Author: Andrew Bashuk

Billy Nolen to Serve as Interim FAA Administrator

Billy Nolen, currently the FAA’s Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety, will take the role of Interim Administrator effective this Friday. Current administrator Steve Dickson announced he would step down from the role earlier this year, effective this Thursday, March 31.

Nolen joined the FAA in January after leaving WestJet where he served as the Vice President of Safety, Security and Quality. Prior to joining WestJet, he was a B757, B767, and MD-80 pilot at American before moving into flight safety and oversight at the carrier. Nolen oversees 7,600 employees in his current role at the FAA and will take on greater responsibility as the Interim Administrator where he plans to do everything he can to ensure no aircraft ever get certified again.

The #2 at the FAA, Bradley Mims will take an expanded role during the interim period, primarily focused on workforce issues and airports – one item on his plate will be to finally figure out why parking at the airport is always so expensive.

JetBlue Pleads with FAs to Show Up to Work

In an e-mail to flight attendants, JetBlue implored its flight attendants to show up for work and not refuse assignments, highlighting the delicate nature of the carrier’s operation as the busy spring and summer travel season approaches.

JetBlue is in the midst of hiring hundreds of new flight attendants but will not have enough in place before the summer. It is also hiring another 5,000 employees in New York City who will be responsible for calling all the passengers on canceled flights after the flight attendants fail to show up, which will add to the 8,000 staff it currently has in the city. JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said it would be the largest hiring push in the carrier’s history.

The new jobs will support a increase in daily flights to and from New York from 200 to 300 – a 50% increase – as the carrier grows its Northeast Alliance with American. When flights aren’t canceled, most of the new staff are being hired to explain to assist JetBlue frequent fliers when flying on AA and understanding American’s 28-zone boarding process.

Gatwick Reopens South Terminal

London/Gatwick reopened its South Terminal Sunday for the first time in two years after the terminal was shuttered in the summer of 2020. The opening was delayed so that the staff could clear out all the rats that had hitched a ride on JetBlue from New York airports after the LaGuardia renovation was completed.

The airport is expecting an uptick in traffic with the new terminal open, up to 80,000 passengers a day this week, with that number topping 150,000 by the summer. With the terminal opening, Gatwick will nearly double the number of daily flights it operates from 300 to 570.

Seven airlines are operating from the reopened South Terminal: Air Malta, Aurigny, Eastern, Iberia Express, Norwegian, TAP, and Wizz Air. Most of those appear to be real airlines. BA and Vueling will also begin moving their operations to the South Terminal later this week.

• Air France-KLM is sticking it to travel agents.
• Air Sphinx is buried in paperwork, so it chose to push back its planned launch to later this year.
• Bamboo Airways selected Revima to provide landing gear for its A320 and A321 aircraft. Most passengers are just happy the carrier chose anyone to provide landing gear.
• Buffalo Airways, a cargo airline based not in Buffalo but in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (YZF), acquired its first B737.
• Cape Air has asked to reduce its schedule for five Montana EAS destinations for a temporary, indefinite period.
• Etihad‘s A350 will make its debut this week as the paint has finally dried on its livery. It begins service with a special inaugural route from Abu Dhabi to Paris/CDG on Thursday.
• Eurowings opened a new base in Stockholm.
• Frontier CEO Barry Biffle expects the mask mandate to be dropped for good on April 18 for all humans but made no guarantee for animals painted on the outside of airplanes.
• Pobeda grounded 16 B737s to preserve the parts of those aircraft to service other aircraft. That seems like a profitable long-term strategy.
• Qantas wants to see for itself if everything is bigger in Texas, adding a second flight to the airport — this time from Melbourne — with 4x-weekly service beginning December 2.
• Southern Airways acquired St. Louis-based Air Choice One.
• Sri Lankan woke up over the weekend and decided to join the rest of the world in banning flights to Russia.
• STARLUX took delivery of a new A321neo. It is leasing the plane from Aviation Capital Group which threw the floormats in as part of the lease at no additional charge.
• TAME Ecuador has put six planes up for sale after its employee bake sale did not raise the $16 million the carrier needs.
• United slaps Delta around in a filing to the DOT with regards to who should be awarded frequencies to Cape Town.
• Vistara‘s flight from Delhi to London/Heathrow will upgrade to daily service on May 1.

I went to McDonalds today and ordered two large fries.

They gave me about 100 tiny ones instead.

Qatar Tells Airbus Where to Stick its $220 Million Bill

Qatar Airways rejected Airbus’ claim that the carrier owes $220 million for two A350-1000s it refused to take delivery of. The airline denies that it was breach of contract just for refusing delivery and then accused Airbus of picking the number it owed — $220 million – basically out of thin air.

Airbus and Qatar have had beef for several months now since the carrier accused Airbus’ A350 fleet of having a paint degradation issue that has led to safety issues. Airbus does acknowledge there’s an issue with the paint, but claims it has no effect on airworthiness. Airbus’ suggestion that Qatar head down to its local Home Depot and pick up a can of Sherwin Williams to just “paint over the issue” was not accepted by the Qatari Civil Aviation Authority.

Qatar is currently suing Airbus for more than $700 million in damages in a UK court. A judge has warned the two that if they cannot amicably reach a settlement, one represent from each company will be forced into a Festivus-style feats of strength, and whomever pins the other first will be declared the winner in the lawsuit.

JetBlue Moves Closer to oneworld with Expanded Qatar Partnership

JetBlue Airways will expand its partnership with Qatar Airways in the coming months, adding more reciprocal benefits for elite flyers for both airlines, expanded marketing opportunities, and more-aligned schedules to create better connecting opportunities – especially for those Qatari residents looking for a good connection to Rochester.

Right now, loyalty program members of the two have the ability to earn miles when flying the other airline – but coming soon, at a time to be announced – they’ll also have the ability to redeem awards on the other airline. Qatar has recently shifted its points currency to BA’s Avios, which could create an end-around for BA Executive Club members to redeem travel on JetBlue.

The two carriers also plan to develop an integrated airside transfer option for passenger when connecting at New York/JFK to or from Doha. The two have partnered together for more than a decade – since 2011 – and the relationship has only grown once Qatar’s senior leadership began drinking Dunkin’ coffee each morning.

BA to Reduce Schedule

British Airways will reduce its schedule over the next several weeks as the carrier looks to avoid another operational meltdown like last week when thousands of passengers were stuck waiting hours for luggage at London/Heathrow or waiting on gates to open on aircraft that had already landed.

CEO Sean Doyle told staff that customers were “rightly fed up,” and said that frontline employees were frustrated as well. Doyle believes the issues stemmed from the carrier’s immediate ramp up as several travel restrictions were lifted – and not the fact that someone mistakenly replaced the carrier’s tea provisions with decaf without telling anyone.

The airline is also battling space issues at its home airport as Heathrow officials still have not opened up T4 – and don’t plan to do so until the summer at the earliest. BA is forced to share its current home in T5 with Qatar, China Southern, Iberia, AA, and an overwhelming amount of duty-free shops, leading to congestion issues in the airport and on the ramp.

• American unveiled a Medal of Honor themed airplane, in tribute to those who survived a cross-country flight in AA’s basic economy.
• Azur Air and Ural Airlines began furloughing staff this week.
• JetBlue secured the slots to serve both London/Gatwick and London/Heathrow from Boston this summer.
• LOT will return to Delhi with 3x-weekly service beginning March 29, and will then add new service to Mumbai in May.
• Lufthansa‘s maintenance subsidiary — Lufthansa Technik — was suspended in South Africa after a series of maintenance issues caused Comair to be suspended last week.
• Norwegian is reopening its base in Helsinki.
• Royal Air Maroc plans to begin replacing its B737 fleet sometime next year.
• Virgin Australia was victorious in Australia’s High Court winning an appeal of a suit brought on by Wells Fargo regarding what defined returning engines to their owner when the carrier went into bankruptcy. The carrier made the engines available to Wells Fargo to pick up in Australia, while the bank insisted the airline was responsible for transporting the engines to Florida.
• Wizz Air recently signed an agreement to receive three new A321-200 neo aircraft later this year.

What do you call a cow with two legs? Lean beef. If the cow has no legs, then it’s ground beef.

Wanna Get Away? Southwest Adds New Fare Class

Southwest Airlines will add a fourth fare class – Wanna Get Away Plus – in the first change to its fare structure in 15 years.

The new fare level will be priced above its lowest-priced Wanna Get Away fares, but below Anytime and Business Select fares. Customers taking the plunge on Wanna Get Away Plus will receive eight Rapid Rewards points per dollar spent – a 33% increase over the six points earned on traditional WGA fares – and the ability to use same-day confirmed and same-day standby at no extra charge, enabling the customer to sit at the gate and watch flights leave without them until their regularly scheduled flight time arrived. WGA+ also will allow customers to transfer the value of the ticket to someone else.

The transfer of value comes with restrictions – the value can only be transferred once, the person receiving the value must be a Rapid Rewards member, and when traveling with the value must be always willing to down a shot of Wild Turkey when requested by flight crew out of respect for Southwest founder Herb Kelleher.

Anytime fares are seeing added benefits as well, as they will now include EarlyBird check-in and come with access to priority and express lanes at the airport. To take advantage, customers should tell TSA agents they’ve purchased an Anytime fare on Southwest, show their impressive boarding number, and assure them that they’re a very important customer to the airline.

For more on this, see today’s post at crankyflier.com.

Airline CEOs Ask for End to Mask Mandate

The CEOs of ten airlines urged President Biden to end the mask requirement on planes and in airports in a letter sent Wednesday. The letter was signed by the chief executives of Alaska, American, Atlas, Delta, FedEx Express, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, United, and UPS Airlines. It’s nice to see the airline solidarity, but it begs the question whether Atlas, FedEx, and UPS have been making their cargo wear face masks all this time.

The mandate currently is in place until April 18, and the airlines do not want to see it go further beyond that date. Remarking in the letter that mask requirements have been vanquished in locations with tight-quarters such as restaurants, movie theatres, and arenas – locations that do not have the air filtration system airplanes do – shows that it’s time to move on.

Most importantly, the airlines are tired of their employees being the frontline enforcers of the mandate, causing countless incidents and confrontations with passengers who do not want to comply.

The airlines argue that dealing with masks is not what cabin crew are trained to do, and it’s taking them away from their primary responsibilities: serving mediocre lukewarm meals, loading passenger bags into the overhead compartment because passengers are too lazy to do it themselves, and waiting in line at airport Starbucks.

Alaska Moves Towards All-Boeing Fleet

Alaska Airlines is speeding up plans to simplify its fleet, expecting to be an all-Boeing airline by 2023. The carrier will fly exclusively Boeing planes at the mainline level, while its subsidiary and regional airline Horizon Air will exclusively operate a fleet of E-175s.

Alaska currently has 40 A320s in its fleet currently, holdovers from its 2016 acquisition of Virgin America. Originally Alaska planned to phase out its 30 A320s by the end of next year but had no stated plan to get rid of its 10 remaining A321 aircraft. Horizon has 32 Dash 8-Q400s amongst its fleet, paired with 30 E-175s.

To build on the current demand for cargo ops, Alaska also intends to flip two of its older B737-800s into freighters. It guaranteed regulators it would wait until all passengers had deplaned from its final revenue flight before beginning the conversion – even basic economy passengers.

• Aer Lingus received a €200 million loan from the Irish government sure to anger Ryanair and its extensive team of lawyers.
• Aeromexico took delivery of the 6th of 10 B737 MAX it has on order.
• Alaska is seeing strong bookings and business travel returning, according to Alaska.
• Bulgaria Air and 11 other Bulgarian carriers are in line for $34 million in state aid approved by the European Commission sure to upset Ryanair and its extensive team of lawyers.
• easyJet is dropping its face mask requirement beginning Sunday on flights where masks are not required at both ends of the route.
• Ethiopian appointed Mesfin Tasew its new CEO.
• Finnair will begin flying to Mumbai, with 3x-weekly summer seasonal service.
• flybe. announced its plans to resume operating to 16 destinations on April 13.
• Iberia will fly a schedule this summer equal to about 85% of what it flew in 2019, according to Iberia.
• Rex announced a rise of A$7.50 on most fares due to increased fuel prices. The airline will surely roll the increase back when fuel prices fall back down.
• SKY Airline expects to take delivery of its first A321-200NX(XLR) in 2024.
• ValueJet, the Nigerian LCC — not the former ValuJet which became AirTran which became Southwest — is adding CRJ900s in both passenger and freighter configurations.,

Why are fish so easy to weigh?

They come with their own scales.

American & JetBlue Grow Reciprocal Frequent Flier Benefits

The Northeast Alliance between AA and JetBlue continues to grow despite the current lawsuit from the DOJ, and today the two carriers announced increased benefits for elite members of their frequent flyer programs.

The additions include:

• Priority check-in if you’re not checking in on the app like 90% of the world
• Up to two free checked bags (except for AA Gold members who receive just one free checked bag on B6)
• Extra legroom seating at check-in (Main Cabin Extra for Mosaic members and Even More Space for AA Elites)
• Priority Baggage Handling (we assume includes access to the front of the line at the baggage office when your stuff is lost)
• Priority Boarding (with Mosaic members on B6; with Group 875 on AA)
• Free same day flight changes (good luck finding another flight with availability)
• AAdmirals Club members can access AAdmirals Clubs when flying JetBlue

Both carriers continue to grow their frequent flier alliance despite JetBlue not joining oneworld. Currently JetBlue Mosaic members and American Executive Platinum members receive a free alcoholic drink when seated in the back; the carriers have not yet made that reciprocal although once JetBlue elites take part in AA’s main cabin experience, it’s likely they’ll insist a free drink be part of the flight.

Air New Zealand to Begin Flying to New York

Air New Zealand will begin flying from Auckland to New York/JFK later this year, traveling 8,828 miles each way, making it the fifth-longest flight in the world just behind Singapore’s flights from JFK and Newark to Singapore, Qantas’s Perth – London nonstop, and any regional departure from JFK, when you include ground time. The 3x-weekly service will begin Saturday, September 17, and operate on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday each week.

The flight is blocked at 16:15 going east and 17:35 headed west and will be operated by a B787-9 aircraft. The flight to New York lands just 15 minutes after it leaves, with the flight to Auckland landing two days after departure. The flight will be given flight numbers 1 and 2, which used to be NZ’s service from Auckland to London/Heathrow via Los Angeles.

The Dreamliner operating the ultra-long haul flight will have 275 seats – 27 lie-flats in front, 33 in premium economy, 13 Skycouches, and 202 in economy.

Air New Zealand also announced it plans to resume service to both Chicago O’Hare and Houston/IAH later this year.

Alaska Offering Double Pay to Flight Attendants

Alaska Airlines is offering double pay to flight attendants as an incentive to pick up extra trips this spring as the carrier braces for increased travel demand as the weather warms.

The airline offered cash bonuses and as much as triple pay to pilots and flight attendants last year when Omicron was raging through its ranks, but it wasn’t enough, and Alaska was forced to cancel thousands of flights. It’s attempting to be more proactive now and schedule staff ahead of time while eventually adding more flight attendants to its ranks thanks to those pesky federal rules that actually require them onboard.

The airline recently hired 165 new flight attendants who completed their training with another 700 more expected to come online later this summer.

• airBaltic suspended service to Baku (GYD) and Yerevan (EVN).
• AllianceJet added its third aircraft — a B737-800.
• Comair shifted its South African maintenance contract from Lufthansa Technik to SAA Technical.
• Delta took delivery of its first A321neo. The carrier charged Airbus 300,000 SkyMiles for the ferry flight from Hamburg to Atlanta.
• Eastar Jet exited court-supervised bankruptcy, much to the chagrin of its nemesis, WestJet.
• Ethiopian CEO Tewolde GebreMariam retired.
• Hawaiian lowered its 2022 capacity guidance down 3% more than expected, to down 3-6% compared to 2019.
• JetBlue completed a seasonal slot swap at London/Heathrow with Qatar.
• Q Airways plans to begin operation later this summer with the first flight going to the basement of a pizza joint in DC.
• Qatar added wet-leased A330s to its fleet for the summer to operate cargo service to the United States.
• SAS CFO Magnus Örnberg will leave the the airline later this spring.

Did you hear about the lion who was a cannibal?

He got embarrassed and swallowed his pride.

No Survivors Found in China Eastern Wreckage

No survivors have been found amongst the 132 people on-board China Eastern Flight 5735 which crashed outside of Wuzhou, China on Monday. The crash site is a treacherous and mountainous region that is difficult to access by foot and impossible by car, making the unlikely search for survivors and other remnants of the crash exceedingly difficult.

The black boxes have not been recovered either, with search teams looking via drones and on foot as much as is reasonably practicable. Wallets, ATM cards, ID cards, and other personal belongings have been found strewn around the mountain side, but those personal items and small pieces of the plane are all that have been found so far.

The flight was about one hour into its journey at an altitude of 29,000 feet when it took an unplanned, steep drive down to 7,200 feet. The plane then gained about 1,200 feet of altitude back before ultimately plunging to its demise. The aircraft stopped transmitting data about 96 seconds after the initial dive.

Southwest Flight Attendants Request End of Mask Mandate

Southwest Airlines Flight Attendants union – TWU Local 556 – sent a letter to President Biden requesting the mask mandate not be extended beyond its current April 18 expiration. The union said “enforcing mask compliance is one of the most difficult jobs we have ever faced as flight attendants.”

Their letter comes as American Airlines’ outgoing CEO Doug Parker said AA plans to end its own internal mask mandate once the federal government rescinds its mandate. American was one of the carriers to introduce its own mask requirements long before it was required by the government.

The federal mask requirement has been extended several times after being put in place after President Biden took office last year. Its most recent extension – from March 18 to April 18 – is expected by many to be the final one. When asked for comment, variant BA2 said “oh yeah? We’ll see about that.”

Air Canada Adds a Bunch of Airplanes

Air Canada announced today it will acquire 26 A321neo aircraft between 2024 and 2027. The planes are the XLR version of the A321 and will come AC’s way through a mix of leases and outright purchases.

Air Canada will lease 15 of the planes from Air Lease corporation, lease five from AerCap, and purchase six outright from Airbus. The airline also reserved rights to purchase an additional 14 planes between 2027 and 2030 and was able to lock in a guarantee to be the official airline sponsor of a second Major League Baseball team in Canada as long as it’s not the Rays. These planes are expected to come with a 17% cost savings on fuel burn, and be quieter than its predecessors.

The A321s will be configured with 182 seats – 14 lie-flat business class seats in the front and 168 economy seats for the regular people in the back. The planes will come modified with extra room to store hockey equipment and winter coats, while each seat will come with a cupholder specifically designed to hold Tim Horton’s coffee cups through all potential turbulence.

• Air New Zealand will reopen its lounge in Sydney on March 30, its lounge in Perth on April 5, and its lounges in Melbourne and Brisbane on April 6.
• airBaltic will operate 92 routes this summer according to airBaltic.
• Alaska will end service between Portland and Seattle/Paine Field on April 30.
• Conviasa added its first A340-600 last week.
• Corendon Airlines signed a wet-lease agreement with Lithuanian charter carrier GetJet Airlines.
• Etihad plans to begin A350-1000 ops later this month.
• LATAM received permission to put its reorginization to a creditor vote.
• Loganair took delivery of a new, leased ATR 72-600 this week.
• Malaysia is upping its service to London/Heathrow to 11x-weekly on March 27, and then double-daily beginning July 1.
• Volotea is adding six new A320 this year.

If two vegetarians get in an argument, is it still called having a beef?

China Eastern Grounds B737 Fleet Following Crash

China Eastern Airlines grounded its entire fleet of 106 B737-800 aircraft following the deadly crash of flight 5735 in Guangxi earlier today. The plane was carrying 132 passengers and crew. It is not known if there were any survivors, but that seems highly unlikely.

China’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) immediately activated search and investigation teams to the site of the crash. The airline made the decision to ground its aircraft today out of an abundance of caution after Flight 5735 descended from 29,000 feet midflight for reasons that are unknown at this time.

In addition to the 106 B737-800s operated by MU, 30 other Chinese carriers currently operate a total of 1,088 of the aircraft type. The CAAC celebrated 100 million hours of continuous safe flight hours in China last month – a streak that had gone back to 2010 prior to this incident.

Mexico City’s New Airport Opens with a Whimper

Felipe Angeles International Airport (NLU) opened Monday outside of Mexico City when Aeromexico Connect Flight 890 departed at 6:55 a.m. bound for Villahermosa (VSA), the hometown of Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, on what we are now calling the “Presidential Butt-Kissing Express.” Seven other flights will depart the airport today on its opening day, six more domestic flights and Conviasa to Caracas at 4 p.m.

Only three Mexican airlines – Volaris, Viva Aerobus and Aeromexico – are flying from the new airport as it opens, and they’re doing so with a limited schedule of mostly domestic service. Venezuela’s Conviasa is also operating from NLU for the trickle of people who are willingly flying to Venezuela these days.

The airport has capacity for 120,000 takeoffs and landings and 20 million passengers annually. It has 28 gates and 12 remote parking spots for commercial aircraft. The airport is in negotiations with Delta to begin flights to Atlanta and is hopeful of having service to the United States in the second half of the year once it figures out who it can pay enough to fly to the inconvenient and unwanted airport.

Ukraine International Airlines Looking for Work

Ukraine International Airlines is not currently operating any flights, with a suspension in place through April 15 that is likely to be extended well beyond for obvious reasons. As a way to drive some revenue to the company, UIA is looking for partners who would wet-lease its aircraft.

A wet-lease would include leasing UIA’s airplanes and its crews for a specified time period. UIA has a fleet of 30 airplanes including E190s, B737s, and B767s. It’s kind of like renting a really expensive Airbnb to support a Ukrainian family, but in this case you’d actually get an airplane to fly for you.

It’s unlikely that U.S. carriers could take UIA up on its offer due to union contracts that prohibit mainline flights operated by non-union employees at most airlines, but the concept could catch on elsewhere, especially as demand for air travel continues to outpace supply around the world.

• Canada Jetlines appointed Percy Gyara as its new CFO.
• Frontier will operate to one less frontier as it ends service to Wichita.
• GetJet Airlines ended widebody ops.
• KLM will operate flights to 167 destinations this summer according to KLM.
• Ryanair says it plans to be carbon neutral by 2050 and is willing to sue anyone who challenges them on it.
• Smartwings and Eurowings are going wing it together on a new codeshare agreement.

What’s the best way to watch a fly fishing tournament? Live stream

Delta Taking its Next Aircraft Order to the Max

Delta Air Lines is nearing an order of 100 B737 MAX 10 jets, which would be Delta’s first order of the MAX aircraft and the first major order for Delta from Boeing in 10 years.

Delta is the only major U.S. carrier that does not operate the MAX, something that would change in a big way if this deal goes down. Both Boeing and Delta declined comment, but when declining comment, Boeing officials were seen boarding a flight from Atlanta to Seattle with scores of Biscoffs falling out of their carry-on luggage.

The B737 MAX 10 is the largest version of the MAX, with room for between 188 and 204 seats in a two-class layout. The aircraft type debuted in late 2019 just prior to the pandemic. United was the largest customer of the aircraft type at launch, putting 100 on order. The plane is a response to the A321neo – an aircraft Delta has more than 150 of on order.

Canada Removes Pre-Departure Testing

Fully vaccinated tourists will no longer be required to provide pre-travel documentation of a COVID-19 test or any other paperwork upon arrival in Canada, effective April 1. A vaccination card will be enough to enter the country along with a smartly placed bottle of maple syrup offered to immigration agents at the border.

The decision was a combination of the decreasing hospitalization numbers in Canada, an increased vaccination rate, and heavy lobbying by the tourism industry – especially Air Canada. Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated visitors to the Great White North will still be required to produce a negative test upon arrival in Canada, unless they can prove recovery from the virus with proof of a positive test within 10-180 days of arrivals.

All travelers – regardless of vaccination status – can be pulled aside upon arrival for random COVID-19 or NHL trivia contests. Canada now becomes one of 25 countries that are open to vaccinated travelers without any form of testing, a number that’s up from seven from a month ago – but still does not include the United States.

American Bringing Booze Back

American Airlines will resume sales of alcoholic beverages – and snacks! – on domestic and short-haul international flights April 18, nearly a year after it first planned to bring it back. The carrier put sales of alcohol and snacks on hold in the early days of the pandemic thanks to a combination of plummeting travel demand and a desire to limit interactions between staff and customers.

AA first tried to bring booze back last spring but thought better of it as the number on on-board incidents amongst passengers began to quickly increase. Despite the long layoff, American is not raising the prices on booze, deciding that its already inflated prices were high enough. Spirits and wine will be $9, with beer coming in at $8 – as always, common sense remains free.

Service will be offered on all flights of 250 miles and more. Basic economy passengers will not be afforded the chance to buy-on-board and will instead be given a complimentary glass of lukewarm tap water that may or may not be clean enough to drink, along with a single serving of expired pretzels that are curiously soft.

• Aeromexico exited Chapter 11.
• Air Canada is adding a fuel stop in in Ireland on its routes between Vancouver and Delhi due the longer route its taking to avoid Russian airspace. The stop also allows the airplane to top off its maple syrup reserves.
• China Airlines was repaid nearly $10 million it overpaid on leases.
• Emirates will double its service to Melbourne, adding a second daily flight beginning May 2.
• Flyr announced a strgc mktng aggrmnt wth TV 2 Invest AS.
• GlobalX is adding $6 million in new financing.
• Jet Airways investors who are attempting to restart the airline have asked the Indian government for more time.
• Lynx Air is adding five new routes from the Toronto “area,” with Halifax (3x-weekly) beginning July 20, St. John’s (2x-weekly, then daily) beginning June 28, and Edmonton (daily) beginning July 28. Hamilton to Calgary begins June 29 (2x-weekly, then 4x-weekly on July 29), and Hamilton to Halifax (2x-weekly) also beginning June 29.
• Oman Air announced a strategic partnership with fellow Omani carrier SalamAir.
• SkyWest is joining Southwest’s Destination 225° pilot pathway program.

The hardest part of cloning sheep?

Staying awake during inventory.

Delta Offers 4% Raises

Delta Air Lines announced today it will issue 4% raises to most of its 75,000 worldwide employees, its first bump in pay since prior to the pandemic.

The carrier’s flight attendants are in the middle of a drive by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA to consider unionizing, but Delta says the timing of the raise with the union drive is unrelated. Then again, it also said the delay of a flight today and the four mechanics looking at the plane with confused looks on their faces are unrelated as well.

The pay increase applies to frontline workers, flight attendants, mechanics, and many office staff. It does not apply to Delta’s pilots who are unionized What Delta did not share is that the raise is not coming as cash… but rather in the form of Biscoffs and SkyMiles, on a sliding scale based on years of tenure for the employee.

IAG Takes Another Crack at Air Europa

After having its purchase of Air Europa denied by EU regulators, IAG has potentially found a loophole to assume control of the carrier without as much government oversight. IAG will provide an unsecured €100 million loan to Air Europa’s corporate parent Globalia.

The loan, which has a term of seven years, can be converted into 20% equity into the carrier for IAG. It also permits IAG a one-year period of exclusivity in which it can negotiate potential options to work with Globalia long-term. IAG also will receive a right to match any offer from a third-party to buy the airline for the next three years, and the right to exit from its 20% stake and/or have its loan repaid immediately should Globalia sell Air Europa to a third party.

Comair Back in Business in South Africa

South Africa’s Civil Aviation Authority lifted its suspension of the AOC for Comair after it shut the carrier down last weekend over safety concerns.

The SACAA says it conducted an audit of both kulula.com and BA/Comair and confirmed compliance with the country’s safety regulations — which we are told do exist. BA and kulula.com both announced they would resume flights later today.

Comair operates BA-branded service on domestic flights within South Africa and also owns and operates the kulula.com brand. The stripping of its AOC came after the South African government found serious “Level 1” violations that caused an immediate grounding. The concerns focused on evidence-keeping and quality assurance but were never pointed towards flight ops or the maintenance of its aircraft.

• Air Asia X announced the final step in its debt restructuring.
• Air Canada is resuming service from Vancouver to Brisbane (July 1) and Auckland (November 10) while increasing Vancouver to Sydney to daily, effective May 1.
• Air Mauritius is expanding its relationship with Aeroplan.
• Emerald Airlines began new service between Dublin and Isle of Man (IOM) yesterday.
• Emirates will be opening a second cargo hub in Dubai at Dubai World Central Airport (DWC) on March 26.
• flybe is opening a new base at Belfast City (BHD).
• Icelandair took delivery of a new B737-8 MAX.
• Jet2 is suspending service to Krakow (KRK) its only destination in Poland through May 24.
• Qatar has new amenity kits.
• United is dropping service from three South Carolina cities (Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Hilton Head) to seven midwestern cities: Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis

What sits at the bottom of the sea and twitches?
A nervous wreck.

Spirit Rolls the Dice on Three More from Vegas

Spirit Airways announced three new destinations from its growing operating in Las Vegas today, sending its bright yellow and fee-filled aircraft to three new dots on its destination map.

Albuquerque, Boise, and Reno will all join the Spirit family after having paid the requisite fees and surcharges to the carrier with daily service (twice daily to Reno) from Las Vegas beginning late this summer. Albuquerque’s daily flight to Vegas will begin August 3, Boise on August 5, and Reno’s twice daily flights start August 10.

The trio of cities join Memphis and Salt Lake City which will see new service on Spirit from LAS this spring. Memphis daily flights begin April 20, with Salt Lake City’s double daily flights begin May 26.

BA Rolls Back End of Mask Mandate

Within hours of ending its mask mandate, British Airways is reportedly not ready to go through with it, as the carrier will continue to require passengers to wear masks on-board for the time being.

It’s being reported that the carrier was putting its new policy on hold while looking into unspecified “compliance issues,” that would keep the mask mandate in place for the time being. BA’s tweet that the mask mandate would be removed effective today is still up on Twitter, but it’s possible the airline’s social team took the day off for St. Patrick’s Day Eve and just didn’t get the memo.

Other British airlines including Jet2, TUI, and Virgin Atlantic have stuck with their mask mandates being removed, as has London/Heathrow, BA’s home airport.

U.S. Senate Votes to End Mask Mandate

The United States Senate voted 57-40 in a largely symbolic vote for the federal government to end mask requirements on public transportation including on planes and at airports. In other words, the outcome will be the same as with British Airways… keep you mask on for now.

Despite the 57-40 yes vote in the Senate, the bill is 10 votes shy of a two-thirds majority that would be able to overcome a veto from the president. It also would be unlikely to pass in the House of Representatives.

The mask mandate was extended last week to April 18, a date many think will be the actual end of the mandate after its been extended several times. Airlines themselves began requiring masks in the late spring of 2020 during the early days of the pandemic, with the federal mandate coming online in January of 2021 after President Biden took office.

• Aeroflot CEO Mikhail Poluboyarinov was removed from the IATA board of governors.
• Air Serbia is scaling back its number of flights to Russia as it signals it wants to rejoin the rest of the world.
• Air Transat will receive an additional $34 million in aid from the Canadian government.
• British Airways added another £100 to its current surcharge on Club World seats purchased through Avios.
• Eswatini Air added its first aircraft, an E145.
• Lufthansa‘s first A321 cargo flight operated yesterday from Frankfurt to Dublin and Manchester.
• Malaysia will resume flying to London/Heathrow on March 27 with 11 weekly flights. It will increase to double daily on June 30.
• Mokulele Airlines expects to nab its first Saab 340 next month.
• Norse Atlantic confirmed that one of its execs named Bjørn was able to secure slots at London/Gatwick.
• Qantas will offer every seat on every flight to New Zealand in May at its lowest award redemption levels. Rex will be filing a complaint with the government shortly.
• Qatar will resume flying to London/Gatwick on June 5. The daily flight will be operated by a B787 Dreamliner.
• Solomon Airlines is resuming domestic flights.
• South African will be upgauging several domestic routes to widebody aircraft.
• Ukraine International Airlines extended its suspension of service through at least April 15.
• Virgin Atlantic will not return to London/Gatwick this year.

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Airlines Shake Off Oil Prices, Raise Revenue Expectations

Delta, United, and Southwest all said bookings are as strong as ever and expect to turn a profit in Q2 and beyond, despite rapidly rising oil prices and a potential end to the on-board mask mandate next month.

Delta Air Lines expects to make up for all of the increase in fuel prices – and then some – during the second quarter. The airline said last week it experienced its highest level of one-day cash sales in its history, with an expectation that Q1 sales will end up at 78% of 2019’s levels – a marked increase from the 72% it predicted at the start of the year.

American and United both expect first-quarter revenue to be higher than expected, with AA at 83% of 2019, better than the 78% it predicted, and UA thinks it will end up between 75% and 80% of 2019’s total. Southwest raised its revenue outlook this morning to as much as 92% of 2019’s levels, and that’s before considering the revenue earned from passengers buying early-bird to sit one row closer than they normally would.

Indigo Partners Inquires About Lighting Money on Fire

Indigo Partners is the latest name leaked that’s interested in scooping up some or all of ITA Airways from the Italian government. Italian media reported last week that an unnamed international equity fund had sent an expression of interest to the government, but the name of the fund wasn’t known until now.

Indigo partners has stakes in several ULCC’s around the world including Frontier and Spirit, Wizz Air, Canadian carrier Lynx Air, Volaris in Mexico, and JetSMART in Chile. The group is clearly experienced at owning dumpster fires and if it’s willing to bring its unique experience to ITA, who are we to stop them?

Indigo Partners joins two other bids for the beleaguered carrier that are known at this point — Lufthansa’s interest in a minority share of the airline and Delta and Air France/KLM’s desire for a majority, controlling stake.

Emirates to Launch Tel Aviv Service on June 23

Emirates’ once-delayed, much-anticipated start to service to Tel Aviv will now take place this summer, with once-daily flights beginning June 23. The B777-300ER operating the route will feature eight first-class seats, 24 lie-flat seats in biz, and 302 seats in the back where you don’t want to be.

Scheduled commercial air service between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is a new concept, after the 2020 Abraham Accords normalized relations between the two countries. Flydubai, along with Israel’s flag carrier El Al and LCC Arkia already have begun service between the two cities. Emirates will be the only airline operating a widebody on the route, for those who just can’t survive without a lie-flat and extra bin space on the three-hour jaunt.

The city pair was supposed to first receive service on Emirates late last year, but it was delayed when Israel shut its borders following the Omicron outbreak.

• Delta will begin daily regional service from New York/LGA to Dayton, Oklahoma City and Roanoke on June 6.
• EVA Air plans to convert three B777 passenger aircraft into freighters.
• Hawaiian is opening a new maintenance base in Long Beach.
• Niceair named London, Copenhagen, and Tenerife as its first three destinations. Someone should probably let the carrier know there’s like 14 airports in London and it’ll need to pick one.
• Norse Atlantic is delaying its launch to June, as one of the men named Bjørn that run the airline are concerned about gas prices.
• Pakistan International Airlines will begin once-weekly nonstop service from Lahore to Sydney. Shockingly the carrier has not yet announced a date when the service will begin.
• PLAY took delivery of its first A320neo earlier this month and isn’t playing around, now expecting to have it joined by an A321neo(LR) by May.
• Ryanair is being accused of jacking up prices on flights for refugees fleeing Ukraine.
• Silk Way West Airlines has taken over two B747-400s previously operated by Russian carrier Sky Gates Airlines.
• United says more frequent flier miles have been cashed in over the past month than during any 30-day period in the airline’s history.

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Because if you can’t heal-ium or cure-ium, you bury-um.