July 5, 2022

July 4 Weekend was Bad, Just not Historically So

The airlines pulled off quite a trick this weekend, preparing us for the absolute worst over the holiday weekend that when they met the low bar, it seemed like a victory.

Completion rates for the weekend were led by Spirit, Alaska, and Southwest with Spirit completing a gold star-worthy 99.93% of its flights. Alaska and Southwest followed at a 99.7% completion rate with a pretty steep drop after that. Delta – once the gold standard of reliability – completed just 97.8% of its flights for the weekend, clearing that low bar it set for itself when it published a blanket waiver for all travelers for the weekend. Bringing up the rear is Air Canada with a hilariously-low 89.4% completion rate – it’s incredibly difficult to cancel more than one in 10 flights over a weekend, but AC somehow managed the feat.

Even more amazing is Air Canada’s on-time rate for the weekend – the carrier completed just 31.7% — less than one-third of its flights with fifteen minutes of its scheduled time of arrival, something that once seemed downright impossible. Also below the 70% mark of A14 (meaning arrivals within 14 minutes of scheduled) were Allegiant (62%) and JetBlue (64.6%) although the almost 65% on-time rate for JetBlue could be considered a victory based on its own performance of late.

*All data courtesy of Anuvu.

SAS Cancels Half its Flights, Files for Bankruptcy

It was not a great holiday weekend for SAS — which would make sense because July 4 is not a holiday in Scandinavia – with the airline facing a pilot strike and a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

Talks between the carrier and its pilots broke down over the weekend after a notice of conflict was delivered to the airline on June 9 and four weeks of mediation led nowhere. SAS is in cost-cutting mode and several of its proposals — including potentially hiring third-party pilots — were a non-starter for the union. The carrier cut 176 of its flights on Monday, 52% of its operation, with more troubles expected the rest of the week. So far Tuesday, more than 77% of its schedule has been axed with tomorrow looking the same.

Doubling down on the troubles for SAS, the carrier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States as part of its cleverly named SAS Forward transformation plan. The filing itself should not have any impact on current operations and is allegedly unrelated to the pilot walk out. CEO Anko van der Weff says the airline plans to exit Chapter 11 in “nine to 12 months” or whenever the last person currently in Amsterdam Schiphol’s security line gets through screening – whichever comes first.

Delta’s New Deal Goes to the Max

Delta Air Lines is expected to announce a deal for as many as 130 B737 MAX 10 aircraft, its first purchase from Boeing in several years after the once all-Boeing airline had been dipping its toe in the Airbus side of things of late.

Prior to this presumed order, all 221 aircraft Delta has on order are from Airbus, with the last Boeing plane it took delivery of a B737-900ER in June 2019. This agreement would see the first of the 100 firm airplanes in the order delivered in 2025 and puts the B737 MAX in each of the top five carriers of the country.

The announcement comes a few days after three Chinese airlines announced a deal for 292 new Airbus planes, a blow to Boeing which cemented its long-term concern about access to the Chinese market. When the planes are delivered, they’re expected to be sent to Atlanta during a summer thunderstorm to get their feet wet in the Delta system, and will be put into service just as soon as a Biscoff is ceremonially broken against the nose of each aircraft.

  • Aerolíneas Argentinas operated its first flight to Punta Cana yesterday with a B737 MAX 8.
  • Air Zimbabwe added an E145 to its fleet, something we’ve all been waiting on.
  • Cathay Pacific will resume flying between New York/JFK and Vancouver next month, but unlike prior to the pandemic, it will not carry local traffic between the two cities, only beyond to Hong Kong.
  • Enter Air has exited the conversation about sitting down and buying a majority stake in Chair Airlines.
  • Garuda Indonesia is looking for new investors. If you’ve got several million to burn, contact the airline at its Jakarta HQ.
  • Jazeera Airways is adding two new cities in Saudi Arabia: Abha (AHB) and Hail (HAS).
  • LATAM resumed service to the Falkland Islands for the first time since the pandemic.
  • Marianas Southern Airways, a Southern Airways Express brand, will begin operations in this month in the Commonwealth of the North Mariana Islands, not to be confused with Marianas Northern Airways, which we assume operates in the Southern Marianas.
  • Ryanair‘s Spanish-based cabin crew announced 12 days of strikes for this month.
  • Sunwing‘s pilots union alleges the carrier knew it was about to be sold to WestJet during contract negotiations.
  • SWISS is adding winter service to Bristol, UK (BRS).
  • Virgin Atlantic says it will reveal its new A330neo business class next week. In the meantime, don’t hold your breath.

I only believe in 12.5% of the Bible.

I guess that makes me an eighth-iest.