Avelo Gambles on Vegas
Avelo Airlines announced its first new city since it began operating earlier this summer, as the airline will begin flying from Sonoma County Airport (STS) to Las Vegas on September 16. CEO Andrew Levy said he was always interested in Santa Rosa when he was running Allegiant, so apparently he’s just going to fly what should be an Allegiant route.
Avelo’s service to Sin City will operate 4x-weekly, departing Sonoma at 10:05 a.m. The plane will then turn back to STS with a 12:25 p.m. departure out of Las Vegas. LAS will represent the airline’s second destination from Sonoma County, complementing its pre-existing service to Burbank.
Avelo’s flight from Burbank is timed up to connect to its Vegas flight if one were so inclined to buy two separate tickets and connect despite the thousands of daily nonstops between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. We understand Avelo is thinking about including a free 60-minute session with a therapist for anyone who chooses to fly via STS for travel between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Southwest Considers South America
Southwest Airlines is considering beginning service to northern South America according to outgoing CEO Gary Kelly. Kelly’s comments on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” podcast indicated that the airline is thinking about expanding its B737 service to the continent as it grows its international footprint.
Kelly did say that the airline’s fleet is not large enough to sustain all the flying it has planned for 2022 and 2023 and that it would need to grow in order to meet future demand, including the addition of flying to South America. During the pandemic, Southwest sold three aircraft to Avelo before it realized that Avelo was a real airline.
Southwest currently has 747 aircraft in its fleet, 472 B737-700, 207 B737-800, and 68 B737-8s. We think it might still have an old 727 around too, but we can’t be sure. It has 232 B737-7 and 132 B737-8 on order. There will be a test on Friday.
The B737-7 has a 4430-mile range, which would make northern South America within reach for the airline.
Surprise! Austin to Close South Terminal
Austin International Airport is closing the South Terminal, its home for vagabond LCCs that are willing to send their passengers to essentially a double-wide trailer to save costs. The terminal, which is the home to Allegiant and Frontier, is so undesirable that even Spirit won’t subject its passengers to its spartan offerings.
The third party that operates the terminal on behalf of the airport discovered it was going to close without any warning from the city. Lonestar Holdings was surprised by the announcement, especially since it currently is in the midst of a 40-year lease with the city to operate the terminal and many of the insects that make their home have life-expectancies well beyond 40 years.
The South Terminal needs to go in order for taxiways at the main terminal to be relocated so more gates can be added. Despite opening just four years ago, the South Terminal is already proving to be obsolete as several airlines have grown their operations at AUS this summer in both terminals — including Allegiant which is pouring $75 million in to add 90 full-time jobs and base 3 A320s. It’s gotten so bad that American briefly considered adding an airport codeshare agreement to its flights, listing them as departing and arriving from Austin but actually operating in and out of Dallas/Ft. Worth.
Cathay Pacific Offers Up a Plane for a Day
Cathay Pacific is joining the vaccination incentive game as the airline, in conjunction with the Hong Kong government, is offering one of its planes for a day for one lucky Hong Kong resident who is vaccinated.
The grand prize winner will receive a 90-minute ride around Hong Kong on an A321neo aircraft for themselves and up to 201 of their closest friends. The aircraft seats 12 up front and 190 in economy, so the smart move might be to put yourself and 12 friends in business and put 190 of your enemies in the back. Ten runners-up will receive one million Asia Miles points each, or as Delta calls it – a basic economy award ticket to Toledo.
Just under 25% of Hong Kong’s 1.9 million residents are vaccinated with the island’s government hoping to push that number closer to 75%.
The End of an Era: Arrivederci Alitalia
The fall of the Berlin Wall; Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon; the first time Spirit charged a customer a fee – most remember where they were for those historic moments. And one more can be added to the list – the moment Alitalia will cease to exist.
October 15 will be the first day for Italia Transporti Aereo — known to us as ITA — the newly created airline to replace Alitalia. This means October 14 will be the final day for the carrier which has amazingly been in administration since May of 2017 and has been finding new ways to lose money for decades.
It’s taken seven months of negotiations, stops and starts, and setbacks since the Italian government has planned the move, but it has finally come to an agreement with the EU on the terms of the transfer to the new airline. The formal process will see a €700 million cash injection into the new airline in 2021 which will be enough to purchase the aviation branch within Alitalia and begin operating.
The government will supply the new airline with another €400 million next year and €250 million in 2023. Those holding tickets on Alitalia on dates beyond October 15 “will be protected” according to the EU, but truthfully should they be? Anyone buying a ticket on this airline that far in advance deserves whatever is coming to them.
- Air India’s potential buyer Tata Sons is considering a protection clause from the Indian government to protect itself from aircraft seizures and other claims due to the airline’s heavy debts from previous ownership.
- Cathay Pacific’s new A321neo aircraft is expected to enter regular service beginning August 4.
- Finnair is attempting to achieve €80 million in permanent cost base reductions by 2022.
- Fly Peru earned its Air Operating Certificate and now plans to build up its main base at Lima (LIM) where it hopes to operate to at least 20 destinations.
- Ryanair is entering the domestic Irish market with daily flights from Dublin to Kerry (KIR) beginning July 28.
- Scoot is looking to acquire fifth-freedom rights within Europe to scoot passengers between Berlin and Athens, beginning August 10.
- Vietnam Airlines is selling its fleet of ATR72 aircraft. The airline is also resuming international flights today, July 15.
Today we present a very special moment of levity from Airchive founder Chris Sloan’s son Caleb.
Why are vegetables great DJ’s? They are good at TURNUP-ing and dropping the BEETS!