November 17, 2020

JetBlue Acquires London Slots…But Not the Slots It Wanted

JetBlue has finally acquired slots to operate its new service to London from both New York/JFK and Boston next summer, but not at the airport most were hoping to see.

JetBlue received slots at both London/Gatwick and London/Stansted.  It is believed JetBlue will serve Stansted twice-daily from Boston, and will utilize Gatwick just once a day from New York/JFK. Red Sox and Yankees fans will agree that it’s best to keep the two in separate airports.

JetBlue did not, however, walk away with slots at Heathrow. The airline is still hoping to begin service to London’s busiest airport sometime in 2021, but when service starts, it will be to two of the city’s other airports. The airline is still seeking access to Heathrow via “remedy slots” that legacy carriers are forced to divest due to joint ventures. As of now, both the USA and UK government do not expect any distribution of these until summer 2022 — at the earliest. 


AA & BA Launch Virus Testing Trial

American Airlines and British Airways are introducing a transatlantic COVID testing trial program which is a potential first step in developing a travel bubble between the United States and the UK.

The trial is optional for passengers and will be offered to those on AA50 from Dallas/Fort Worth to London/Heathrow, BA114 from New York/JFK to Heathrow, and BA268 from Los Angeles to Heathrow. The testing program will begin November 25. AA106 from JFK to Heathrow — which is suspended from early December through January 4 — will be added at a later date.

Passengers chosen for the trial will be contacted by AA or BA and given an at-home RT-PCR test to be taken 72 hours prior to departure. The second test will be taken upon arrival at Heathrow, and it is a LAMP test which will consist of a medical professional with a delightful British accent scraping the bottom of your brain through your nose. Lastly, the third and final test is a saliva sample that will be taken by the passenger after three days in the United Kingdom.

In addition to giving qualified professionals access to your COVID test results, AA and BA have implanted a chip into the testing kit that, when applied, will give them direct access to the travel planning portion of your brain. The airlines will be able to automatically send you flight options for your proposed travel before you even realize you are ready to book.


Cathay Pacific Drops Seven Destinations 

Cathay Pacific is eliminating seven destinations from its route map — three in the United States — as it attempts to cut costs to prepare for a long-term downturn due to both the pandemic and the Chinese crackdown on freedoms.

The seven routes were amongst the worst performers for the airline and are unlikely to return any time soon, if ever. The airports losing service on Cathay Pacific are:

  • Brussels
  • Dublin
  • London/Gatwick
  • Male (MLE)
  • Newark
  • Seattle
  • Washington/Dulles

Despite ending service to Gatwick and Newark, Cathay Pacific will still serve both London and New York, via Heathrow and JFK, respectively. Cathay Pacific hoped to replace service into Dulles with flights to Washington/National, but it decided that ending up in the Potomac every flight was not sustainable.

The decision comes after the airline posted a $1.27 billion loss in the first half of 2020. Cathay received a $5 billion bailout from the Hong Kong government, but it was not enough as the airline has been forced to cut jobs and eliminate Cathay Dragon, its regional subsidiary. 


Allegiant & Frontier Announce New Routes

Allegiant and Frontier both announced new routes on Tuesday with Allegiant adding 15 new nonstop options to its route map, led by eight routes to its newest destination: Orange County. The airport’s neighbors in Newport Beach immediately turned up their noses and laughed at the thought that anyone would stoop so low as to fly an ultra-low cost carrier.

Allegiant’s eight cities it will serve from SNA include:

  • Boise (BOI) – begins February 12
  • Grand Junction, CO (GJT) – begins February 12
  • Las Vegas – begins February 18
  • Medford, OR (MFR) – begins February 12
  • Missoula, MT (MSO) – begins February 18
  • Provo, UT (PVU) – begins February 12
  • Reno – begins February 18
  • Spokane (GEG) – begins February 18

Las Vegas received four new destinations: Spokane, Asheville, NC (AVL), and Flint, MI (FNT) in addition to SNA.

Frontier also added routes and destinations today, posting 19 new nonstop routes along with three new destinations. The new cities receiving service on Frontier are Cozumel (CZM), Oakland, and St. Thomas (STT).

Cozumel will see once-weekly flights from Denver while St. Thomas will operate 2x-weekly from Orlando. St. Thomas is one of seven new destinations from Orlando, including 3x-weekly to Wilmington, Delaware (ILG). That attempt to curry favor with President-Elect Biden returns commercial air service to Delaware, the only state of the 50 to not presently have any. If this doesn’t work, watch out for Frontier Trains to get started.

Oakland will see three destinations served on Frontier beginning in February. OAK will be served 4x-weekly to Denver beginning February 4, upgrading to daily on March 11; with both Las Vegas & Phoenix launching as 2x-weekly on February 5, upgrading to 4x-weekly on March 11.


Qatar Drops Lounge Access on Award Bookings

Qatar Airways is on pace to earn coal in its stocking this holiday season as it continues to remove offerings from its standard premium class product.

The latest “enhancement” is removing lounge access for customers who redeem miles for business class awards on Qatar metal. The airline, which recently unbundled its premium class fares, will consider award bookings in business part of their “Business Class Classic” fare bundle, which is Qatar-speak for “basic.”

Similar to anyone booking Qatar’s basic revenue-based business fare, access to lounges and advanced seat assignments are limited to those with the status to access those perks. The decision includes Qatar’s third-party lounges around the world, oneworld member lounges, and Stonecutters halls.


Airline Potpourri

  • Bangkok Airways posted a loss of $50 million in Q3.
  • Etihad plans to lay off as much as 20% of its cabin crew and will keep its fleet of 10 A380s grounded until demand improves.
  • Frontier, which apparently has an elite member program, will match any elite member from any U.S. airline through December 1. The elite status will be valid on Frontier through December 31, 2021 and includes various elite perks including seatback tray tables, seat belts, and complimentary restroom access both on-board and in Frontier gate areas.
  • Lufthansa, along with partners SWISS and Austrian, will replace snacks in economy class on short and medium-haul flights with buy-on-board starting in Spring 2021.
  • Miami Air International officially went out of business today when its remains were bought out by a new airline named…Miami Air International.
  • Ryanair will take over 312 weekly slots at London/Stansted from easyJet at the beginning of Summer 2021.
  • Spirit is resuming its international offerings from Orlando, flying six routes beginning December 4.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I was at the library last week and I asked the librarian if they had any books on paranoia. She whispered to me “they’re right behind you.”