Paine Field Feels the Pain While 777s and 747s Get Bad News
All flights scheduled to operate into Seattle/Paine Field were canceled Monday and again Tuesday morning as the airport struggles with the combination of restrictions from the 5G rollout combined with foggy weather.
The FAA’s imposed limitations on low-visibility flying are especially affecting the suburban Seattle airport. Alaska’s regional subsidiary Horizon is currently the lone commercial operator at Paine Field, and the low-visibility restrictions due to 5G are especially punitive on the E-175 aircraft that Horizon operates into the airport.
The FAA also issued an Airworthiness Directive today, saying that radio altimeters on all Boeing 777s and 747-8s can “experience interference” from new 5G wireless towers. Luckily for the traveling public, those aren’t large airplanes that carry lots of people or cargo, so everything should be totally fine. We are still waiting to see what the impact will be, but it won’t be good.
Alaska is offering Paine Field passengers whose flights were canceled a choice between a full refund, a rebooking from SEA, or a new phone courtesy of AT&T or Verizon. We have no idea what the scores of operators flying 777s and 747-8s will offer just yet….
Spirit Feeling Saltier Than Usual
Spirit Airlines announced today it’s adding Salt Lake City to its route map, its first new addition in 2022 with four daily flights to three cities. This marks Spirit’s first entrance into the large Delta hub, and in fact, it’s the airline’s first move into the state of Utah.
When asked why it took so longer to go to Utah, Spirit said that it was cleared to enter now that the governor has finally agreed to pay Spirit’s “new state” fee.
Beginning May 26, Spirit will operate from SLC to: Las Vegas (twice daily), Los Angeles (daily), and Orlando (daily). Salt Lake fits right into the pattern of Spirit’s three most recent city adds before this: Comayagua, Honduras, Manchester, NH, and Miami. And by that, we mean they have nothing in common at all.
EU to Pakistani Airlines: “Not So Fast”
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) decided not to lift the ban imposed on Pakistan International Airlines and other Pakistani carriers, keeping them prohibited from operating to the EU, utilizing the bloc’s airspace, or stealing any of their legitimate pilots.
In a note sent to PIA CEO Arshad Malik, the EASA said that removing safety concerns raised by the ICAO was just one of several other steps that would lead to a lifting of restrictions. EASA’s Executive Director wrote that despite PIA moving towards being brought back into the EU’s good graces, concern remains about the oversight capacity of Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority.
PIA and all other Pakistani carriers have been banned from operating to the EU since the deadly crash of PK8303 in May of 2020. The investigation of that incident revealed a severe lack of oversight by the PCAA, including pilots being certified to operate commercial aircraft without proper training.
- Air Atlanta Icelandic added a B747-400(M) combi-freighter.
- Air Namibia and its assets are being sold to South African carrier BDS Airways for $94 million.
- Air Serbia is beginning nonstop service from its Belgrade hub to three new destinations: Amman, Lyon, and Sochi.
- airBaltic
lost a betsigned a codeshare agreement with ITA. - Delta‘s new business class blanket is made of 100 recycled bottles. Passengers watching their calories can request a blanket made of bottles from calorie-free beverages.
- Jeju Air plans to enter into cargo operations.
- Jump Air received its commercial license and AOC and plans to begin commercial ops soon. The airline has just one question left to answer: “How High?”
- KLM is adding an air-rail link option from AMS to Amsterdam Centraal Station via NS Dutch Railways.
- Mas Air took delivery of its first A330-200(P2F), but it won’t be its last. There will be mas.
- Raya Airways denied that it’s in talks with Air Asia about a potential sale. It did not deny that it spoke to Air Asia about a combined pot luck dinner sometime in Q3.
I know it’s wrong, but I always find myself wanting to steal kitchen utensils. It’s just a whisk I’m willing to take.