Over 99% of Non-Exempted United Employees Vaccinated, Nearly 600 Face Termination
More than 96% of United’s 67,000-person workforce is vaccinated as the carrier’s deadline looms for unvaccinated staff to be terminated. That leaves 593 UA staff non-compliant with the mandate, and about 2,000 have received a religious or medical exemption to remain unvaccinated.
Those who receive the exemption will be placed on unpaid leave for the time being while also being forced to fly a connection through Newark in basic economy once a month to keep their active status with the airline. The 593 staff with their jobs on the line include just 20 pilots, down from over 900 unvaxxed pilots just three weeks ago.
The bulk of the unvaccinated staff is concentrated with just under 400 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. United says those fired for being unvaccinated will be let go on the grounds of violating a company safety policy, which could make them ineligible for unemployment benefits. The Machinists and Aerospace Workers union plans to file for wrongful termination if any of its members are fired for being unvaccinated.
ExpressJet’s aha! Moment
ExpressJet’s relaunch under the aha! brand took a step forward today as the carrier announced eight launch destinations it will fly from its base in the entertainment capital of northwestern Nevada – Reno.
aha! — along with its obnoxious flouting of capitalization and punctuation norms — will fly three-weekly flights to all eight destinations with its 50-seat ERJ145 regional jets. The airline says it will expand to as many as 20 destinations in the coming months. The launch destinations are:
- Pasco/Tri Cities, WA (PSC) – begins October 24
- Bakersfield, CA (BFL) – begins October 25
- Medford, OR (MFR) – begins October 31
- Eugene, OR (EUG) – begins November 1
- Ontario, CA (ONT) – begins November 4
- Redmond, OR (RDM) – begins November 5
- Eureka, CA (ACV) – begins November 9
- Fresno, CA (FAT) – begins November 10
The aha! name supposedly stands for air-hotel-adventure, which makes almost no sense. The airline says it will combine value-priced fares and nonstop flights to underserved communities. These are all cities that do not currently have nonstop flights to Reno, which typically is lacking for a reason. But if ExpressJet’s aha! moment works out, the carrier will finally be the one to connect the world to Reno, and Reno to the world.
Frontier Opens New Frontiers, Mostly from Tampa and Cancun
Frontier Airlines is at it again, adding 11 new routes, six from Cancun and five from Tampa.
The carrier’s six new destinations from Cancun will give it a total of 19 from the airport, including the 12 it already serves plus previously announced service to Atlanta which will begin in November. The new cities are:
- Baltimore (4x-weekly, beginning Dec. 17)
- Boston (daily, beginning Dec. 16)
- Columbus (twice weekly, beginning January 21)
- Detroit (3x-weekly, beginning Dec. 16)
- Minneapolis/St. Paul (daily, beginning December 16)
- Raleigh/Durham (Saturday-only, beginning January 29)
These six destinations are new for Frontier from Cancun, but they’ll hardly be the only carrier on each route. All six are served by at least two other airlines, with Boston-Cancun served by three (American, JetBlue, and Delta)… assuming you still count American and JetBlue as separate airlines, right DOJ?
Tampa’s five new destinations on Frontier will give the carrier 28 cities from the central Florida airport. The newest additions are:
- Bloomington-Normal, IL (twice weekly, beginning Dec. 17)
- Columbus (3x-weekly, beginning Dec. 17)
- Green Bay (twice weekly, beginning Dec. 16)
- New York/LGA (3x-weekly, beginning Dec. 1)
- Rochester (4x-weekly, beginning Nov. 30)
Tampa became a base earlier this year for Frontier and these new routes will see the airline continue to grow at the airport. Frontier has competition from three of the new routes it’s adding from Tampa including Southwest on the Rochester route, JetBlue, Delta, Spirit, and Southwest to LGA, and Breeze (for now), Spirit, and Southwest to Columbus.
- Air Canada will begin freighter operations later this year.
- American will suspend flying from Los Angeles to Sydney until January 6.
- ANA is introducing more alternative meal options on international flights, and on October 1 it will offer four different diabetic, low fat, low calorie, and low salt options.
- Austrian is adding service to Cancun, Mauritius, and the Maldives this fall. Malé, Maldives will see 3x-weekly service beginning October 21, Mauritius will see three flights a week beginning October 23, while Cancun will be served from Vienna twice-weekly, beginning October 24.
- Connect Airlines parent company Waltzing Matilda Aviation clarified its ownership structure to the DOT after the government told it to get its act together with regards to the carrier’s initial application.
- Delta is adding seven new booze options to its in-flight drink menu. Continue to monitor Cranky Daily for more hard-hitting and crucial breaking news like this.
- Hainan Airlines parent company HNA Group plans to merge all 11 of its airline-related brands into one single until during its current corporate restructuring. We understand the new airline will be called “Bankrupt.”
- LATAM obtained up to $750 million for Tranche B of its debtor in possession financing. After the news was released, Delta officials were seen feverishly checking their bank accounts to see if they offered the cash without even realizing it.
- Lufthansa Cargo put two more B777F into service this week.
- Qatar plans to put its fleet of A380 aircraft back into service as soon as this November.
- SAS is introducing two new brands — SAS Connect, which is a renaming of SAS Ireland — and SAS Link which will function as a regional carrier for the mainline brand.
- Swoop announced plans to swoop into Punta Cana (PUJ) beginning December 5 with 2x-weekly flights from Toronto/Pearson.
I remember the first time I used a universal remote control. I thought to myself “well now this changes everything”