American to Resume Beverage Service
Aisle passengers on American Airlines this summer beware, as the airline announced that their elbows will once again be in potential danger with beverage service returning to domestic flights in first class on May 1 and in economy on June 1.
In first class, full complimentary beverage service will resume on May 1, but this won’t be a major change. AA has been offering the full beverage menu to first class domestic passengers on-demand.
On the less fancy side of the curtain, a limited service will resume on June 1 to include canned drinks, juice, and water. The full beverage service, with buy-on-board, will return sometime this summer. Until then, passengers will still need to purchase overpriced, bland dining options in the airport terminal until American makes its own overpriced, bland offerings available once again.
State Department Adds to Do Not Travel List
The State Department is planning to add about 130 more countries to its Level 4 – Do Not Travel – designation, putting approximately 80% of the world’s countries in that category. It’s unclear how many will then be demoted to secret Level 5 — Seriously, Do NOT Even Think About Traveling There.
Thirty-four of about 200 worldwide nations are currently listed in the most restrictive Level 4. Level 3 is “reconsider travel,” Level 2 is “exercise increased caution,” and Level 1 is “Canada.”
The government said that the change doesn’t necessarily imply a change in how the new countries on the list are handling the pandemic or the situation in the countries, but “reflects an adjustment in the State Department’s Travel Advisory system to rely more on existing epidemiological assessments.” This new strategy will prioritize CDC data over its previous actions which included throwing darts at countries on a world map and assigning them a level based on the color of the dart.
Delta Launches New Flight to Seoul
Delta Air Lines announced a new 3x-weekly flight from Portland, OR (PDX) to Seoul/Incheon (ICN) beginning this fall.
The new flight will launch on October 1 and will connect Portland with the home of Delta’s joint venture partner Korean Air. It will operate the new flight on an A330-200 featuring 34 seats in Delta One.
The flight to Seoul will be the third long-haul route for Delta out of Portland, joining flights to Amsterdam and Tokyo/Haneda. Portland only sees domestic flights on Delta to its hubs, making this flight more about connections in Seoul than feeding domestic connections. It also potentially puts the Portland-Tokyo flight on the chopping block — if some important corporate clients allow it — as Delta moves more of its Asian connecting traffic out of Tokyo and into Seoul.
Boeing Planning to Transfer Ops Center to FedEx
Boeing is in the final stages of a deal to transfer its Dreamlifter Operations Center at Paine Field in Everett, WA (PAE) to FedEx. The transfer, once completed, will effectively end speculation that 787 Dreamliner production could resume in Everett since being moved to Charleston, SC.
FedEx will use the airport as a cargo hub, joining Alaska and United which fly scheduled commercial service at the airport and Boeing which will still use the airport for delivery and test flights.
FedEx is expected to take over sometime this summer, with Boeing agreeing to concessions to get the deal done including the manufacturer making the $1.8 million lease payment due to Snohomish County on November 1 and sending 100 $10 Starbucks gift cards to FedEx headquarters in Memphis. Boeing made the mistake of sending the gift card via FedEx, and they are currently lost in transit. FedEx has told Boeing it would not sign the final transfer papers until FedEx finds the gift cards being sent to FedEx.
Hong Kong & Singapore Travel Bubble On Schedule for May
A proposed travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore is on schedule to begin sometime next month despite an increase in positive cases in Hong Kong likely linked to new strains of the virus.
The two cities are expected to outline the plans for the bubble within the next two weeks. The news came as Singapore announced it would relax restrictions to visitors from Hong Kong effective immediately. The require isolation period has been cut in half from 14 to seven days and travelers can wait out the isolation from their home or hotel rather than a dedicated government facility.
Travelers are likely to be considered fully vaccinated for the purposes of this travel bubble 14 days after their final vaccine shot. Both governments want to set the beginning of the travel bubble far enough in advance that travelers on both sides have time to complete their vaccinations and come up with lies to tell their families as to why they need to take the trip.
Airline Potpourri
- Air Canada is finalizing an interline agreement with Pascan Aviation.
- Belavia or not, the airline is in discussion with Boeing to defer its current 737 MAX deliveries.
- Constanta Airlines, which always does the opposite of what it thinks it should do, has been granted a foreign air carrier permit to operate between Ukraine and the United States.
- JetBlue has hired Discover the World to lead its UK sales efforts.
- Loong Air of China is adding an A321neo after a loong negotiation with Airbus.
- Nouvelair is relaunching service to both London/Gatwick and Manchester. Twice-weekly service to both cities will operate from Tunis (TUN) to Gatwick and Monastir (MIR) to Manchester.
- Terra Avia added an A320 to its fleet.
- Turkish is reinstating business class benefits for travelers including reopening business class lounges at select airports and operating its Exclusive Drive transfer service.
- United is resuming nonstop service from Humboldt County Airport (ACV) to Denver with daily service beginning June 3.
- Uzbekistan Airways is planning to launch an IPO before 2024.
Andrew’s Moment of Levity
What do you call a French man wearing sandals? Phillipe Philoppe.