March 19, 2021

Northwest Arkansas Flirts with Breeze and Others

Breeze Airways, which is planning to begin operating this year is batting its eyes at advances made by Northwest Arkansas Airport (XNA). The airline has not committed itself to any routes or destinations yet in its planning to begin passenger service this year.

According to a filing published today, XNA is asking the government for $250,000 to woo Breeze to the foothills of the Ozarks. In its filing, the airport included a letter of support from Breeze to get the cash but wouldn’t guarantee that it would serve the airport. The airline did say that the quarter-million would “greatly enhance the probability of new service,” though, reminding us that everyone, even startup airlines are for sale.

What the airport didn’t tell Breeze was that it is also talking to several other LCCs that don’t serve XNA. When asked for comment, XNA said that it and Breeze “were just talking, and never agreed to be exclusive.”

The airport wants to expand its footprint to about two dozen cities across the country including leisure and business destinations alike. None of its desired destinations are in New Jersey.


British Airways Considering HQ Change

British Airways is exploring the idea of selling its headquarters as the airline expects teleworking to remain in-place (paywall) for most employees even once the pandemic has ended. The 114,000 square meter HQ comprises of 14 buildings that housed 4,000 staff in a pre-pandemic world.

The airline is pondering a plan that will allow staff to split their time between home and the office, creating a need for much less space than it has now. The airline paid £200m for the land and construction in the 90s but believes it can fetch a much higher price now.  

If the airline decides to sell its current office footprint, it has other options including many spaces in and around Heathrow. BA expects to create a more casual, communal layout for its future office space considering most employees will only come in once or twice a week.

BA has not put the land up for sale but commercial real estate experts in England say the land could currently fetch the airline as much as £500 million and 34 million Avios in a cash + points sale.


Rex Loses Battle with Qantas

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ruled that Qantas’ strategy of entering into regional routes previously dominated by Rex is not anti-competitive.

The commission actually ruled that the result of Qantas entering the market is the complete opposite, that it would create more competition and be better for the consumer.

Rex approved its larger rival of purposely entering markets it knows it cannot make money on for the sole purpose of driving Rex away. Of the 26 new routes started by Qantas since the start of the pandemic, eight of them are routes of which Rex is the sole operator. The regional airline said it would “stand its ground” on the routes even if it meant both carriers suffer losses.

QantasLink CEO John Gissing shot back at Rex saying that the regional carriers idea of competition is “something that happens to other people, because they believe they have an enshrined right to be the only carrier on some regional routes.”


Spirit Updates Mask Policy

Spirit Airlines is updating its mask policy after an incident where a young autistic traveler was forced off a plane for his inability to wear a mask.

The four-year-old child had a legitimate note from his physician that he was unable to wear a mask because it created a situation where he panics and could harm himself – or others.

Under President Biden and the CDC’s current guidelines, airlines are required to carve out mask exceptions for passengers with a disability as defined by the ADA. Airlines had a 45-day grace period to implement the new policy and Spirit had not yet made the transition.

Once the incident received national attention, Spirit apologized to the family and issued a refund for the unused portion of their ticket which came out to about $11 per person. The airline also said it would update its policy to align with the federal directive effective March 22 – which just happens to be 45 days exactly since the directive from the president. Passengers who present a valid note from a physician and pay the $11.99 mask-exemption fee will be permitted to fly without further incident.


Australian Airline Employees to Receive Government Cash

Employees from Australia’s two leading airlines, Qantas and Virgin Australia will receive government payments for several more months while the country awaits the return of air travel demand.

Thousands of Qantas employees will receive a weekly cash infusion of US$387 through the end of October. Virgin Australia will receive an undisclosed amount of money to offer its employees as well as to fund more flights returning, putting more people back to work.

The announcement comes just weeks before Australia’s JobKeeper program, its version of the CARES Act, comes to an end. Australia has kept its border closed to everything but the most essential of travel for over a year now and its travel sector has not come close to showing the signs of rebound we’ve seen in the United States.

In addition to 7,500 Qantas employees and 3,000 Virgin Australia receiving the aid package, JetStar employees who work international flights will also be eligible.

While most workers took the weekly cash option, the government did offer up a smaller cash payment accompanied by weekly deliveries of Vegemite on toast and meat pies.


Airline Potpourri

  • Aeroflot is opening a new hub in June at Krasnoyarsk (KJA) located in Siberia.
  • Air New Zealand is planning to launch direct flights from Auckland to Hobart (HBA) once the New Zealand government approved a trans-Tasman travel bubble.
  • Alaska is adding new seasonal, nonstop service from Anchorage to Minneapolis St. Paul. The flight will operate twice weekly on Saturday and Sunday from June 19 through August 15. Yes, this makes up to 8 flights a day from Minneapolis to Alaska this summer.
  • ANA is beginning B777 freighter service between Los Angeles and Tokyo/Narita.
  • Korean is beginning a trial with the IATA digital travel pass this May on KE11, its flight Seoul/Incheon to Los Angeles.
  • Qantas is returning its widebody A330 aircraft to domestic routes.
  • Ukraine International Airlines is resuming flights to four locations: Berlin, Vilnius, Barcelona, and Istanbul from Odesa (ODS).

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I ate a clock yesterday. It was very time consuming. Especially when I went back for seconds.