JetBlue to Offer Flight Attendants $1,000 Holiday Bonus For Showing Up
Flight attendants for JetBlue who do not call out from work through early January will receive their choice of $1,000 or a mystery grab bag of American Airlines merch as a bonus for helping the carrier through the busy holiday travel season.
JetBlue FAs will be eligible for the bonus provided they do not call out between November 22 and January 5 and work at least 100 hours during the time period. Crews will also receive confirmed space on flights to commute to and from their bases in an effort to eliminate as many staffing headaches as possible. This is what the world has come to, “do your job and you’re eligible for a bonus.” Usually that kind of perk is only reserved for C-level executives.
JetBlue joins American and Southwest as carriers offering perfect attendance bonuses through the holidays along with crossing their fingers and hoping the house of cards that is their domestic schedule doesn’t come toppling down.
Air India Express Merger Underway
Air India’s new majority stakeholder – Indian conglomerate Tata Sons – has begun the merger process of Air India’s LCC subsidiary Air India Express with another LCC in the Tata Sons family: AirAsia India.
Tata Sons owns nearly 84% of AirAsia India, and it’s expected to purchase the remaining 16% for $19 million early next year. To get the deal done, Tata Sons sweetened the pot with ten drink coupons while traveling on AirAsia India that expire at the end of this year.
Tata Sons also owns a slight majority – 51% — of Vistara. It plans on completing a single operating company of which all four brands: AirAsia India, Air India, Air India Express, and Vistara operate under one entity… but this is Air India so even the best laid plans have little hope of success.
Boeing 737 MAX Ban to be Lifted in South Korea
South Korea will lift the ban on the B737 MAX aircraft, allowing it to operate in the country next week, leaving China as the last major country continuing its ban on the aircraft. The aircraft type will be formally cleared for use in Korea this Monday, November 22.
The South Korea transport ministry said its decision came after a thorough review of fixes made to the aircraft and a very expensive bottle of soju that was received with a mysterious Everett, WA return address.
Eastar Jet is the only airline in Korea with MAX aircraft, and it has begrudgingly relied on the technical expertise of its long-time nemesis WestJet’s technical superiority to determine the aircraft’s safety. But Eastar Jet is currently grounded until at least February, so it’s not currently an issue. Korean Air has 30 MAX aircraft on order while LCC Jeju Air has 40.
- Air Transat and WestJet have agreed to begin a codeshare early next year. Negotiations between the two were said to be very polite at all times.
- Alaska‘s 4x-weekly flight from Los Angeles to Belize City will now operate year-round.
- flybe has chosen Birmingham (this one, not this one) to be its first base when it resumes operations next year.
- Lufthansa is leasing its flight training fleet and school to United.
- TAAG Angola Airlines received the first of six Dash 8-400s it has on order.
- South African will serve Lagos with 3x-weekly flights beginning December 12. Mango told SAA it would be happy to operate the route on behalf of SAA, but was told to sit down and shut up.
- Virgin Australia is crushing it. According to Virgin Australia.
When I get into work I immediately find a good place to hide.
My first boss told me that good employees are always hard to find.