CommutAir Keeps Growing, Opens Hub in Denver
CommutAir, a regional carrier flying on behalf of United Express, began operating from its newest hub in Denver on Monday. As recently as last summer, the regional carrier had just 37 aircraft operating from two hubs – Washington/Dulles and Newark. But today, it operates 168 aircraft from those two, Denver, and Houston/Intercontinental.
CommutAir was one of the first airlines to begin hiring during the pandemic, as it has brought on 200 new pilots in the first quarter of the year. With that the airline pays, some of the pilots can afford to dry clean their uniform if they achieve performance bonuses.
The carrier extended its agreement with United last summer to become the sole operator of E145 aircraft on its behalf — beating out ExpressJet. Its fleet of 66 E145s is the largest fleet of the aircraft type in the world, a distinction that few if any people care about.
New Zealand Business Travel Rebounding Quickly
Air New Zealand said today that domestic business travel has already returned to 90% of its pre-pandemic levels, surprising the airline with how quickly it has rebounded.
Air New Zealand Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty said they were “blown away” by the encouraging sales figures and that the airline had originally expected domestic business travel would maybe return to 70% of pre-pandemic levels by 2022. Then again, she was standing behind one of the airline’s A320s as it powered up at the time, so that might have actually been what blew her away.
In response to the strong sales, Air New Zealand has added higher-density aircraft on flights frequented by business travelers, loaded more business-friendly timed flights, and increased the number of crew on some flights.
New Zealand was better positioned for domestic recovery than most countries as it handled the pandemic as well as anywhere else in the world. The nation of just over five million people reported just 2,493 Covid cases with only 26 deaths. That compares to South Carolina – who’s population is roughly the same as New Zealand – which has reported over 550,000 cases and 9,122 deaths from the pandemic.
Norse Atlantic Airways Moves Closer to Launching Money-Losing Operation
Norse Atlantic Airways, the airline being launched by three guys named Bjørn, signed an agreement with AerCap to lease nine Boeing 787 Dreamliners in December. Only one of the nine is expected to be delivered this year with the rest by the end of Q1 2022, if the airline survives that long.
The airline, as you may recall, is designed basically to create jobs for founder Bjørn Kjos’ airline staffing company. It’s taking all the attributes that failed for Norwegian and almost copying them one-for-one. Norse plans to operate long-haul, high-density, low-cost flights from its Oslo hub to New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. It also plans to base some aircraft in London and Paris to make them harder to repossess when the time comes.
The airline may have planes, but it doesn’t have an operating certificate. And until it has one, it is not able to apply for a U.S. foreign air carrier permit. But other than that, everything is going great.
AirAsia Files Year End 2020 Financials
We’re one-quarter of the way through 2021, but AirAsia is still looking back towards 2020 as the airline posted financial reports for the 4th quarter of last year and the full year ending in December.
AirAsia Group posted revenue in Q4 of $64 million to close out the full year with $775 million in revenue, a 74% drop from 2019. The total loss for the year was ~$800 million after the airline turned a ~$400 million profit the prior year. These results would be encouraging if they were only for perennial money-loser AirAsia X, but since it’s for the group, it’s somewhat more concerning.
The group did manage to reduce its costs by 52% for the year, led by a 61% reduction in the final quarter. Maintenance costs dropped a whopping 99% in Q4 which is possible when you have very few planes in the air and you require the passengers to handle maintenance prior to boarding.
To reduce cash burn and save for the future, AirAsia divested itself of AirAsia India late last year. It expects to resume its full international schedule by the second half of this year with a full recovery by some time in 2023.
Boutique Scores New EAS Contract
Boutique Air has won a two-year EAS contract to operate at Jackson, TN (MKL) over the objection of two competitors: Southern Airways Express and Air Choice One. The DOT selected Boutique for the contract which begins on June 1 despite the two other airlines saying that Boutique should have been disqualified.
The rivals felt Boutique’s plan was unrealistic financially, which the DOT quickly dismissed. It awarded the contract because it was comfortable working with Boutique over the last several years and that it met all the selection criteria. Boutique also was the lone airline of the three to present the DOT with an edible arrangement during the review phase.
Air Choice One currently serves the airport and will continue to do so until the new contract kicks in on June 1.
The airline will operate 18 nonstops per week from Jackson. It will fly 12-weekly roundtrips between Jackson and Atlanta, with another six weekly frequencies to St. Louis.
Airline Potpourri
- Air Dolomiti joins Air Canada’s Aeroplan as a partner airline – the program’s 40th – effective today.
- Air Manas was granted 5th freedom rights to serve Azerbaijan.
- Allegiant has completed a sale and leaseback of three A320 aircraft with the appropriately named Aircraft Leasing & Management.
- Bakhtar Afghan Airlines is seeking a wet-leased regional aircraft. If you’re looking to offload a plane before summer, give them a call.
- Emirates is resuming its 4x-weekly service between Dubai and Orlando on June 2.
- Flair Airlines will begin serving Montréal on July 1. The ULCC will serve four airports from its newest destination: Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax (YHZ), and Abbotsford (YXX).
- Flyr is expctd to take delivry of its first two B737-800s this May.
- Kenya Airways‘s nationalization plan was rejected by the National Assembly’s Transport Committee.
- Ryanair is launching a new route this summer from Newcastle (NCL) to Zadar, Croatia (ZAD).
- ToMontenegro is receiving a cash infusion from the Montenegrin government.
- Viva Aerobus is beginning twice-weekly aero service between San Antonio and León (BJX) on March 1.
Andrew’s Moment of Levity
No more Suez Canal Jokes. Seriously. When I said that yesterday, I meant it. You missed the boat.