AA & JetBlue Respond to DOJ Lawsuit
Both American Airlines and JetBlue Airways released statements and create the NEAflies website in response to the lawsuit filed by the DOJ yesterday and the two carriers were united in their belief that the DOJ is off-base and that their alliance would proceed as planned.
JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said the alliance has led to lower fares for the northeastern United States and that the airlines compete vigorously elsewhere, which seems like what someone would say whose alliance is being challenged by the government. “DOJ presided over an unprecedented amount of consolidation to create four large airlines,” Hayes said, using the “if someone else did it, then it must be OK for me to do it” defense that younger siblings have tried to use unsuccessfully since the beginning of time.
Doug Parker, CEO of AA said the DOJ lawsuit “seeks to take away consumer choice and inhibit competition, not encourage it. This is not a merger: American and JetBlue are – and will remain – independent airlines.” And he’s right, except for the coordination on scheduling, loyalty programs and slots at the nation’s busiest slot-controlled airports, the two carriers are totally independent airlines competing with each other.
Australia Plans to Reopen by Christmas, Unless it Doesn’t
Australia expects to reopen its borders by Christmas according to Dan Tehan, the country’s minister for trade, tourism, and investments. Tehan said on Wednesday that after nearly two years of being closed, the country expects it border to finally open to vaccinated Australians and visitors provided 80% of Australians were vaccinated by the winter.
International visitors to Australia will need to be vaccinated to enter the country, and Australia is reportedly working out a vaccine passport with several countries including Singapore, Japan, and the United States. And if they’ll let Americans back in, you know they’ll let anyone in.
Australia still has more than 45,000 citizens stranded overseas and unable to return home due to arrival caps and limited options from much of the world. It’s being pushed hard by the Vegemite industry to get the stranded Australians home because no foreign visitor would be clueless enough to buy their product.
SFO Introduces Vaccine Mandate
San Francisco International Airport is instituting a vaccine mandate effective December 1 for all tenants, on-site contractors, and on-site personnel. It originally planned for the mandate to begin November 1, but it was delayed by Karl (the fog).
The definition of on-site personnel includes anyone whose main job duties are performed at the airport or who require an airport ID to perform their duties. Airline crew members are not subject to the mandate, but other airline staff based at the airport are.
By October 1, each tenant and contractor will have to share the number of its on-site personnel that are fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, and those who have been granted an exemption. To ease the rapidly approaching December 1 deadline, employees can receive the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine on-site at the SFO Medical Clinic.
The airline will allow exemptions for legitimate religious or medical reasons, but specifically noted that exemptions would not be granted for scientific reasons and is being generous using the word scientific. Exempted workers will be required to take weekly COVID-19 tests to continue their employment.
- Aer Lingus ground crew rejected the most recent proposal from the airline that would include a pay freeze through 2024.
- airBaltic plans to recruit and hire an additional 320 crew members by next summer.
- Alitalia‘s final weeks are being plagued by chaos, labor strife, and protests. So, no change, really.
- Bamboo Airlines signed a nearly $2 billion dollar deal with GE to purchase engines for its Dreamliner aircraft and a lot of light bulbs.
- Condor is adding an A330ceo aircraft to its fleet. Remain calm.
- Eastar Jet submitted its restructuring plan to Seoul’s Bankruptcy Court, revealing it hopes to resume operating early next year.
- El Al plans to lay off up to 1,500 employees and cut 26 aircraft.
- ExpressJet requested the DOT register a bunch of annoying potential new airline names including “aha!” and “fly-aha!”
- JetBlue‘s flight attendant union is suing the carrier because it does want to be forced to supply a doctor’s note for sick days.
- orange2fly is feeling blue today as it filed for bankruptcy.
- Starlux is taking delivery of its first A330neo this February.
- SWISS is planning to operate to 90 unique destinations this winter from Geneva and Zurich, including 25 from Geneva and 81 from Zurich.
- United says 97% of its employees are vaccinated. Terminations for unvaccinated employees can begin at the carrier as soon as Tuesday.
My friend told me Canada’s prime minster was reelected this week. I thought he was lying.
It’s Trudeau.