September 2, 2022

Cranky Daily will be taking the Labor Day holiday off. Have a safe, restful holiday weekend. Or don’t…it’s really not our business. We’ll be back Tuesday.

Israel Bans Planes with Four Engines

The Israel Airports Authority (IAA) is banning four engine planes from operating to or from Israel, effective March 31 of next year.

This is a vital step taken by the Israeli government that’s been a long time coming. The new policy will reduce the number of four engine aircraft from none to none. The country issued the new guideline despite the fact no carrier currently operates a four-engine plane to the country – the most common four engine aircraft are the A340, A380, and B747.

Although no one flies one now – that doesn’t mean no one will ever fly a four-engine plane to Israel – making the ban perhaps a preemptive strike against rumors that Emirates wants to operate its A380 to Tel Aviv. The environmental lobby in Israel seems fixated on preventing four-engine planes from operating into the country, and with rumors that an airline might want to do so in the future, it’s gone ahead and made that point moot by banning them altogether.

The country is expected to next ban eight-engine planes, because despite not yet existing, you can never be too careful.

Pakistani Government Says PIA is not for Sale

The Pakistani government, led by finance minister Miftah Ismail, denied reports that it offered a piece of both Pakistan International Airlines and New York’s Roosevelt Hotel to the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA).

Media in both Pakistan and Qatar claimed that the Pakistanis were offering a 51% controlling interest in PIA to the QIA (say that five times fast) which is Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund. The alleged offer was contingent on the Qatari government confirming that all the pilots employed by PIA were actual pilots, so the deal never really stood a chance of happening anyway.

The Pakistanis did confirm they were looking for a $3 billion investment by Qatar into Pakistan’s economy, but Qatar was only interested in a deal that would allow it to operate Pakistani airports and reap the profits from them. PIA is currently going through a restructuring that claims will return it to profitability by 2024, a goal that even the most hardened PIA pilot is skeptical of.

Omani Airspace Still Not an Option for Israel

After Israel received permission earlier this summer to overfly Saudi Arabia for the first time, many carriers including Israel’s flag carrier El Al began planning new service to Asia due thanks to the direct route available through Saudi airspace. But those plans have hit a speedbump with Oman declining to offer its airspace to Israeli traffic after reportedly receiving pressure from Iran.

Many believed that receiving permission to use Omani airspace was a forgone conclusion once Saudia Arabia did so, but that has turned out not to be the case. While Oman is similar to Saudi Arabia in that it does not recognize Israel as a state, it has typically had a better diplomatic relationship than that of Saudi Arabia. Without permission to overfly Oman, Saudi overflight rights are nearly useless when it comes to flying to Asia.

While some have said that Oman caved to Iranian pressure, others suggested that a gift basket sent to Oman from Israel contained lox that had spoiled in transit, leaving the Omani leadership with a literal bad taste in their mouth.  

  • Air Atlanta announced senior management changes after it discovered none of its C-suite executives had even tried sweet tea.
  • Air Astana is planning to add 24 aircraft by 2025. Or is it 25 aircraft by 2024?
  • Delta has a new chef to lend their name to average meals served in the sky.
  • easyJet is adding lounge access to some of its more expensive fares.
  • Iberia is wet-leasing an A330 to fly to China.
  • Jet Airways is struggling to add aircraft because of some past debts.
  • Swiftair is swiftly planning to begin a new subsidiary based in Malta with the clever name of Swiftair Malta.
  • Thai AirAsia is trying to raise another $20 million. Aren’t we all.

I was in the gym earlier and decided to jump on the treadmill.

People were giving me weird looks, so I started jogging instead.