American Reduces Summer Schedule…Again
American Airlines is pulling back on its summer schedule as Boeing’s delays in delivering 787 Dreamliners continue.
AA is now planning to temporarily suspend service between Seattle and London, Los Angeles to Sydney, and Dallas/Ft. Worth to Santiago. The launch of DFW to Tel Aviv is being delayed, and Miami to Rio de Janeiro is being reduced to a single daily service.
American investigated the possibility of continuing these routes using the three new E175s it purchased earlier this week but couldn’t justify the price it would cost to fly those aircraft on long-haul routes all over the world while also operating regional routes for Envoy.
The carrier expected to have 13 new Dreamliners to fly this summer and instead will have zero. Boeing does not expect to resume for several weeks at the earliest. The manufacturer no longer can check each plane for its airworthiness prior to delivery, now being required to turn each airplane over to the government and await approval from the FAA.
Delta VP for Network Planning Resigns
Delta Air Lines Vice President for Network Planning Scott Laurence resigned his role at the carrier after just a month in the job.
Laurence came to Delta from JetBlue where he was considered the architect of the Northeast Alliance with American – and was expected to head up Delta’s JV partnerships with an eye on long-term growth. His role was created just for him – the airline did not previously have a VP of Network Planning and finds itself without one again.
Some industry insiders knew his time at Delta would be short when he insisted that every gate at the Atlanta Airport be renamed as gate B6, oblivious to the confusion it would cause for passengers and employees alike. Laurence’s reason for leaving is unclear at this point, although rumors are swirling. One report says he bristled at Delta’s requirement that he accept his salary in SkyMiles, and another says he left after being told he would be forced to find a way to keep ITA in SkyTeam.
Delta Says Aloha to Three Hawai’i Routes
Delta Air Lines is adding three new routes to Hawai’i while also looking to resume a very long-haul service to Africa.
The carrier will add daily service from its Atlanta headquarters to Maui, resuming a service that last operated in 2007, while also adding daily nonstop flights from both Detroit and New York/JFK to Honolulu. The Atlanta to Maui and Detroit to Honolulu flights will begin on November 19, with JFK to HNL beginning about a month later on December 17. Atlanta will become Maui’s just second destination east of the Mississippi, coupled with United’s flight to Newark.
In addition to adding in Hawai’i, Delta is looking to again resume service from Atlanta to Cape Town, South Africa. It attempted to first bring it back as a triangle route with Johannesburg, but the South African government declined the request. In its current application, Delta still desires to operate the triangle, but is also willing to operate 3x-weekly nonstop service. Delta proposed the flights begin November 18 and operate year-round.
- Air Canada lost a cool C$3.04 billion in 2021.
- Air Tahiti Nui will receive a cut of a $341 million loan from the French government to French Polynesia.
- Alaska now allows award redemptions on Malaysia.
- Astral Aviation will become the launch operator of the A320 P2F.
- British Airways will begin new daily service from London/Heathrow to Newark beginning June 6.
- Cebu Pacific will take delivery of three A330neo aircraft later this year.
- Condor will bring streaming in-flight entertainment to its entire fleet this April.
- Hawaiian‘s employees from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers ratified a new 5-year agreement.
- Lynx Air took delivery of its first aircraft — a B737-8 — earlier this week.
- Starlux took delivery of its first A330neo today in Toulouse and the company’s chairman K.W. Chang is flying it back to Taipei. Presumably he’s also a pilot.
- Volotea will open a new base in Lille (LIL) later this spring.
What do you call an illegally parked frog?
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