May 4, 2021

Delta to Add Premium Select to More Aircraft

Delta Air Lines announced plans to retrofit many of its A330 and B767-300ER aircraft with its Premium Select cabin and other enhancements.

Delta plans to update 19 B767-300ER aircraft by next May, representing roughly half the fleet. The other half of the fleet, we assume, will be re-dedicated as flying museums with all the comforts of the early-2000s. Delta’s entire fleet of A330-200 and -300 aircraft will also receive the upgrades, with completion expected next June. Delta’s A330-900neo aircraft already are equipped with the updated cabin.

Premium Select is similar to Delta’s domestic first class, offering a true premium economy option on international flights. The seats include a leg rest, footrest, and dedicated power outlet. In-seat power outlets will finally be installed in the main cabin as part of the aircraft refresh as well.

The first B767-300 is being worked on now in Kansas City, with the fleet finished in another year. Delta plans to celebrate the new cabin installatons by offering a special price of 250,000 SkyMiles for anyone who wants to test out the new cabin on ferry flights from Kansas City back to Atlanta.

AA Reopening Admirals Clubs, Adding New Food Options

American Airlines is poised to reopen three Admirals Club Lounges, extend operating hours at others, and add new food options at all clubs in time for the return of summer travel.

Lounges are reopening this month for the first time since the pandemic in Atlanta, Phoenix (gate B7 lounge), and Miami (gate D15 lounge). Other reopened lounges in Austin, Nashville, and Houston/Intercontinental will extend their operating schedule to seven days a week. American will have reopened 27 lounges in 21 U.S. locations by Memorial Day, despite keeping all of its Flagship Lounges closed for the foreseeable future.

The airline is also rolling out a new food-for-purchase menu including options for children. The decision came after consulting with local health officials which demanded AA not serve the food that was left in the kitchens of its clubs when they shut down last March, as originally planned.

New options include $9 chicken bites and $10 turkey cheddar sandwiches that might be designed for small children but could be far more appealing to adults than the new $11 chilled quinoa salad and $12 southwestern power bowl.

Cape Air Retains EAS Contract at Bar Harbor

The DOT has confirmed Cape Air’s EAS contract at Bar Harbor, ME (BHB), despite a challenge from Silver Airways.

Silver filed a petition to overturn the DOT’s awarding of the contract due to a Cape Air employee serving on the Bar Harbor Airport Advisory Committee. The airline alleged a conflict of interest existed because it was the Airport Advisory Committee that recommended Cape Air to the Hancock County Commissioners.

The DOT dismissed the allegation because the Cape Air employee was one of several members on the Airport Advisory Committee which only made a recommendation to the county, not an edict. The DOT said in its filing that the Venn diagram of competent people and those willing to serve on the Bar Harbor Airport Advisory Committee is not very large, and it can’t be disqualifying people just because they happen to work for Cape Air.

Cape Air’s proposal met all five of the DOT’s criteria and its service and subsidiary levels were reasonable, leading the DOT to affirm the decision. Cape Air’s proposal was for a longer term than Silver’s while coming it at a lower cost. The airline also has a codeshare with JetBlue providing greater connecting options in the northeast through Boston for its passengers. On a recommendation from the DOT, Silver Airways representatives have been seen at the beach in Bar Harbor literally pounding sand.

Lufthansa Plays Flight Number Roulette

Lufthansa is readying itself for the launch of Eurowings Discover, its 424th attempt at a LCC subsidiary, by changing all Eurowings flight numbers to Lufthansa flight numbers.

Effective tomorrow, all Eurowings flights for travel on June 1 and beyond will change from an EW flight number to LH. Then, just as everyone gets used to that, when Eurowings Discover is ready to launch later this summer, the flight numbers will change from LH to 4Y (4Y is the Eurowings Discover IATA code). Lufthansa could keep everything with the EW code and then move it to 4Y when the new airline is ready to launch, but that would make things too simple and easy to understand.

The airline is also planning a test program to use other Lufthansa Group airlines codes on flight numbers to streamline its operations. All flights on Austrian will fly with the LX code from SWISS, while all SWISS flights will take Eurowings EW code that’s now been freed up. Brussels will use the OS code from Austrian while Lufthansa uses the SN code of now-defunct Sabena which is also the code of the non-defunct and generally-operating Brussels Airlines

Delta Passenger Gives Birth During Flight

Delta Air Lines passenger Lavinia Mounga gave birth to her son onboard a Delta flight from Salt Lake City to Honolulu last week. A family medicine physician and three neo-natal nurses happened to be on the flight and were able to assist with the delivery which occurred with relatively few complications.

Mounga had to be moved up to first class for the delivery to give the medical professionals more room to perform the birth of her son Raymond. Upon arrival in Hawai’i, Mounga was given a bill from Delta for three hours (half the flight) worth of a first class upgrade and a bill for her newborn son for showing up halfway through the flight without a ticket.

The doctor and nurses used shoelaces to tie and cut through the umbilical cord, made baby warmers out of microwaved bottles and used an Apple Watch to measure the baby’s heart rate. The newborn’s first meal consisted of Biscoff-flavored formula made by flight attendants.

Delta has rejected a post-flight SkyMiles request for Raymond because he did not have a boarding pass scanned upon departure in Salt Lake City.

  • Cargolux appointed Christianne Walker as the new Chair of its Board of Directors.
  • DHL International Aviation Middle East is taking delivery of six more B767-300ER freighters by the end of the year at its Bahrain hub.
  • flydubai is adding three new destinations in Russia – Moscow/Zhukovski (ZIA) beginning May 12, Novosibirsk (OVB) beginning May 28 and Perm (PEE) beginning June 2. The airline originally didn’t want to begin service to PEE until late in the summer but determined it couldn’t hold it that long.
  • Ibom Air and Dana Air in Nigeria have reached a agreement on an interline and codeshare agreement.
  • Jazz Air added the first seven of 25 E175s it will eventually take delivery of after its revised purchase agreement with Air Canada.
  • JetSMART, a Chilean LCC, is now flying 62 routes, more than it flew prior to the pandemic.
  • Kenya Airways and other domestic Kenyan carriers have begun domestic flights again this week after
  • Malaysia Airlines will retire its entire fleet of six A380 aircraft prior to the end of the year.
  • Philippine Airlines informed its lessors that the airline plans to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the United States by the end of this month.
  • Smartwings is adding London/Heathrow as a new destination, flying from its Prague hub 4x-weekly beginning June 3.
  • SpiceJet has deferred up to 50% of its wages for its employees until the thyme is right for it to afford the payments. Despite being peppered with questions from staff, the airline remains ginger about answering anything on the advice of counsel.
  • Super Air Jet, an Indonesian start-up, has a super idea to operate a fleet of 180-seat A320-200 aircraft as a domestic LCC.
  • Uganda Airways senior management team including its CEO have been placed “on-leave” by the Ugandan government over poor performance issues from the airline.
  • Virgin Australia is still A$1.2 billion in debt, which is far better than the A$6.8 billion of debt it had when Bain Capital purchased the airline last year.

I have an inferiority complex. But it’s not a very good one.