United’s July Inches Towards Pre-Pandemic Levels
The United Airlines July schedule will include more than 400 additional daily flights compared to June as it operates nearly 80% of its pre-pandemic schedule during the month. In total, the July schedule represents a 17% jump over its June offerings.
Most of the additions will be felt at Chicago/O’Hare and Washington/Dulles which will operate more than 480 and 220 daily departures, respectively. United is adjusting its banks in both hubs adding two new ones in Chicago with one late night bank in Washington.
While almost all of the increases are on domestic service, United is increasing some international offerings as well. It will begin its new flight from Newark to Dubrovnik, Croatia (DBV) a week earlier than planned, on July 1. Its seasonal service from Newark to Athens (this one, not this one), will be upgauged to a B777-200ER from the originally scheduled B767-300ER. United will also add a second daily flight from Dulles to Frankfurt in July along with some more Italy flying, and it expects to resume flights from Newark to Barcelona, Lisbon, and Madrid once Spain and Portugal re-open to vaccinated travelers.
United, Delta, and American Begin Quarantine-Free Flights to Italy
American Airlines joined Delta last week while United made plans today as the three U.S.-based airlines that will offer quarantine-free flights to Italy — provided travelers can supply a negative test result at check-in and then pass a rapid test upon arrival in Milan or Rome.
American’s process differs slightly from Delta’s process which requires an additional rapid test taken at the airport just before boarding. Delta can offer this service because its flights are likely to depart on-time, whereas by the time AA’s flights leave, the rapid test taking at check-in or boarding is likely no longer to be valid.
The announcement from each airline comes after Italy announced last week that it is ready to welcome all travelers arriving on a COVID-tested flight from the U.S., Canada, Japan, and UAE. Italy’s policy will be in place through July 30 at which point it will reevaluate based on the level of positive cases in the country and hopefully relax restrictions further.
FAA Hits Unruly Delta Passenger with Record Fine
One former Delta passenger idiot will be $52,500 lighter in his wallet soon after the FAA proposed the five-figure penalty in response to a series of incidents aboard a Delta flight from Honolulu to Seattle last December. The passenger has 30 days to respond.
The passenger idiot attempted to open the flight deck door midflight and then refused to comply with crew member instructions after the attempt. One would think that his attempt to open the flight deck door would indicate his unwillingness to comply with instructions, but full credit to the Delta flight crew for giving it a go.
The unruly idiot then struck a flight attendant in the face before pushing him to the floor, taking over the title as angriest passenger because Delta ran out of Biscoff in airline history. The perpetrator then charged at the flight attendant again while he was being restrained into plastic cuffs. Later in the flight, he managed to break free from the cuffs and struck the flight attendant again.
Reports from the cabin stated that the passenger — in addition to wanting more Biscoff — kept telling the flight attendant that he already had the Delta branded American Express and did not want to hear the sales pitch. The plane was met by law enforcement who took the passenger into custody upon arrival. The civil penalty from the FAA will be in addition to any potential criminal charges. While being hauled away he could be heard asking the gate agents in Seattle how many SkyMiles he would earn when he posted his bail on his Delta-branded Amex.
South African Airways Plans Restart
South African Airways is hoping to resume flying later this summer as the airline emerges from the pandemic and bankruptcy that dominated a rocky 2020 for the airline.
SAA, which is state-owned, entered into administration in December of 2019, a situation that went from bad to worse when the pandemic hit three months later. SAA has not flown commercially since September of 2020 but has operated limited cargo flights in the interim. The airline exited the administration process last month after receiving a $550 million cash infusion from the South African government.
Money that was earmarked for SAA’s subsidiary airlines was held up in further litigation due to the language of the restructuring not specifically earmarking funds for anyone but SAA. That issue has been mostly resolved, allowing SAA to turn it focus on when it will return to the air.
The airline also must negotiate a settlement with its pilots union before it can hope to meet its target of July or August. If airline and union negotiations in the United States are the base for what is expected, then July or August of 2025 might be more realistic.
Philippine Airlines to Shrink
Philippine Airlines is in discussions with its plane lessors about returning aircraft to save money and reduce its fleet size. The conversations come on the heels of the airline planning a Chapter 11 filing in the United States to carry out a restructuring.
The airline is working with Seabury Capital on its potential bankruptcy filing. It expects to continue flying during the bankruptcy, and no operations will be affected beyond the usual fun-filled experience of trying to guess when flights will operate, just as during regular times. PR will use the process to restructure lease contracts that cannot be negotiated ahead of time and reduce debts to provide it with a better chance of post-pandemic survival.
In March, the airline announced it would be cutting an additional 2,300 jobs. With no government support on the horizon, bankruptcy appears to be its only pathway to survival. It would join Avianca, LATAM, and Virgin Atlantic as foreign airlines to file for U.S. bankruptcy protection since the onset of the pandemic.
- Aeroflot won in a Russian court which determined — and had Maury Povich announce — that the airline is NOT responsible for Transaero’s debts.
- Binter Air of Spain is ending service to Cabo Verde with the addition of Bestfly Angola into the market.
- British Airways introduced new sleep pods in its first class lounge at Heathrow’s Terminal 5. The pods permit 20 minutes of napping and then slowly begin vibrating to wake up the traveler. The level of the vibration can be set at “gentle awakening,” “light shake,” and “holy crap my flight leaves in an hour and I’m still in bed at home and haven’t started packing yet.”
- East-West Express, a Ukrainian Airline whose finances are expected to mostly go south, acquired an A319 last week, its first airplane.
- Fly Gangwon of South Korea plans to use its previous capital campaign to add A330s to its fleet.
- JetBlue announced today that Ursula Hurley has been named acting CFO, effective June 11.
- Lübeck Air plans to launch international flights for the first time this fall.
- Neos will begin twice-weekly service between Milan/Malpensa (MXP) and New York/JFK on June 27.
- PLAY Airlines received its operating certificate from Icelandic authorities and officially registered its first aircraft. Game on.
- Smartlynx Malta is adding five A330-300 freighter aircraft to its fleet.
- TUI Fly Nordic is phasing out its widebody fleet of aircraft.
- TUS Airways completed its Cypriot recertification.
My cousin accidentally used laughing gas as deodorant. He smelled funny all day.