Sun Country Hits Back at Allegiant
Minneapolis/St. Paul may be the Twin Cities, but Sun Country has no interest sharing the spotlight with another ULCC moving into its territory. Yesterday, it responded quickly to the news that Allegiant was homing in on its turf.
Allegiant announced ten new routes yesterday to four cities, but only one matters here: Minneapolis/St. Paul. Allegiant will begin flying to three cities from MSP: Asheville, NC, Palm Beach, FL, and Punta Gorda, FL. In response just hours later, Sun Country announced publicly that it thinks those are fine places to visit. So fine, in fact, that it will fly to them as well.
Sun Country was planning on bringing Punta Gorda (PGD) into its network already — and Allegiant probably didn’t take too kindly to that plan when it came out — but it’s now doing so more quickly to beat Allegiant to the punch. PGD will operate twice weekly from MSP beginning October 8. Asheville (AVL) and Palm Beach (PBI) will also be served twice weekly with both beginning on October 7. Spirit and Frontier, it’s your move.
Ravn Alaska Dreams Big
Ravn Alaska, an Anchorage-based airline that operates serving as a key lifeline to many small communities, has set it sights on operating far beyond the borders of the Last Frontier State.
CEO Rob McKinney said in a video that was briefly public before being pulled down that the recently resurrected airline now intends to open a hub in Anchorage, flying passengers between Asia and the U.S. mainland. To do so, Ravn expects to expand its current operating certificate to add B757 with ETOPS and the authority to operate international flights.
As far as destinations, McKinney specifically mentioned Tokyo, Seoul, and Osaka – three cities which we’re pretty sure are beyond the regularly operable range of the 757 going against the winds. Domestically, McKinney mentioned the coastal destinations of Orlando, Newark, Las Vegas, Oakland, and Ontario.
He says the airline can take on this ambitious plan without taking on debilitating debt. How that’s possible, he isn’t saying, hoping the “just trust me” approach will work here. The idea seems similar to what Icelandair has done over the Atlantic – using Anchorage as a stopover point for travelers between the United States and Asia – but the distances involved are much longer, so we remain highly skeptical.
US to Block Travel to Belarus
Belarus just can’t catch a break anymore. The DOT has decided to prohibit the sale of tickets for travel to Belarus from the United States. The ruling includes interline itineraries, so Americans dreaming of spending their summer in Minsk are going to have to fly to a third country first and purchase a separate ticket to begin the holiday of their dreams.
The government will carve out an exception for any travel deemed to be in the national interest of the United States or humanitarian grounds. Whether that includes mileage runs is unclear as the DOT did not specifically prohibit them – and if earning enough miles to be able to travel in a premium cabin on longhaul flights isn’t humanitarian grounds, then nothing is.
There’s a two-day period for interested parties to file objections to the DOT. The Belarusian embassy in Washington is expected to do so on behalf of its government, as is Ryanair on behalf of itself because that’s what Ryanair does.
South Africa Tells Delta & U.S. to Pound Sand
Despite pleas from Delta and the U.S. government, South Africa affirmed its decision to deny Delta the rights to operate between Johannesburg and Cape Town as a tag flight on its 3x-weekly service from Atlanta.
The DOT responded by denying an application for SAA to operate beyond its U.S. gateways in a similar fashion. South Africa confirmed its denial of Delta’s request stating that the Air Transport Agreement between the two countries does not give U.S. airlines the right to operate co-terminals. The U.S. DOT sees the agreement differently and is accusing the South African government of misinterpreting the agreement to make the protectionist ruling that hinders Delta.
Delta was appreciative of the government’s attempt to intervene on its behalf with the South African government. As a thank you, the airline sent a case of Biscoffs (two per package, not the one cookie crap AA is serving now) and one 750 mL bottle of Woodford Reserve to the DOT’s headquarters in Washington, DC.
Korean Passes Hurdle to Complete Asiana Merger
Korean Air received approval from the Korean Development Bank (KDB) for its post-merger integration plan with Asiana. The merger has been marked by delays since it was first announced earlier this year, but this key hurdle will allow the two parties to continue to move forward.
The proposal was sent to the KDB in March and earned approval from the bank as well as the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport.
Even with this approval, the merger is still awaiting the thumbs-up from five federal antitrust regulators in Korea, China, the EU, Japan, and the United States. The merger is on track to begin in earnest next year, with both airlines hoping it to be complete by 2024.
- Air Berlin’s insolvency administrator (imagine having that title on your business card) is planning to sue Clearstream Banking in an attempt to recover about $600 million.
- ANA is introducing B767 Freighters to operate between Beijing and Tokyo/Narita.
- Jazeera Airways is launching twice weekly service to Antalya, Turkey (AYT) and Kiev (KBP) beginning July 13.
- Jet Airways will refund those who held tickets on the previous incarnation of the airline with the same name, up to $200.
- KLM’s network to Africa has been restored to 100% of its pre-pandemic levels from 2019.
- Lufthansa is beginning 3x-weekly flights from Munich to Dubai utilizing A350-900 aircraft, beginning October 1.
- Republic Airways is preparing for an IPO sometime this fall.
- Royal Brunei converted an A320neo into a temporary freighter to temporarily transport temporary cargo.
- SpiceJet has decided the thyme is now to add a big dill of cash to its coffers via an issuance of shares or a debt instrument.
- United is dropping its plan to serve Santa Maria, California (SMX). Both people who would have flown the airline out of that airport are surely disappointed.
I saw an obvious typo on a headstone today, spelling the person’s name wrong. What a grave mistake.