Dulles Temporary Midfield Terminal Potentially to be Replaced
The temporary midfield terminal at Washington/Dulles Airport, also known as Concourses C and D, could finally be on the way out after the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) presented its plan to replace the temporary terminal that’s temporarily been the home of United Airlines at IAD for the last 35 years.
MWAA says that projects to replace the temporary terminal were held up by such recent events as World War II, the summer of love, the 1990-91 recession, 9/11, and the Great Recession of 2008. United is in discussions with MWAA on the project, as the temporary terminal is the temporary home of United’s sixth-largest hub – a better facility could see it vault up to fourth or fifth in the rankings, much like a college football team with a less than overwhelming win on Homecoming Saturday.
During the first seven months of the year, just under seven million passengers flew at IAD, a 32% increase from a year ago but a 51% drop from 2019. One sticking point in the negotiations is MWAA’s insistence that United not operate any flights to or from Newark from the new terminal since it doesn’t want such a gleaming new build to be sullied. It has also demanded full control of the route map which would result in more daily service to Hawai’i, and increased daily service to Germany to better connect customers to Wheneverfest.
AA Flight AAttendant AArrested for Bringing Trinkets Home from Overseas
An American Airlines flight attendant was arrested in Buenos Aires late last month for attempted smuggling before working on AA900, service to Miami.
When placing her carry-on through the x-ray at the security checkpoint in Buenos Aires, officials discovered more than $11,000 in cash plus in excess of $110,000 in goods and jewelry including:
- The cash, including $11,413 in USD and additional amounts of Argentinian and Colombian pesos
- Three gold bars including 2.2kg of gold
- Three classic watches, including two Rolexes, an Audemars Piguet, and one of those cool Casio calculator watches
- Old coins
- Five rings
- Four bracelets
- Three French hens
- Two necklaces
- A partridge in a pear tree
The flight attendant claimed that the cash was hers, she found the coins, and the rest were inflight donations given to her by passengers. If that’s the case, she must be the best flight attendant in AA history, and the airline would be wise to post her bail and get her back to work immediately.
Korean and Asiana Merger Moves Closer to Approval
South Korea’s consumer watchdog Fair Trade Commission is moving closer to approving the merger between Korean Air and Asiana – the country’s two largest airlines – provided the new combined carrier is willing to divest itself of many of its exclusive route authorities to foreign airlines or unaffiliated Korean LCCs. It’s time to shine, Eastar Jet!
The head of the FTC in Korea, Joh Sung-wook shared his hesitancy surrounding the deal earlier this month due to the giant monopoly the combined airline would have in Korea. But some in the Korean government have said that due to the size of the two airlines merging, monopoly concerns would present themselves no matter how the tie up is presented and creating the best deal for other players in the market is the optimum outcome.
Long haul international routes are expected to be redistributed to foreign airlines as the rest of the Korean domestic market is dominated by LCCs without the capacity to operate to Europe and North America. But regional routes within Asia and domestic destinations will prove to be very attractive to the LCC market creating a new competitive market on all but the longest flights from Seoul.
- Aegean Airlines has taken financial and operational control of Romanian carrier Animawings.
- Air Canada is doubling its spending requirement for non-Canadian members to earn and retain status.
- Air Tahiti Nui received a $79 million state subsidy from the Tahitian government. Ryanair is taking an extended holiday at the airport hotel to complete its usual investigation of the loan.
- AirBlue took delivery of its first A321neo on Friday.
AlitaliaITA is offering a status match to elite members of basically every loyalty program in the world including AirTran, Continental, Northwest, Song, Ted, and TWA as the leadership running the “new” airline never got the message these carriers are no longer operating.- Austrian Airlines is expanding its premium economy offerings on its fleet of B767-300ER aircraft, going from 18 premium economy seats to 30.
- Eastar Jet delayed its relaunch to summer 2022 or whenever the Korean government gives it rights to a bunch of routes — WestJet officials had no comment.
- FlyLeOne, the newest carrier on Malta began scheduled ops.
- French Bee‘s first A350-1000 — with 480 seats (!!!) — underwent its first test flight today.
- Garuda Indonesia plans to simplify its fleet down to operating just two aircraft types — B737s and A330s.
- NG Eagle had its certification process suspended by the Nigerian senate.
- Rex is expected to resume B737 flights between Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra on November 15.
- SATA Air Açores is expected to be bailed out by the Portuguese government. As soon as Ryanair is done investigating the Air Tahiti Nui loan, it will turn its attention to this one.
- United upgraded its flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Sydney to a B777.
What font do they use for the letter noodles in alphabet soup?
Times New Ramen