Since Christmas is on Saturday and not a weekday this year, we’re going to take tomorrow off along with most of the rest of the world. We’ll be back Monday full of jokes and cookies.
FAA to Allow United 777s to Return to Service Soon
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued three airworthiness directives (ADs) that, once complied with, will allow Pratt & Whitney-powered 777s to return to service. The aircraft were grounded after an uncontained engine failure due to metal fatigue caused a United 777 to return to Denver in February 2021.
The ADs would require airlines to make some modifications to strengthen engine cowlings and complete extra inspections on fan blades and other components. Depending upon the results of those inspections, corrective action may be required.
United is the only scheduled US airline that operates Pratt-powered 777s. It is the largest operator in the world with 52. Other airlines, including ANA, Asiana, Korean, and Japan Airlines, are also impacted. Japan Airlines has already announced plans to retire the aircraft. After hearing that, American immediately called the airline to indicate it would be happy to take any widebody capable of flying off the airline’s hands. I mean, ANY widebody.
Embraer’s Eve Sells 500 eVTOLs to Three Airlines
Embraer’s Eve Air Mobility electric aircraft unit has signed letters of intent (LOI) with three airlines to purchase a total of 500 electric-powered vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Eve becomes the 3,859,203rd company trying to make eVTOLs a thing.
SkyWest will take 100 of the aircraft, Republic will take 200, and lessor Azorra will also take 200, assuming the contraption gets built and functions as planned. Of the three, SkyWest’s announcement is the only one saying that it has signed a non-binding LOI. We assume without any further knowledge that means the others are binding, probably because by signing a binding agreement, the companies could get a 5% coupon off their next Embraer 175 purchase.
SkyWest says it will deploy the aircraft around the US while Republic says it will focus on Boston, New York, and Washington to start, eventually expanding through the central and eastern US. This all remains theoretical in our minds until we see them in service.
Qantas Still Has Eyes on Chicago, Seattle
With Australian borders opening soon, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce expects to put forward big expansion plans to pick up where it left off before the pandemic began.
Chicago — which was supposed to get a nonstop from Brisbane in April 2020 until COVID had other plans — is “still a huge opportunity,” said Joyce. He also indicated Seattle could be in the mix now that long-time partner Alaska has joined oneworld as a full partner. Kickapoo, Illinois, is also on the list, but that’s only because Joyce accidentally mistook the name for an Australian city to which Rex flew.
Qantas has begun flying to new cities Delhi and Rome, and it seems happy with early results — though for Rome, those results are VERY early since it was just announced.
- Breeze is trying hard to keep enough pilots on property, so it is now looking for Aussies to come and fly exciting routes like Norfolk to Columbus. Who could turn that down?
- Cathay Pacific is being hampered by Hong Kong COVID policies. It will only be able to muster 2x weekly to Sydney and nothing else in Australia in the new year.
- Etihad continues to consider a flip-flop that would see the A380s return to service.
- Garuda Indonesia will fly internationally only to Sydney, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, and a Chinese city TBD in 2022 as it tries to avoid bankruptcy.
- Irkut has taken passengers on a test flight of the MC-21 narrowbody. If you’re excited about this airplane, you can fly to Russia starting next September, but it won’t be flown many places outside the country.
- JetBlue has joined Delta in asking for a shorter isolation period for vaccinated people who test positive for COVID. A crew shortage may be coming if this doesn’t happen (or even if it does).
- Lufthansa is now giving a train to plane connecting option for all domestic routes.
- Singapore will restart Perth flights when Western Australia reopens on February 5.
What do lawyers call Santa’s helpers?
Subordinate Clauses.