Southwest Pilots Lose Court Battle Over Vaccines
Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) saw their bid to block a vaccine mandate rejected when Judge Barbara Lynn from the Northern Texas District Court ruled that the court doesn’t have the authority to block the mandate, and even if it did, she would not block it.
Judge Lynn was expected to rule later this week but when the SWAPA paid $30 in court fees for EarlyBird, the court released the ruling 24 hours earlier than expected.
Southwest is a federal contractor, and the federal government is WN’s largest single customer, squashing the union’s contention that the carrier is not considered a contractor for the purposes of avoiding the mandate. The judge also said that requiring employees to be vaccinated does not violate the pilot’s CBA and the carrier was within its rights under the Railway Labor Act to do so.
A spokesperson for the union said it was considering its next steps in the case which will likely include all available options except the simple one of just getting everyone vaccinated.
Delta Unveils Fancy PreCheck Lobby in Atlanta
Delta Air Lines announced a new digital identity experience – a term clearly invented by a PR firm with too much time on its hands – at its home at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. With the new system, Delta passengers who are members both of its SkyMiles loyalty program and of TSA PreCheck will be able to check-in, check baggage, pass through security, and board their aircraft with one look at a camera.
Passengers can opt out of the program by checking-in and going through the airport process as normal. Those who choose to participate will see their image taken by a camera and sent to CBP’s facial biometric matching service via a secure channel with no accompanying biographic data except for your social security number, address, mother’s maiden name, name of your favorite relative, first pet’s name, high school mascot, city where you met your spouse, and your elementary school.
Approximately a quarter of Delta’s Atlanta-based fliers are eligible for the program, which could relieve some of the stress on lines at chokepoints throughout the airport experience. The program endeavors to allow passengers to never have to pull out their boarding pass or ID for the entire process, but says nothing about pulling out your wallet to score a $9 bottle of water at one of the 400 locations it has at Atlanta’s airport. The carrier has not mentioned rolling the program out to its Delta SkyClubs, requiring customers to pull out their boarding pass if they want access to watered-down cocktails and Biscoffs to their hearts content.
Norse Atlantic Gives Up, Moves to Florida
Just like millions of Americans, Norwegian startup LCC Norse Atlantic Airways has given into the allure of warm weather, wearing sandals year-round, and 5 p.m. prime rib specials… it is moving to Florida. The carrier, which is currently run by three guys all named Bjørn and headquartered in Norway, has selected Fort Lauderdale for its home base in the United States.
One of the Bjørns, in this case CEO Bjørn Tore Larsen made the announcement in Fort Lauderdale early in the afternoon, wanting to ensure all the airline staff at the event had time to make the early bird special at the local Bennigan’s.
The carrier plans to operate three routes from FLL – Paris, London, and Oslo if when it begins flying. Norse Atlantic is still working on its operating certificate from Norway, which it hopes to receive sometime next month. In addition to the two routes from FLL, one of the Bjørns says that its still planning to fly from Oslo to Ontario, CA and Newburgh airport near NYC.
- Air Tanzania was ordered to repay nearly $400 million in bailout funds it received from the Tanzanian government because it came without prior approval of the country’s Ministry of Finance and Planning… and also, Ryanair.
- Air Transat, the self-declared world’s best leisure airline, announced a bunch of new routes for this summer that some people will find interesting, if you’re into that sort of thing.
- Blue Panorama is feeling blue since as the carrier suspended flight operations, saying “meh, if Alitalia can do it, so can we.”
- Hawaiian extended the expiring lease on two A330 aircraft, because what Hawaiian needs now is more widebody capacity.
- flybe, an airline that currently does not flyairplane, appointed Dave Pflieger as its new CEO.
- interCaribbean Airways added its first ATR42-500.
- Lufthansa and Vistara announced a new loyalty and frequent flier partnership that will allow earn and burn on each other’s programs.
- Norwegian will lease up to 13 Boeing B737-800 aircraft in an agreement that will surely be brought up in court the next time the carrier files for bankruptcy.
- Qatar will begin 3x-weekly service to Odesa, Ukraine (ODS) on December 9, its second destination in Ukraine.
- Ryanair introduced electric ground handling equipment at 11 European airports, claiming it will now offer zero-emission turnarounds of its aircraft. What it has not yet figured out is how to perform zero-emission lawsuits.
- Smartwings signed with Lufthansa Technik to service its fleet of 13 B737 MAX 8 aircraft.
- Virgin Australia resumed allowing its loyalty members to redeem their points for flights on partner airlines.
- Vistara secured slots to operate to Newark via London/Gatwick.
I met a girl at a bar last night who told me if I would leave with her she’d show me a good time — and she sure did. Right there on the sidewalk she ran a sub-10 second 100 meters.