Alaska Says Goodbye to LAX-JFK
Alaska Airlines announced over the weekend that the airline is leaving the Los Angeles-New York/JFK market, likely due to the Eskimo on the tails of it planes being uncomfortable around the movie stars that frequent the route.
Alaska is adamant that it is not abandoning LAX, and it’s not abandoning JFK. In fact, it’s not even abandoning the Los Angeles-New York market, instead opting to grow up to 4x daily in LAX – Newark. Newark — the official NYC airport of Cranky Daily — will also keep 4x daily to Seattle, 3x daily to San Francisco, and 1x daily to both Portland and San Diego.
From JFK, meanwhile, Alaska is going to run 12 daily flights with 4x to Seattle and San Francisco along with 2x to Portland and San Diego.
The final day for LAX-JFK will be October 6. To read more about Alaska’s changes on the route and all the latest news and intrigue around Airlineville, visit today’s post on Crankyflier.com.
United Expects to Make Money Next Month
In its most recent 8-K filing with the SEC, United Airlines disclosed it expects to generate positive adjusted pre-tax income for July 2021, making it the first month the airline would be in the black since January 2020. United CEO Scott Kirby also announced that today would be the airline’s first single day turning a profit since the onset of the pandemic last spring.
The filing comes one day before United is expected to announce a large aircraft order that will likely wipe out any profit earned by the airline today and into the next month.
The airline is still receiving government assistance to cover its payroll through the CARES Act which makes it easier to show a profit. That money is still available to the airline through the end of September, but after that, United and other airlines will be fully responsible for paying their employees without government assistance. They’ll also be required to to pay them with cash, as putting together care packages from unused Polaris amenity kits will no longer be acceptable as a cash replacement.
Boeing 777X Unlikely to Receive Certification Until 2023
The FAA informed Boeing that its upcoming 777X aircraft is not ready for certification, warning the manufacturer that it realistically will not be certified for another two years.
On May 13, the FAA sent a letter to Boeing citing several issues in its rejection of a request to issue a Type Inspection Authorization (TIA) Readiness. The government responded to Boeing like a teacher to a student who hadn’t studied for the test, telling the manufacturer it wasn’t mad, just disappointed.
Boeing has been developing the jet since 2013, and at one time expected it would take to the skies by 2020. When it does get approved, the 777X will be the first major jet to be certified since the discovery of flaws in the software of Boeing’s 737 MAX. Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun said he is still confident the plane will be certified in the fourth quarter of 2023.
In entirely unrelated news, Boom still thinks it will be certified to fly passengers supersonically by 2029.
United Shuffles Its Domestic 777s Out of Hawaiʻi
United Airlines is replacing the domestic-configured 777 aircraft it planned to operate on eight routes to the Hawaiian Islands this fall, repositioning mostly nicer planes to the location that’s receiving the most demand. This, we assume, is due to ongoing problems with the Pratt & Whitney engines which power the domestic 777s. You may recall that one of them decided to rain parts on a Denver neighborhood earlier this year.
There are five cities from Honolulu receiving the new aircraft and three from Maui. For Honolulu, the equipment changes are:
- Chicago/O’Hare 1x daily B787-8 Dreamliner
- Denver 1x daily B777-200, 1x daily 767-300
- Houston/Bush 1x daily B777-200
- Los Angeles 1x daily B777-300
- San Francisco 1x daily B777-300, 2x daily B757-300
And from Maui:
- Denver: B777-200 and B767-300 depending on day
- Chicago/O’Hare 5x-weekly B787-8 Dreamliner
- San Francisco: B767-200 and B757-200 depending on day
Except for the B757-300, these planes have been outfitted with United’s Polaris business class in the front. The seats in the back remain packed as tightly together as ever, but at least passengers will see flight attendants wearing leis when they board the aircraft.
SWISS Unveils New Premium Economy Seats
SWISS showed off its fancy new premium economy seat on Monday, a year and a half after it announced its plans to add premium economy to its airplanes.
The new seats will be installed on all 12 of the airline’s B777-300 fleet, but the first plane to be outfitted with the new cabin won’t be ready until April. As the new cabin is gradually worked into service, it will be made available on several SWISS routes including Bangkok, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, and Singapore.
The seats have a fixed back shell that is designed to prevent intrusion to the passenger behind. It does not, however, stop passengers from turning around and berating the passenger behind the old-fashioned way if they’re being kicked from behind.
Each seat is between 46 and 48 cm wide and have a pitch of 39 inches and a USB port for charging, but no 100v outlet. Each passenger will be offered a pre-departure beverage which will be missed during late boarding causing outrage on certain message boards. The seats will feature a 15.6-inch screen, personal reading lights, noise-cancelling headphones, and a SWISS army knife.
- airBaltic took delivery of its second A220-300 aircraft today.
- Air France operated its first direct flight to Chennai (MAA) today.
- Cathay Pacific will require COVID vaccines for Hong Kong-based airline crew by August 31.
- Fiji Airways was granted approval for the return of the 737 MAX into New Zealand.
- Icelandair has sold a 16% stake in the airline to Bain Capital. The deal is contingent on a Bain Capital representative being appointed to Icelandair Group’s board of directors and Bain not looking at its balance sheet with Virgin Australia long enough to try and get out of the deal.
- JetBlue’s inaugural flight from Hartford to Miami operated this morning. As part of the inaugural celebration, passengers in Hartford had their returns canceled, so they never have to go back.
- Korean plans to float “green” bonds to raise $176 million for the airline to fund its B787 aircraft purchase.
- Play is planning on playing in London this summer as Iceland’s newest airline operated its first flight from Reykjavik to London/Stansted last Thursday.
- Qantas operated a 10,000-mile nonstop flight today from Brisbane to St. Lucia (UVF) to deliver Australia’s men’s national cricket team to the island for an eight game series against St. Lucia and Barbados next month.
- Qatar is not planning to begin service to Mexico City. Seriously. No matter what they tell you. Not from Doha, not from Abu Dhabi, not from Milan and not from Cancun.
- Scoot took delivery of its first three A321neo aircraft and all three have scooted their way into regular passenger service.
- Smartwings filed a lawsuit against Boeing for damage done to its business and reputation as a result of the two 737 MAX crashes. The airline filed the suit in Chicago but saw it moved to Seattle’s King County Superior Court. The airline is considering retaining Ryanair executives as consultants for the lawsuit.
- Super Air Jet, the newest and most super airline in Indonesia received its AOC today. Super.
- Sun Country is adding two new B737-800s to its fleet.
- TAP has tapped former Flybe CEO Christine Ourmieres-Widener as its new CEO.
- WestJet is resuming 10 new routes across Alberta while also launching new flights from Edmonton to Penticton (YYF), Kamloops (YKA), and Nanaimo (YCD).
I hated to do it, but I fired the kid who was supposed to be mowing my lawn. He just couldn’t cut it.