June 14, 2021

TSA Screens 2 Million for First Time Since Pandemic Onset

For the first time since the pandemic began, the TSA screened more than 2 million passengers in one day, passing the threshold on Friday.

The total for the day was 2,028,961 people passing through security checkpoints, a figure that is 1.5 million more than TSA screened on the same day in 2020. The country reached a low of just 87,534 passengers on April 13, 2020, with the number slowly climbing upwards since. That sounds like blockbuster growth… until you look at 2019 numbers and realize we still have a way to go.

Prior to the pandemic, the TSA screened about 2.5 million passengers on a regular day, with Friday’s post-pandemic high representing about three-quarters of the volume from The Before Times. Of the 2 million passengers who flew on Friday, most of them were lucky enough to be traveling somewhere other than Newark. Most of the flights operated on-time and incident-free except outliers where passengers were insistent on receiving a cockpit tour during flight.

United Tells Frontline Staff Their Jobs are Safe

United Airlines told more than 40,000 employees over the weekend that their jobs are safe when funding from CARES Act 3.0 dries up this fall due to the increase in bookings and travel demand.

The message was delivered to UA’s flight attendants, ticket agents, and ramp workers, assuring them that there would be no furloughs this fall and that the airline actually expects to add new staff, beginning with pilots and mechanics. We’ll assume this is real and not just some nefarious corporate plot to raise hopes before crushing them with “surprise furloughs” this fall just to get a reaction. That would have been the old United’s plan.

U.S. Airlines received a combined $54 billion in federal aid despite lawsuits from Ryanair to halt the funding. The funds were offered in exchange for not cutting jobs or pay rates on staff – airlines still managed to cut payroll by offering early retirement buyouts and voluntary leave at reduced pay rates. United used most of its CARES Act funding to keep staff jobs, and before the last extension, it had threatened more than once that more furloughs would be necessary without more CARES funding.

Two Airlines Bite the Dust

The aviation world lost two airlines over the weekend, with both Air Antwerp and Stobart Air calling it quits.

Air Antwerp was a joint venture between CityJet and KLM which flew between London/City and Antwerp using a single Fokker 50 aircraft. The airline returned its plane to its lessor in Sweden last month and when a one-airplane airline loses its plane, it makes it exceedingly difficult for the airline to operate. The same fate befell Sandpiper Air of Nantucket in the early ’90s, as its plane often had mechanical issues despite its well-intentioned but seemingly inefficient mechanic. Sandpiper’s plane also had extra strain placed on it as the airline’s owners often flew the plane for last-minute leisure trips regardless of their posted schedule or other business considerations, something that did not seem to plague Air Antwerp.

Stobart Air was the operator of Aer Lingus’s regional service, and it announced that it would cancel its franchise agreement with Aer Lingus and liquidate its assets. The airline had been on the verge of a sale to Ettyl Limited, but the deal hit several roadblocks over the assets of its parent company which eventually scuttled the whole thing. Its parent, remember, was involved that ill-fated Virgin Atlantic-flybe-Connect Airways deal.

Before its collapse, the Dublin-based airline flew 12 ATR-72-600 aircraft and one ATR-42-600, utilizing eight aircraft during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aer Lingus is backfilling replacement flights on several of Stobart’s 11 routes. The airline will use a combination of both mainline aircraft and two planes usually flown for BA CityFlyer to fill in.

American Plans to Drop Award Chart

Despite telling AAdvantage members in 2020 that AAward charts aren’t going away, the airline now is planning to eliminate them in favor of opaque award redemptions in the near future.

American is following its rivals Delta and United in making the move; United eliminated its award charts in 2019, and Delta did it as far back as 2015 once it realized no one had enough SkyMiles for a redemption anyway.

American insists that a devaluation is not going to follow the removal of the award chart, but we all know where this is likely going. The airline will push the change as an enhancement designed to offer greater choice, which it might – but it will likely do so at a higher price. With American moving towards its two rivals with no award chart, several LCCs got together and laughed. “What’s an award chart?” asked Southwest, while Spirit thought the idea of letting customers purchase seats with points instead of cash made no sense – unless a hefty fee was attached to each purchase. It turns out Spirit is a big fan of British Airways.

European Airlines Seek to Overturn EU261

EU261 is coming under fire from Europe’s top airlines after they collectively paid out more than €10 billion in refunds from virus lockdowns and border closures over the past year.

The rule set baselines for reimbursement due to delays and cancellations long before the pandemic and is very passenger-friendly in its payouts. Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith called it “probably one of the most punitive protection-rights laws in the world,” which is CEO-speak for “I don’t like the rule because it costs us money and hurts my bonus, and I think it’s dumb.”

The rule has been in place since 2005 and requires compliance from all airlines on flights operating to or from the EU, regardless of where the airline is based. Most U.S. airlines require passengers to inquire themselves about potential payouts for delays on flights from Europe, but they are required to pay out if a legitimate claim is filed.

European airlines attempted to rebook as many passengers as they could during the pandemic but were forced to pay out compensation to those who requested it. The European Commission is said to be mulling changes to the rule but no change is considered imminent, because nothing in European bureaucracy is ever imminent.

  • Air Belgium is adding an A330neo to its fleet.
  • Air Canada Cargo announced new cargo routes from Toronto to Miami, Quito, Lima, Mexico City, and Guadalajara. Then in 2022, it will fly from Toronto to Halifax, St. John’s, Madrid, and Frankfurt.
  • Air Century is going to wet-lease several A321 aircraft, but it is unclear in which century they will be delivered.
  • Air Zimbabwe is set to exit business rescue on June 30, and the government just released funds for the airline to acquire a second EMB-145LR.
  • Czech Airlines‘s restructuring plan was approved by a Czech court. Ryanair has not yet weighed in but will soon.
  • Delta passengers in first class and Delta One on select cross-country routes will be able to complain about their meals once again as the airline brings back hot meal service beginning tomorrow.
  • GOL ended its equity capital increase after pulling in a cool $83 million.
  • Greater Bay Airlines of Hong Kong is now hoping to launch Q4 of this year. The airline will not operate to the San Francisco area due to its obvious rivalry with the region.
  • Smartlynx Malta took delivery of a leased A321 freighter aircraft, the first A321F in Europe. The aircraft immediately started chain smoking and grew a goatee.
  • WestJet is introducing new service from Calgary to Amsterdam. The twice-weekly service will begin August 5 and upgrade to 3x-weekly on September 9.
  • Wizz Air is whizzing into domestic service within the UK as it operates twice-weekly service between Jersey (this one, not this one) and both Doncaster/Sheffield and Cardiff.

How do you spot a radical baker? They’re always going against the grain.