United, Emirates Announce Partnership
United and Emirates announced their new codeshare partnership today, a secret kept about as well as United’s decades long claim that its on-board meals are “award winning.”
As part of the announcement, United confirmed it will launch daily service in March between Newark and Emirates’s hub in Dubai. The flight will be likely be timed as inconveniently as possible to allow passengers to connect to more than 100 Emirates destinations in the Middle East and beyond. Emirates operates nonstop from Dubai to four of United’s U.S. hubs: Chicago/O’Hare, Houston/IAH, San Francisco, and Washington/Dulles… 5 if you still count Los Angeles.
The agreement will allow UA customers to earn and burn miles on Emirates, while Skywards members will be able to earn only — not redeem — on United.
France Braces for ATC Strike
Air Traffic Controllers in Fance are expected to strike this Friday, causing headaches for airlines and passengers throughout Europe well into next week.
France’s civil aviation authority advised airlines to cut their schedules in half on Friday to stave off some of the chaos, but not all carriers have complied with the directive. The French government is working with Eurocontrol to allow some normal operations to take place. Air France plans to cut just over half of its short-haul European network for the day, but will operate almost all of its long-haul schedule, or at least, as much of it as usually operates on any given day.
The union says its striking due to an unjustified pay freeze and a lack of recruitment efforts by the government. In addition to Friday’s strike, the group is also planning a second walkout for the end of this month.
German Government Divests Itself of Lufthansa
The German government sold off its remaining equity in Lufthansa that it acquired during the pandemic in the summer of 2020.
The government took 20% of its flag carrier as a condition for offering bailout funds to keep LH flying in the darkest days of travel demand. The 20% piece of equity cost the German government €306 million, with the expectation the carrier would repay the loan no later than October 2023.
Lufthansa repaid its loan in full last November, two years ahead of schedule, and with the government selling off the final 6.2% of the airline it held onto, its involvement in the airline is complete. The government ended up with €1.07 billion for its 20% stake, a €760 million profit on its initial investment – not a bad day’s work for government spending.
- Alaska is trialing digital bag tags so they when your stuff is lost, it’ll be the fault of technology not the carrier.
- Austrian added its first A320neo, and it expects it to enter service later this year.
- Canada Jetlines announced its latest round of financing.
- Eurowings Discover discovered new people for its executive team.
- flydubai is adding 2x weekly service to Namangan, Uzbekistan (NMA).
- Maersk Air Cargo applied for a permit to operate to the United States.
- SalamAir is launching service from Prague to both Muscat and Salalah (SLL).
- VietJetAir expects to receive B737 Max deliveries beginning in 2024.
- Virgin Australia staff is getting sick.
- Wizz Air Abu Dhabi will add wet-leased capacity late this year.
To the person who cut in front of me in the line…
I’m after you now.