September 10, 2020

JetBlue is Looking for a Fight

1 JetBlue is playing the role of the kid walking around the schoolyard looking for a bully to punch in the mouth and start a fight. The airline announced 24 new routes today, staring right down both Delta and United with many of the new routes originating in either Los Angeles or Newark.

Beginning November 19, 16 new routes will debut on JetBlue. The airline will fly to seven beach destinations from Newark — Aruba (AUA), Cancun (CUN), Montego Bay (MBJ), Nassau (NAS), Providenciales (PLS), Punta Cana (PUJ), and St. Maarten (SXM) — all destinations currently served by United. The flights to Aruba and St. Maarten will feature Mint, JetBlue’s premium product.

JetBlue will also roll out two new destinations from LAX on November 19 — Cancun and Palm Beach (PBI), with the latter offering Mint as well. LAX then picks up in December when JetBlue goes right at Delta with five more routes, including some thin ones: Charleston, SC (CHS), Liberia, CR (LIR), Raleigh/Durham, Richmond, and San Jose, CR (SJO). In addition to LAX, Delta focus city Raleigh-Durham will also see new flights to several sun-splashed destinations: Cancun, Fort Myers, Montego Bay and San Juan.

Other than Los Angeles and Newark, the airline is also introducing new flying between several point-to-point destinations. It is adding two cities to Richmond: Las Vegas & Tampa. San Francisco will get to head to the beach with a new flight to Cancun. Fort Lauderdale will head west with new service for both the rugged — Bozeman, MT (BZN) — and the retiree — Palm Springs (PSP).


United Quietly Improves Change Fee Policy

2 When United was the first U.S. airline last week to step up and eliminate change fees, it did so on all non-Basic Economy fares within the 50 United States, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. The next day, American announced its change fee removal, also including flights to Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

United has now updated its website to include both flights to the Caribbean and Mexico as part of the change fee-free world, but Canada is still out in the cold.

There’s no evidence that United made the decision in response to the Chicago Blackhawks, who play in the United Center, being eliminated from the NHL playoffs up in Edmonton last month, but the airline did not deny that the loss was a factor when questioned. In reality, it’s probably because partner-in-crime Air Canada didn’t want to go along.

United is also sticking with its policy to not offer a residual value if a customer’s change results in a lower fare. Instead when changing to a flight with a lower fare, United customers will be mocked and ridiculed when boarding for choosing a fare that later went down in price.


Saudi Arabia and Bahrain Open Up Airspace for Israel

3 In a day many thought would never come, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are both opening up their airspace for flights operating to and from Israel, creating a wealth of savings in both time and money for airlines and passengers.

The announcement from the two kingdoms comes just ahead of the signing of a diplomatic agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates next week at the White House. Saudi Arabia had originally planned on permitting use of its airspace for flights to or from Israel only en route to the UAE, but this new stance allows all flights to use Saudi Arabia’s airspace.

El Al operated a charter flight last week from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi carrying a delegation of senior political officials from both Israel and the United States. The flight flew over Saudi airspace, representing the first time an Israeli-registered aircraft had flown over Saudi Arabia. (Well, at least the first commercial aircraft. We at Cranky have no knowledge of Mossad operations in or around Saudi Arabia.)

With this historic step in normalizing relations between Israel and the UAE — along with Saudi Arabia & Bahrain loosening restrictions — the countdown is on for the first time Saudia throws its codeshare on an El Al flight, or vice versa. Just don’t hold your breath.


Layoffs Reach Southeast Asia

4 Both Singapore Airlines and Vietnam Airlines are bracing for major cuts in jobs as the downturn in air travel demand rages on due to the global pandemic.

Singapore Airlines will be cutting its workforce by as much as 20%, with 4,300 jobs on the brink. The airline is hoping for approximately half of the cuts to be through early retirement and natural attrition, leaving about 2,200 involuntary layoffs. Singapore expects to continue operating at below 50% its original capacity for FY2021 and beyond.

Philippines Airlines is facing similar troubles, and the airline is bracing for layoffs of approximately 2,000. The airline has 6,000 staff worldwide, leaving about a third on the chopping block. Philippines Airlines cut 300 jobs during the initial virus outbreak in March and has held off on future reductions until now. As with most airlines, it will attempt to offer early retirement and buyout packages first, to reduce the number of involuntary layoffs.


IAG Lowers Capacity Expectations for 2020

5 IAG has reduced its future capacity for the remainder of 2020, with the group expecting just 37% of its pre-virus level of available seat miles (ASMs) to be available for the final four months of the year.

IAG said its Q3 capacity would be cut by as much as 79% as its airlines try to match the reduction in demand throughout the summer and into the fall and winter. Much of what flying IAG airlines are doing is short-haul operations, both within the UK and intra-Europe. Long-haul flying has been close to non-existent due to international quarnatines and flying restrictons.

IAG still expects 2020 to be a break-even year and believes a full recovery can come as soon as 2023. On that same note, we attempted to sell IAG’s executive team stunning beachfront property on Oklahoma’s Pacific coast, and they seem very interested. Earlier this summer, IAG was losing as much as $225 million per week, but has slowed that significantly thanks to a significant reduction of its workforce.

British Airways is leading the way with 13,000 jobs going away to save costs. BA has already seen 8,236 employees take leave, getting it past halfway of where it needs to be. Other IAG airlines Iberia and Vueling have not announced significant job losses to this point but have many of their employees out on government-backed furlough.


Airline Potpourri

  • Air New Zealand is grounding its 777 fleet until at least September of 2021.
  • Kuwait Airlines plans to resume flying to New York/JFK with once-weekly service beginning October 6.
  • Qantas does not plan to reopen any domestic lounges that are currently closed until interstate travel restrictions are lifted in Australia.
  • RwandAir has canceled its order for two A330-900neos and two Boeing 737 MAX 8s.
  • Starlux Airlines plans to lease eight A330-900neos to be delivered starting in the fourth quarter of 2021.
  • Wizz Air, in an attempt to show up JetBlue today, announced three new routes from the UK.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

The world tongue-twister champion was arrested last week. I heard they’re gonna give him a really tough sentence.