Author: Andrew Bashuk

AA’s Pilots Reject Holiday Bonus Offer

American Airlines pilots’ union rejected the airline’s offer of bonus pay around the holidays, after similar offers were accepted earlier this week by the carrier’s flight attendants, mechanics, and other staff.

The union’s board voted the offer down in a 20-0 unanimous result. The union said that it preferred to work with AA for permanent improvements to pay and how the carrier builds its schedule. American’s offer to plots was time-and-a-half pay during the holidays plus double pay for picking up open trips during the holiday season.

The union has made repeated complaints about the lack of slack in the schedule and difficulty in changing trips. The pilots are also frustrated with a lack of hotel rooms on overnights, often being forced to sleep on air mattresses provided by the airline on the wings of their aircraft as it the plane overnights at outstations.

Allegiant Shows Growth During October

Allegiant released passenger traffic results for October and the carrier’s results were promising, as it flew 1.16 million passengers in the month, a 5.1% jump from October 2019. The figure is more than 50% better than what it flew in October a year ago, as the domestic carrier takes advantage of the jump in domestic travel demand.

Available seat miles were up for Allegiant by nearly 20%, which allowed for the growth despite load factor dropping from two years ago. This October’s load factor for Allegiant was 75%, a drop from 83% in 2019, but a marked improvement from 63% last year.

Allegiant operated 9,094 flights in October, up 14.7% from 7,929 two years ago and 26.7% from 2020. The carrier is also able to include any passing yardage racked up by the Raiders in Allegiant Stadium as part of its miles flown for the year but running yards do not count as they aren’t earned through the air. The airline is encouraging the Raiders to throw the ball more to help its bottom line, but the coaching staff is not yet willing to commit to passing regardless of down and distance quite yet.

UK E-Gates Failure Leads to Lengthy Immigration Waits

For the third time in three months, e-gates points of entry in the UK failed, as they were unable to scan passports and let travelers into the country.

Passengers arriving at airports across the UK were faced with lines of two hours or more as each person entering the country had to be processed manually while being checked to ensure no one was smuggling decent tasting food into the country.

The UK has 270 e-gates at 15 airports and train stations, all if which were offline this morning.. The Home Office, which manages the e-gates said in a statement that a software glitch caused the error, which is like the fire department telling you a spark caused the fire. Officials from Heathrow declined to comment as they were taking advantage of the shorter lines at the airport’s Duty Free shops, stocking up on holiday gifts.

• Aeromexico awarded logistics firm Menzies a 15-airport contract to provide the carrier with ground services.
• Air Canada announced its reversal of a previous decision to cancel an order for two A220s and is going to accelerate delivery of four B737-8s from Boeing. Both requests were accepted because the carrier asked very politely.
• Air Leap finally took the leap and dropped two of its regional brands.
• AirAsia appointed ColinCurrie as its ChiefCommercialOfficer.
• Asiana was hit with a tax fine of $82 million from the Korean government. The carrier simply forwarded the bill to Korean Air, saying “it’s their problem now.”
• British Airways is recalling hundreds of flight attendants who have been on long-term leave during the pandemic.
• Middle East Airlines now plans to use the A321-200NX that it will receive soon on routes to Africa.
• Qatar and China Southern signed a MoU to expand the codeshare agreement between both carriers.
• Silver took delivery of the first of five ATR72-500 freighters it ordered to fly on behalf of Amazon. The plane flew its first revenue flight yesterday from Fort Worth to Des Moines.
• Virgin Atlantic is removing the A350 from its London-Los Angeles route in December and also reducing service with 3 less flights per week during the month.
• Vueling signed a five year contract with Lufthansa Technik to service the carriers’ fleet of A320 aircraft based in Barcelona.

A semicolon got arrested. It got two back-to-back sentences.

American Unveils MAAin Select FAAres

American Airlines is adding a new fare type on high-frequency, business-focused routes called “Main Select.” The new fares will be fully refundable and will offer many of the perks usually reserved for elite AAdvantage members including an opt out for making eye contact with Basic Economy passengers.

Passengers booking Main Select will be permitted to select any seat in economy, including Main Cabin Extra. The fare comes pre-bundled with priority check-in, priority security, and priority boarding – which on American means boarding in zone 6B. Main Select fares will be available on routes between New York/LGA and both Chicago/O’Hare and Washington/National, plus Boston to Washington/National and limited routes from both Dallas/Ft. Worth and Los Angeles.

The debut of Main Select also brings with it the end of the American Shuttle. With the carrier’s shifting focus in the northeast as it coordinates schedules with JetBlue, the branded shuttle flights between New York, Boston, and Washington will come to an end by the end of 2021.

Main Select has been designed to closely match the benefits of JetBlue’s Blue Extra fare, creating a synergy between the two partners. What that synergy is doesn’t really matter — all that matters is that those working on the Northeast Alliance can circle back with their bosses to tell them they’ve improved synergy.

Washington/National Debuts New Security Checkpoints Today

Today marks an important step in Washington/National’s Project Journey, a $1 billion plan designed to eliminate the airport’s dreaded Gate 35X and then do some other stuff after that. Now that 35X has been gone for the better part of a year, DCA’s operator, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) has been able to move onto bigger and better.

The new security checkpoints, 28 of them combined for Terminal’s B & C — up from 20, are in front of the airport’s famed National Hall, putting the glass-enclosed concourse behind security for the first time since its unveiling in 1997.

The new security checkpoints will help the airport that saw more than 23 million passengers in 2019 despite only being designed to handle 15 million annually. The new setup will relieve congestion and reduce the lines at Dunkin’ Donuts which is all that really matters. Passengers who forget the new setup and attempt to clear security at the old location beyond National Hall will be strip searched and then sent behind the construction wall at the location of the old gate 35X where they’ll be forced to wait for their flight and then bussed to their airplane while being denied water.

Sydney Airport Bought for $17.5 Billion

A new era is coming at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport as Australia’s largest airport agreed to $17.5 billion takeover from the Sydney Aviation Alliance (SAA — this one, not this one), a consortium of Australian and U.S.-based investors.

The deal comes this week as the United States loosens its border restriction on international visitors and as Australia does the same. The offer equaled A$8.75 per share, a 6% bump over the most recent “final offer” which was made in September at A$8.25 per share.

The deal is conditional on approval from three-fourths of the airport’s shareholders and Australia’s consumer competition watchdogs. The airport board accepted the deal unanimously and it’s expected that the approval of shareholders will come easily, as each shareholder was sent a jar of Vegemite to smooth the vote.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is investigating the transaction and is expected to release its findings next month. The government is not giving out any clues as to which side it will come out on but did say that it was watching the AA/JetBlue proceeding in the United States very closely and was in constant contact with Ryanair for its opinion.

• Air Serbia is going to receive a government subsidy to continue operating and the Serbian government will also prop up 12 routes for the carrier.
• Aircalin needs €28 million in order to relaunch next year.
• American is offering a $1,000 bonus to dispatchers and fleet service workers for perfect attendance between November 15 and January 2. Reservation agents will receive 1.5x pay on peak travel days and $1,000 for perfect attendance.
• Astral Airlines is leasing three B757-200 freighter aircraft.
• Emirates signed an MoU on a codeshare agreement with Garuda Indonesia.
• Eurowings will base five A320s in Stockholm beginning this March, marking the carrier’s fifth base outside of Germany.
• Finnair is launching new long-haul routes to Busan (PUS), Tokyo/Haneda, and Dallas/Ft. Worth.
• JetBlue has come to a tentative agreement with its flight attendants union on a new contract. The deal was sealed with American gave JetBlue permission to agree to the union’s latest offer.
• Pivot Airlines is pivoting to an early 2022 launch fo scheduled passenger services. It plans to start by flying from Waterloo (YKF) to both Montreal and Ottawa.
• Prime Air operated its first flight to Des Moines.
• SKS Airways plans to launch Malaysian domestic scheduled passenger operations later this year — two years later than originally planned.
• Smartwings smartly is spreading its wings as it signed wet-lease agreements to utilize some of its underused aircraft this winter. It will operate a B737-800 for both Israir Airlines and Arkia in Israel and Swift Air in the United States.
• VIVA announced 65 new routes including nine to the United States from Bogotá, three to the U.S. from Medellín, two from Cali, and one each from Cartagena and Cúcuta.

Why isn’t suntanning an Olympic sports?

Because the ultimate goal is to win bronze.

United States Ends Most Travel Bans

For the first time since March 2020, most foreign visitors to the United States are able to visit for non-essential travel, provided they are vaccinated and have a negative COVID-19 test.

The federal government is currently accepting all vaccines recognized by the CDC and WHO, which includes nearly every major vaccine except for Russia’s Sputnik vaccine. Sputnik is excluded because the government has not yet formally concluded if it’s a vaccine or a spaceship.

The first two flights bound for the United States from London/Heathrow took off this morning, one from British Airways and one from Virgin Atlantic with simultaneous departures from Heathrow.  Virgin Atlantic beat its rival across the Atlantic by 10 minutes, earning everyone on the plane a free I Heart NY t-shirt in the wrong size.

The land border between the United States and both Canada and Mexico also reopened today. To simulate the airport experience as much as possible, reports of long lines and surly immigration agents are being reported at most entry points on both borders.

United Drops Nine More Destinations

One week after removing three cities from its route map, United Airlines is dropping nine more – though it’s unfortunate that none of the nine are named Newark.

All nine destinations will lose United service on January 3 — except for Winnipeg which had been temporarily suspended since the beginning of the pandemic — but it won’t be the end of air service for any of those cities as they each will still see regular flights from either American or Delta, plus in one instance – Allegiant.

The nine cities to lose United service are:

• Central Wisconsin (CWA)
• College Station, TX (CLL)
• Columbia, MO (COU)
• Evansville, IN (EVV)
• Kalamazoo, MI (AZO)
• Killeen-Fort Hood, TX (GRK)
• Lansing, MI (LAN)
• Monroe, LA (MLU)
• Winnipeg (YWG)

The five midwestern destinations had United Express service to Chicago/O’Hare, while the three southern destinations had United Express service to Houston/IAH. Winnipeg had both Chicago and Denver, but the good people of Manitoba will now have to look elsewhere for their trips to the US.

American Offers Carrot Instead of Stick to Flight AAttendants

American Airlines is looking to avoid another system meltdown as the holiday season approaches and is offering significant bonuses to its flight attendants to show up to work over the next two months.

The incentives being offered include time-and-a-half pay for trips occurring between November 23 and 29 and December 22 and January 2. Additionally, cabin crew who have a perfect attendance record between November 15 and January 2 will receive another time-and-a-half bonus – adding up to a 300% bonus over the holiday period.

The carrier says that other work groups will also receive pay incentives but declined to go into details. The expectation is that pilots will finally have the seats in the cockpits replaced with La-Z-Boy recliners after the holidays while mechanics will be given positive space flight privileges on any airline except American for 2022 travel.

AA’s flight attendant union says it negotiated the incentives with the carrier, settling on the 300% bonus after its first demand – new leisurewear uniforms and a new crew base in Tahiti were both denied.

• American is delaying the launch of its flight from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Tel Aviv. The carrier is also delaying the start of service between Seattle and Bangalore.
• easyJet will resume domestic operations within Germany on December 1 with 12x-weekly service between Cologne and Berlin.
• Flyr earnd just $4.6 million for the July-September quarter on a loss of nearly $17 million. The carrier has securd committmnts of nearly $30 million to keep it solvent for the foreseeable futur.
• Holiday Europe is hopeful for a relaunch in the first half of 2022.
• iAero Airways will wet-lease a B737 early next year.
• Icelandair hired Jens Bjarnason as its new COO.
• MENA Cargo plans to add at least three B737-800 freighters over the next couple months.
• Pacific Air Express retired its only active aircraft, a B757-200, making it difficult to continue to call itself an airline.
• Ultra Air still hopes to make its ultra debut later this year.
• Vietjet signed a partnership with Airbus for the delivery of 119 aircraft currently on backorder.

A bunch of thieves stole my case of red bull. How do these people sleep at night.

L.A. Startup Says 100 Seat Electric Plane Will be Ready by 2027, Also Says Pigs Will Fly by 2026

Wright Electric, Inc., a Los Angeles-based startup, plans to have a 100-seat electric plane ready to enter service by 2027. It plans to sell the plane to Spirit Airlines, which will operate the most customer-friendly, fee-free, luxury flying experience by 2027.

Spirit plans to base these 100-seat electric planes at its new hub in Newark, the gold standard of American airports in what is expected to be named America’s finest city in 2027.

The fleet of aircraft are expected to have a range of about one hour or 460 miles – whichever comes first. But it is expected to be able to use that entire range in the air, as all of NYC’s air traffic congestion will be solved by 2027 as well, adding to the seamless user experience in Newark.

Wright Electric plans to retrofit electric motors into BAE 146 regional aircraft originally manufactured by BAE Systems. The planes will be adorned with a unique hard-shell fuselage to be able to withstand contact from pigs which will have learned to fly by the time this 100-seat electric aircraft is ready to operate.

JAL Posts $1.3 Billion Half-Year Loss

Japan Airlines announced a loss of $1.35 billion for the first half of FY22, and also announced an expected loss for the full year of $1.74 billion. The carrier does expect its daily cash burn to shrink during the third quarter of its fiscal year (Oct.-Dec.), and then it will turn a profit either during the final quarter of the year or when the Wright Electric aircraft flies, whichever comes last.

The airline’s expectation that it will return to profitability in January assumes that domestic demand will return to 92% of pre-pandemic levels and international demand will return to 23% of pre-pandemic levels. JAL’s CFO Hideki Kikuyama said that cost control is the most important issue for JAL right now and the carrier is doing all it can to hold costs in line.

Japan is still under major travel restrictions including most non-resident foreigners being prevented from entering the country. JAL is in favor of the country reopening to help its revenue, but as it looks to control costs, it is realizing that the longer the country stays closed to foreigners, the longer it can get away with not flying airplanes to control its costs to the extreme.

BA’s LCC Eliminates Crew Layovers

British Airways’s new London/Gatwick-based LCC will not offer layovers for its crew, instead choosing to start and end all flights at Gatwick to save even further on labor costs. Unlike its LCC rivals such as easyJet and Ryanair which set up crew bases across the continent to avoid overnight layovers for its staff, the new BA airline will have just one base at Gatwick.

The new airline is scheduled to begin flying in March, which means mid-summer is likely a better target. Pay for the new airline will start at the low, low rate of £15,848, with a chance to stretch to as much as £24,000. On the bright side, new staff will receive the perk of permanently avoiding Heathrow.

BA claims to have taken a loss on its Gatwick-based operation for years as it was forced to compete with LCCs which dominate the airport. The new carrier will take great pride in seeing how far it can lower the quality of its on-board product to save on cost and compete. No name has been chosen yet, but it’s expected to be two words jammed into one, likely starting with a lower case letter with an upper case letter placed randomly in the middle, as has become the custom.

• Air Astra received its NOC from the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh. Its next step will be to get an AOC in order to begin scheduled passenger ops early next year.
• Air Canada is delaying its new revenue-based mileage accrual for its Aeroplan loyalty program until at least 2023.
• Air France will operate 122 weekly flights to 11 U.S. destinations beginning November 8 when the U.S. opens it borders again.
• Eastar Jet has a new owner, much to WestJet’s frustration, after Sungjeong, a golf course management and real estate rental company, paid $53 million for the carrier.
• Flyr is adding three new cities to its route map, Brcelona, Brlin, and Brssels.
• Iberia is launching flights to two new U.S. gateways — oneworld stronghold Dallas/Ft. Worth and non-oneworld stronghold Washington/Dulles.
• Lufthansa is considering adding A220s to its fleet after seeing the fancy things JetBlue did to decorate the restrooms on its own aircraft.
• Qantas will return its first A380 back from storage this Tuesday, November 9.
• Qatar will bring the A380 back into regular service on December 15.
• Ravn officially changed its corporate name to Northern Pacific Airways.
• Waltzing Matilda objected to the ALPA’s challenge to its application — not on its merits, but because it was filed late.

The salesman at the furniture store told me “this sofa seats five people without any problems.”

And all I could think was “where the hell am I going to find five people without any problems?”

President Biden Delays Vaccine Mandate to January 4

President Biden delayed the vaccine mandate for companies who do business with the federal government to January 4 – a reprieve for airlines that will prevent them from having to cut staff during the busy holiday travel season.

The previous deadline was December 8, but the new policy matches OSHA guidelines that were released this week. The delay will give airlines more wiggle room as they seek to enforce the federal mandates — and their own corporate mandates — while operating through the holidays. Southwest saw a lawsuit from its pilots’ union dismissed last week in a Texas courtroom that argued the vaccine mandate needed to be collectively bargained with the union.

American and Southwest currently have a November 24 deadline to receive the second dose of the vaccine, but they have provided an extension for all the 5 year old children they employed to save money cleaning airplanes since that shot has only recently become available. It’s unclear if the new federal regulations will affect how each airline handles its deadline.

Delta “Enhances” Global Upgrade Certificates

Delta Air Lines announced a new enhancement to its Global Upgrade Certificates (GUCs) making them harder to use and less valuable to Diamond Medallions – its most valuable customers.

As of February, GUCs will now only be available for a one-class upgrade, meaning that those booking economy on a long-haul flight with Premium Select – Delta’s premium economy option – will only be able to confirm an upgrade to Premium Select, not all the way to Delta One. Bookings made in premium economy will confirm a one class upgrade into Delta One, but of course will come with a higher price tag than regular economy.

Most amazing about this change is that it took Delta this long to implement it. In addition, GUCs will now expire at the end of the Medallion year – which is the final day of January of the next year of your qualification. This means that travelers who qualify in 2022 for 2023 Diamond status would see their GUC’s expire on January 31, 2024. Previously they were valid for one year from selection, which allowed members to game the system based on their own travel patterns. Now they’ll expire on January 31 unless customers want to pay a 3.2 million SkyMiles ransom to have the certificates returned unharmed.

United Pinky Swears It’ll Run Strong Operation Through the Holidays

United Airlines sent a letter to many of its frequent flyers in which CEO Scott Kirby assured travelers United can be trusted over the holidays despite the meltdowns suffered by other airlines over the past several weeks.

Kirby proclaimed that United would be immune from operational meltdowns because the airline has “taken a unique approach to the complexity of rebuilding an airline in the midst of a pandemic.” Kirby also alluded to United having fewer on-board incidents than rival airlines which just seems like tempting fate unnecessarily, especially since a boatload of flights under its name are operated by regional partners, not United itself. “We now have less than one mask incident per 100,000 passengers, down 50% since the start of the year,” Kirby said.

He also said the carrier was doing its best to route passengers away from Newark during the holidays, noting that nothing ruined the merriment of the holiday season like several hours in northern Jersey.

• aha! is one step closer to world domination as it will begin 3x-weekly service between Reno and Palm Springs on January 3.
• Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau’s ability to speak French is…ne va pas bien.
• Air Namibia received a $207 million offer for its rusting carcass.
• Air New Zealand welcomed its first A320neo to join its fleet since 2019 this week.
• Alaska will resume serving Miami on June 16 with daily service from Seattle. Miami will serve as AS’s 100th destination from Seattle, and in celebration, all fares will be 100% off for any customer… using miles to purchase their ticket.
• Aleutian Airways is now prepared to launch operations later this year.
• ASKY is in the market for B737 MAX and B787 aircraft to fly in THESKY.
• Cayman Airways retired its final non-MAX B737.
• Eastern Airlines — the U.S. version — will debut B777 passenger ops and cargo ops in the first quarter of 2022.
• Emerald is prepared to launch regional ops for Aer Lingus early next year.
• Emirates will begin serving Tel Aviv on December 6, completely missing that Hanukkah rush this year.
• Etihad will be switching its Moscow operation from Moscow/Domodedovo (DME) to Moscow/Sheremetyevo (SVO) to better work with its new codeshare partner Aeroflot.
• Finnair is debuting bus options on flights between Helsinki and both Turku and Tampere.
• ITA is offering status matches elite members of 24 other airlines because it realizes it’ll never have anyone fly enough on its own airline to earn elite status.
• Ryanair announced its Summer ’22 schedule from East Midlands Airport (EMA) will consist of 130 weekly flights to 31 destinations.
• Virgin Australia is running a trial of toasted sandwich offerings in economy.
• Vistara secured enough slots to operate Delhi to Newark via London/Gatwick 3x-weekly through March 2022.
• Xiamen Air will bring 15 A321 into its fleet in January — the first Airbus planes for the previously all-Boeing carrier.

My co-workers used to always laugh at my jokes pre-pandemic. But since we’ve started working from home, they never laugh.

I finally asked why and my co-worker said “Your jokes aren’t remotely funny.”

United Drops Three (And a Half)

United Airlines is ending service to three cities and cutting service to a fourth. The carrier will end flying to Twin Falls, Idaho (TWF) on November 30 and both Pierre (PIR) and Watertown, South Dakota (ATY) on January 3.

The two South Dakota airports were Essential Air Service markets that previously were operated by SkyWest on behalf of United Express. But SkyWest lost the contract to those two markets to Denver Air Connection for a two-year period from May 2021 to May 2023. It’s rumored that SkyWest officially chose to pull out of the two airports during its server outage last month when it lost its Google Maps printouts that it shared with pilots to find both airports.

United also is also scaling back its operation in Joplin, Missouri, ending flights to its Houston/IAH hub. The carrier will still operate to Joplin from Chicago and Denver going forward, because, well, someone has to do it.

Ryanair Puts Portuguese Government in its Crosshairs

Ryanair is now mired in a dispute with the Portuguese government over the filing of paperwork to operate flights between Portugal and Morocco.

The Portuguese Civil Aviation Authority (Autoridade Nacional da Aviação Civil – ANAC) forced Ryanair to cancel eight flights from Lisbon to three Moroccan destinations over the paperwork snafus. ANAC said the carrier had not submitted all documents to operate the routes despite several warnings to do so. Ryanair responded by saying it has had traffic rights between Portugal and Morocco for three years and the Portuguese government had no reason for this unlawful action.

The carrier has been aggressive in challenging Portugal for its protectionist practices towards TAP. Ryanair has accused the government of illegally hoarding slots in Lisbon, preventing it from flying more routes from the city, offering state aid against European Commission policies, reserving the good coffee at meetings for TAP’s representatives and no one else, and putting off-brand toilet paper in the restrooms near Ryanair’s gates in all Portuguese airports while TAP gates receive Charmin Ultra 16-ply.

Turkish Adds Two

Turkish Airlines is adding two new U.S. destinations – Detroit and Seattle. The carrier made the announcement on its investor relations page, clearly wanting to make sure as few people knew about the new cities as possible.

Turkish hasn’t announced any further details about the new service including trivial information like start dates, schedules, aircraft, frequencies, business class menus, champagne availability, or the color of pajamas on offer in premium cabins. When these two routes launch – assuming they do – Turkish will bring its total of U.S. cities it operates to 14.

Seattle is a SkyTeam (Delta) and oneworld (Alaska) hub, and Detroit is a SkyTeam airport (Delta), meaning Turkish will have to forge its own path in both cities. Doing so is familiar to Turkish, as the carrier moved into other non-Star Alliance airports with limited feed previously including Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Miami.

• Air Astana will resume twice-weekly flights to Baku (GYD) on November 7.
• Air Canada posted a C$364 million loss in Q3, a dramatic improvement from the C$785 million it lost in Q3 2020.
• Alaska has switched plastic water bottles for cardboard boxed water. Alter your travel plans accordingly.
• Avianca‘s reorganization plan has been approved by a US bankruptcy court.
• Emirates is reintroducing service to Algiers, Algeria (ALG) with twice-weekly service beginning November 9.
• FlyWestair decided it wanted to be able to operate flights that go east sometimes, so it’s rebranded itself as FlyNamibia.
• Lufthansa turned a profit of €17m for the September quarter.
• Just Us Air is no longer about just us, as it has rebranded itself as Dan Air. This is not to be confused with the original Dan-Air which was based in the UK until British Airways picked up its remains in the ’90s.
• Star Air is adding five additional freighters to be the star of its fleet over the next three years.

Did you hear abut the ATM that got addicted to money?

It suffered from withdrawals.

Sun Country Reports Strong Third Quarter

Sun Country Airlines posted its best fiscal quarter since Q1 2019, long before anyone knew the term social distancing, as it showed a profit of $14 million on operating revenues of $173 million.

The gross revenue improved 123% from Q3 a year ago with profit improving by $375%. Sun Country’s profit was fueled by its strong charter business which reeled in $34 million, a 17% increase from the $29 million it brought in during Q2. The carrier signed a five-year agreement during the quarter with MLS to operate charter service for all 27 teams in the league.

Sun Country also partnered with Caribou Coffee to upgrade its inflight menu, an improvement from the coffee grounds and cup of lukewarm water they used to offer with a biodegradable stirrer.

Cargo revenue was $24 million, a 10% increase from Q2, led by Sun Country’s partnership with Amazon. The carrier ended the quarter with $300 million in liquidity, down from Q2 after it bought two new airplanes. Of the $300 million, it’s holding most of it to renew its Prime membership with Amazon and on Caribou gift cards to keep the coffee flowing on-board.

Canada Opens Additional International Gateways

The Government of Canada is continuing its border reopening process, and the country will now permit international arrivals at eight more airports, bringing the total to 18.

The eight new airports are:

• Abbotsford (YXX)
• Hamilton (YHM)
• Kelowna (YLW)
• Regina (YQR)
• Saskatoon (YXE)
• St. John’s (YYT)
• Victoria (YYJ)
• Waterloo (YKF)

These eight will be open to international passengers on November 30, Canada’s target date to fully phase in its reopening plan. The Canadian government will consider opening additional airports for international arrivals once it figures out if there are any more airports in Canada – it’s a big country and 18 seems like plenty.

California Man Charged in Flight Attendant Assault

Brian Hsu, a 20-year-old man from Irvine, California, was charged with assault and interfering with a flight crew following his, ahem, incident on an American Airlines flight attendant last week. AA Flight 976 was about halfway on its journey from New York/JFK to Orange County when Hsu reportedly began punching a female flight attendant.

According to an affidavit filed to the court, Hsu struck the flight attendant while she was working in the mid-galley section of the airplane, and he attempted to use the restroom while the seat belt sign was illuminated, restricting passenger movement on-board the aircraft. Hsu apparently really wanted to see if AA’s restrooms had the NYC subway tile that its Northeast Alliance partner JetBlue has, striking the flight attendant in order to gain access.

Hsu was then restrained with duct tape and “plastic bonds,” according to the affidavit. He was then fed one of Qantas’s new on-board vegan meals to keep him sedated for the remainder of the flight.

• AirAsiaX is at risk of being delisted from the Malaysian stock exchange after being categorized as a financially distressed firm by external auditors.
• Azul has its sights set on world domination, and its first step is going to be an attempt to take over LATAM. Stay tuned on this one.
• Emirates and TAP expanded their codeshare agreement, adding 23 new destinations to the partnership.
• Eurowings and Smartwings are coming together thanks to a wing and a prayer and will wing it on a codeshare agreement focused on connections through Prague.
• Hawaiian put its ATR fleet for sale. If anyone is in the market for a turboprop aircraft to fly between islands in the Pacific, the planes are conveniently located in northern Idaho.
• JetBlue basic economy tickets will once again have a fee for changes on all bookings made today and going forward.
• Mango‘s bankruptcy administrator proposed that the carrier be spun-off to a private investor.
• Ryanair plans to delist its stock from the London Stock Exchange. Unlike Air Asia X, this isn’t because Ryanair is in danger but rather because it’s a European company, not a British one. That whole Brexit thing…
• United announced a new partnership with Avis offering free status matches and mileage redemptions. Coincidentally, the announcement came just days after the carrier ended its partnership with Hertz.
• Viva Air and Viva Aerobus are living la vida loca signing the first interline agreement between Latin American ULCCs.

What do you get when you cross a baseball pitcher with a carpet?

A throw rug.

The Winds of Autumn Lead to AAnother Meltdown

American Airlines suffered the industry’s most recent meltdown, grabbing the baton from SkyWest — which had run a lap after Southwest — as the airline canceled more than 2,000 flights over the weekend. If trends from 2021 continue, this should mean it’s Spirit turn next, likely due for an implosion in about two weeks.

American’s operational struggles peaked on Sunday when the carrier cancelled over 1,000 flights – more than one-third of its schedule for the day. Lucky for them, most passengers understood completely and weren’t remotely upset about their travel being disrupted. The carrier canceled about 300 flights on Monday as it finally looks to have things back to normal by Tuesday.

AA COO David Seymour said the issues began late last week when heavy winds in Dallas reduced DFW’s operation from the normal five runways to just two. The slowdown at AA’s biggest hub caused cascading issues across the system – a system which is perilously fragile on good days right now – and in destruction mode on bad days. Planes and crews were in the wrong place and the airline does not have enough backups to get things back on track.

The DOJ refused comment on AA’s operational meltdown except to say that the government does not control the weather, and especially not the wind. Except when it really wants to. And this isn’t one of those times, it promises.

JetBlue Grows at LaGuardia

Much like the rats that patrol much of the airport’s underbelly, JetBlue Airways’s presence at New York’s LaGuardia airport is growing. Effective yesterday, JetBlue’s operation at LGA expanded to Terminal B while still maintaining a presence at the Marine Air Terminal (Terminal A).

The carrier will operate all flights to and from Boston at the Marine Air Terminal, wisely keeping those passengers separated from the general population, while JetBlue’s other 23 daily departures will operate from Terminal B. The carrier expects to eventually move its entire operation to Terminal B, but some staff have grown very close with the rodents living in the Marine Air Terminal and they weren’t ready to say goodbye quite yet.

JetBlue began new nonstop service from LGA to three destinations yesterday – Jacksonville, Sarasota, and Savannah. It will continue to add three more next year – New Orleans, Nashville, and Portland, Maine. When those three enter service, it’ll give JetBlue 16 nonstop destinations from LGA – more than double what it operated prior to the Northeast Alliance with American.

Volaris Spreading Its Wings In Mexico City

Mexican LCC Volaris announced it would be the first airline to move some flights from Mexico City International Airport (MEX) to the city’s newest airport – Felipe Ángeles International Airport (NLU) on March 21. When the airport – located on Saint Lucía Air Force Base — opens to the public on March 21, Volaris will operate daily flights to both Tijuana and Cancun, complementing its service to both of those cities from MEX.

The new airport is located 28 miles north of downtown Mexico City and will eventually have strong ground and public transportation to make it a viable alternative, or so they say. A rail link to Mexico City’s subway service is expected to be completed at the airport by 2023, just in-time to catch the AA flight which will be scheduled for July but surely delayed for several months.

Shortly after Volaris made its announcement, LCC rival VivaAerobus announced it would operate from the new airport as well but did not commit to destination cities. Aeromexico has not announced its plans as it waits to see what Delta tells it to do.

The city says several airlines have shown interest in operating out of the new airport, with the lone exception being Air Canada. The normally stoic and polite Canadians let the city know that it had no interest in using the new airport, that it prefers the taxiway delays and general congestion MEX has to offer.

• Air Astana will begin twice weekly service between its Almaty hub and Colombo, Sri Lanka (CMB) on December 3.
• Air Congo now hopes to debut later this year with as many as 10 aircraft in its fleet.
• Belavia is storing its E195-E2 fleet in Kazakhstan. It’s seeing much lower demand since people stopped flying the carrier due to fears of being kidnapped by the Belarusian government while on holiday.
• British Airways came to an agreement with UK Export Finance for a 5-year Export Development Guarantee committed Credit Facility (UKEF Facility) of £1.0 billion. Hopefully some readers know what this actually means.
• Czech resumed its twice weekly service to Copenhagen yesterday.
• Fly Lili received its AOC from the Romanian government.
• Gulf Air is beginning charter services for the first time.
• Hawaiian will no longer offer travel within the Hawaiian Islands on traditional (meaning: not controlled by Hawaiian) distribution channels and will charge a fee for travel agents who use traditional distribution channels for international and U.S. mainland flights. The changes will be effective April 1.
• IndiGo will go ahead and launch six domestic flights from Indore (IDR).
• Jazeera Airways showed a $40 million profit in Q3 following a cool 361% increase in customers in Q3 compared to Q2.
• Qantas will return the A380 on service between Sydney and Los Angeles on March 27.
• Ryanair will begin twice weekly service from Manchester to Cork on December 15.
• SmartLynx wisely added two more A321Fs to its cargo fleet.
• TUS Airways, which apparently exists, plans to add its first A330 early next year.
• Virgin Atlantic reopened its Melbourne lounge this morning at 7 a.m. following a refresh of the lounge and the menu — a good idea considering some of the food left in the fridge from March 2020 was starting to smell.
• World2Fly added its first A330.
• Wizz Air is holding five recruitment events for new flight attendant hires this November and December. Applicants should be interested in travel, especially to secondary European cities, and enjoy being yelled at in tight, cramped spaces.

I’m terrified of bows and arrows.

Just the thought of them makes me quiver.

Star Alliance Wins Out as ITA Chooses SkyTeam

ITA Airways, Italy’s newest carrier – if you put aside the fact that it’s not actually Italy’s newest carrier – gave a resounding win to the Star Alliance today when it chose the status quo to remain in SkyTeam.

ITA’s “predecessor,” Alitalia was a member of SkyTeam, and despite its best efforts, the alliance was unable to rid itself of its Italian cornerstone. The new carrier was “courted” by both SkyTeam, led by Delta, and the Star Alliance, led by Lufthansa, to get the new carrier to join their respective alliances. The effort made was compared to someone in a bar telling their friend to hold them back while acted as if they were looking to start a fight.

ITA says it will work closely with SkyTeam to add alliance-wide benefits such as lounge access, additional baggage allowances, and more. The response from several carriers in the alliance after hearing the news was to ask ITA to “Just focus on you. Operate the flights you say you’re going to operate, and we’ll let the rest work itself out.”

IAG Offers Concessions to Close Air Europa Sale

IAG’s $583 million purchase of Air Europa continues to receive scrutiny from the European Commission as it deals with antitrust issues stemming from the potential purchase. The EC had previously set a deadline to rule on the purchase by November 5, but extended it for a second time, this time to January 4 just because it seemed like a fun way to torture the two airlines.

IAG suggested divesting itself of several routes to ease antitrust concerns, choosing not to take American and JetBlue’s strategy of “look away, it’s not that big a deal.”  The government is expected to seek more feedback from potential competitors and consumer groups, because there’s nothing governments enjoy more than commissioning a study.

The concern stems from the government’s belief that the two companies compete on several routes in Spain, including transatlantic routes from Madrid and short-haul, regional routes. The EC said that the sale could potentially reduce competition on as many of 70 city pairs to and from Spain, many of which have IAG and Air Europa as the only airlines operating.

ANA Expects to Cut Staff Amidst Operating Loss

ANA – Japan’s largest airline – expects to eliminate as many as 9,000 jobs within the next five years as it continues to struggle to return to profitability following the pandemic. The 9,000 jobs represent about 20% of the carrier’s workforce and come after a loss of $1 billion for the six months ending September 30.

ANA has reported losses for seven consecutive quarters but is hopeful of eking out a small profit for the final quarter of 2021. Despite its cautiously optimistic outlook for Q4 2021, it expects to post a loss of over $1 billion for the fiscal year than ends in March, after previously predicting it would be a profitable year for the airline. Oops.

The airline is hopeful that domestic passenger levels can recover to 85% of pre-pandemic figures by March but expects its international travel to only reach 30% of what it was in 2019. Japan is still under significant travel restrictions which prevent most non-resident foreigners from entering the country.

• Aeromexico will split its footprint in Mexico City between T1 and T2, beginning December 11, and if you’ve never switched between the two… it sucks.
• aha! finally realized the only thing holding it back from world domination was nonstop service to Spokane, Washington. The carrier is fixing that by adding 3x-weekly service from Reno to Spokane beginning December 15.
• Air France-KLM committed to doing some things better than it has been with regards to carbon emissions.
• Air Incheon retired its final B737-400(SF), leaving it with an all-B737NG fleet.
• Corendon Airlines plans to open a base in Denmark.
• Cubana will resume domestic flights later this year.
• FLYONE Armenia received its operating certificate.
• IndiGo is changing terminals for its flights in both Delhi and Mumbai.
• Qantas delayed its Melbourne-London flights to November 27, and Brisbane to LA and Singapore to February.
• UIA is resuming service to Tel Aviv on November 8.
• United ended its partnership with Hertz, with free status matches ending on Sunday. The deal came to an end after United officials flew to meet with Hertz to discuss renewal but Hertz was out of cars and the UA team couldn’t get to the meeting so they just went home instead.
• Wingo was awarded-o a foreign air carrier permit from the DOT.

Why wouldn’t the skeleton go in the haunted house? He had no guts.

London is Calling: United Grows London Service

United Airlines announced five additional frequencies to London today, pushing the carrier to 22 daily flights to the city, 15 of which actually appeal to customers as seven of the daily flights operate from its hub in Newark.

As of March 26, United is adding:

• Daily service from Boston
• Two more daily flights from Newark, up from 5x-daily to 7x-daily
• A second daily flight from Denver
• A third daily flight from San Francisco

United’s lone daily flight to Boston will compete with the Delta/Virgin Atlantic JV and the American/BA JV plus new entrant on the route – JetBlue. The carrier expects it do well amongst northeastern-based travelers by marketing the route as London to “Not Newark.” Just kidding, there’s no way United expects this to do well.

Of the 22 daily flights operating next summer, 12 of them will operate on United’s premium-heavy B767-300 aircraft which feature 46 Polaris seats, 22 Premium Plus seats, 43 Economy Plus seats and 56 plain ole’ economy seats in the back.

Allegiant and Spirit Release Third Quarter Earnings

Allegiant turned in a strong third quarter performance, showing a profit of $39.3 million on $459 million of revenue. The $459 million in gross revenue is a 5.3% improvement from Q3 2019, and profit just missed the 2019 figure, dropping 10% from the $43.6 million Allegiant earned two years ago.

This was Allegiant’s second consecutive profitable quarter, fueled by a 32% increase in third-party revenue as Allegiant transitions more into a travel company that just happens to fly airplanes. The carrier ended the quarter with $1.1 billion in cash and cash equivalents, and is hoping to add to that total as its placed 4 seats on the 50 yard line on StubHub for each remaining Las Vegas Raiders game at Allegiant Stadium this season.

Spirit also announced its earnings for the quarter, but the report was redacted unless readers were willing to pony up $21 for the unredacted version. Spirit managed to eek out a $15 million profit during Q3, more impressive when considering the carrier only operated its flight schedule some of the time.

Total operating revenue was $922.6 million, a 7% drop from Q3 2019. Spirit’s completion factor was 93.5%, which sounds great when compared to Southwest and American, but not so great when compared to Delta’s 99.7%. Spirit ended the quarter with $1.9 billion in cash and cash equivalents, most of which it keeps on-hand to fund the DOJ’s lawsuit to stop the Northeast Alliance.  

American Flight Diverted After Passenger Attacks Flight Attendant

American Airlines flight 976 from New York/JFK to Orange County diverted to Denver last night when a passenger attacked a flight attendant halfway through the flight.

One passenger on the flight told the Associated Press the conflict was due to the assailant’s refusal to wear a mask, but AA said that the incident was possibly not related to mask wearing. Reports today indicate the assault was completely unprovoked and that the passenger simply marched to the back of the airplane and punched the flight attendant.

The male passenger was met by law enforcement and was taken into custody upon arrival in Denver. AA plans to pursue the case and would “not be satisfied until (the assailant) has been prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” The carrier has also banned the attacker from ever flying on the airline again, which is noble of AA, but depending on perspective could be a benefit of the attacker, and not a consequence.

• Aer Lingus announced its Summer 2022 schedule which will include 71 routes to 62 destinations, with 17 transatlantic routes.
• Air Malta has proven that’ll sign a codeshare with literally anyone as it signed up with Alitalia ITA.
• Air New Zealand still plans to launch service between Auckland and New York.
• AirAsia India is moving closer to obtaining rights to fly international service from the Indian government.
• Alaska will begin daily, nonstop service from Seattle to Cleveland on June 16. It’ll also add a second daily flight to Columbus next summer.
• Fly2Sky will Take2Sky with two new A321-200 aircraft.
• LATAM‘s request to extend its period to file a reorganization plan was approved by its bankruptcy court.
• Qantas is adding plant-based meals to its inflight menu for people who want to see airline food reach a new low.
• Yeti Airlines was granted international charter rights in Nepal after the carrier offered members of the Nepalese government very expensive water bottles.

I was fired this week from my job at the keyboard factory. They told me I wasn’t putting in enough shifts.