FAA Pumps the Brakes on LGA AirTrain
The FAA put a hold on plans to build a $2.1 billion AirTrain at New York/LaGuardia after opponents of the project raised concerns about the environmental review process. The Port Authority had expected to begin construction this month but will now hold off while it awaits the decision of the FAA.
The FAA says it plans to issue a decision soon – but this is the federal government, so their definition of “soon,” may not be the same as most. The FAA has jurisdiction over the project because the AirTrain is scheduled to be financed by Port Authority revenues that stem from a federally-controlled $4.50 passenger facility charge.
Environmental group Riverkeeper is behind the push to further review the plans. The group would not comment on the record whether they’ve been retained by LGA’s famous rat population, but one rat spoke to Cranky Daily on the condition of anonymity to say that indeed it is the rats behind the further environmental review. The rats are concerned about their living situation being disrupted after decades of peaceful living and co-existing with airport employees and passengers.
Southwest Turns 50
Southwest Airlines turned 50 today as the airline celebrated the golden anniversary of its first flight which operated from Dallas/Love Field to Houston/Hobby on June 18, 1971. To mark the occasion, it registered today as “Wanna Get Away” day with the National Day Calendar – yet ironically enough, it’s keeping people from getting away as it canceled over 150 of flights, marking another day in what’s been a bad operational week for the airline.
Southwest says its inflight crews will be “surprising and delighting” customers with Southwest swag all day today, although most of those customers would probably settle for their flight taking off to the place it says on their ticket.
When the airline began operating 50 years ago, it did so through a loophole in the era before deregulation. By operating fully within Texas, it did not have to go through the federal Civil Aeronautics Board to become an airline and it could undercut fares as it saw fit. Southwest may not undercut the competition anymore but they’ve convinced most of the flying public that they do. Now, 50 years later, Southwest carries more domestic passengers in the United States than anyone else and has even begun some international service. It’s still based at Dallas/Love, although it no longer exclusively operates to secondary airports, and most importantly – still serves Wild Turkey – or at least it will when it brings alcohol back on-board.
US-Canada Border Closure Extended into July
Despite discussion that the reopening of the US-Canada border was on the horizon, the two countries extended the closure for another month, through July 21.
The border was originally closed on March 21 of last year and has been extended month-by-month since. For the first time since last March, chatter about the border finally reopening has gotten some hopes up, only to be dashed by today’s announcement.
Bill Blair, Canada’s Minister of Public Safety, Emergency Preparedness, and Maple Syrup Operations tweeted the extension today. Lawmakers on both sides of the border expressed frustration at the decision. Sixty two percent of Canadians have received at least one vaccine shot, but only 8% are fully-vacinated. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has implied that Canada will not ease restrictions until Canadians are 75% vaccinated, which at this point is a long way away.
Vermont Governor Phil Scott said he believes the border will be reopened sometime before the end of the summer, which is crucial for his state because once summer ends, the border becomes impassable due to snow. New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu has offered Canada some of his state’s vaccine supply if it sped up the border reopening process while Maine was willing to offer Canada both New Hampshire and Vermont – to no avail.
Ryanair Heads to Court Again, Takes Aim at UK Government
If it’s a day that ends in “y,” Ryanair is taking someone to court. Today it’s the UK government in the crosshairs of the airline’s legal team, as it attempts to challenge the UK’s much-maligned traffic light system of managing international travel.
The airline is teaming up with Manchester Airports Group (MAG) — the owner of London/Stansted, East Midlands, and Manchester airports — to seek more information on how the UK is categorizing countries onto the green, amber, and red list. Apparently, the response from the government that they throw a dart at a traffic light for each country wasn’t sufficient.
Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary has been very critical of the UK government’s response to reopening its borders, but O’Leary is usually critical of well, everything, so this isn’t particularly out of the ordinary.
The UK government plans to reassess the lists next week, with reports that it might include a loosening of restrictions for visitors who are fully vaccinated or those who have the ability to whip up a tasty mince pie and are willing to share the recipe.
Emirates Increases Operations to 90% of Pre-Pandemic Levels
Emirates Airline is increasing its operations this summer as it sees strong demand despite some borders remaining closed to international travelers.
The airline is planning to fly to 124 destinations in July, many of which are places that people actually want to go. It will restart service to seven cities in July: Venice, Phuket, Nice, Orlando, Mexico City, Lyon, and Malta. On July 22 it will inaugurate new service to the Dubai of South Florida – Miami.
It will operate 880 weekly flights to those 124 destinations, a total that represents 90% of its pre-pandemic flying. It will operate its fleet of A380s to 15 cities on 129 weekly flights. It will activate at least 30 of its A380s to meet the increased demand, joining its fleet of 151 B777s.
Once Miami comes online in July, Emirates will fly 70 weekly flights to the United States, offering more than 26,000 seats to 12 airports – many of which are appealing destinations, plus Newark.
- Air New Zealand is deferring the delivery of the eight B787-10 Dreamliners it has on order until 2024. This makes sense considering the airline isn’t flying anything longer than Auckland to Christchurch these days.
- Eastar Jet’s brief sales saga may be coming to an end as the airline was reportedly sold to developer Sung Jung for about $100 million. The developer was able to step in when previous frontrunner and underwear manufacturer Ssang Bang Wool pulled its support for the deal when it became clear the packaging for the airline wasn’t up to its standards.
- Flyr completed the process to receive its AOC with Norway’s Civil Aviation Regulatr in advance of its first planned flight on June 30.
- Korean Air operated the longest nonstop flight in its 52 year history last week. KE8047 was a nonstop cargo flight operated by a 777-300ER flying the 8,330 miles between Seoul/Incheon and Miami in a cool 14 hours and 42 minutes.
- LATAM Colombia’s latest schedule update will have the airline operating 100% of the schedule in July that it operated in July of 2019.
- Thai received approval for the restructuring of tis $12.9 billion of debt.
My friend accused me of stealing his thesaurus. Not only was I shocked, but I was also aghast, appalled, astounded, stunned, and dismayed.