DOT to Bring Back Exemption Roulette
The DOT announced airlines receiving funds from the Payroll Support Program (PSP 2.0) will have to continue service minimums to cities and airports throughout the country if they want to get that sweet, sweet government money.
Last spring (and well into the summer), airlines spent much of their time in lockdown playing exemption roulette, appealing to the DOT for exemptions from required destinations and the DOT spent most of its summer denying the appeals. Now it’s time to do it once again.
Airlines that have dropped service to an airport since the end of PSP 1.0 will not have to return unless there is no service left from any airline. The four destinations that have seen all service disappear since last fall will likely be getting their air service back, with the DOT expected to force the last airline to serve the destination — using the last one out is a rotten egg management style — to return. Those cities are:
- Destin, FL (DTS)
- Morrisville, VT (MVL)
- Worcester, MA (ORH)
- Meyers Chuck, AK (84K)
Airlines can try to for new exemption requests, but the time period is so short this time around that it’s unlikely they’ll have much luck.
Alaska’s Elite Members Become Even More Elite
Alaska Mileage Plan will be adding a fourth elite tier for those who fly 100,000 miles a year or more on the airline or its partners. The top tier on Alaska is currently MVP Gold 75k which, unsurprisingly, requires 75,000 miles flown (or 75,000 strikeouts) each year.
The new elite tier will begin in 2022, with more details released later this year. The airline has said not yet released its name, but some we encourage them to consider include MVP Gold 100k and MVP Super Important Gold 100. Don’t want to junk up that branding too much. Members of this exclusive new club can expect increased bonus miles, top upgrade priority on Alaska flights, lounge benefits, and the ability to yell at everyone around them without feeling bad about it
The change to Mileage Plan will make Alaska more in-line with its newest best buddy, American Airlines. Alaska and American are joining at the hip with American turning Alaska’s home of Seattle into an international gateway and both airlines introducing reciprocal benefits for elite members on both airlines.
Update on Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 Accident
Sriwijaya Flight 182 took off at 2:36 p.m. local time from Jakarta en route to Pontianak (PNK) with 62 people on board before disappearing from radar and crashing into the sea. The aircraft involved — a 26-year old Boeing 737-500 with the registration PK-CLC initially operated by Continental and NOT equipped with MCAS because it’s not a 737 MAX — was last heard from at 2:40 p.m., just four minutes after takeoff.
The plane lost more than 10,000 feet in altitude in less than a minute which suggests something much worse than engine loss or a minor mechanical issue. Of the 62 on-board, 50 were passengers, six were crew working the flight, and the other six were crew who were flying to operate another flight later in the day. All 62 on board were Indonesian nationals.
Parts of the plane, clothing, and some body parts have been found in the Java Sea, at a depth of about 75 feet. Indonesian officials detected emergency signals from the flight’s data recorder and cockpit voice recorder and hope to retrieve them from the water in order to learn more about what happened during the four minutes the aircraft was in-flight.
ExpressJet Plans for Sequel
ExpressJet Airlines ended operations last September when the airline operated its final flight after losing its contract to fly on behalf of United. The airline’s website, which has been dormant since ceasing operations last fall, presently says that it plans to return later in 2021 as an independent airline.
The airline said in its statement that it plans to provide “high-quality, reliable, efficient point-to-point to small and medium sized cities that have lost services in recent years…” This is a promising idea because if we’ve learned anything in recent years, it’s that new airlines attempting point-to-point service to small and medium-sized cities always succeed.
ExpressJet has operated since 1984, almost exclusively as a regional carrier on behalf of other brands. As it brings itself back as an independent carrier, it will do so with its current fleet of grounded Embraer 145 aircraft.
Southwest Gets Into the Spirit
Southwest Airlines submitted a letter to the DOT on Monday in support of the complaint filed by Spirit raising concerns about the American/JetBlue partnership announced last summer.
Southwest explains to the DOT that it raised many of the same concerns shared by Spirit in its own letter to the DOT written in July, two weeks after AA and B6 announced their new partnership. And Southwest came with receipts — the original letter is included in this complaint.
Both airlines are mostly concerned about the partnership’s stranglehold on slots at both New York/LaGuardia and Washington/National. Southwest notes that JetBlue received most of its slots at both DCA and LGA as part of a government slot divesture program, with JetBlue being a beneficiary due to its role as an independent LCC. But now, with its snuggling up with American, JetBlue no longer is an independent-LCC but rather a partner with The Man.
DOT representatives called JetBlue in order to get a response from the email, but when callers introduced themselves as being from the DOT, the only thing anyone from JetBlue would say is “new number, who dis?”
Airline Potpourri
- Alaska placed 14 passengers on its permanent no-fly list after their behavior on a flight from Washington/Dulles to Seattle on Friday. This came two days after the 14 likely participated in a plot to overthrow the United States government.
- Porter Airlines delayed its date of resumption for what seems like the 100th time, announcing it hopes to return to the skies March 27.
- Rex and Virgin Australia are behind the new mandate in Australia to require facemasks throughout the air travel journey which began this weekend. Rex has required masks on-board since May. Previously the mask requirement only applied to flights to or from Victoria or New South Wales.
- TransNusa, an Indonesian carrier, has agree to purchase 30 COMAC ARJ21-700 via an agreement with China Aircraft Leasing (CALC). With the purchase, TransNusa becomes COMAC’s first non-Chinese customer for its aircraft and claims the prize of a bobblehead of Chairman Mao that was being offered to the first non-Chinese airline to buy.
- United became the last of the big-3 U.S. carriers to announce it is ending the practice of allowing emotional service animals onboard its aircraft.
- Virgin Australia will reopen its lounges in Perth and Gold Coast (OOL) on Tuesday.
- Volotea operated its final B717 flight on Sunday, sending its final few aircraft to the big airplane hangar in
the skySouthern California.
Andrew’s Moment of Levity
I always knock on the fridge before opening it. Just in case there’s a salad dressing.