February 11, 2021

Delta 717 Skids off Taxiway

Delta Air Lines flight 2231, a Boeing 717 taxiing at Pittsburgh International Airport, last night skidded off the taxiway prior to taking off en route to Atlanta. No other operations at PIT were affected, with both runways remaining open.

The plane had 77 passengers on board when according to Delta it “exited a taxiway” in snowy weather. The plane was originally scheduled to exit the taxiway to the runway and then exit via the air at 5:49 p.m. and arrive at the runway in Atlanta at 7:40.  

No one was injured in the incident, and buses were dispatched to the aircraft once it had completed its exit. Due to the plane being stuck in the snow with its nose angled down, slides could not be deployed and airport first responders were needed to help everyone off the plane. The buses loaded up and then exited the taxiway as planned, dropping the passengers off airside to catch their breath and get rebooked.

The airport is bringing in additional equipment to tow the aircraft back to the gate after efforts to shift the Boeing 717 into neutral and have ground staff all give a big push to the plane were unsuccessful.


JetBlue Adds VPs

JetBlue added four new staff to its senior leadership team as the airline turns it attention to managing its recovery from the pandemic and overseeing the DOT pillow fight with Spirit over its Northeast Alliance with American.

The airline’s head of marketing and loyalty will be Jane O’Brien who most recently served as Senior VP of Global Brands at InterContinental Hotels. In her role leading the airline’s loyalty program, she will be responsible for its TrueBlue loyalty program and its new Dunkin’ Donuts IV program where the airline connects all passengers to an IV that drips DD coffee leading them to continuously buy tickets on JetBlue for no reason other than to receive the IV coffee.

Whitnee Hawthorne has been promoted to Vice President of Customer Support, replacing Frankie Littleford who retired after 21 years at JetBlue. Hawthorne’s main role in leading customer support will be to explain to passengers why there is graffiti sprayed all over the NYC subway tiles in the restrooms of JetBlue’s new A220 aircraft.

Thomas Howell was promoted to Vice President of Safety and Regulatory Compliance and he will lead the airline’s charge against Spirit when it comes to the DOT, as well as catching the culprits who spray graffiti on the lavatory walls. Lastly, the airline promoted Dana Shapir Alviene to Vice President, Airports Experience. Her role is a crucial one and JetBlue welcomes all passengers – flying with JetBlue or any other airline (except Spirit) – that have a negative airport experience to contact Dana. This policy applies to poor interactions with the TSA, too long a line at TSA, airport parking prices, a rude employee in a concourse restaurant, dirty restrooms, or anything else – Dana will be standing by to take your complaint.


Indonesia Issues Preliminary Report on Sriwijaya Flight 182

Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee issued its preliminary report into the deadly crash of Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 that killed all 62 people on board when it plunged into the Java Sea last month.

The preliminary report stated that the airplane’s auto-throttle system was likely to blame for its steep bank and sudden dive just four minutes after takeoff. The auto-throttle is connected to 13 of the airplane’s internal systems and without any further evidence into which of the 13 systems led to the failure, the committee is unable to make a conclusion as to the cause of the crash. This particular aircraft reported issues with its auto-throttle systems on two different flights in late December, but it was declared to be fixed and the aircraft to be airworthy on January 5 – four days prior to the fateful flight.

The plane was climbing shortly after takeoff when one engine began thrusting but the other did not. The imbalance caused the plane to go from its normal nose-up position during takeoff to an unstable nose-down position in under five seconds. Pilots were unable to correct the problem as the plane quickly descended from 11,000 feet into the Java Sea. Officials have recovered the plane’s cockpit voice recorder and will continue to investigate.


Thai to Retire Longhaul Fleet & Eliminate First Class

As a part of its current financial restructuring, Thai Airways will reportedly retire its fleet of six A380 aircraft along with its A330s and Boeing 747s. The 747 and A380 are the two aircraft types left in which Thai still offers a first-class product, and with their eventual retirement it will presumably end first class service on the airline.  

The retirement of the 747s is not a surprise as the airline put its fleet up on Craigslist for sale late last year. In addition to its six A380s, Thai currently has 11 747s, that are all in storage so potential Craigslist buyers can come take a look. Thirteen of its 15 A330s are also in storage, with two currently being operated by the airline.

When Thai sends its A380s out to the big airplane hangar in the sky, it will become the third airline to retire its A380 fleet following Air France and Lufthansa. Thai will move forward with a fleet of 40 aircraft, most of which are currently in long-term storage since the airline dramatically reduced its schedule in the wake of the pandemic.


End of an Era: Air Namibia Ends Operations

Air Namibia, the flag carrier of Luxembourg Namibia announced today that it will end operations and enter a voluntary liquidation to salvage what cash it can before fading into the sunset. The airline is cancelling all flights effective today and returning its aircraft back to its Windohek/Kutako (WDH).

Air Namibia has been operating for 76 years, and as it ends flying, the airline’s fleet contains 10 planes including 10 A330s, four A319s, and four ERJ135ER. It operated to 18 cities in nine countries in Africa, including seven domestic routes within Namibia. It flew one long-haul flight, with 4x-weekly service to Frankfurt prior to the pandemic.

One local twist on the demise of Air Namibia is that its two-letter IATA code has been highly coveted by a well-known U.S. airline for years. Southwest Airlines made several overtures to Air Namibia to see if the airline would change its “SW” code but could never get the airline to bite. But now, one airline’s trash may very well become another airline’s IATA code… if it finds it worthwhile to even bother.


Airline (and Airport) Potpourri

  • Astral Aviation and SpiceXpress have signed a codesharing cargo agreement connecting the networks of both cargo operators to ship lots of stuff around the world. SpiceXpress is the cargo subsidiary of Indian carrier Spicejet and not the exclusive carrier of a Las Vegas gentleman’s clubs as its name might imply.
  • easyJet completed a sale & leaseback of 20 A320s with Aero Capital Systems.
  • London/Gatwick will begin charging a £5 fee for dropping off passengers at its North Terminal effective March 8. The airport will presumably implement a £1 charge to use restrooms in the terminal sometime later this summer.
  • Norwegian went into bankruptcy again, this time in Italy. If it files for bankruptcy reorganization in two more countries by the end of Q1, it wins bankruptcy bingo.
  • Ryanair released its schedule for this winter which includes over 700 routes with more to come. The airline is likely waiting to see what governments it will be picking fights with to know what countries to avoid before it releases the rest of the schedule.
  • Singapore Airlines began operating flights today consisting of full sets of crew members that have been vaccinated against the virus. The airline would not comment if the flight crew has also been vaccinated against whiny and entitled passengers.
  • Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport will remain closed through at least February 20, with El Al CCO Michael Strassburger expecting the closure to be extended. In the meantime, the shuttered airport is being used to store the disappointment of Jewish mothers with regards to their grown children.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

Police arrested a bottle of water because it was wanted in three different states: Solid, liquid, and gas.