June 2, 2021

Alaska and Emirates End Partnership

Alaska and Emirates will be ending their frequent flier partnership and codeshare agreements this summer, officially cutting ties on July 31.

The dissolution of this partnership has seemed inevitable since Alaska joined oneworld and began a relationship with fellow member Qatar. Emirates and Qatar have similar networks, connecting the world through their Middle East hubs, and it makes much more sense for Alaska to feed its oneworld partner the connecting traffic than a competitor with which it has a loose affiliation.

The two carriers have been partners for a decade, first joining together in 2012 when Emirates began flying from Dubai to Seattle and needed Alaska’s feed to help fill the flights. Now, Emirates will have to turn to the other hub carrier in Seattle, Delta, to fill that flight… except Emirates can’t make money on the middle fingers and not-so-veiled threats that Delta has repeatedly offered the airline.

For passengers, any travel booked through the partnership prior to today will be credited when travel takes place even if it occurs after July 31. For any travel booked today or later, travel must be completed by July 31 to credit Emirates miles to Mileage Plan – travel on August 1 or beyond will not retain any frequent flier credit.

Russia Reopens Airspace as Belarusian Alternative

The Russian government reopened its airspace to carriers looking to bypass Belarusian airspace following the May 23 incident where Belarus illegally grounded a Ryanair flight to take a journalist into custody. All it asks in return is for each airline’s flight crew to bow down to Lenin upon entering its airspace and give a sworn statement that Russia has not influenced any global elections.

The European Aviation Safety Agency issued a non-binding bulletin advising EU airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace last week and upgraded the directive to a mandate today. Despite the warning from EASA, most non-EU carriers continue to fly over Belarus with the exception of Singapore Airlines.

When the policy first went into effect last week, Russia declined to make its airspace available to carriers who were avoiding Belarus, forcing cancellations on several flights including Air France’s Paris-Moscow flight and Austrian’s flight to Moscow from Vienna. Those flights will operate without disruption going forward as the Russians backed down.

Bamboo Airways Applies to Fly to USA and Canada

Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways filed an application with the DOT to offer service to five cities in the United States using its own aircraft, with a plan to launch service as soon as this fall.

In its application, the airline is seeking permission to operate between Ho Chi Minh (SGN) and Los Angeles and San Francisco and beyond to Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver. The flights to the United States would stop on the way, likely in Taipei, Osaka, or Nagoya, even though it should have the range to fly nonstop. Bamboo does not hold local traffic rights for travel between Japan and the United States, making the stop likely to be technical to swap crew and refuel – not to pick up or drop off passengers, bamboo, or pandas who left China because they want to eat said bamboo.

Lastly, Bamboo also requested permission to serve up to 25 more markets in the country via a US codeshare partner. The airline did not name the potential carrier, but did say it would be a major carrier, eliminating Boutique Air from consideration. There are 25 cities to which the airline could codeshare as chosen by the Vietnamese government in 2005. The list includes 24 of the country’s busiest airports and destinations plus – curiously – Wichita.

KLM Restores North American Network to Pre-Pandemic Levels (Almost)

KLM is restoring most of its North American network for travel this summer as it returns service to Las Vegas and Minneapolis, giving it 16 destinations in North America assuming borders reopen, just one shy of what it operated in 2019. The only city missing from the map from two years ago is Salt Lake City, which it does serve via a codeshare on joint-venture partner Delta’s nonstop flight between AMS and SLC.

KLM will add two previously-announced destinations for the winter – Cancun and Orlando – that will operate from October 31 through March 26.

Despite the number of destinations reaching 16, the airline is still shy of 2019 in frequency and capacity, but it plans to increase both of those metrics as vaccination rates improve and the airline can locate its Delft Houses that have been in storage since the onset of the pandemic.

Rex Continues Spat with Rivals

Rex Airlines took out full-page newspaper ads on Tuesday in major markets across Australia, as it continued calling on its rivals – Qantas and Virgin Australia – to offer full refunds to passengers with travel disrupted by COVID outbreaks.

The ads highlighted social media complaints from passengers detailing their difficulties in obtaining refunds from Qantas for travel that was affected by the pandemic. Rex’s implication is that Qantas and Virgin Australia are standing in the way of economic recovery in Australia by not having a customer-friendly refund policy. Of course, Rex is conveniently here to save the day just like any good boy.

The airline also will add four more aircraft to its fleet by the start of the Australian spring this September as it increases its head-to-head battle with Qantas and Virgin Australia over Canberra. It had intended to have ten jets by the end of 2021 but will take delivery sooner to respond to the high load factors the airline has had – in direct opposition to Qantas CEO Alan Joyce assertion that Rex had “the worst launch of a new jet airline in Australia’s history,” with some flights flying empty.

  • Aeroflot had a busy Wednesday as the airline took delivery of its first A321neo and secured a loan worth $320 million.
  • American is extending systemwide upgrade validity through July 2022.
  • Cabo Verde Airlines confirmed its plans to resume flying late in Q2 which presumably means sometime this month.
  • Canada North and First Air took another step in their merger announcing they will operate under a single AOC from this point forward.
  • easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou sold 1.3% of his stake in the airline, decreasing his share from 26.7 to 25.3%.
  • Empire Airlines took delivery of its first new ATR72-600 freighter aircraft and hopes to have it in service by the end of June.
  • JAL is adding a weekly flight between Tokyo/Narita and Seattle, operating the route 4x-weekly, beginning in July. It will also upgrade NRT to LAX and Manila to daily service during September.
  • LATAM Brasil is adding one new destination – Comandatuba (UNA) – which will see a weekly flight from São Paulo/Congonhas (CGH). The airline is also adding ten new routes to existing destinations.
  • Scoot took delivery of its first A321neo aircraft after the aircraft scooted its way from Hamburg to Singapore to begin service.
  • SKY Airline of Chile plans to begin A321neo passenger operations this fall.
  • Thai’s restructuring hearing in a Thai bankruptcy court was rescheduled for June 15. The judge told representatives from the airline that based on his experience flying the airline, they should be used to dealing with delays.
  • Turkish resumed operating the B737 MAX 9 aircraft.

My mother-in-law has been staring through the window ever since the blizzard started. If it gets any worse, I’ll have to let her in.