London is Calling…Finally
Travelers from the United States and European Union countries on the amber list who are fully vaccinated will be permitted to visit the United Kingdom without quarantine beginning this Monday, August 2.
The UK government will permit those who are vaccinated using a US or EU-approved shot to exempt themselves from quarantine provided they have a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of arrival and pass another PCR test on their second day in the UK.
The remaining exception will be for visitors from France, who will still need to quarantine upon arrival in the UK, regardless of vaccination status, because, well, it’s the French.
United became the first U.S. airline to announce a ramped-up schedule to the UK with the announcement as it adds a second daily flight from Washington/Dulles to London/Heathrow next month. It will operate six daily flights from the US to the UK, with two from Dulles and one a day each from Houston/Bush, Chicago/O’Hare, Newark, and San Francisco.
Delta Extends Medallion Status and Waffles on Basic Economy
Delta Air Lines is the first U.S. airline to extend elite status within its loyalty program beyond 2022. Most airlines announced elite status extensions last year through the end of 2021, and Delta is now the first to take it a step further.
Members with elite Medallion status will maintain their current level through January 31, 2023 which marks the end of Delta’s 2022 Medallion year. The airline is also rolling over all MQMs earned this year to next year, along with regional and global upgrade certificates. Award travel will continue to count towards elite status through the end of the next year – although Delta reports that only nine SkyMiles members have successfully purchased an award ticket this year so this one won’t hurt Delta’s bottom line too much.
Delta is also returning the ability for Basic Economy passengers to change their flights through December 31. Most airlines allowed changes on basic fares last year but returned basic fares to their changeless, seat assignmentless, shame-filled dungeon earlier this year. Delta was one of those but will go back to allowing changes to allow for call wait times while it increases staffing. Because changing policies and added confusion always leads to lower call volumes.
American FA and Pilot Unions Want a Good Night’s Sleep
American Airlines’s pilot and flight attendant unions informed the airline that it is not providing adequate transportation and hotels on layovers, and that it’s leading to crews not receiving proper rest before working flights.
The Association of Professional Flight Attendants and Allied Pilots Association formally filed grievances on Tuesday, pointing to the specific example that AA flight attendants were forced to overnight on cots at Glacier Park International Airport (FCA) in Montana on July 17. While the unions acknowledge this is the most extreme case of not having proper accommodations, they say it’s been common practice for crew to arrive at hotels that do not have rooms for them, forcing long waits on hold to find alternate options.
APFA says flight attendants are struggling to get transport to crew hotels and end up having to Uber to the hotel at their own expense to then find out that there’s no room at the inn.
The pilots’ union wants its members reimbursed for lodging expenses when they have to find rooms on their own which seems to be a reasonable request. The airline has countered by offering crew the ability to sleep on the aircraft while it overnights, saying that the “coach lie-flat” option is nicer than most hotels anyway and it comes with nearly unlimited bags of small pretzels and hand sanitizer.
Hawaiian Nudges Towards Profitability in Q2 Financials
Hawaiian Airlines’s Q2 financials showed a loss for the quarter of just $6.2 million, much of which can be accounted for by the increase in POG juice costs due to supply chain issues in the islands.
The $6.2 million loss is a $101 million improvement from Q2 last year when the airline lost over $107 million. Revenue for Hawaiian was $411 million on operating expenses of $392 million. Hawaiian’s $411 million gross revenue is down 42% from Q2 2019 while operating 30% less capacity.
The airline ended the quarter with $2.2 billion in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents, macadamia nuts, and leis. It has $2.2 billion in outstanding debt, much of which is in POG juice futures and figuring out what to do with the ukuleles from its recently shuttered ‘Ohana regional subsidiary.
Small Cities Get Big Cash from DOT
The Department of Transportation awarded $18 million to increase flight options to places no one wants to go smaller airports and communities, with American and United ending up the big winners in the cash payouts.
The Small Community Air Service Development Program (SCADSP) may be targeted to small cities and airports, but it does not have a small name. The program aims to offer subsidies to reduce airfare in markets that traditionally are above average. Seventy eight airports applied, seeking a total of $58 million. The $18 million that was awarded will be split between 22 winners – a reminder that when it comes to applying for SCADSP funds, just like in life – we can’t all be winners.
Eleven of the 22 winners identified United and SkyWest as their partner airline, with those 11 splitting over $9 million of the cash with Washington/Dulles seeing the potential new service from seven cities. Airlines listing American as their partner airline won nine awards for a total of over $7 million. Spirit won $425,000 for new service to Manchester, NH, and then promptly charged the airport $18.99 as a government-funded new service fee.
New Haven and Avelo were losers in the process, with the airport applying for $800,000 to boost Avelo’s presence but not getting anything but a year’s supply of DIY New Haven pizza kits as a consolation prize.
- Air Nostrum correctly predicted that the EU would approve its €9 million in Spanish state aid.
- airBaltic paid its second bond coupon to investors for €13.5 million. This coupon was expected to be good for a buy one, get the second half-off, but the airline declined to comment.
- Bulgaria Air will begin service between Dubai and its Sofia hub with 2x-weekly flights on September 19.
- Condor’s new majority shareholder is European asset manager Attestor.
- Delta plans to increase capacity to Canada by 150% in September. Toronto/Pearson will see the greatest increase in service with 10 daily flights including the introduction of daily service to New York/LaGuardia for the first time.
- Ethiopian Airlines will begin 3x-weekly service between its Addis Ababa hub (ADD) and Amman (AMM) beginning August 30.
- flydubai completed a sale and leaseback of two B737 MAX 8 aircraft with Novus Aviation Capital.
- ITA (the Italian one) shareholders approved
to light €700 million on firea €700 million capital increase for the airline. - LATAM has been granted exclusivity to file a reorganization plan as port of its Chapter 11 restructuring until September 15.
- Malta Air took delivery of its first B737-8200 aircraft.
- Qantas has raised the possibility of making the COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for all staff. Upon hearing the news Rex immediately went to Australian regulators to complain that Qantas is dumping too much vaccine into the marketplace.
- Nauru Airlines will receive a cash infusion worth $1.6 million from the Nauru government.
- S7 Airlines placed an order for 24 A320neo aircraft for a LCC it plans to launch sometime next year.
- Virgin Atlantic will now codeshare with Middle East Airlines on itineraries to Beirut from the United States, connecting through London.
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