Delta Adds Surcharge for Unvaccinated Employees
In a move being applauded by Spirit, Delta Air Lines notified employees today they will be charged an additional $200 monthly health insurance premium beginning November 1 if they choose to not take the COVID-19 vaccine.
The average hospital stay for an employee has cost the airline $50,000 per person, or roughly what it charges for a Delta One seat from Los Angeles to Sydney. The charge was detailed in a company memo where CEO Ed Bastian said it was necessary due to the rise in cases from the B.1.617.2 variant of COVID-19, known everywhere else in the world as the Delta variant.
Beginning September 30, Delta will only offer payroll protection to fully vaccinated employees who experience breakthrough infections. Unvaccinated staff who test positive will be required to use applicable sick leave to continue to be paid while infected. Approximately 75% of Delta’s 75,000 employees are vaccinated, with the remaining 25% unable to make a decision because the healthcare professionals flying on Delta had to gate check their bags due to boarding in zone three and are still waiting at the carousel in Atlanta for their bags to appear.
Gatwick Looks Toward Its Runways to Increase Capacity
London’s Gatwick Airport technically has two runways, but one is an emergency runway that doesn’t see regular use. That has given the airport the honor of being the busiest single runway airport in the world… a title that the airport is now hoping to relinquish. Gatwick has put forth a plan to use its shorter, north runway for departures which would add capacity and reduce congestion at the airport, something that’s apparently more important than being #1.
The trick to the move would be to relocate the centerline of the runway by 12 meters to north to meet the standard for parallel departure operations. The new departure runway would be used exclusively for smaller aircraft, while departures for larger aircraft and all arrivals would continue to operate on the southern runway.
The airport believes the change would permit it to accommodate just over 75 million passengers a year, a figure that doesn’t even include the millions who mistakenly show up at Gatwick each year instead of Heathrow. The airport had an operating capacity of 62 million prior to the pandemic, an especially impressive figure when you see the list of airlines and destinations offered from Gatwick.
United Swaps Aircraft on JFK Routes
United Airlines released a schedule change which shows the airline will now operate all of its flights out of New York/JFK with B757-200 aircraft beginning October 4. Since returning to JFK this spring, the airline had been exclusively using B767-300s for its operation.
The 752s have a slight increase in capacity vs the 763s, going from 167 seats to 169. But the layout of the aircraft is a downgrade for premium fliers, as the 763s featured 46 new Polaris Business class seats in a 1-1-1 configuration, but the older 763s feature just 16 seats up front, and they’re in a 2-2 configuration. Adding insult to injury, the first-class seats come wrapped in barbed wire, making for a very uncomfortable ride in the premium cabin.
It’s also worse behind the curtain, as the configuration goes from 22 premium economy seats in a 2-2-2 configuration and 99 economy seats in a 2-3-2 layout to 153 economy seats in a 3-3 layout. The flooring in the economy section is molten lava and passengers must avoid touching the floor at anytime during flight or risk severe injury.
South African Plots Return
It’s been a rough year for South African Airways. The airline went into business rescue before the pandemic in December 2019, and then stopped flying altogether in September of 2020. After exiting business rescue this April, it’s now solvent (temporarily, we assume) and the government gave control of the airline back to its board and senior leadership team.
The airline announced today it will return to the skies on September 23, initially operating to six destinations from Johannesburg: Cape Town, Accra, Kinshasa, Harare, Lusaka, and Maputo. It will expand its route network over time, if demand is there.
SAA will resume flying with eight aircraft, three A319-100s, two A320-200s, one A330-300, and two A340-600s… or basically whatever it could scrounge up after stiffing its partners over the past year. The airline owns the two A340s and leases the other six. In its business rescue plan it outlined a 26-aircraft fleet, which gives it room to grow as needed. It will begin with a limited on-board service package to keep costs down. The airline plans to offer juice, soft drinks, and snacks in all cabins, with the notable exception that nothing mango-flavored will be catered.
American Levels Back Up
American Airlines is resuming its codeshare agreement with IAG LCC LEVEL. The partnership between the two airlines first began in 2017 but hit a bump in the road with LEVEL entered bankruptcy protection last summer. The news came as a surprise to us since we had forgotten LEVEL even still existed.
The airline continued to operate a limited long-haul operation out of Barcelona to New York/JFK and San Francisco. In addition to those two, it will resume flying to Santiago, Chile on November 1 and Boston on November 2.
LEVEL carried just 28,000 passengers in the first six months of 2021, a 96% drop from 2019, and the lowest level for passengers since the airline began operating. Upon hearing about the resumption of the codeshare, a spokesperson for JetBlue sighed, took a sip of his Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and mumbled something about thinking they were enough for AA, but apparently not.
- Aer Lingus is delaying the start of its transatlantic operation from Manchester. Barbados is being delayed to October 20, New York/JFK to December 1, and Orlando to December 11.
- Africa Airlines began scheduled flight operations this past weekend.
- African Express Airways staff is unable to access their offices at Nairobi’s airport due to an ongoing legal battle between Kenya Airways and 748 Air Services.
- Air Caraibes is on the lookout for additional aid to keep it solvent and operating. Interested parties should contract the airline with their bank account and routing number.
- Air Chathams will retire is final Convair CV-580 later this year.
- American would prefer you not AAccess its AAdmirals Club in Orlando if you’re a Priority Pass member.
- Cathay Pacific is splitting The Wing into separate lounges for transit and outbound passengers.
- Fly All Ways was granted DOT permission to operate charter flights all ways it chooses to the United States from Suriname.
- German Airways is red with anger over €800,000 it believes its owed from Green Airlines
- Hans Airways needs all hands on deck as it recruits flight crews to operate its long-haul A330 services to India.
- IranAir‘s $8.1 million outstanding fuel debt was paid by the Iranian government.
- ITA, Italy’s newest
racketairline is allegedly beginning flights this October, and the airline will begin selling tickets tosuckerscustomers tomorrow. - Turkish will begin serving Dallas/Ft. Worth with 4x-weekly service beginning September 24.
I grilled a chicken for two hours today. It still wouldn’t tell me why it crossed the road.