February 1, 2021

Countries Tighten Lockdowns & Border Closings

Several new lockdowns, travel bans, and border closings went into effect today throughout the world as countries flail in their attempts to stop the continued spread of COVID-19.

France is instituting a travel ban to non-EU countries, effective today. A complete ban on non-EU travel is France’s most drastic measure taken yet. It will also require a negative test for travel within the EU. The French ban further restricts travel to France’s overseas territories, limiting the one tropical vacation option for French citizens this year. The most punitive measure of the French travel ban, however, is that the suspension of overseas travel forces the French to interact with themselves — and even French citizens know that no one likes the French.

Germany’s travel ban went into effect this morning as well, and it prevents all non-German residents traveling from countries deemed “areas of variant concern.” Those include the United Kingdom, South Africa, Portugal, Ireland, Brazil, Lesotho, and Eswatini (which we’ve embarrasingly just learned has been the correct name for Swaziland since 2018). Visitors from these nations are banned from entering Germany until at least February 17 – even if they have a negative PCR test.

Australian borders have been closed to foreign visitors for nearly a year, but now, all states and territories have imposed restrictions on visitors from Western Australia and its capital, Perth. South Australia has banned all visitors from Western Australia with the exception of essential workers. New South Wales is requiring visitors from WA to follow stay-at-home orders imposed by the WA government as if they were still in Western Australia. Queensland has imposed a 14-day quarantine while Tasmania is forcing WA visitors into a mere 13-day quarantine… with the 14th day being spent volunteering at a Tasmanian Devil rescue. Victoria and the Northern Territories are requiring quarantine until a negative PCR test can be produced, with Canberra and the Australian Capital Territory closing its borders to visitors from WA entirely.


JetBlue New Seats a Breath of Fresh Air

JetBlue Airways unveiled its new Mint experience and seat today as it readies to launch transatlantic flights later this year.

The refresh includes JetBlue’s latest innovation in the first row – the Mint Studio – which JetBlue claims will offer the most space of any premium product amongst U.S. airlines. While comparing premium options between U.S. airlines might be like comparing the most memorable Pro Bowls in NFL history, it’s still something for JetBlue to hang its cap on.

JetBlue launched Mint in 2016 on cross-country flights from New York to Los Angeles & San Francisco. It has since grown it to more than 30 routes throughout the country and the Caribbean. The new 16-seat studio/suite layout will debut this summer on JetBlue’s service to London and on select flights between New York and Los Angeles.

In the new product, every seat is a suite. Previously JetBlue had four private suites with more traditional international-style business class seats in the rest of the Mint cabin.  JetBlue partnered with Tuff & Needle, the mattress company that pioneered the mattress in a box concept, to design the flat bed portion of the seat. Each arrives in a box just before departure time and must be opened by the flight crew prior to boarding to allow it time to take the shape of an airplane seat before passengers arrive.


Southwest to Return 737 MAX to Skies in March

Southwest Airlines announced its plan to return the Boeing 737 MAX to the skies on March 11. The airline made the announcement during its Q4 earnings call on Thursday.

Southwest plans to fly the MAX exclusively on ten-daily point-to-point routes before transitioning it into the entire network in mid-April. The airline expected to wait until April to return it to its fleet, but Boeing purchased Southwest’s EarlyBird service, allowing it to begin 30 days earlier than previously planned.

CEO Gary Kelly said that every active pilot at the airline would receive training and be eligible to fly the aircraft. Southwest had 34 MAX aircraft before it was grounded. Adding the 7 that arrived during December plus more that are coming now, the airline expects 65 MAX aircraft to be ready by the end of April and 69 by year-end. Southwest has a firm order from Boeing for another 230 MAX aircraft with options for 115 more.


Emirates to Skirt U.K. Ban with One-Way Flights

Despite a ban on flights from the United Arab Emirates to the United Kingdom, Emirates Airline plans to continue operating to the UK, but by only flying passengers one-way back to the UAE. Emirates had originally suspended all service to and from the UK, but will now operate in one direction, ferrying empty planes to the UK for their return journeys.

Initially, Emirates will maintain 11-weekly passenger flights from the U.K., once-daily service from London/Heathrow and 4x-weekly flights from Manchester. Emirates will also continue to fly from both Birmingham and Glasgow, operating cargo-only flights.

The UK travel ban to the UAE and other nations came into effect last week over concerns over the new virus strains. The British government gave less than 24 hours notice of the new restriction which left many travelers stuck all over the world. It affected those in the U.K. as much as anyone – there’s nothing pleasant about being stuck in a London winter with nowhere to go – just ask Londoners.


Lufthansa Expands Reach in Southern Africa

Lufthansa and its partner SWISS signed an interline agreement with South African carrier Airlink, which will provide both European airlines with increased options for connecting passengers throughout southern Africa.  

Lufthansa & SWISS passengers will have access to 20 regional destinations across the continent and 25 domestic cities in South Africa via Airlink’s hubs in Johannesburg (JNB) & Cape Town (CPT). Airlink flights were previously sold by Star Alliance partner South African until they broke up, so this is just rekindling a former love affair under a different name.

The interline agreement is typically the lowest level of cooperation between competing airlines, but can offer significant benefits to travelers, allowing the two airlines to sell each other’s tickets, transfer checked baggage without a need for it to be claimed and rechecked, and provide for (theoretically) seamless connections.


Airline Potpourri

  • Air Transat has suspended all regularly-scheduled passenger service due to the latest Canadian border closings and travel ban to sun destinations.
  • Avianca will begin 3x-weekly service from its San Salvador (SAL) hub to Ontario, CA (ONT) beginning in July. This will be the first nonstop flight from Central America to Ontario. According to the release, the SAL to ONT segment will be operated by A320s and A319s with the return operated only by A319s. How the plane will transform from an A320 to A319 while on the ground in Ontario remains to be seen, but we assume Shrinky Dink technology is involved.
  • Delta is now up to 950 passengers banned from flying on the airline in the future due to their refusal to wear a mask in-flight. No Biscoff for you, it seems.
  • Ryanair reported a Q3 loss of €306m with a 78% drop in traffic.
  • SWISS is reducing its operating at its Geneva hub to just 13-weekly flights to Zurich and once-daily flights to Frankfurt.
  • TAP will operate just 7% of its schedule this February as compared to February 2020.
  • Thomas Cook Balearics is shutting down operations. The Palma-based airline had 90 employees and two aircraft.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I hadn’t seen my ex-girlfriend in years, but I saw her today at the other end of the museum hall. I was going to say hello, but there was just too much history between us.