Breeze Adds Two Destinations
Breeze Airways is blowing into two new cities as the carrier expands for the first time since its launch this past spring.
Breeze will begin flying in January to both New York/Islip (ISP) — where it already handles maintenance so is no surprise — on Long Island and West Palm Beach (PBI) in south Florida. The two cities will see a combined eight routes with two from Islip and six from West Palm.
The six routes going to West Palm will operate as Saturday-only service to Akron, Columbus, Charleston, New Orleans, Norfolk, and Richmond. Islip’s two destinations on Breeze, beginning On February 17, will be Norfolk (4x-weekly service), and Charleston, SC (2x-weekly service).
Thai AirAsia X to Restructure
Thai AirAsia X intends to enter into formal bankruptcy restructuring in 2022 while looking for new investors in an effort to relaunch the airline which has been dormant since the onset of the pandemic last March.
The carrier, which is 51% owned by Asia Aviation will be seeking funding to resume operations, which makes sense because right now it has literally no funding. The carrier recently secured approval from shareholders to raise $415 million to begin the recapitalization process. The airline is unable to look to its other stakeholder – AirAsia X – which owns the other 49% of the company as it is also embroiled in its own bankruptcy and is currently in restructuring itself. Bankruptcy inception is real.
Thai AirAsia X has eight A330-300 aircraft currently being used for cargo-only operations and two mothballed A330-900s. The airline is hoping to resume flying as soon as February 2 with flights from its Bangkok hub to both Tokyo and Seoul.
Florida Man Flies to Miami with Loaded Handgun
A passenger on an American Airlines flight from Bridgetown, Barbados (BGI) to Miami was so serious about not being seated in Basic Economy that he boarded the flight with a handgun loaded with five 32-caliber rounds in the chamber. The passenger was able to get past the crack security staff in Bridgetown because he allegedly came up with the clever plan of placing the weapon under his laptop when going through the x-ray machine.
Homeland Security has sent a team on vacation to investigate the breach and see how security officers at the airport managed to miss the gun. The firearm was eventually discovered when going through a TSA checkpoint in Miami before the passenger connected to a flight to Orlando.
The passenger was charged with carrying a concealed weapon but denied the charges. In his defense, he wasn’t concealing it when going through security, as he did place the gun on the x-ray belt. He is scheduled to appear in court in Miami again later this month and the courthouse has confirmed it will be using its own security guards at the entrance and is not taking BGI airport’s offer to use their security staff.
- Aeromexico has several creditors objecting to its restructuring plan, including Banco Santander which is owed $70 million and Deva Capital which is owed $25 million. Some guy named Guillermo who had a terrible flight and wants a refund also objects.
- Air Europa is considering a lawsuit against Iberia because the carrier is preventing Air Europa from serving Iberian ham on-board through a copyright claim. (Or maybe it’s that whole acquisition thing.)
- Air North announced 2x-weekly service between Whitehouse (YXY) and Toronto/Pearson beginning May 10.
- Cape Air CEO Dan Wolf will don his cape one final time before retiring and handing the reigns of the airline to current president and noted Cape fan Linda Markham.
- JD Cargo plans to begin operating in China early next year once it secures its law degree.
- FlyArna, the newest carrier in airline-starved Armenia now plans to launch flight operations in the spring of 2022.
- Hainan Airways plans to raise about $7.5 billion in capital to reduce its debts in order to exit bankruptcy restructuring.
- MyWay Airlines is not having it ItsWay as the Georgian federal government plans to revoke the carrier’s operating license.
- Ryanair announced a partnership with Junta de Andalucía to promote tourism to Spain’s southernmost region. The two are expected to file suit against one another early in 2022.
- Southwest told its employees that about 93% of staff have either been vaccinated or applied for an extension. The other 7% are currently on hold with IT trying to get their password changed.
- VietJetAir plans to launch European flights next summer.
I didn’t want to believe that my dad was stealing from his job as a traffic cop, but when I got home, all the signs were there.