United and Mesa Feel Electric About 19-Seaters
United Airlines and Mesa Air Group are investing in Heart Aerospace, a Swedish company developing 19-seat electric aircraft that surprisingly is not affiliated with Southwest Airlines.
Both airlines agreed to order up to 100 aircraft once they are built – as taking delivery of the planes before they’re built proved to be a logistical nightmare. The carriers are hopeful that the new aircraft, known as the ES-19 will be ready to enter service as soon as 2026.
The planes have a range of 250 miles, which would allow it to operate such routes as San Francisco to Modesto or Chicago/O’Hare to South Bend or Milwaukee. United has over 100 routes in its network that the ES-19 could operate, mostly to small cities and towns near its hub airports that a handful people actually do want to visit.
Boeing Discovers New Flaw in 787 Dreamliner Production
While working on undelivered 787 Dreamliners on the production line which contained previously-known flaws in the fuselage joints, Boeing discovered a new problem in the noses of the aircraft.
Boeing engineers uncovered gaps around the forward pressure bulkhead that are too large. The forward pressure bulkhead is a dome-shaped structural barrier that is imperative to maintaining air pressure in the cockpit and passenger cabin. The gaps are tiny – thousandths of inches – and are not a flight safety issue according to Boeing and the FAA – unless you’re one of those whiny, ungrateful passengers who insist on breathable air while on-board.
The manufacturer will begin working on the 100 planes it has awaiting delivery to address the issue before turning to planes still on the assembly line. It expects to slow its rate of delivered Dreamliners to about five per month until it finds the next manufacturing defect.
American to Recall Flight Attendants
American Airlines will recall all flight attendants on extended leave from the pandemic and is planning to begin hiring new crew members as it looks to solve the crew shortage it’s facing for the present and future.
AA is expected to send out notice canceling long-term leave for all flight attendants, including those who took the airline’s offer of one to two year’s unpaid extended leave at the onset of the pandemic last spring. Flight attendants currently on leave are now expected to return to the skies by the end of 2021, which is the same time their delayed flight to Dallas from their hometown airport is hoping to depart.
As domestic travel rebounds quickly, American is also considering offering buybacks of vacation time for the first quarter of 2022 to keep its staffing levels up with the demand it is seeing. By the end of July, American will be flying 95% of the seats it flew prior to the pandemic, even with the 1% reduction in flying it instituted to alleviate its staffing shortage.
United Stops Spraying So Much, Speeds Up Deplaning
United Airlines is eliminating two practices the airline put in place last spring in an effort to fight against the pandemic.
First, United will no longer require passenger to deplane in groups of five upon arrival at the gate. The airline had instituted the policy to decrease crowding in the aisle and during the deplaning process, but between most people not paying attention to the policy and the vaccination rate continuing to climb, United made the decision to drop the practice. The only place the slower deplaning process was even followed seemed to be in Newark where passengers were in no real hurry to leave the plane and enter the state.
Additionally, United is eliminating the electrostatically spraying of its interiors before every flight, instead offering a once-weekly Zoono antimicrobial surface treatment. This was another pandemic-era practice that likely was more theater than actually helpful. If removing it allows the airline to turn planes around faster on the ground, then it should be win-win for everyone.
JetBlue Operates First Flight to London
JetBlue Airways’s first flight to London/Heathrow operated last night — albeit without passengers — one month before the airline is to begin passenger ops on the route.
JetBlue Flight 9400 left New York/JFK last night and landed this morning at Heathrow at 7:35 a.m. The flight was operated by aircraft N4022J, a brand-new A321LR that JetBlue took delivery of earlier this year.
The airline has two more proving flights to London scheduled for later this month as it acclimates itself and its aircraft to transatlantic flying for the first time. Upon landing in London this morning, the JetBlue crew that operated the flight and the airplane itself were welcomed with a full English breakfast at the airport followed by a lesson on identifying the various accents of UK citizens.
- Aeroméxico announced in a stock filing that a group of Mexican shareholders are intending to invest in the company amidst its Chapter 11 Bankruptcy process in the United States.
- Air France-KLM is in negotiations with Boeing for an order of up to 160 new jets for KLM.
- Flair Airlines finds itself in a Canadian courtroom defending itself from a lawsuit by a shareholder over its fleet expansion plans announced during the pandemic.
- Israir is moving towards an IPO.
- Korean’s merger with Asiana will now cost about $522 million more than previously expected. Most of the overrun is due to bloated costs in the merger of the technology systems of the two airlines.
- Qantas operated a B787-9 Dreamliner from Brisbane to Fairbanks on Monday. The plane flew the 7,089 miles in a cool 12 hours and 56 minutes.
- Ryanair is hiring up to 2,000 new pilots. Those interested in the position will pay the airline €100 to apply and, if hired, will owe the airline €1000 per week in order to receive a paycheck.
- Sky Alps received its second Dash-8 aircraft.
- Sunrise Airways resumed domestic ops in Haiti today as Port-au-Prince (PAP) airport reopened to commercial flights following the assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse.
- Thai’s bankruptcy administrators approved the airline’s reduction in capital from $830 million to $670 million.
I just got hired to work in a salad factory. The hours are long but the celery is great!