Author: Andrew Bashuk

Here at Cranky Daily we’re thankful for pretty much everything, well, except for Newark. This is our final Cranky Daily of the week. We’ll be back Monday. Have a safe, restful, happy, and food-filled Thanksgiving. If you’re traveling, may it be delay-free and with an empty seat next to you and a full snack basket to choose from.

Airlines Operate Flights as Scheduled Despite Holiday

Several leading U.S. airlines operated flights that they sold tickets for, allowing passengers to fly to their destinations as planned. Leading analysts say this commitment to flying the schedule that the airlines themselves constructed shows a customer-friendly focus that is unmatched in other industries.

Delta, JetBlue, and United – three of the airlines that often fly the schedule they provide — continued to do so with limited interruption. Rival carriers such as American, Spirit, and Southwest also managed to operate their hand-picked schedules as the Thanksgiving holiday approached. Passengers reported that most of the seats on the planes were filled, and whatever empty seats that did exist, they were next to someone else.

Despite the success of the week thus far, airlines remain cautious because the busy holiday travel season is just beginning. Airlines have a tall task ahead of them over the next six weeks and the traveling public is asked to remain vigilant for cancellations and delays. Those flying Spirit are also expected to look out for extra holiday-based fees including a $29 turkey digestion fee for those flying on Friday, and Spirit’s “Pick-a-Fee” advent calendar, where customers will see what see awaits on each day leading up to Christmas.

Aeromexico to Raise $1.3 Billion

Aeromexico needs to raise $1.3 billion to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and the carrier has lined up a posse of investors to pony up the cash. The group of investors – which surprisingly excludes Delta – will purchase or finance $600 million in new capital and then another $762 million in senior secured first-lien notes.

Delta will then subscribe and pay for $100 million worth of new shares in the company. Between Aeromexico and Virgin Atlantic, Delta is spending so much time and money keeping airlines afloat it hasn’t had time to devalue SkyMiles in months.

In its filings with the court, Aeromexico said the new financing proposal provides enough financing for it to exit Chapter 11 and resume operating as a financially independent airline. It will use $450 million of the capital to create a cash pool to distribute to unsecured creditors still awaiting payment from the airline. The rest will be used to finance the airline’s operation and to fund a kick-ass holiday party next month in downtown Mexico City.

New Zealand to Reopen on April 30

New Zealand released plans to finally reopen borders next year after being one of the strictest countries in the world with regards to border closures since the onset of the pandemic.

Phase one will commence on January 16 when New Zealand citizens and permanent residents in Australia can finally return home. Citizens and permanent residents in countries other than Australia can return home on February 13.  Then, on April 30, fully vaccinated visitors can enter the country – the first non-essential travel allowed into the country in almost two years.

If you’re ready to start booking flights, slow your roll there. All arrivals into the country, regardless of citizenship or residency, will be required to self-isolate for seven days. Even worse, during the isolation, all travelers will also be required to watch the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy and pass a quiz before being allowed to exit quarantine

• Air Côte d’Ivoire denies it had a A319 seized in Mali. This seems like an easy mystery to solve. It either has the airplane or it doesn’t.
• Condor will begin operating the A330ceo next month.
• Delta and ITA applied with the DOT to permit the two to codeshare. In its filing Delta it only is pursuing the codeshare because it had one with Alitalia and the paperwork to end the partnership just didn’t seem worth it.
• EasyJet is hiring. So is pretty much everyone else.
• Emirates will have returned to 90% of its pre-pandemic network by July according to Emirates.
• Go First is looking to go first to the Indian public and raise $483 million from its IPO which will launch early next month.
• GOL has set a goal of May 2022 to resume flying to the United States.
• Lufthansa is angering all that is holy in the airline blogosphere as it introduces on-board sales of snacks and booze on long-haul flights in economy class.
• Norwegian appointed Hans-Jørgen Wibstad as its new CFO. His first assignment in his new role will be to figure out when the carrier will next file for bankruptcy.
• South African and Kenya Airways signed a Strategic Partnership Framework.
• Starlux plans to begin flying between Taipei and Fukuoka once-weekly beginning in February.

My family told me to stop telling Thanksgiving jokes, but I told them I couldn’t just quit cold turkey.

Air Canada Ends Government Aid Program

Air Canada removed itself from receiving government aid – presumably only until the next crisis – with its liquidity exceeding $11 billion and demand continuing to trend upward.

The Canadian government offered its flag carrier access to interest bearing loans worth over $4 billion last April. AC accessed just under $1 billion of the funds to begrudgingly offer refunds for canceled flights with the remaining ~$3 billion going unused.

Air Canada’s President and CEO Michael Rousseau said (in English we assume) the airline completed a $5.6 billion refinancing and is recalling employees. Air Canada completed a series of (likely legal) financial transactions during Q3 this year to generate $5.5 billion in gross proceeds, pushing its liquidity beyond the $11 billion mark.

Virgin Atlantic Looks for Funding

Virgin Atlantic is now in talks with shareholders about a new injection of cash to carry it through the winter so it can regain its former glory during the peak summer season. The move, like when college kids call home to tell their parents how great everything is going but to ask for a little cash to tide them over until payday, comes as the airline’s hope for an IPO slowly fades away.

The carrier is looking for about $530 million to keep things running for the next few months, also serving as a buffer in case there’s a 6^th spike of COVID-19 (or 7^th – who really knows at this point).

Delta, which owns 49% of the airline, was caught off-guard by the news. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said that if VS kept asking for money it would be forced to cut the airline off “for its own good.” Virgin Atlantic lost about $870 million in 2020 and will post another loss for 2021. The carrier has cut its workforce nearly in half since the start of the pandemic and currently only has enough staff to serve one meal per flight and asks all passengers to share.

FAA Fines Passenger $40,000 Because 30,000 Feet Wasn’t High Enough

The FAA proposed a fine of $40,823 against an unnamed passenger on a Southwest flight this past April from San Jose (SJC) to San Diego (SAN) for smoking marijuana in the plane’s lavatory.

The FAA is not willing to consider any extenuating circumstances including the passenger’s contention that Southwest’s snack mix is totally legit and that the flight attendants were harshing his mellow. Law enforcement met the plane when it arrived in San Diego and the genius passenger tried to evade the officers on the plane which ended about as well as you think it did.

The passenger also sexually assaulted a flight attendant which should earn him the fine regardless of what he was or wasn’t smoking on board. The fine was part of $161,823 in penalties the FAA proposed to eight passengers for unruly behavior since January 1. All eight incidents were fueled by alcohol or Spirit Airlines’s policies and procedures – and in some cases, both.

• Air India was victorious in the High Court of Delhi when the court dismissed an appeal from Sabre to set aside a decision to allow Air India to award a contract to Sabre’s rival and sworn enemy Amadeus.
• Avianca will resume flying between London/Heathrow and Bogota with daily service beginning March 27.
• Bamboo Airlines plans to be listed on the Hanoi Stock Exchange during the first quarter of 2022 while also preparing for an IPO in the United States for the third quarter of 2022.
• EgyptAir put all nine of its E170 aircraft up for sale. Anyone in the market for one of the planes should direct questions to EgyptAir as Cranky will not serve as a middleman in the transaction.
• Global Crossing is going public, or so it says in a filing with the SEC.
• Lufthansa is in negotiations with Boeing about the upcoming B777X freighter, an aircraft that Boeing has not yet confirmed it will make. The two also discussed other things that do not yet exist, such as the German Comedy Championships and Boeing’s sponsorship of the annual Toulouse, France 10K race.
• Ryanair plans to open a base in Madeira, Portugal with two aircraft based there and 10 new routes. The opening of the base remains contingent on no one in Madeira ending up in a lawsuit with Ryanair about something.
• SpiceJet resumed flying the B737 MAX after a two-year hiatus. The airline chai’d to bring them back earlier, but the thyme just wasn’t right.
• Vietravel Airlines received $26.2 million of capital from its parent company Vietnam Travel & Marketing Transports JSC.

For my birthday last week my best friend bought me an elephant for my room. I said “thanks,” and he said “don’t mention it.”

American and JetBlue File Motion to Dismiss

Northeast Alliance partners American Airlines and JetBlue Airways filed a joint motion to dismiss the antitrust lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice.

The motion was filed Monday morning in U.S. District Court in Boston in which the two airlines said the lawsuit lacks proof of anti-competitive impact. The duo also told the court that they have spent a lot of “time, money, and energy designing and ordering really cool Northeast Alliance lapel pins and buttons and hates to see them go to waste.”

American and JetBlue insist that “using analytical tools from merger analysis” isn’t relevant because their tie-up isn’t a merger and reiterated that the lapel pins were very expensive.

The DOJ has 21 days to respond to the motion.

Air Canada Politely Settles Refund Case with DOT

Air Canada and the U.S. DOT settled the case over Air Canada’s whole “we don’t wanna give refunds” thing for cancelled flights during the pandemic. Air Canada agreed to pay $4.5 million, much less than the $25.5 million the government originally sought.

Air Canada also provided two prime season tickets for each of the NHL’s seven Canadian teams for DOT use in perpetuity, and the DOT has first right of refusal on four tickets to opening night if Montreal gets a Major League Baseball team in the future.

Of the $4.5 million Air Canada is paying, $2.5 million can be used by the airline to pay refunds, which seems like getting a speeding ticket and instead of paying the fine, using money going towards gas and insurance as the fine. The remaining $2 million will be paid to the U.S. treasury, primarily to fund Secretary Pete’s love for Canadian bacon.

The deal must still be agreed to by the Administrative Law Judge overseeing the case. Despite less than 20% of the original fine being paid, it still clocks in as the largest penalty ever assessed by the Official of Aviation Consumer Protection – a figure that is expected to be broken by something Spirit will inevitably do sometime in the future.

Israel Offers $44 Million to Bail Out Airlines

The Israeli government approved an additional $44 million in aid to be split among all Israeli carriers as the government acknowledged its continued tightening of border controls is having an adverse effect on airlines from returning to profitability.

Israel’s three airlines – El Al, Arkia, and Israir – would receive the aid as three-year bonds which do not accrue interest. The airlines will have the option to convert the bonds into shares then allotted to the Israeli government. The state could not hold more than 24% of equity in the airline and would not have voting rights.

El Al has been losing money for three years – dating back to prior to the pandemic. The carrier, which is considering a purchase of rival Israir, requested as much as $100 million in aid from the government earlier this fall. El Al has laid off 1,900 employees, nearly one-third of its pre-pandemic workforce, since 2020.

• Aero Nomad can stop wandering through the desert as the carrier received its AOC from the Kyrgyzstan government.
• Air Malta has ended plans to operate long-haul routes, because it was a really bad idea.
• Brussels will take delivery of its ninth A330 in June.
• Copa and Boeing have agreed to accelerate the delivery of up to 12 B737-9 aircraft by as much as three years.
• Emirates will switch its daily flight between Dubai and Melbourne to an A380 beginning February 1.
• Equair, an Ecuadorian startup now says that all things being equal, it plans to launch operations later this year.
• Qantas will begin 4x-weekly service between Melbourne and Delhi on December 22.
• TAG Airlines will begin 4x-weekly flights early next year between Mérida (MID) and Guatemala City.
• Virgin Australia chief of corporate affairs Moksha Watts resigned her role after the airline began an internal review of her workplace behavior, which can’t be a good look for her or the airline.
• Zambia Airways still plans to begin operations sometime in 2021.

I accidentally gave my friend a glue stick instead of the lipstick she asked for.

She’s still not speaking to me.

JetBlue to Offer Flight Attendants $1,000 Holiday Bonus For Showing Up

Flight attendants for JetBlue who do not call out from work through early January will receive their choice of $1,000 or a mystery grab bag of American Airlines merch as a bonus for helping the carrier through the busy holiday travel season.

JetBlue FAs will be eligible for the bonus provided they do not call out between November 22 and January 5 and work at least 100 hours during the time period. Crews will also receive confirmed space on flights to commute to and from their bases in an effort to eliminate as many staffing headaches as possible. This is what the world has come to, “do your job and you’re eligible for a bonus.” Usually that kind of perk is only reserved for C-level executives.

JetBlue joins American and Southwest as carriers offering perfect attendance bonuses through the holidays along with crossing their fingers and hoping the house of cards that is their domestic schedule doesn’t come toppling down.

Air India Express Merger Underway

Air India’s new majority stakeholder – Indian conglomerate Tata Sons – has begun the merger process of Air India’s LCC subsidiary Air India Express with another LCC in the Tata Sons family: AirAsia India.

Tata Sons owns nearly 84% of AirAsia India, and it’s expected to purchase the remaining 16% for $19 million early next year. To get the deal done, Tata Sons sweetened the pot with ten drink coupons while traveling on AirAsia India that expire at the end of this year.

Tata Sons also owns a slight majority – 51% — of Vistara. It plans on completing a single operating company of which all four brands: AirAsia India, Air India, Air India Express, and Vistara operate under one entity… but this is Air India so even the best laid plans have little hope of success.

Boeing 737 MAX Ban to be Lifted in South Korea

South Korea will lift the ban on the B737 MAX aircraft, allowing it to operate in the country next week, leaving China as the last major country continuing its ban on the aircraft. The aircraft type will be formally cleared for use in Korea this Monday, November 22.

The South Korea transport ministry said its decision came after a thorough review of fixes made to the aircraft and a very expensive bottle of soju that was received with a mysterious Everett, WA return address.

Eastar Jet is the only airline in Korea with MAX aircraft, and it has begrudgingly relied on the technical expertise of its long-time nemesis WestJet’s technical superiority to determine the aircraft’s safety. But Eastar Jet is currently grounded until at least February, so it’s not currently an issue. Korean Air has 30 MAX aircraft on order while LCC Jeju Air has 40.

• Air Transat and WestJet have agreed to begin a codeshare early next year. Negotiations between the two were said to be very polite at all times.
• Alaska‘s 4x-weekly flight from Los Angeles to Belize City will now operate year-round.
• flybe has chosen Birmingham (this one, not this one) to be its first base when it resumes operations next year.
• Lufthansa is leasing its flight training fleet and school to United.
• TAAG Angola Airlines received the first of six Dash 8-400s it has on order.
• South African will serve Lagos with 3x-weekly flights beginning December 12. Mango told SAA it would be happy to operate the route on behalf of SAA, but was told to sit down and shut up.
• Virgin Australia is crushing it. According to Virgin Australia.

When I get into work I immediately find a good place to hide.

My first boss told me that good employees are always hard to find.

United and American Look to Add Regional Pilots

The regional affiliates of both American and United are getting desperate to add pilots amidst a growing shortage of qualified workers willing to fly long hours to small airports for little pay.

United was forced to eliminate service to nine small cities earlier this month, and a lack of pilots to fly the routes was a significant contributor to the decision. American is offering crews up to $187,500 in bonus pay for accepting jobs at its three wholly-owned subsidiaries – Envoy, Piedmont, and PSA. The bonuses are divided between signing bonuses, a bonus for being upgraded to captain, and a third bonus for eventually being promoted to mainline AA. A fourth bonus was to be offered to pilots who didn’t crash, but that idea was nixed at the last minute.

United regional carrier CommutAir is offering $50,000 signing bonuses while GoJet is offering up to $40,000 for signing on and a guarantee to not have to operate flights to Newark for your first year of employment.

Cathay Pacific Fires Three Pilots over Quarantine Breach

Cathay Pacific fired three cargo pilots who caught COVID-19 earlier this month during a layover near Frankfurt’s airport.

The three pilots, all of whom were not from Hong Kong, were fired for “a serious break of requirements for crew during overseas layovers.” Due to their actions, hundreds of other Cathay Pacific crew have been forced to quarantine for 21 days after being deemed close contacts with the three sacked pilots. (Those pilots really got around.)

Since the incident, Cathay Pacific has started putting security guards in hotel hallways of its international layover hotels to make sure its employees don’t leave their hotel rooms. The security guards are all given a complimentary copy of the book 1984 to read while on shift.

Eastar Jet Plans February Return

Korean carrier – and noted longtime rival of WestJet – Eastar Jet is currently hoping to return to the air in February after over a year of being grounded.

The airline’s AOC has been inactive since May of 2020, but that’s supposed to change in January. The Bankruptcy Court of Seoul gave permission to Korean developer Sung Jung to acquire 80% of the airline for about $100 million. Eastar has been unable to find an investor since Jeju Air dropped its purchase of the struggling airline during the pandemic. Jeju had originally agreed to purchase 51% of Eastar in December of 2019.

Jeju Air lost $70 million in Q3 of this year, putting it out of the running to purchase its struggling competitor. But with a new owner, Eastar now expects to have things back to normal, feuding with WestJet like the good ole’ days early next year.

• Aegean Airlines secured a lease on three ATR72-600s.
• Atlas Air completed the transition to bring Southern Air’s operating certificate in with its own to form a single operating carrier.
• Cargojet placed an order for two B777-200LR freighters with an option to purchase four more — two B777-200LR and two B777-300ER.
• Condor plans to return to Vienna early in the second quarter of next year.
• Emirates will add a premium economy cabin to 105 aircraft in its fleet. The retrofit is expected to begin at the end of next year and take about 18 months to complete.
• FedEx is closing its Hong Kong crew base due to the island’s current quarantine regulations.
• Finnair will begin flight between Helsinki and both Bergen and Tromsø beginning on December 14. Bergen flights will operate 3x-weekly until April when they’ll become daily. Tromsø will be 3x-weekly service.
• Green Airlines has a green light to resume operations in Q2 next year.
• Hi Fly is flying high due to its new partnership with flypop.
• HiSky Europe will launch a new base at Târgu Mureș Transylvania Airport (TGM).
• Korean Air will spend $283 million to open a new engine maintenance plant.
• Malaysia and Singapore will resume their codeshare agreement beginning November 29.
• NovAir plans to launch operations early next year.
• PLAY isn’t playing around anymore as it signed an agreement to lease two new A320neo aircraft.
• Transavia was fined $452,000 by the Dutch Data Protection Authority for poor security that allowed a hacker to break into the airline’s files and potentially access customer information.
• WestJet will begin nonstop service between Calgary and London/Heathrow next spring.

I bought some new shoes from a drug dealer because he gave me a great price.

I don’t know what he laced them with, but I’ve been tripping all day.

Frontier’s Flight Attendants Demand Better Sick Time Policies

Most everything Frontier Airlines does is low-cost, and its flight attendants say they’re tired of it. They’ve now started a petition demanding a better sick time policy at the cleverly named website getsickgetsacked.com. We aren’t sure what it means if someone Gets Ick, nor do we understand what it means if someone Gets Acked, but maybe we’re just a little slow.

Part of the petition claims that Frontier made negative changes to the policy during the pandemic that made a “stringent policy more severe.” Complaints say that employees testing positive for COVID-19 are only given ten days before being docked sick time, and that the airline has stopped notifying flight crews if they have been exposed to a co-worker or passenger who tested positive. This is the second time Frontier’s flight attendants have tried to force changes to the sick leave policy, but its complaints in 2015 seem to have mostly fallen on deaf ears.

The Association of Flight Attendants – Frontier’s FA union – has involved itself in the battle only as far as to retweet pro-labor messages in support of the petition, but in their defense there’s a lot on Twitter that can be very distracting.

Virgin Atlantic Eyes Return to London/Gatwick

Virgin Atlantic is not currently operating at London/Gatwick, continuing the suspension it imposed on itself at the airport since the onset of the pandemic. The carrier does, however, intend to return to the airport at some point, likely as soon as it can figure out a reasonably economical way to get its staff from Heathrow across town.

The airline is watching carefully as the UK government reviews its own suspension of “use it or lose it” rules with regards to airport slots. Virgin Atlantic currently has 2% of the available slots at the airport for the summer and it intends to keep the full allotment.

Virgin’s strategy at the airport will be complicated by the arrival of BA’s new LCC – BA EuroFlyer – which will launch in March. BA EuroFlyer is the airline that walks like BA, quacks like BA, and talks like BA, but swears it’s another airline. Maybe Virgin Atlantic can compete by creating VS EuroFlyer from the ashes of Flybe, an airline it invested in just in time to watch it fail at on the onset of the pandemic.

Lynx is Canada’s Newest Airline

Lynx Air announced itself as Canada’s newest ULCC. Its intended mission is to make Canadian air travel accessible to all with low fares, a fleet of brand-new Boeing 737 aircraft, great customer service, and unlimited maple syrup showers inflight.

The new airline’s CEO Merren McArthur’s history includes being the CEO of ULCC Tigerair Australia, Virgin Australia Regional Airlines, and Virgin Australia cargo. So, if you’re scoring at home, that’s one brand that went out of business and two others that went into voluntary administration.

Lynx has firm orders for 46 B737 aircraft, the first of which will arrive early next year. It’s working on creating an economical on-board trough to keep Tim Hortons coffee flowing throughout the flight to complement to maple syrup.

The airline will offer fully a la carte pricing and has been studying Spirit for months to see how it can emulate the Fee King. Lynx hasn’t yet announced destinations or schedules but is expected to operate to several Canadian destinations, some you’ve heard of and some you haven’t, at times that are convenient for almost no one.

• Air France is looking to sell part of its stake in Air Mauritius.
• Air Senegal is leasing five new A330-200 aircraft.
• Canarian Airways has a new name and a new lease on life as the carrier resumed operations earlier this month. That’s Canarian, not defunct airline Canadian.
• Copa will increase its frequency from Panama City to Montevideo (MVD) to 18x-weekly flights beginning in December.
• easyJet Switzerland added its first A320 neo.
• Elite Airways is doing what all elite carriers do — beginning freighter operations.
• French Bee will be buzzing between Los Angeles and Paris/Orly 4x-weekly beginning April 2022, and then 6x-weekly beginning in July.
• JetBlue will not operate between Boston and London/Stansted in the near future as preliminary schedule allocations show JetBlue isn’t scheduling that for next summer.
• Jetlines announced its newest launch plan is to begin operating as a virtual carrier in March. This seemingly will allow passengers to take a flight via the multiplayer option in Microsoft Flight Simulator while still paying regular fare in actual cash for the opportunity.
• Jin Air won an appeal in a Korean court to overturn a $5.1 million fine it owed the government.
• Kenya Airways is hopeful the Kenyan government will absorb the $250 million in debt the carrier racked up during the pandemic.
• Qatar and JetBlue now offer reciprocal mileage earning for loyalty program members of each airline.
• Rex will begin flights between Sydney and Brisbane on December 20.
• Swoop managed to swoop down and grab a new B737-800 aircraft — it’s tenth. The carrier also announced a bunch of new destinations to which it will fly by swooping down and grabbing passengers from Edmonton.
• Tigerair Taiwan expects to roar back with a resumption of service on December 25.
• United will resume flying to Singapore on January 5. The carrier will operate 4x-weekly flights from its hub in San Francisco.

Which is faster, hot or cold?

Hot, because you can catch a cold.

United Begins Placing Unvaccinated Staff on Leave Today

United Airlines will begin placing unvaccinated staff who have a religious or medical exemption on unpaid leave beginning today. The airline will begin the process one week after a Texas court threw out the lawsuit from a group of United employees who claimed the airline failed to provide them with reasonable accommodation and forced them to visit Newark monthly.

United delayed the process as a temporary restraining order was put in place while the court considered the case. Despite the TRO, United kept its unvaccinated staff at home – albeit while still receiving their salary, at a cost to United of about $1.4 million every two weeks.

Of those who requested an exemption from UA, approximately 80% of religious exemptions were granted while closer to just 63% were granted for medical reasons. Employees on a medical exemption will continue to receive medical benefits while on unpaid leave while those on the religious exemption will lose benefits at the end of this month. For everyone on unpaid leave, accumulated annual leave will be paid out, but accrual of seniority will end.

Mango’s Return to Flying Put Off Indefinitely

In today’s edition of As The Mango Turns, it’s a dark day for the official tropical fruit-slash-airline of Cranky Daily as the carrier will be grounded for the indefinite future. The news comes after parent company South African Airways postponed a meeting of creditors that was to decide the sweet, juicy, and refreshing airline’s future.

SAA postponed the meeting for 15 business days – the maximum allowed by South African law – to allow for an amendment to Mango’s bankruptcy plan that the carrier cannot resume operating until it has identified a new strategic equity partner. Mango’s bankruptcy administrator Sipho Sono was hoping to begin flying next month using the $47 million it’s owed from SAA and the South African government to fund the operation, but only $6.5 million has been given to Mango. Those funds were set aside to pay employees and hire a hitman to take out Big Papaya.

SAA said there was “no reasonable chance of Mango succeeding” without further outside funding. The limbo leaves customers in the dark, as those tickets for past or future travel on Mango are stuck without the ability to travel nor the ability to get a refund – or as Air Canada calls it, “Tuesday.”

Indy is Calling? BA Looks at Indianapolis

In its summer 2022 slot filing, British Airways requested two slots to fly a nonstop route between its London/Heathrow hub and Indianapolis.

Indianapolis currently does not have any service to Europe, and no European airlines have ever operated regularly at the airport. Delta flew from IND to Paris/CDG from 2018 until the onset of the pandemic in 2020. Delta said at the time it suspended the route that it would eventually bring it back, but the person who said that probably doesn’t work there anymore, so who really knows?

Delta had been offered $5 million annually from the state of Indiana to operate the flight to Paris. The assumption is that a subsidy is on the able for BA. Instead of cash, it’s rumored that the state offered British Airways 100 face masks with a checkered flag design on them, 2 general admission tickets to the Indy 500 as long as the route continues to operate, and a “Hoosier Daddy” t-shirt for each member of BA’s senior leadership team.

• Air Tanzania ordered one B787 Dreamliner, one B767 freighter, and 2 B737 MAX aircraft this week in Dubai.
• American plans to open a new Texas-sized AAdmirals Club in AAustin. Construction on the 15,000 sq.-foot club will begin next year.
• Akasa Air, an Indian startup carrier, ordered 72 B737 MAX aircraft today in Dubai. It was able to borrow the funds easily since the bank thought it was actually Alaska Air.
• Delta is expecting as many as 5.6 million customers during the Thanksgiving travel season. 5.2 million of them are expected to connect through Atlanta and miss their flight waiting in line at the Chick-Fil-A in Concourse C. Only those traveling on Sunday will be spared.
• Egyptair awarded a maintenance contract to OEM Services.
• El Al and GlobalX — two airlines that couldn’t have less in common are the two newest carriers to join the TSA PreCheck family.
• Hi Air has hit a new Lo as the carrier was forced to suspend flying and delay paying its staff.
• Ibom Air ordered ten A220 aircraft, because if everyone is in Dubai is doing it, you’ve gotta do it too.
• ITA — the Brazilian one, not the worst airline ever — was accused of missing aircraft payments in homage to its Italian namesake.
• Jazeera Airways also has staff in Dubai, so they went ahead and placed an order for 33 A320neo aircraft.
• Singapore plans to resume B737 MAX flights before the end of 2021.
• United is finally bringing some civility back to the world, ending the nearly 20-month nightmare that was a lack of glassware in first class. Beginning December 1, United passengers will again be served cold beverages in glassware and coffee in a ceramic mug to distract them from the fact they’re on a flight from Newark to Detroit.
• Vietnam Airlines will start flying from Ho Chi Minh City to San Francisco because it thinks it can make money doing that. Best of luck.

I call it an elevator. My English friend calls it a lift.

You could saw we were just raised differently.

American Cuts 27 Routes Total, Including a New York Shift

American Airlines announced a route adjustment over the weekend in which the carrier is dropping 27 routes, 18 of which operate to either New York/JFK or New York/LGA. The remaining nine cuts reduce much of AA’s flying to Canada, while also dropping flights from Boston, Charlotte, Chicago/ORD, and Philadelphia.

Some of the NYC routes getting cut, including LaGuardia-Boston, will now be operated by AA’s BFF and Northeast Alliance partner JetBlue. Five routes getting the axe operate from JFK, and they are: Montreal, Toronto, and San Antonio (going away on January 4) with Liberia and San Jose (both in Costa Rica) ending on April 5. LGA sees 13 cities being cut including Boston, Philadelphia, and Orlando.

In addition to ending JFK to Montreal and Toronto, the carrier is pulling out of Ottawa completely, ending its twice-daily flights to PHL on April 5. AA is also ending its flights from Phoenix to Calgary and Vancouver. This will allow American to shift more of its New York flying into its other hubs/strongholds.

Lastly, American is ending regional service on several routes including Philadelphia to Baltimore (ride the train, people), Charlotte to Champaign/Urbana (CMI) and Toledo, Chicago/O’Hare to Charlottesville, and Philadelphia to Charleston, WV (CRW).

Southwest Rolls Out Holiday Incentive Plan for Staff

Southwest Airlines introduced its staff incentive program designed to assist the carrier in avoiding operational issues during the busy holiday travel season. Southwest has suffered multi-day operational hiccups in 2021 and is being proactive to avoid a repeat this Christmas.

Flight attendants, pilots, and operations staff will be eligible for up to 120,000 Rapid Rewards points – which have a cash equivalent value of about $1,400 – for working 36 days between November 15 and January 14. The points can be redeemed for future travel on Southwest or other options such as Southwest merchandise assuming the employees want as little value as possible out of their points. Flight attendants who work 28 days over the same two month period could be eligible for 60,000 RR points, which have the equivalent value of about 3,465,000 Delta SkyMiles.

The carrier is also offering up to triple pay for ground staff working Thanksgiving and Christmas, along with double pay for OT shifts between Nov. 17-30 and Dec. 17-Jan. 3. The double pay offer is an increase from the usual time-and-a-half pay that ground staff receives for working overtime.

To sign up for the program, staff will need to sign up exactly 24 hours before their first shift during the appropriate time. They’ll then be given a number which indicates what order to line up in to claim the RR points after the holidays. Staff who want to begin accumulating points early can always pay a $39 Early Bird fee to get a jump on their colleagues.

IAG, Heathrow at Odds over Fee Hike

British Airways’s parent company IAG is threatening to cut its operation at London/Heathrow if the duty free mall airport moves forward with plans to raise passenger fees.

IAG’s CEO Luis Gallego say he’s willing to move much of the group’s flying away from Heathrow — yeah, right — where IAG says it already costs 44% more to operate than its European competitors. That may be true, but IAG doesn’t seem to be taking into account the value of the exercise its staff and customers receive when walking long distances to gates between duty free shop after duty free shop.

The airport requested the UK’s CAA to increase the cap on charges to as much as $57 per passenger. Airlines UK opposed the rate hike while IAG argued that fees should be going down, not up, in the aftermath of the pandemic. The airport has about $5.4 billion in cash to survive the downturn in demand which seems like a lot before you realize a bottle of water and cup of fruit costs $27 at the airport.

• Air Corsica announced a firm order for five new ATR 72-600s.
• Delta plans to bring its Premium Select product on all flights to Europe by May. It’s expected that the price for SkyMiles award redemptions in the cabin will be reasonably priced and easily obtainable.
• DHL Express ordered nine B767-300 freighters.
• Emirates plans to add six B777 freighters to help it run a Basic Economy trial program.
• Garuda Indonesia plans to eliminate as many as 97 routes, reducing its tally from 237 to 140. It plans to have a world map on a dartboard at its holiday party in early December. Each attendee will throw one dart and the closest Garuda destination to the dart will be cut from the route map.
• LATAM will receive an additional $200 million from new lenders under its Debtor-in-Possession Agreement.
• Overland Airways ordered three E175s expected to be delivered in 2023. Once they are delivered, the carrier plans to fly them, well, over land.
• Porter completed a sale and leaseback for five E195-E2 aircraft.
• Rex will begin double-daily service between Brisbane and Melbourne on December 17. The flight will operate just once daily on Saturdays and Sundays.
• Volaris signed a purchase order for 39 new A321 neo aircraft. The purchase was part of a larger agreement by Volaris’ parent Indigo Partners to acquire 255 new aircraft between Frontier, JetSMART, Volaris and Wizz Air.
• ZIPAIR confirmed its plans to zip over to the United States this Christmas with 3x-weekly flights between Tokyo/Narita and Los Angeles beginning December 25.

My wife yelled from the bedroom asking, “Do you ever get a shooting pain across your body like someone’s got a voodoo doll of you and they’re stabbing it?”

I replied, “No.”

She yelled back, “How about now?”

RDU Power Outage Leads to Cancellations

Raleigh-Durham International Airport suffered a major power outage in Terminal 2 shortly after 4 a.m. Friday morning causing issues for airlines and passengers. The outage had no effect on the airport’s Terminal 1 which is exclusively home to Southwest.

The power outage was caused by water damage to a power distribution center in Terminal 2.  Several Southwest staff members were seen leaving the power distribution center around 4:15 a.m. carrying buckets of water while maniacally laughing and carrying flashlights, but the airline said through a spokesman that the actions of its employees were unrelated to the outage.

Much of the power – but not all – came back online around 9 a.m., but airlines were left scrambling to catch up from delays and cancellations earlier in the morning. Lines at TSA checkpoints wrapped twice around the terminal due to each passenger having to be pat down manually. Body scanners, metal detectors and x-ray machines were not functioning for most of the morning, although it’s likely that had nothing to do with the power outage and was just TSA’s plan for Friday morning.

Mango’s Fate to be Decided Monday

Mango Airlines fate is on the line Monday at a meeting of the carrier’s creditors to determine if there is enough working capital to keep the airline solvent. Mango has been in bankruptcy since July while waiting on the $47 million it was promised as a part of parent SAA’s $688 million government bailout.

South African claims there isn’t enough cash to put Mango’s planes back in the air this year, which would benefit SAA as it would then keep the $47 million Mango is waiting on. Mango’s bankruptcy administrator wants the carrier to resume flying in December to keep its route authorities and take advantage of high demand during summer in the southern hemisphere. Both Mango and SAA made written requests for the money to get the airline back in the air, and Mango was expecting to be paid out after Monday’s creditor meeting.

But the SAA board of directors put out a statement on Thursday that resuming operations in December – even with the money – would make matters worse for the airline, not better. SAA said that the carrier needs to find a strategic equity partner if it wants to continue operating for the long-term, otherwise it might just end up at the big mango tree in the sky.

Lufthansa Fully Pays Back Entire Government Bailout

Lufthansa repaid the final installment from the €9 billion it owed the German government following its pandemic-related bailout from last year. The loan was repaid years ahead of schedule by Lufthansa which accelerated its revenue growth to pay the loan back by selling beer and pretzels on most flights that were left over from last year’s Wheneverfest.

The carrier has reported that bookings returned to as high as 80% of where they were pre-pandemic, with a surge since the reopening of the United States for European travelers.

As part of the €9 billion loan package, the German government received a 20% stake in the carrier. Lufthansa was adamant that the loan be paid off as quickly as possible to get the one-fifth stake of its airline back from the government as quickly as possible. Lufthansa was forced to give up 24 slots at both Frankfurt and Munich as part of the loan deal, but it will receive the slots back next year, or possibly even earlier if they’re released early for good behavior.

• British Airways divested itself of one slot pair for summer ’22, offering it to Saudia for its service to Riyadh.
• Cathay Pacific will reopen The Pier on November 15.
• Eastern announced Mark Ebanks as its new Executive VP for Aircraft Management and Leasing. His first day will be spent figuring out which Eastern Airlines he works for.
• ITA completed a sale and leaseback on 16 aircraft, giving the carrier enough cash to now keep the lights on at its headquarters for a couple of months.
• Kuwait Airways is the latest carrier to partner with Lufthansa Technik for maintenance.
• Samoa Airways is $2.3 million short to certify its its first B737-800 in order to get it in the air.
• Scoot will be scooting to London beginning December 16 with 3x-weekly service through March from Bangkok to Gatwick.
• Singapore will have all of its flight operated by vaccinated cabin crew and pilots. It’s subsidiary Scoot is expected to follow by December.
• Turkish reported a $735 million net profit in Q3.

I have the attention of a goldfish.

Seriously, it’s been watching me for hours.

Frontier Reports Small Q3 Loss; Drops Two Cities

Frontier Airlines Q3 earnings report showed a loss for the carrier of $24 million when excluding government assistance from the CARES Act. Frontier flew more in Q3 this year than it did in Q3 2019, but its $630 million in gross revenue was down 6% from two years ago.

It ended October with 112 aircraft, all single-aisle Airbus, including 91 A320s and 21 A321s. The planes are all leased, with leases that expire between now and 2033. In addition, Frontier is the most fuel-efficient airline in the United States according to Frontier.

Frontier also announced on its earnings call that it would end service to two destinations: Newark and Washington/Dulles. Frontier made a much-ballyhooed entrance into Newark two years ago after Southwest left, but couldn’t make it work. Frontier’s exit from Newark will open up 16 slots for a masochist somewhere, while its departure from Dulles is less impactful as it only operated one route from the airport: Orlando.

Frontier closed the quarter with $802 million in unrestricted cash, cash equivalents, and commissioned portraits of wild animals in its possession.

BA Gives its New LCC a Name

British Airways has given its new London/Gatwick-based LCC a name and it’s just as clever and unique as one would expect from BA. The “new” airline’s name is BA EuroFlyer and British Airways plans on it being operational by March.

The LCC is expected to generally use BA’s marks and branding, with only the name distinguishing it from mainline BA from the customer’s point of view.

The airline took a significant step towards reality when the carrier came to an agreement with both pilots and cabin crew on labor agreements for the new airline. One final hurdle that exists is a labor agreement with ground-handling staff to work the flights, but that’s not expected to be a major hurdle.

BA is hopeful that BA EuroFlyer will turn its fortunes around at Gatwick where the airline claims its lost money nine of the last ten years. When service launches next year, every flight will operate to or from Gatwick, with airplanes and staff exclusively performing same-day turns, with no overnights.

EU Considers Further Sanctions on Belavia

The European Union is contemplating new sanctions on Belavia – the flag carrier of Belarus – and other carriers flying to the Middle East from Minsk (MSQ) over the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe.

Three unnamed EU diplomats – presumably they have names, but chose not to share them – told Reuters that new sanctions could be coming as soon as next week. Other airlines in the crosshairs of the EU include flydubai and Turkish. Potential sanctions headed towards Belavia could force international lessors whose planes are flown by Belavia to withdraw their aircraft from Belarus or be subject to sanctions of their own.

Belavia leases 21 of its 30 aircraft, meaning sanctions could whittle its fleet down to just nine planes until sanctions end. Lithuania has been leading the charge in the EU and has been proposing sanctions since August.

Belavia is currently prohibited from overflying EU countries due to Belarus’ kidnapping scheme on a Ryanair flight earlier this spring. All of this is a good reminder that if you’re financial advisor is suggesting investing in Belavia, you might want a new financial advisor.

• AeroSucre is on the lookout for B737 aircraft available on the cheap. If you’ve got em, they’ll take em.
• Bangkok Airways will resume international service on December 1.
• Eurowings expects to take delivery of its first A320neo in the spring.
• GlobalX and its former subsidiary Canada Jetlines have agreed to partner on the sale of public charter flights between Toronto and both Miami and Fort Lauderdale in March.
• Rex launched free WiFi on its B737-operated flights. Qantas and Virgin Australia are looking into whether or not this is an anti-competition measure.
• SpiceJet is unable to return its leased B737 aircraft due to an unpaid tax bill that was due some thyme ago.
• Virgin Australia revealed its new business and economy seats. Rex is concerned that the seats are anti-competitive in the Australian domestic travel market.

Instead of a swear jar, I have a negativity jar. Every time I have a negative or pessimistic thought, I put a dollar in it.

It’s half-empty.