Australia to Lift Travel Ban; Qantas to Resume US & UK Flying Early
With the news that Australia will lift its international travel ban for vaccinated Australians in November, Qantas announced it would resume flying to both the United States and the United Kingdom five weeks earlier than planned.
On November 14, the carrier will resume service to both Los Angeles and London/Heathrow. Both flights will operate 3x-weekly to begin and will be flown by B787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, once they dust them off and kick out all the wallabies that have made a home in them over the last year. For the first week of flights, the entire plane will be available at Qantas’ lowest award price – the Classic Award Flight rate.
This comes in at 144,600 points for one-way to LHR in business and just 55,200 in economy. A Delta SkyMiles spokesman was confused upon hearing this, believing 144,600 points should only be enough for a one-way economy award from El Paso to Salt Lake City in basic economy.
Travelers will need to be fully vaccinated Australians, except for children too young to receive the vaccine who must, however, still be Australian. Every passenger will also be required to show proof of a negative PCR test taken with 72 hours of departure, and on return to Australia, a seven-day home quarantine is required along with a Vegemite-only diet for the duration of the quarantine. There is still no date for when foreigners can come to visit.
Virgin Atlantic Rethinks IPO Plans
Virgin Atlantic has slowed its roll on plans to go public, deciding it should focus on rebuilding its core business instead of the public offering which is corporate speak for “figuring out another cash grab while trying to not lose a bunch of money all the time so an IPO would actually work.”
It was reported in August that the carrier was looking to raise cash through an IPO since it has not figured out a way to ask Delta for more money without appearing more desperate than it already does. There is optimism within the airline that the easing of travel restrictons to the United States will strengthen its position when taking itself to market.
The carrier ramped up its flying to the Caribbean earlier this year, with U.S. flying expected to grow in the coming months. It does not intend to return to Asian flying until at least next year. The carrier’s CCO Juha Järvinen blamed the UK government in part for its trouble, borrowing British Airways’s boilerplate language about the government taking airlines for granted and not caring as much as other European countries.
Florida Man Arrested for Wanting Some Fresh Air
American Airlines passenger Christian Segura was taken into custody by Miami police after he helped himself to the over-wing emergency exit once his flight had landed and taxied to the gate Wednesday night. AA920 had arrived safely and on-time from Cali, Colombia when Segura opened the emergency exit and hopped onto the wing of the B737.
In his defense, sitting in row 33 watching people in front of you take forever to get off the plane after a long flight can be very frustrating, and perhaps Segura should be applauded for taking matters into his own hands. He also received a thorough and personalized screening from US Customs and Immigration, finding a loophole to skip the line to be admitted into the country as well.
After being detained by CBP staff, he was transferred to Miami-Dade County police. AA officials referred all questions to Miami CBP staff with regards to the incident, except to point out that the plane arrived on-time and without mechanical issues, a rare occurrence for the carrier.
- Air France plans to initially operate its new A220 aircraft on five routes from Paris: Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid, Milan/Linate, and Venice. A220 service will begin for the carrier on October 31.
- AirAsiaX is applying for a $120 million loan backed by the Malaysian government.
- Frontier is delaying its plan to require staff to be vaccinated or be tested regularly. The policy was supposed to go into effect today.
- Icelandair completed a sale and leaseback of three aircraft that are scheduled for delivery in December and January.
- Lao Airlines and Lao Skyway have suspended all domestic flights due to a mandated shutdown of all domestic flights within the country.
- Ryanair plans to base five additional aircraft in Vienna next summer and it will operate nine new routes from the airport to six countries.
- TUI fly and Ryanair both had cased dismissed at the European Court of Justice over an order to return subsidies from 2018. Shockingly, Ryanair plans to appeal.
I’m writing a book about all the things I wish I had done in my life but hadn’t yet. It’s an oughtobiography.