June 1, 2021

U.S. Suspends Bilateral Air Services Agreement with Belarus         

It’s a tough day if you were hoping to spend your post-pandemic summer vacation in Minsk as the United States government intends to suspend its bilateral air services agreement with Belarus, an agreement that had been in place since 2019.

The agreement had removed all restrictions on the number of flights and routings between the two counties on flights operated by American or Belarusian carriers. Belarus’s government had been planning to develop Minsk (MSQ) into a fifth-freedom hub with flights to the United States from foreign carriers including AZAL Azerbaijan Airlines, Qatar, and Uzbekistan Airways. You might think that’s one of our jokes, but it’s not. It’s real, and it’s… a good thing that plan is now going to have to be put on hold.

Flag carrier Belavia is now barred from using the airspace of any of its neighbors with the exception of Russia over the Ryanair government hijacking incident. The government opted not to use the most logical defense of its actions last week – attempting to give the passengers a free stopover in Minsk, something that is not offered on Ryanair – but instead is sticking to its laughable story that there was a bomb threat called in by Hamas. In the meantime, the country and its airline will remain a pariah in the international aviation community as this story continues to unfold.

Stowaway Forces Air India Flight to Return to Delhi

Air India Flight 105 was 30 minutes into its journey from Delhi (DEL) to Newark when cabin crew members discovered an unticketed passenger in the business class section of the aircraft. The passenger, who was dead when discovered by staff, had its existence on the aircraft blamed on catering staff by Air India’s engineering team. Oh, and by the way, the unwanted passenger was a bat. A dead bat. At least the dead bat has good taste and chose to fly up front in business.

The Jersey-bound passenger bat was suspected to have made its way on-board from a catering truck, which seems more like Air India throwing a third party under the bus than taking responsibility for the bat carcass.

The flight left Delhi on-time at 2:20 am, which in hindsight feels like an ideal departure time for a bat looking for a flight to catch. After the pilot decided to return to Delhi, the plane circled briefly while dumping fuel and landed safely at 3:55 am. The human, ticketed passengers were then moved to another aircraft – presumably bat-free – which made it to Newark incident-free, arriving at 11:35 am.

EU and Italy Close to Deal on Alitalia ITA

The on-again, off-again relationship between the EU and Italy seems to be on-again as the European Commission said it reached a “common understanding” with the Italian government on the framework of a deal to allow Alitalia to transition into ITA.

Italy finally agreed to the EU’s insistence that the new airline have no economic continuity with the old airline, operating as an entirely new entity. After looking at Alitalia’s on-time record and their books, a clean break from the old airline can only serve to benefit ITA.

With the potential agreement between Brussels and Rome, Italy will now move “full speed ahead” to roll out the new airline, which likely means getting work done between 1:30 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. every third Tuesday. It hopes to have ITA fully-operational by September 1. Of what year, we aren’t sure.

The Italian government will permit ITA to participate in a tender for the Alitalia brand if it chooses, which would be amazing. After this entire process, ITA paying itself to keep the Alitalia brand is the perfect ending to this saga.

Qantas Hopeful for Early Reboot to U.S, U.K.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce is indicating that Qantas could return to non-Tasman international service sooner than previously expected, thanks to the positive climb of vaccination rates in the United States and the United Kingdom.

Nothing is confirmed yet, and likely won’t be for several weeks or months – but that won’t stop us from speculating. The airline is optimistic that it could restart flying to two of its most important markets prior to the previously-expected timeframe of mid-2022.

When Qantas resumes flying to the United States and United Kingdom, it plans to do with Boeing 787-9 aircraft while its A380s remain in storage. It has no plans to resume flying the A380 until late 2023. In the meantime, the airline is slowly beginning to restock its reserves with ice-cold Budweiser and warm London Pride to prepare for an eventual return to both countries.

Wizz Ends its Norwegian Vacation

Wizz Air will end its domestic operation within Norway on June 14, just six months after it began. The airline moved into Norway to operate domestically last November, hoping to pick at the bankrupt carcass of Norwegian, but it ran into trouble with unions and local municipalities from the get-go.

The move comes just before Norwegian startup Flyr entrs the mrket, giving Wizz one more competitr in an already diluted marketplace. The airline will maintain its bases in Norway to operate regional service throughout Europe.

Wizz is currently involved in litigation with multiple local governments in Norway and the state-owned electricity generator, Statnett. It’s been so difficult to work with in the past six months that most Norwegians are begging for Ryanair to enter the domestic market.

  • Aeroméxico took delivery of its first B737-9 aircraft over the weekend, with the plane expected to enter passenger service on Sunday.
  • Air Astana is beginning new flights from Almaty to Samarkand, Uzbekistan (SKD). Flights will operate twice weekly, beginning June 9.
  • AirAsia X received shareholder approval for a restructuring plan that will eliminate $15 billion in debt. Great deal if you can get it.
  • Alaska removed its final middle seat blocking exception – in its Premium Class – today, June 1, marking the end of all middle seat blocking in the United States.
  • ANA is operating one-time flights from Osaka to three new destinations in July: Chicago/O’Hare, Frankfurt, and San Francisco.
  • Austrian flew its final Q400 turboprop flight on Sunday.
  • DAT retired its last MD-82 but plans to keep dat MD-83 it’s got in service for the foreseeable future.
  • Emirates is increasing it service to Italy, adding 3x-weekly flights from Dubai to Venice. Dubai to Milan/MXP will increase from eight to ten weekly flights in July.
  • Frontier launched new service today between Miami and Montego Bay (MBJ). The flight will operate 3x-weekly and is expected to be on-time sometimes, but likely not on the day you’re flying the route.
  • Garuda Indonesia is considering restructuring, bankruptcy, and liquidation, but that’s it. Nothing more.
  • Lufthansa is reopening its First Class lounge in Frankfurt, but the only food and drink options will be to go. It plans to resume in-lounge dining once local regulations allow and it can find the key where the booze is locked up.
  • Lufthansa Cargo has taken delivery of its 15th aircraft – a B777 freighter.
  • Neos began B737 MAX operations in Italy on Saturday.
  • NingXia Cargo Airlines has revived its plans to launch as a new cargo operator in China. The world rejoices.
  • Qantas is offering 10 grand prizes of free flights for a year for Australians who are fully vaccinated from COVID by the end of 2021. Rex is planning to challenge the contest in court, stating that it’s “flooding the market” with free flights and placing “unnecessary strain” on the country’s vaccine supply by encouraging so many Australians to receive the jab.
  • Ryanair will reopen its base at Venice/Treviso today, two months later than originally planned.
  • SKY express has added the 5th A320neo to its fleet.
  • Stobart Air’s sale is in doubt as the potential buyer – Ettyl Limited – appears to have more limited funds than once believed.

I saw an ad that said “new HDTV on sale for just $10; but beware, the volume is stuck on the highest level.” And I thought to myself “I can’t turn that down!”