United Ready to Settle Down, Move to Suburbs
United Airlines will move its network operations center out of the carrier’s headquarters in downtown Chicago at the Willis Tower into a new complex in Arlington Heights, a suburb (way) outside of Chicago.
Approximately 900 United staff will be making the move to the ‘burbs, with the move expected to be complete by April of next year. The carrier will keep 2,500 management staff at Willis Tower in downtown where it’s spending millions on renovations including adding one to two inches more legroom for employees at their desk, offering a new, innovative menu featuring random celebrity chefs in the staff cafeteria, and bringing back hot meals for workdays of five hours or more.
The move will place the operations center closer to Chicago/O’Hare which is crucial in case the airline’s systems go down and the company has to revert to old school tactics of keeping track of planes by watching them out the window.
BA Sues Chicago/O’Hare
British Airways filed a $3.2 million lawsuit against the city of Chicago and Chicago/O’Hare airport over claims that three of the airline’s B787 aircraft were damaged by debris left on a runway at the airport last year.
The case was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and alleges negligence on the city’s behalf and that the airport violated the terms of its lease agreement by not properly inspecting the runways and taxiways. The lawsuit also accuses the city of continuing to call its overly thick tomato pies “pizzas,” confusing BA’s customers who visit Chicago from the United Kingdom.
According to BA, debris from O’Hare’s Terminal 5 expansion was ingested into the engines of its airplanes causing significant damage. The airport countered by saying the engines maybe could have been more discerning in what they chose to ingest, a matter they will bring up in front of the judge.
Mango Continues Search for Investors
Beleaguered and battered South African LCC Mango needs to secure a new investor by the end of March 2022 to have a chance at returning to the skies and functioning as an actual airline. The carrier’s bankruptcy administrator Sipho Sono will welcome expressions of interest for potential investors through December 20.
If you’re interested in bidding on the carrier and all the sweet fruit that comes with it, you’ll need to sign an NDA and proof of financial and operational capacity. The operational capacity requirement is the real bugaboo keeping most out of the running, including representatives from American and Spirit.
The airline will remain grounded until the process its complete, but it does plan to maintain its routes and licenses so it can hit the ground running when it does resume operations. Sipho Sono is hopeful that the pending state aid payment of $44 million will still be paid out in order to settle outstanding employee salary obligations and credit claims.
- airBaltic Flight 102 skidded off the runway in heavy snowfall during landing today in Riga. There were no injuries and all 44 passengers were transported to the terminal without incident.
- Alaska Airlines extended its maintenance agreement with HAECO Americas to provide service for the airline in Greensboro, North Carolina.
- Cathay Pacific is offering status extension and fast-track earning options for elite status in its Marco Polo loyalty program.
- EgyptAir is potentially considering a name change as the airline launches charters between the United States and Iraq.
- Iberia Plus loyalty members can now redeem miles for travel on Alaska. For all Spaniards with an itch to visit Ketchikan, it’s their time to shine.
- iFly Airlines resumed flying to Uzbekistan.
- ITA signed codeshare agreements with unsuspecting victims Air Serbia and KLM.
- Kargo Xpress took delivery of its first B737-800 airkraft.
- Qatar is reportedly leasing B777s from Cathay Pacific for service next year.
- SAS is launching two new brands early next year, SAS Connect and SAS Link. The new brands will link SAS customers to new connection opportunities through Copenhagen, Oslo, and Stockholm.
- Transitair debuted with charter service to Gabon and Príncipe.
Why is it a bad idea to iron your four-leaf clover? Because you shouldn’t press your luck.