United Partners with Abbott On In-Home Test For International Travelers
United Airlines and Abbott have partnered to offer a CDC-approved self-administered COVID test that can be taken overseas and used for re-entry into the United States instead of having to hunt down a testing location in a far away land.
United passengers can order their BinaxNow test from Abbott, bring it to their overseas destination, and administer the test themselves. This does require an internet connection since travelers will need to be remotely guided through the test process by someone who may or may not actually know what they’re doing. Results can then be uploaded on to United’s Travel-Ready Center or presented at the airport to be cleared to fly.
The cost is just $150 for a six-pack of tests, which is expensive if just one person who really enjoys COVID testing needs it, but it’s downright cheap if you have a family of six. United says the tests are only the size of a day planner which, children, is something that used to be a thing before smartphones existed.
Alaska Announces Fleet Growth and New Destination
It’s growing day at Alaska Airlines, with the airline announcing it will need more airplanes because it expects domestic travel to return to pre-pandemic levels by next summer.
To meet that demand, Alaska is exercising options for 13 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft to be delivered in 2023/2024 and 17 14 net new E-175 aircraft for its regional fleet over the next two years. Eight of those go to SkyWest while nine will go to Horizon Air, but three that Horizon was originally going to take have been pushed back later so it’s only a net increase of six for the airline by 2023. In this round, each regional carrier was guaranteed eight while the 17th plane went to Horizon as it won a rock, paper, scissors battle over SkyWest.
Alaska also announced Belize City (BZE) as its newest destination. When it begins flying to the capital, Belize will become the fourth country to receive Alaska service from the West Coast. The airline has not yet announced to where it will fly from Belize, but we feel confident enough to say that it won’t be from Fresno.
Delta Asks for Sky Club Volunteers
Delta Air Lines is asking Atlanta-based employees to volunteer in its ATL Sky Clubs due to severe understaffing right now amongst its outsourced staff. The staff have stopped coming in once they realized that the SkyMiles they chose instead of cash for their wages are basically worthless.
The request had already been made to Delta’s “Peach Corps” volunteer team that often steps into different roles across the airline’s operation. Recently, their primary job has been to help the CEO remove his foot from his mouth after saying something wrong, but with the lounges understaffed by as many as 115 contract workers, they have been given a new assignment. Staff are asked to come help whenever they’re available, even if it’s just dropping in for a few minutes on break or for half an hour before putting your kids to bed.
The staff shortage is even dire enough that if it cannot find enough volunteers, the airline will force customers booked in Basic Economy to work a two-hour shift prior to departure.
Air Canada Learns to Say Aloha Again
Air Canada is adding new nonstop service from the Great White North to Hawai’i for travel this winter including the first nonstops between Montreal and Honolulu as well as Toronto and Maui. This optimistic plan assumes that Canada doesn’t “pull an Australia” and prevent most travelers from going anywhere by the time December rolls around.
Montreal to Honolulu will operate twice weekly beginning December 12 on AC’s B787 Dreamliner. Toronto to Maui will operate as Saturday-only Dreamliner service beginning December 18, while Toronto to Honolulu will operate three times weekly on the Dreamliner beginning December 17.
Western Canada will see the return of several routes. Calgary will get 3x-weekly service to Honolulu from December 18 while Maui gets 4x-weekly from December 17. All seven weekly flights to Hawai’i from Calgary will operate on a two-class Boeing 737. Vancouver will have flights to three Hawaiian markets: Honolulu, Maui, and Kona. During the winter, Honolulu and Maui will operate daily, while Kona will be 3x-weekly.
Canadians will be subject to quarantine upon arrival in Hawai’i, not for COVID but because they burn easily in the sun. The state insists all Canadian visitors quarantine for seven days to allow their skin time to adjust.
Qantas Formally Scraps International Service Through December
Qantas Airways ended its plan to resume international service in October after the Australian government “pulled an Australia” and announced that borders will remain closed through mid-2022.
The airline announced today that all international routes will remain in hibernation through at least the end of 2021 except for flights to New Zealand as part of Australia’s Trans-Tasman bubble. Qantas remains hopeful that other bubbles can be added to other regional destinations including Hong Kong and Singapore, but there is opposition. Ibiza has filed a complaint saying that if there are too many bubbles, it will turn into a foam party, diverting travelers away from Ibiza’s signature events.
The airline has turned its focus to strengthening its domestic network and will continue to do so until it can return to operating international flights. It will also operate its worldwide cargo network delivering Australian delicacies such as Vegemite across the globe to all who want them… in other words, it has one Cessna in the fleet.
- airBaltic announced a new weekly seasonal flight from its Riga hub to the Greek island Corfu (CFU) beginning June 12.
- Cebu Air posted a loss of $152.6 million in Q1 2021.
- Delta was named the #1 airline in the J.D. Power 2021 North America Satisfaction Study. Hold your applause.
- Mesa reported a pre-tax income of $7.6 million for the quarter ending March 31.
- Turkish is beginning service to Newark on May 21. Newark will mark its 10th U.S. destination.
- Volotea announced Mike Powell as its new CFO effective July 1.
Someone broke into my house yesterday. They stole my coffeemaker, my speaker system, and my lamp. I don’t know how they even sleep at night.