with 101 of those being involuntary.

The airline is also beginning furloughs today for employees who live on neighbor islands and commute into Honolulu for work. Sixteen flight attendants & six pilots who live on the Big Island and commute to Oahu were furloughed this week and were informed their jobs would return if travel picked back up and the airline needed them back.

Hawai’i is currently under a mandatory 14-day quarantine for anyone arriving to the islands from the U.S. mainland or another country. The state’s tourism sector has taken a huge hit with Hawaiian Airlines at the top of the list.


Saudi Arabia Opens Airspace to El Al to operate UAE Flights

4 Saudi Arabia is now permitting all flights to and from the UAE to transit its airspace. This is relevant because it means the Kingdom is allowing El Al to operate through Saudi airspace to and from Abu Dhabi on its new Tel Aviv flight.

Without the use of Saudi airspace, the flight would take up to seven hours instead of the crisp three hours and 40 minutes the inaugural flight took last week.

As of now, the policy only applies to flights to and from the UAE, meaning other El Al flights would need to skirt Saudi airspace. But this is a step that many thought we would never see, and hopefully will lead to greater normalization of relations for the benefit of air passengers, but more importantly, for the millions people living in the Middle East. Progress is slow, but progress nonetheless. We don’t expect Saudia to begin offering Kosher meals on-board anytime soon, but when the day comes that you can get a quality bagel and lox in Riyadh… that’ll be real progress.


Lufthansa & easyJet to Open New Berlin Airport Together

5 After a (literal) decade of delays, brand new Berlin/Brandenburg is supposed to finally open on October 31. However, we have not discounted the possibility the “airport” is just an industrial park dressing up as an airport for Halloween.

Working under the assumption the airport is actually going to open next month, the decision of who would be the first airline to land a flight was split between the airport’s two largest operators: easyJet and Lufthansa.

The two airlines will perform a parallel inaugural landing to open the airport. The idea seems great in theory, but just like when twins are born and one is a couple minutes older than the other, one of the two planes is going to land before the other — it’s going to be a race to touchdown.


Airline Potpourri

  • Alaska has moved the resumption of its Anchorage-San Francisco route to May 2021.
  • Bamboo Airways, VietJet, Vietnam Airlines are all seeking government approval to restart service as the Vietnamese government has given the green light for 4x weekly service to both Japan & South Korea.
  • flydubai is the latest airline to unveil free Covid-related travel insurance as a part of flying on the airline.
  • Japan Airlines and Vistara have entered into a frequent flier partnership that allows members to earn and burn on miles on both airlines.
  • Qantas extended its suspension of Trans-Tasman flying through at least December.
  • Swoop released its winter schedule today including the airline’s first service from Toronto/Pearson.
  • Vistara is asking all of its pilots to take three days of unpaid leave.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

My friend wanted me to put his joke in here about his TV remote. But I told him I wouldn’t do it — the joke wasn’t remotely funny.