April 26, 2021

EU Expects to Open to Vaccinated Americans This Summer

Fully vaccinated Americans are expected to be welcomed to the European Union later this summer according to Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. The bloc hopes to welcome those who have been inoculated by EU-approved vaccines, a list that includes all three being administered in the United States.

This is great news for airlines which have been desperately trying to find good uses for widebody aircraft beyond using them as shade structures for airport employees stuck in the summer heat. United, for example, says that after the news broke on Sunday, April 25, it saw a 19% spike in flight searches on united.com.

The catch is that no timeline has been established for a program to be in place. Additionally, the EU has not given any hints of what entry restrictions will remain and how travelers will be required to show proof of vaccination. While some on the U.S. side have proposed pinky swears as a verification method, the European Commission is not willing to commit at this time.

Blade To Resume NYC Service

After a one-year hiatus, Blade is back providing helicopter service to New York/JFK, with service to the other two major airports in the NYC area returning later this fall. Service to JFK will commence on June 1, operating from the helipad at Blade Lounge West across from Hudson Yards.

The flight to JFK takes about five minutes and includes ground transportation from JFK’s helipad to the airport’s commercial terminals. The five minute helicopter flight includes a pilot with questionable body odor, sudden stops and starts, and an expectation of an exorbitant tip as Blade looks to simulate the taxi to JFK experience during the brief flight.

An individual flight goes for $195 per seat, just slightly more than the price of tolls from Manhattan to any of the three airports. The company also offers memberships that discount the price of one-way bookings and come with other perks such as a build-your-own-helipad starter kit.

Breeze Increases A220 Order

Breeze Airways boosted its order of A220 aircraft by another 20, taking its overall commitments for the aircraft to 80. This would make Breeze the second largest operator of the A220-300 in the world, especially impressive considering the airline has not yet begun to fly.

Airbus announced an order for 20 A220-300 aircraft last month to an undisclosed buyer, which now appears to be Breeze. The airline has been planning its launch since June of 2018, and is hoping to announce its launch very soon initially user Embraer 190/195 aircraft with the A220 joining by year-end.

Neeleman said last week that 80% of the routes flown by Breeze will face no nonstop competition, taking the “why don’t they make the whole plane out of the black box” trope to reality. Apparently it’s not occurred to Neeleman that there’s a reason no one flies these point-to-point routes where no one wants to go, but he thinks he can make a go of it. For now, we’ll give the benefit of the doubt to the man who has had four successful airline startups in his life: Morris Air, JetBlue, WestJet, and Azul.

Hong Kong Considers Second Bubble 

With a travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore set to begin on May 26, the Hong Kong government expects to use its existing framework to blow open a bubble with both Australia and New Zealand.

Hong Kong Commerce Secretary Edward Yau said that the bubble with Singapore “signified that gradual resumption of cross-border travel is achievable,” while indicating that discussions with both the Australian and New Zealand governments would take place.

Under the current arrangement between Hong Kong and Singapore, the bubble will burst if the seven day average of unlinked local positive tests exceeded five in either location. There will be one daily flight each day into each city as a part of the bubble, operated by either Cathay Pacific or Singapore, with a maximum of 200 passengers on the flight. No transit passengers will be permitted.

Passengers must test negative both before departure and arrival, with tests taken at the traveler’s expense. Passengers must also be able to make a Singapore Sling in under three minutes and receive approval from a taste tester before being able to enter quarantine-free.

Qantas and Rex Unable to Play Nicely

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce had some choice words for Qantas’s regional competitor Rex Airlines, continuing a war between the two airlines which has succeeded only in making both look petty and whiny.

Rex has used the pandemic as an opportunity to grow from a small, regional carrier to a full-service challenger to long-time Australian heavyweight champion Qantas. In an opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review, Joyce laid out many of the reasons he doesn’t care for how Rex has gone about its business.

Joyce starting by implying hat Rex is unsafe, saying: “Rex likes to say that they are the most profitable airline in Australia, adjusted for size. That’s a dubious distinction when you have failed to invest in your fleet and propellers are literally falling off.” Of course Rex’s propellers don’t really fall off its aircraft, or if they do, it’s done a great job of keeping it on the down low.

Joyce continued on, saying Rex earned the dubious honor of presiding over the worst launch of a new jet airline in Australian history. He said “we’ve all seen this movie before,” predicting that Rex is soon headed for bankruptcy like many of its Australian predecessors including Ansett Australia, East-West Airlines, and Mel Gibson.

He called the airline out for repeatedly using its “or else” strategy in threatening to stop flying to small towns where Qantas offered up competition. But then things got serious when Joyce said the kangaroo on Qantas’s aircraft would be a safer pilot then anyone Rex has hired and that Rex and its staff don’t even have real Australian accents.

  • AirBridgeCargo plans to begin scheduled cargo ops to five new destinations with government approval.
  • American plans to charge passengers who have to check their bag because it doesn’t fit in the bag sizer. It also says it will offer reliable on-time service on a schedule that’s convenient. Don’t hold your breath on either.
  • Azerbaijan Airlines is resuming flights between its Baku hub and London/Gatwick on May 15.
  • British Airways CEO Sean Doyle took a piece out of Ryanair’s playbook warning the British government that more jobs cuts could be coming if travel restrictions are not eased for the summer.
  • China Airlines plans to lease out two of its B747 freighter aircraft. To maximize its profit, it wants to do so in the next couple weeks so as not to compete with Memorial Day sales events.
  • Mahan Air is putting its B747-300 back into passenger service, making it the only airline in the world to still operate the aircraft.
  • Trade Air placed its final Fokker 100 aircraft up for sale. All offers will be considered. Seriously, all offers.

I was offered a new job today doing home installations for a mirror company. The pay isn’t great, but it’s something I’ve always seen myself doing one day.