Apologies from yesterday: Hopefully you’re not still refreshing your inbox waiting for Tuesday’s Cranky Daily to arrive. A technical glitch prevented the email from being distributed, but it was posted online at CrankyDaily.com. If you’re looking for yesterday’s airlines news and snark, you can catch up by clicking here.
JetBlue Puts London on Sale; Announces Dates
JetBlue Airways first flight to the United Kingdom will operate on August 11, inaugurating daily service from New York/JFK to London/Heathrow. The flight to London will be a redeye, departing JFK at 10:10 p.m. and arriving at 10:10 a.m. the next day. The plane will remain in London all day, potentially visiting a pub to kill time before returning at 6:10 p.m., with a 9:43 p.m. scheduled arrival into JFK.
Several weeks later, JetBlue will begin daily nonstop service from JFK to London/Gatwick on September 29. Flights from Boston to London will begin in 2022. Tickets for flights to both London airports are on sale now.
JetBlue had hoped to begin flying the route earlier than mid-August, but was delayed by various regulatory holdups including proving it could safely operate long over-water flights. The airline first thought it’s perfect record of flying over the Long Island Sound would be enough to satisfy safety regulators but ended up needing further sign-off.
Roundtrip fares will start at $599 in economy and $1,979 in Mint.
European Union to Welcome Vaccinated Travelers – Eventually
The European Union has come to an agreement to accept vaccinated travelers later this summer including Americans – except those who insist on traveling with fanny packs. EU leaders will give formal approval to the plan next week, and not today, because nothing done in Europe is ever done with urgency.
Visitors must have been inoculated from the virus by one of the vaccines authorized by the European Medicines Agency – that list includes all vaccines currently available in the United States.
The date at which visitors will be welcomed back has not been set, with a re-opening date on hold while the countries determine how they will verify vaccination. Some nations are planning to accept a pinky swear while others will want more verifiable information. Each member nation will retain the right to place restrictions back on travel if infections spike or if visitors seem generally annoying to the point of wanting them to go back home.
U.S.-Canada Border Restrictions Extended Again
The border between the United States and Canada will be closed for another month through June 21. This will mark the 14th consecutive month the border has been closed to non-essential travel between the two nations.
The border closure was scheduled to expire later this week, so this extension will buy more time as the two governments potentially inch closer to reopening the border. Currently 46% of Canadians have received their first dose of Covid vaccine, but just under 4% have received their second shot. 47% of Americans have received their first show, with over 37% fully vaccinated.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau indicated that rules and guidelines were unlikely to be loosened in Canada until vaccination rates climb over 75%, which if true would signal a long road ahead to reopen the land border between the two countries. In the meantime, essential travel can continue including shipments of maple syrup and Labatt south into the United States and truckloads of Coca-Cola into the north.
Ryanair Wants its Airplanes and it Wants Them Now
Ryanair is “quite upset” at Boeing and does not “necessarily believe” that B737-8-200 deliveries will start by the end of May as the manufacturer promised the airline. The European court system breathed a sigh of relief at the news, hoping this will lead to a pause in lawsuits filed by the airline.
Ryanair CEO, Michael Leary said during a quarterly earnings presentation that mismanagement in Seattle is leading to a risk that Ryanair won’t take delivery of any of the aircraft until after the start of summer. The FAA and EASA approved the aircraft for certification in March and Ryanair was hopeful to take delivery of the new aircraft by the end of last month.
Ryanair is expecting 60 of the aircraft to be delivered by the start of the summer travel season out of its total order of 210. It is one of two airlines with orders of the B737-8-200, with VietJetAir being the other.
Viva Aerobus to Expand Mexico-US Service
Monterrey-based Viva Aerobus is launching four new transborder routes between the United States and Mexico, giving the airline 23 routes between the two countries. Viva Aerobus is the second largest Mexican carrier by capacity on transborder routes, trailing only fellow ULCC Volaris.
Austin will see two new nonstops on the airline, with year-round, twice-weekly service to Monterrey (MTY), and seasonal, twice-weekly service to Mexico City. Both routes will begin on June 19, with AUS-MEX wrapping up on October 25.
Cancun will see two new U.S. destinations on the airline, with twice-weekly service from Houston/Bush beginning July and once-weekly flights to Newark beginning July 4.
- Aer Lingus is shutting down its Shannon (SNN) base, while laying off 150 employees as part of the closure.
- Air Canada and Edmonton International Airport have signed a partnership to reduce carbon emissions by testing emerging green technologies.
- Air France Flight 382 from Paris/CDG to Montreal on Tuesday was the first long-haul flight to operate using Sustainable Aviation Fuel produced in France. The fuel was said to be a dark red with undertones of oak and cinnamon.
- Air Malta is restarting service to four European cities in June: Lisbon, Munich, Prague, and Vienna. It will operate 51 weekly round trips to 15 destinations during the month.
- Alaska is resuming full meal service in first class to and from Hawai’I and on transcontinental flights. A nation rejoices.
- Edelweiss is popping back into the Dominican Republic, resuming once-weekly service from Zurich to Puerto Plata (POP) on July 2.
- Elite Airways is adding service from its Portland, ME (PWM) hub to Florida. Twice-weekly flights to Sarasota and Melbourne will begin on July 1 with a stop in White Plains, NY (HPN).
- ITA, the Brazilian start up, not the wildly mismanaged Italian one, announced a $500 million investment from Qatar. The airline at first thought it was getting $500 million worth of guitars but decided to keep the money once it realized what was up.
- Jazeera Airways had an ordinary 10% increase in capital approved by shareholders during an Extraordinary General Meeting today.
- Nok Air is knocking on the door of financial stability after filing its restructuring plan with a Thai bankruptcy court.
- Singapore will raise about $4.5 billion via mandatory convertible bonds.
- Southwest revealed in an SEC filing that leisure bookings for June are approaching 2019 levels, but due to the much lower average ticket price of leisure travel, revenues will be down 20-25% compared to 2019.
- Wizz Air confirms it will open a new base in Cardiff (CWL) beginning June 17. One A321-200 will be stationed at the airport.
What do call a criminal landing an airplane? Condescending.