October 30, 2020

Delta & Its Pilots Reach Deal to Avoid Furloughs In the Nick of Time

1 Delta Air Lines and its pilots came to a preliminary agreement late Thursday that would see the two sides avoid any furloughs until at least 2022. The agreement will still need to be approved by all of Delta pilots — nearly 13,000 — but that is expected to come through without issue.

The deal avoids furloughs which were going to begin this weekend — on November 1 — by reducing the minimum guaranteed hours for Delta’s pilots by 5%. Additionally, it gives partial pay of 30 hours a month to pilots who received furlough notices and won’t have to fly. Those who won’t be flying will also be provided a link to a website with a photo of a cockpit so they don’t feel too left out.

Nearly 2,000 of Delta’s pilots were facing furlough when October ended but will avoid that fate with this deal. The airline was able to avoid furloughs with the rest of its workforce thanks to pay reductions, the 18,000 staff who took buyouts, and the thousands more which accepted unpaid leave offers of varying lengths. 


Mitsubishi Suspends the SpaceJet

2 The rumors that Mitsubishi would suspend development of the SpaceJet regional aircraft program have now proven to be true. The program will be almost entirely suspended through 2023, if not permanently.

Mitsubishi’s SpaceJet development efforts were long-delayed and seemingly unnecessary until the manufacturer decided to buy the remains of Bombardier’s CRJ program. Mitsubishi was then poised to be the only global competitor to Embraer in the small jet market, but it faced mounting costs and delays. Now, Mitsubishi has opted to simply save a billion dollars and put the program into hibernation. Instead, it will focus on growing the air conditioning, carbon neutrality, and cybersecurity businesses. (This may sound like a joke, but it’s not.)

Mitsubishi had already suspended the M100 which would have served regional airlines in the US, but now it’s taking that a step further. In unrelated news, Embraer threw a gigantic party.


Singapore Opens Borders to All Chinese and Australian Residents

3 Singapore is opening its borders to all visitors from China and Australia provided they test negative for the virus upon arrival to the island.

Singapore had previously opened its borders to visitors from Brunei, New Zealand, Vietnam, and most of Australia. Singapore had prevented those from Victoria from entry, but that restriction has been lifted. Victoria reopened on Wednesday after cases dropped all the way down to zero — the first time the state recorded no new cases in a day.

China’s infection rate is down to 0.00009 cases per 100,000 people, meeting the threshold for Singapore to open its borders to Chinese residents again. When asked when US residents would be allowed in, a Singapore representative just laughed maniacally at the notion.


Do You Believe in Miracles? SkyWest Reports Q3 Profit

4 Regional carrier SkyWest released its Q3 earnings report and was the rare airline to actually have earnings to report — not just losses for the quarter.

Granted, it helps that SkyWest doesn’t have to do any of the heavy lifting to turn a profit — you know like find customers or advertise — the mainline carriers do all that for the airline. But a profit is a profit, especially in 2020. 

SkyWest made $34 million in Q3, down from $91 million in Q3 2019. Revenue was $457 million down from $760 million a year ago, with the airline flying 41% fewer hours than it did in 2019. Operating expenses were way down for SkyWest, at just $383 million compared to $614 million last year.

The airline also announced in its earning report that it has come to an agreement with American to place 20 used CRJ700s under contract to fly for the mainline carrier. It also secured agreements to acquire 21 used 50-seat CRJ700s and lease them to an unnamed regional carrier flying on behalf of United.


Kuwait Airways Takes Delivery of World’s First A330-800

5 Kuwait Airways took delivery on Thursday of the world’s first Airbus A330-800, one of only 14 of the aircraft on order.

The airline will receive two of the aircraft to start — the first of eight it’s expected to receive — making it the world’s largest operator of the A330-800 by a large margin. Kuwait Airways will operate the A330-800 with 32 seats in business class and 203 in economy. 

Airbus has had varying levels of success with its two new variants of the A330. The A330-900 has been a hit with dozens of customers from all over the world ordering more than 300 aircraft. The A330-800 on the other hand has been greeted with a thud. The only other disclosed order for the -800 comes from Uganda Airlines which has 2 on the way. The other four are undisclosed, but it’s rumored that at least one was ordered by some kid named Jimmy who traded a Mickey Mantle rookie card for the airplane.


Airline Potpourri

  • airBaltic will move its operation from Berlin/Tegel to the new Berlin/Brandenburg for its service from Riga on November 8.
  • IAG posted a Q3 operating loss of €1.3 billion before special items.
  • KLM is placing 10 Boeing 737s in storage indefinitely. That must be one sturdy attic.
  • Myanmar Airways International added the first E190 to its fleet.
  • SKY Airlines is planning to issue $100 million in bonds and expects to go public in 2024. Mark your calendars.
  • United and Amtrak will end their partnership, further pushing the US behind the rest of the world in intermodal connectivity.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

Does anyone remember the levity I had recently about the chiropractor? It was about a weak back.