Alaska Making Noise in Boise
Alaska Airlines is growing in Idaho’s capital, adding three new cities from Boise — Pullman, WA (PUW) begins August 17, Seattle/Paine Field (PAE) begins September 8, and Phoenix begins November 19 — and upping frequencies to two others — Austin and Chicago/O’Hare.
The airline is upgrading its service to both Austin and Chicago/O’Hare to daily flights beginning September 8. The new flights in Austin will only add to the gate crunch taking place in Austin. For more on that subject, visit today’s post on crankyflier.com.
The service to Pullman will operate 5x-weekly. Pullman is located next to Moscow, ID, where the University of Idaho is located. The Boise-Pullman/Moscow route is being subsidized by the university, which guaranteed Alaska profit for the first three years of the route. Universities have struggled financially during the pandemic, so the University of Idaho has developed a unique plan that involves partnering with hackers from “the other Moscow” to help fund any shortfalls. Russian Emperor-for-Life Vladimir Putin declined to comment, saying he was too busy enjoying a delicious baked potato of undisclosed origin.
United Loosens Appearance Standards
United Airlines is updating its appearance and grooming standards for frontline staff effective September 1. Unfortunately, the airline declined to update its appearance standards for passengers, ensuring that velour jumpsuits and mesh tank tops can still be worn in its cabins.
The new regulations will apply to only flight attendants and customer service representatives at first, with pilots and below-the-wing staff expected to follow in 2022.
As part of the updates, the airline will permit employees to have visible tattoos and to wear visible piercings including nose studs. Grooming standards on United will also be unified, doing away with the practice of separate policies for different genders. With the new filtering down to the employees, United is expected to put a tattoo artist and hair stylist in its break rooms at several hubs, offering to tattoo United’s former tulip logo on to flight attendants for a small fee.
Aer Lingus Delays Launch of UK-US Flights
Aer Lingus has pushed back the start of its planned service between Manchester, England (MAN) and the United States by two months.
The airline originally planned to fly to both New York/JFK and Orlando beginning July 29 but will now commence with the flights on September 30. The airline says it is still committed to the service, but is delaying due to the slower than expected reopening of international borders. It’s also reported that Aer Lingus officials just now discovered the insensitive horror that is Lucky Charms cereal and are strongly considering pulling out all service to the United States.
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has also yet to formally approve Aer Lingus’s application to fly the routes from the UK to the US. While approval is expected any time now, the US DOT will not allow EI to begin selling seats on the routes until the CAA gives its formal approval.
Passengers who currently hold tickets for service from Manchester to JFK or MCO on the effected dates are eligible to receive a full refund, be accommodated on different flights, take a voucher that includes a bonus 10% in value, or go to the Irish pub of their choice and drink until they have forgotten that they have a flight to the United States to begin with.
Ryanair Takes Delivery of First 737 MAX 8-200
Ryanair has taken delivery of the first B737 MAX 8-200 aircraft, seemingly the perfect airplane for Ryanair as it smushes 197 seats on an airplane the same size as one that previously sat 189, and yet Ryanair manages to claim that it will offer even more legroom! The airline is also promising fresh guacamole on flights of 300 miles of longer prepared at your seat and on-board masseuses who will offer complimentary 15 minutes massages for each passenger while in-flight.
The reason this MAX aircraft requires a new designation from Boeing is because it comes with an extra set of emergency exits to accommodate for the dense configuration. Ryanair was willing to add the extra emergency rows, not because of safety guidelines, but because it realized an extra exit row was another chance for an upsell.
The 197 seats come with 28 inches of pitch, which is the same as Spirit and Frontier – not exactly the best company to keep when it comes to onboard comfort. If the legroom truly is increased on the planes as Ryanair says, then the seats must be about as thick as the mask that the drunk British travelers refuse to wear on their way back from Spain, neither of which is comfortable.
This is the first of 210 of these planes that Ryanair will eventually take delivery of over the next couple years. The rollout will take a while as Ryanair is requiring Boeing to charge the pilots and other crew operating the ferry flights to Ireland to deliver the planes, because no one flies for free on Ryanair.
La Compagnie Adds Two
La Compagnie, the all-business class airline that has operated exclusively between Newark and France – two places that are often confused for one another — announced two new destinations, one operating from Paris and one from Newark.
The new destinations are Milan and Tel Aviv, two cities that also are often confused for each other.
La Compagnie will operate 3x-weekly service between Paris/Orly (ORY) and Tel Aviv between July 22 and October 19. The flight is timed with the airline’s service to Newark to allow connections on both ends, the first such offering on the airline. On November 29, La Compagnie will add a second transatlantic destination – Milan/Malpensa. It will operate 4x-weekly flights to MXP from Newark through March 12.
- Aer Lingus returned 10 weekly slots to Delta at London/Heathrow for the upcoming winter season.
- British Airways is adding four new routes from Belfast (BFS) after the collapse of Stobart Air. It will operate 18 new weekly flights from Belfast to Exeter (EXT), Glasgow (GLA), Leeds (LBA), and Newquay (NQY). The new service will complement BA’s existing flights from Belfast to London/Heathrow and London/City.
- Copa is upgrading frequencies to six US destinations this summer. From its Panama City hub, it will now operate 9x daily to Miami, 5x daily to Orlando, 4x daily to New York/JFK and 2x daily to Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, and Washington/Dulles.
- easyJet is adding 12 new UK domestic routes this summer because it has planes that need to fly somewhere, damn it, and the UK isn’t making it easy to fly them with people anywhere but the UK.
- Eurowings Discover, Lufthansa’s 340th offshoot brand was granted its Air Operator Certificate by the German FAA.
- Flair Airlines announced its 20th destination – Grand Prairie, AB (YQU). It will operate twice-weekly service from both Toronto and Vancouver.
- GoJet Airlines is adding a new crew base in Richmond this fall. The airline, which operates on behalf of United Express will base 30 crews – 60 pilots and 30 flight attendants – in Richmond.
- Helvetic Airways is opening a new base in Basel this fall. It will station two aircraft at the airport. The airport said that the addition of the Swiss airline would be a big plus for operations.
- Iberia is expanding its MRO base in Barcelona. The expansion will include the construction of a new A320 maintenance facility for Vueling.
- Qantas is now operating its B787s on its domestic Sydney-Perth flights twice daily.
- Qantas also announced an expansion of its three-year deal with Alliance Airways to operate for E190s on behalf of QantasLink. Alliance will up the number of aircraft it operates on behalf of Qantas from four to 18.
- United has moved literal heaven and earth, making changes in the distance between airports across the world.
I’ve never been very good at geography. But I can name at least one city in France, which is Nice.