Author: Andrew Bashuk

Southwest Pilots Lose Court Battle Over Vaccines

Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA) saw their bid to block a vaccine mandate rejected when Judge Barbara Lynn from the Northern Texas District Court ruled that the court doesn’t have the authority to block the mandate, and even if it did, she would not block it.

Judge Lynn was expected to rule later this week but when the SWAPA paid $30 in court fees for EarlyBird, the court released the ruling 24 hours earlier than expected.

Southwest is a federal contractor, and the federal government is WN’s largest single customer, squashing the union’s contention that the carrier is not considered a contractor for the purposes of avoiding the mandate. The judge also said that requiring employees to be vaccinated does not violate the pilot’s CBA and the carrier was within its rights under the Railway Labor Act to do so.

A spokesperson for the union said it was considering its next steps in the case which will likely include all available options except the simple one of just getting everyone vaccinated.

Delta Unveils Fancy PreCheck Lobby in Atlanta

Delta Air Lines announced a new digital identity experience – a term clearly invented by a PR firm with too much time on its hands – at its home at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. With the new system, Delta passengers who are members both of its SkyMiles loyalty program and of TSA PreCheck will be able to check-in, check baggage, pass through security, and board their aircraft with one look at a camera.

Passengers can opt out of the program by checking-in and going through the airport process as normal. Those who choose to participate will see their image taken by a camera and sent to CBP’s facial biometric matching service via a secure channel with no accompanying biographic data except for your social security number, address, mother’s maiden name, name of your favorite relative, first pet’s name, high school mascot, city where you met your spouse, and your elementary school.

Approximately a quarter of Delta’s Atlanta-based fliers are eligible for the program, which could relieve some of the stress on lines at chokepoints throughout the airport experience. The program endeavors to allow passengers to never have to pull out their boarding pass or ID for the entire process, but says nothing about pulling out your wallet to score a $9 bottle of water at one of the 400 locations it has at Atlanta’s airport. The carrier has not mentioned rolling the program out to its Delta SkyClubs, requiring customers to pull out their boarding pass if they want access to watered-down cocktails and Biscoffs to their hearts content.

Norse Atlantic Gives Up, Moves to Florida

Just like millions of Americans, Norwegian startup LCC Norse Atlantic Airways has given into the allure of warm weather, wearing sandals year-round, and 5 p.m. prime rib specials… it is moving to Florida. The carrier, which is currently run by three guys all named Bjørn and headquartered in Norway, has selected Fort Lauderdale for its home base in the United States.

One of the Bjørns, in this case CEO Bjørn Tore Larsen made the announcement in Fort Lauderdale early in the afternoon, wanting to ensure all the airline staff at the event had time to make the early bird special at the local Bennigan’s.

The carrier plans to operate three routes from FLL – Paris, London, and Oslo if when it begins flying. Norse Atlantic is still working on its operating certificate from Norway, which it hopes to receive sometime next month. In addition to the two routes from FLL, one of the Bjørns says that its still planning to fly from Oslo to Ontario, CA and Newburgh airport near NYC.

• Air Tanzania was ordered to repay nearly $400 million in bailout funds it received from the Tanzanian government because it came without prior approval of the country’s Ministry of Finance and Planning… and also, Ryanair.
• Air Transat, the self-declared world’s best leisure airline, announced a bunch of new routes for this summer that some people will find interesting, if you’re into that sort of thing.
• Blue Panorama is feeling blue since as the carrier suspended flight operations, saying “meh, if Alitalia can do it, so can we.”
• Hawaiian extended the expiring lease on two A330 aircraft, because what Hawaiian needs now is more widebody capacity.
• flybe, an airline that currently does not flyairplane, appointed Dave Pflieger as its new CEO.
• interCaribbean Airways added its first ATR42-500.
• Lufthansa and Vistara announced a new loyalty and frequent flier partnership that will allow earn and burn on each other’s programs.
• Norwegian will lease up to 13 Boeing B737-800 aircraft in an agreement that will surely be brought up in court the next time the carrier files for bankruptcy.
• Qatar will begin 3x-weekly service to Odesa, Ukraine (ODS) on December 9, its second destination in Ukraine.
• Ryanair introduced electric ground handling equipment at 11 European airports, claiming it will now offer zero-emission turnarounds of its aircraft. What it has not yet figured out is how to perform zero-emission lawsuits.
• Smartwings signed with Lufthansa Technik to service its fleet of 13 B737 MAX 8 aircraft.
• Virgin Australia resumed allowing its loyalty members to redeem their points for flights on partner airlines.
• Vistara secured slots to operate to Newark via London/Gatwick.

I met a girl at a bar last night who told me if I would leave with her she’d show me a good time — and she sure did. Right there on the sidewalk she ran a sub-10 second 100 meters.

AA Unveils RevAAmped AAdvantage Program

American Airlines unveiled a brand new AAdvantage loyalty program today that will simplify the ways to earn elite status on the carrier while turning loyalty earning as we know it on its head.

Beginning in 2022, AAdvantage elite status will be earned via Loyalty Points. AA Gold will need 30k points, AA Platinum will require 75k, AA Platinum Pro will be 125k, AA Executive Platinum will be 200k Loyalty Points, and AA Gilded Platinum Dipped in Caviar-Encrusted Gold will require 3.4 million Loyalty Points.

As for earning Loyalty Points, flying starts at 5x base miles per dollar spent with bonuses added based on status. Loyalty Points are earned on all AA tickets, including basic economy. Class of service bonuses will also apply to allow customers to increase their points total more quickly, and points can be earned when flying oneworld partner airlines and JetBlue.

There are also points to be earned via credit card spend, and spending money with various AA partners. The carrier considered offering Loyalty Points for customers who booked high-value Business Select fares on Southwest out of Love Field only to cancel them 15 minutes before departure but ended up leaving that out. For more on AA’s new AAdvantage program, please visit today’s post on crankyflier.com.

JetBlue’s Q3 Results Are Good, But Cost Concerns Remain

JetBlue Airways released its Q3 earnings this morning after finally receiving permission from AA to make the announcement. The carrier beat Wall Street’s estimates for Q3 on revenue strength, while showing a net profit of $130 million for the quarter, a dramatic improvement from its nearly $400 million loss in Q3 2020.

The carrier’s total revenue for the quarter totaled $1.97 billion beating the pre-quarter estimates of $1.93 billion despite seeing capacity decline 0.8% from Q3 in 2019. The $1.97 billion revenue figure was a 5.5% drop from the third quarter of 2019, but better than the 6-9% drop that was expected. The problem is on the cost side which is expected to see greater growth than revenues going forward.

JetBlue paid back $74 million in regular debt during the three months while also paying back $115 million in CARES Act loans and $105 of bank loans. It ends the quarter with $3.3 billion in cash and cash equivalents. Of that, $400 million is being spent on a campaign to bring The American Way back onboard AA aircraft, just over $1 billion is being used on B6 hearts AA billboards in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, and the rest is being spent on lawyers to fend off the DOJ lawsuit over the Northeast Alliance.

United to Finally Begin Newark-DC Shuttle Service

United Airlines announced today it will begin shuttle service between Newark and Washington/National, a service the carrier announced in 2019 but had held off on launching due to the pandemic and general operational malaise.

The service will begin this Sunday – on Halloween – and will operate 18 times a day from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., all seven days of the week. The carrier is also adding five new flights from Newark to Washington/Dulles, giving it nine total flights between those airports each day.

The flights represent slot squatting more than anything else, as the DOT goes back to “use it or lose it,” with most slot-controlled airport exemptions for domestic travel coming to an end on November 1. UA launching these new flights on Halloween make the DOT deadline with a whole day to spare. The unnecessary flights will operate on UA’s most unnecessary airplane these days, the business-friendly CRJ-550. The CRJ comes with 10 seats up front, 20 in Economy Plus and 20 for the hoi polloi in the back.

• Air Calédonie is grounding all flights until November 7 while New Caledonia sorts out its health pass regulations.
• Air Transat will begin seasonal, weekly service between Quebec City and London/Gatwick this summer from May 11 to September 28.
• Alaska and Zero Avia announced plans for a hydrogen-electric powertrain capable of flying 76-seat Q400 turboprop more than 500 miles. The official stance of Cranky Daily is for our readers to not hold their breath.
• Avelo petitioned the DOT to allow it to change its legal name to — Avelo Airlines, Inc. The previous legal name of “Crashy McMoneyLoser, Inc.” was deemed inappropriate.
• Avianca‘s unsecured creditors approved its reorganization plan ahead of today’s hearing in U.S. bankruptcy court.
• Breeze unveiled its first A220-300 aircraft today in Mobile with half the airplane having First Class-style seating.
• Bonza, the new Australian LCC that seems completely unnecessary says that 30 airlines have shown interest in the carrier. Ok.
• GOL completed refinancing of $215 million of short-term debt.
• Hawaiian is doubling the size of its premium cabin on its new B787-9 aircraft, putting 34 flat bed business class seats in the pointy end of the plane. The new aircraft are also expected to come with self-serve POG juice dispensers at each premium class seat.
• JetBlue is down to just 300 unvaccinated employees who do not have an approved exemption.
• Southwest announced a new Rapid Rewards Business Program allowing travelers to earn Rapid Rewards points for The Man when traveling on the company dime.

My neighbor hired me to paint his house last week. He asked me why I charged him for my time and labor but not the paint. I said “because the paint is on the house.”

Federal Government Details Nov. 8 Border Reopening

The U.S. federal government announced many of the guidelines for the reopening of the U.S. border next month for the first time since March of 2020.

Airlines will be required to check their customers’ vaccine status and provide contact information for passengers to enable contact tracing on an as-needed basis. Unvaccinated passengers entering the country, including U.S. citizens, will be required to show proof of a negative test taken within one day of departure as opposed to three days for those who are vaccinated.

Limited vaccine exemption requirements will be offered at entry points. Those 18 or under will be exempted, as will those traveling on non-tourist visas from countries with low vaccine availability. Travelers with legitimate medical reasons or airline employees whose companies have pretended like they have given a legitimate medical reason will also be permitted.

Visitors who can recite the Gettysburg Address word-for-word upon arrival receive eight extra hours to take their test-on-arrival. An additional minute can be earned for every state capital correctly identified, while visitors unable to name the two teams playing in the World Series will lose 12 hours of time.

United Spends $1.4 Million Every Two Weeks on Unvaxed Pilots

United Airlines told the District Court of North Texas in a filing that it is spending $1.4 million every two-week pay period to pay its unvaccinated pilots because its desire to put the pilots on unpaid leave is currently being blocked by a temporary restraining order.

The airline argued to the court that the TRO was causing “irreparable harm” to the carrier because of the huge costs involved. The court responded that the carrier had no standing to claim irreparable harm due to the irreparable harm it caused it customers forcing them to fly through its Newark hub.

Although United boasts a 99.5% vaccination rate amongst its U.S.-based staff, that figure excludes those who successfully petitioned for a religious or medical-based exception. United wants to force its unvaccinated pilots into unpaid leave until the threat of the pandemic has subsided to levels where it feels comfortable putting them back in the air.

Hawaiian Plans Return Down Under

Hawaiian Airlines will resume its 5x-weekly service between Honolulu and Sydney on December 13, operating the route for the first time in 19 months. The carrier suspended service to Australia in March of 2020, leaving the Hawaiian Islands with an uncomfortably high stockpile of the invasive Vegemite species which threatened the future livelihood of the island chain’s beloved Spam.

Hawaiian’s flight to Sydney will operate on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, with the return operating Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday each week. The flight will be operated by HA’s 278-seat A330 aircraft which come with just 18 lie-flat seats up front, 68 Extra Comfort seats and 192 in the back.

The State of Hawai’i expects to align its entry requirements with the federal government when the U.S. border reopens to most international visitors on November 8, but initial demand is expected to be light. HA’s attempt to operate its interisland B717s on the route was immediately quashed for unknown reasons.

• Aeromexico turned a profit in Q3, its first quarterly profit since the onset of the pandemic.
• aha! operated its inaugural flight yesterday with a load factor of about 40% on the wildly popular and historically underserved route of Reno to Pasco/Tri Cities, WA.
• Air Mauritius is being fully acquired by the Mauritian government.
• Air Sanga added its first Beech 1900D aircraft on a lease/purchase agreement from NAC Charter.
• British Airways reopened its lounges in Geneva, Milan, and Rome.
• Cubana is keeping its domestic operation grounded due to a lack of aircraft which is as good a reason as any not to fly.
• Emirates will return A380 service to Sydney this December.
• Just Us Air turned to its fleet of A320 and said “It’s just us,” as the fleet returns to the air.
• Korean will resume flying to Hawai’i on November 3 with 3x-weekly service between Seoul/Incheon and Honolulu.
• La Compagnie will return its Newark to Paris/Orly service to daily frequency this winter. It will also begin 4x-weekly flights between Newark and Milan/MXP on April 13.
• Pelita Air Service is being groomed by the Indonesian government to replace state-owned Garuda Indonesia which is facing the threat of failing to complete its restructuring.
• Qatar is seeking permission to codeshare with RwandAir on flights between Doha and the United States.
• Spirit and Pratt & Whitney have come to an agreement to provide engines on Spirit’s 150 A320neo aircraft it has on order. P&W will be responsible for a $18 processing fee to accept Spirit’s payment each time an engine is successfully installed.
• TAAG‘s entire executive board including its CEO were fired by Angola President João Lourenço. Upon hearing the news, President Biden immediately asked to speak with senior leadership at Spirit as he considered his options.
• Ukraine International Airlines announced plans to extend what was to be summer only service from Kiev to Tashkent, Uzbekistan (TAS) on November 5.

The librarian at my university suggested I get a telescope because I’m always checking out books on astronomy and space. I told her I’d look into it.

United Beats Q3 Expectations

United Airlines’s third quarter earnings report showed better-than-expected results as the carrier posted a net profit of $473 million buoyed by $1.13 in federal payroll assistance. Total revenue for the quarter came in at $7.75 billion, beating the $7.64 billion prediction Wall Street had pegged for the airline.

In the fourth quarter, United expects capacity to be off of 2019’s pace by 23%, with revenue down 25-30% from the $11.38 billion in made in gross profits in the final quarter two years ago.

UA dropped operating expenses nearly one-third, by 32.2% from the third quarter of 2019. Much of the savings came from flying fewer people through its Newark hub, saving on compensation payouts to customers from the traumatic experience of being in Newark. United expects 2022 capacity to be up 5% from 2019, despite the expected drop in capacity and revenue for the final quarter of 2021.

The carrier ended the year with a liquidity position of $21 billion which is a combination of cash, cash equivalents, and furniture stored in a Houston warehouse for its never-opening Polaris lounges.

Delta Grows in NYC, Challenging Northeast Alliance

Delta Air Lines on Tuesday announced more than 100 new daily departures from its two hubs in New York at both New York/LGA and New York/JFK for travel this fall compared to summer 2021.

The added capacity will see about 8,000 new seats on the carrier each day next year, which is in no way surprising since slot waivers at NY airports end November 1 for domestic flights. For Delta, it was use them or lose them. But hey, there’s nothing wrong with Delta making this look like proactive growth, and there is definitely a kernel of truth in here that it is in response to the burgeoning alliance between American and JetBlue in NYC, despite the tie-up between the two being in the crosshairs of a DOJ lawsuit.

Added capacity will be focused on key business markets from NYC including increased frequency to Boston, Washington/National, Raleigh-Durham, and Charlotte.  Delta will also deploy its fancy new A220 aircraft on key routes from New York, including Chicago/O’Hare, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Houston/IAH.

While these routes between major cities are not usually funded via government subsidies, Delta did find a big bag of money in its mail slot at DOJ headquarters in DC with a note that said “To: DL NYC Team, Love DOJ Antitrust Division.” Neither Delta nor anyone from the federal government would comment on the record to Cranky Daily about the payment.

United has its aha! Moment

United Airlines is expected to sell its 49.9% stake in ExpressJet Airlines — the regional carrier that it tossed into the trash heap last year as it ended its regional flying agreement with the carrier — if it can find anyone to buy it.

United acquired ExpressJet from SkyWest in 2018 and used it as a regional carrier operating E145s on its behalf. The relationship continued until 2020 when UA consolidated its E145 operations under CommutAir, effectively ending its relationship with its own subsidiary.

Earlier this year, ExpressJet announced its relaunch as an independent carrier that will begin flying later this week out of its new hub in Reno. The new carrier, named aha!, for reasons that escape all logic, will operate to eight cities when it begins flying on Sunday. All eight destinations are small to medium sized airports which aha! deems as “underserved,” which is a nice way of saying no one really wants to go there.

• Air Congo was unveiled by DRC government as the nation’s second national carrier. Air Congo will operate as a JV with Ethiopian Airlines which will give the new airline seven aircraft as part of a new airline starter kit.
• Air New Zealand received $120 million in subsidies from the government to continue to operate cargo flights.
• AirAsia X has asked its creditors to accept a plan where the carrier pays about 0.5% of its $8.1 billion in outstanding debt which is a hell of a deal if you can get it.
• British Airways led the way with three separate fines for misuse of slots at London/Heathrow airport for the time period between March 29, 2020 and September 30, 2021. Other guilty airlines included Air China, CargoJet, and HiFly. All of the carriers will be required to spend their fine at a Heathrow duty free shop on perfume or booze.
• Chair Airlines plans to sit down and announce the debut of A320 operations later this year.
• easyJet will open its first lounge tomorrow at London/Gatwick. Access is limited to all those hordes flying on long-haul, premium class on easyJet… but also anyone willing to pay an hourly fee at check-in.
• Eurowings plans to add an A320neo in the first half of next year and an A321neo in the first half of 2023.
• JetBlue is scheduling its A220 aircraft to operate on transcon routes from Boston to Portland, Salt Lake City, and San Jose.
• Motu Link Airline has been granted an operating license by the French Polynesian government.
• PLAY time will soon begin in the United States after the DOT granted initial approval to PLAY Airline a foreign air carrier permit to operate in the United States.
• Singapore will resume 3x-weekly service to Houston/IAH via Manchester, UK on December 1.
• Smartwings resumed service between Prague and Dubai today. The carrier will operate the route every other day on a B737 MAX aircraft.

Tequila might not be the answer. But it’s worth a shot.

Sun Country Adds 11 Flights to Seven Cities

Sun Country is growing at its Minneapolis/St. Paul hub as the carrier adds nonstop service to seven new airports. All seven new cities will see twice weekly service on Sun Country beginning either next April or next June. New destinations for the carrier include:

• Buffalo (beginning June 9)
• Burlington, VT (beginning June 16)
• Charleston, SC (beginning April 7)
• Jacksonville (beginning April 8)
• Pittsburgh (beginning June 2)
• Spokane (beginning June 9)
• Vancouver (beginning June 15)

In addition to the seven new cities, Sun Country will also continue nonstop service to four destinations that had previously been seasonal. New Orleans is back with 4x-weekly service beginning April 7, Asheville, NC will now operate year-round with twice weekly flights, Savannah will resume April 7 with twice weekly service, and Milwaukee will operate twice weekly beginning June 2.

With this expansion, Sun Country will operate more than 100 routes to 80 airports. Some of the airports are places people want to go, others are places that the carrier’s senior leadership accidentally selected when a darts game taking place near a map of North America got a little wild, and the rest are places that no one wants to go but they were willing to pay Sun Country heavy subsidies to sporadically offer flights from other mid-sized airports. And absolutely none of the routes are to other Delta hubs.

Alaska Announces an Environmental Thingy

Alaska Airlines announced the formation of Alaska Star Ventures, a new LLC that it claims will “advance emerging technology to accelerate the airline’s progress towards net zero carbon emissions.”

Alaska’s pilots and flight attendants both misread the initial release, thinking that the carrier was introducing not a new LLC, but a new LCC, which caused both groups to immediately come out against the project. After being corrected, they still oppose the project because – despite reading the release several times – can’t figure out exactly what it is Alaska is doing.

“We’re proud of our ambitious targets and our legacy of being pioneers,” said Diana Birkett Rakow, Alaska Airlines’ vice president of public affairs and sustainability, a line that could be generically applied to basically anything. The new LLC is partnering with UP.Partners, an early-stage investor in sustainable, multi-dimensional mobility technologies which probably has something to do with Alaska’s announcement, although it remains unclear at this point.

Alaska’s goal is to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040 and plans to do whatever it takes to get there even if means canceling all flights while continuing to schedule them as if nothing is wrong – or as some call it “pulling a Southwest.”

El Al Considers Buyout of Rival Carrier Arkia

El Al Israel Airlines, the nation’s flag carrier has begun negotiations with Arkia Israel Airlines about purchasing the smaller rival. El Al revealed the news in a required disclosure to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange Monday night. The negotiations are in the preliminary phase and are expected to proceed slowly with both sides taking a passive aggressive approach to the discussions as learned from their Jewish mothers.

Israeli antitrust officials blocked a potential merger between El Al and Israir three years ago over anti-competition concerns and the idea that the new, combined carrier might name itself El Is Al, which is clearly a mouthful to pronounce.

Since the onset of the pandemic, most in the country agree that the Israeli market is not big enough for three competing carriers and allowing El Al to merge with either Arkia or Israir could be best for consumers. If the purchase were to go though, El Al would be able to focus on long-haul service to North America while Arkia would focus on short and medium-haul Europe and Asia. Israir would then be left to join the pair at industry dinners as a scorned and awkward third wheel.

All three Israeli carriers appealed to the government for financial support last month – their second plea in as many months – but have not yet received any cash, much to the smug satisfaction of Ryanair officials.

• Air Austral has reached an agreement with Air France/KLM to perform component support (a fancy term for maintenance) on its fleet of three A220 aircraft.
• Air France/KLM is threatening to sue Amsterdam Schiphol after the airport announced its intention to hike landing fees charged to carriers as much as 40% over the next three years.
• Aurigny Air is having its $86.3 million worth of debts written off by the parliament of Guernsey. It was actually a tie until the third parliament member, a dairy cow named Sara, mooed her approval.
• Connect Airlines took delivery of its first Q400 aircraft yesterday, moving the carrier one step closer to becoming an actual airline.
• Flair Airlines added some flair to its U.S. route map adding three new destinations: Denver, Nashville, and San Francisco.
• LATAM requested a postponement of the presentation of its bankruptcy restructuring plan to the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to November 26.
• Ryanair is launching two new routes — Edinburgh to Marrakech twice-weekly beginning December 18, and Manchester to Lviv (LWO), also twice weekly, beginning November 5.
• Sun Country‘s main shareholder, private equity firm Apollo Global Management, sold 8.5 million shares of the airline for $266 million. The purchasers can pick up the shares at MSP’s Humphrey Terminal 2.
• Thai hopes to resume service between Melbourne and Bangkok by April 2022.
• United extended the schedule for its service between Newark and Maui to operate 5x-weekly between May 7 and September 4.

You really should try archery while blindfolded. You don’t know what you’re missing.

Dulles Temporary Midfield Terminal Potentially to be Replaced

The temporary midfield terminal at Washington/Dulles Airport, also known as Concourses C and D, could finally be on the way out after the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) presented its plan to replace the temporary terminal that’s temporarily been the home of United Airlines at IAD for the last 35 years.

MWAA says that projects to replace the temporary terminal were held up by such recent events as World War II, the summer of love, the 1990-91 recession, 9/11, and the Great Recession of 2008. United is in discussions with MWAA on the project, as the temporary terminal is the temporary home of United’s sixth-largest hub – a better facility could see it vault up to fourth or fifth in the rankings, much like a college football team with a less than overwhelming win on Homecoming Saturday.

During the first seven months of the year, just under seven million passengers flew at IAD, a 32% increase from a year ago but a 51% drop from 2019. One sticking point in the negotiations is MWAA’s insistence that United not operate any flights to or from Newark from the new terminal since it doesn’t want such a gleaming new build to be sullied. It has also demanded full control of the route map which would result in more daily service to Hawai’i, and increased daily service to Germany to better connect customers to Wheneverfest.

AA Flight AAttendant AArrested for Bringing Trinkets Home from Overseas

An American Airlines flight attendant was arrested in Buenos Aires late last month for attempted smuggling before working on AA900, service to Miami.

When placing her carry-on through the x-ray at the security checkpoint in Buenos Aires, officials discovered more than $11,000 in cash plus in excess of $110,000 in goods and jewelry including:

• The cash, including $11,413 in USD and additional amounts of Argentinian and Colombian pesos
• Three gold bars including 2.2kg of gold
• Three classic watches, including two Rolexes, an Audemars Piguet, and one of those cool Casio calculator watches
• Old coins
• Five rings
• Four bracelets
• Three French hens
• Two necklaces
• A partridge in a pear tree

The flight attendant claimed that the cash was hers, she found the coins, and the rest were inflight donations given to her by passengers. If that’s the case, she must be the best flight attendant in AA history, and the airline would be wise to post her bail and get her back to work immediately.

Korean and Asiana Merger Moves Closer to Approval

South Korea’s consumer watchdog Fair Trade Commission is moving closer to approving the merger between Korean Air and Asiana – the country’s two largest airlines – provided the new combined carrier is willing to divest itself of many of its exclusive route authorities to foreign airlines or unaffiliated Korean LCCs. It’s time to shine, Eastar Jet!

The head of the FTC in Korea, Joh Sung-wook shared his hesitancy surrounding the deal earlier this month due to the giant monopoly the combined airline would have in Korea. But some in the Korean government have said that due to the size of the two airlines merging, monopoly concerns would present themselves no matter how the tie up is presented and creating the best deal for other players in the market is the optimum outcome.

Long haul international routes are expected to be redistributed to foreign airlines as the rest of the Korean domestic market is dominated by LCCs without the capacity to operate to Europe and North America. But regional routes within Asia and domestic destinations will prove to be very attractive to the LCC market creating a new competitive market on all but the longest flights from Seoul.

• Aegean Airlines has taken financial and operational control of Romanian carrier Animawings.
• Air Canada is doubling its spending requirement for non-Canadian members to earn and retain status.
• Air Tahiti Nui received a $79 million state subsidy from the Tahitian government. Ryanair is taking an extended holiday at the airport hotel to complete its usual investigation of the loan.
• AirBlue took delivery of its first A321neo on Friday.
• Alitalia ITA is offering a status match to elite members of basically every loyalty program in the world including AirTran, Continental, Northwest, Song, Ted, and TWA as the leadership running the “new” airline never got the message these carriers are no longer operating.
• Austrian Airlines is expanding its premium economy offerings on its fleet of B767-300ER aircraft, going from 18 premium economy seats to 30.
• Eastar Jet delayed its relaunch to summer 2022 or whenever the Korean government gives it rights to a bunch of routes — WestJet officials had no comment.
• FlyLeOne, the newest carrier on Malta began scheduled ops.
• French Bee‘s first A350-1000 — with 480 seats (!!!) — underwent its first test flight today.
• Garuda Indonesia plans to simplify its fleet down to operating just two aircraft types — B737s and A330s.
• NG Eagle had its certification process suspended by the Nigerian senate.
• Rex is expected to resume B737 flights between Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra on November 15.
• SATA Air Açores is expected to be bailed out by the Portuguese government. As soon as Ryanair is done investigating the Air Tahiti Nui loan, it will turn its attention to this one.
• United upgraded its flights from Los Angeles and San Francisco to Sydney to a B777.

What font do they use for the letter noodles in alphabet soup?

Times New Ramen

United States Travel Ban to End November 8

It was several weeks ago that the federal government announced its travel ban for most foreign visitors to the United States would end in early November, and we now know what early November means to the government. November 8 is the date foreign visitors will be welcomed back into the USA – provided they are vaccinated and can explain the infield fly rule.

Visitors to the United States (along with returning citizens) still need to provide a negative test result taken within 72 hours of arrival in addition to proving their vaccination status. The government will recognize any vaccine recognized by the FDA, WHO, and Joe Biden’s aunt’s dermatologist. That means that the accepted vaccines will include:

• AstraZeneca
• Johnson & Johnson
• Moderna
• Pfizer-BioNTech
• Sinopharm
• Sinovac
• Bleach

The notable missing vaccine is Russia’s Sputnik vaccine, which is not recognized by the WHO, many of which speculate because it’s assumed that it’s not a vaccine but a rocketship going to space.

Unvaccinated Americans will be required to take three tests to return to the country – a negative test must be provided which was taken within one day of returning to the United States, another test will be required upon arrival, and a third test to see what Facebook post they read that is keeping them unvaccinated.

Arrivederci, Alitalia (For Now)

The current iteration of Alitalia operated its final flight last night as AZ1586 from Cagliari to Rome was fittingly delayed by about 20 minutes on both departure and arrival, an appropriate end for the brand which will never be seen again, until potentially later today when ITA begins operating as a new airline.

The new carrier – ITA – purchased the Alitalia brand for €90 million, just a smidge under the original asking price of €291 million. The money is being paid from the new airline, which is owned by the government, to the owner of the Alitalia brand – which is also the government. The new airline says it won’t use the brand of the old airline – for now – but that it spent the €90 million to prevent others from buying the brand. Okay.

The new carrier’s schedule filings still reflect the AZ code, so the Alitalia name isn’t going away completely. Or at all.  No one really knows at this point.

Qantas to Resume LA, London Flights Earlier Than Previously Planned

Qantas will expedite the resumption of flights to Los Angeles and London, beginning to fly to the two cities from Sydney on November 1, two weeks prior to the previous resumption date of November 14.

Qantas will operate 5x-weekly service on the Sydney to London/Heathrow route, with 4x-weekly service to start on Sydney to Los Angeles. Passengers who are already booked on the carrier’s London or LA flights who want to move travel up to take advantage of the new launch date can do so without paying a change fee. Both flights will be operated by Qantas’s B787 Dreamliner. The flight to London will operate via Darwin until at least April.

The initial flights will be limited to Australian citizens, permanent residents and their immediate families and parents. The Australian government is currently focused on bringing home all ex-pat Australians who have not yet managed to get back due to severe arrival capacity constraints into the country.

• Air Madagascar plans to enter bankruptcy protection.
• Air Nostrum was granted another €9mn in state aid. Ryanair said once they figured out what Air Nostrum was, it planned to contest the loan.
• ANA finally took delivery of its third and final A380 aircraft.
• Delta is adding new nonstop service to Panama City, Panama from Los Angeles and Orlando on December 18 and New York/JFK on December 29. It also will add a second Saturday flight from Atlanta on December 18.
• IAG appointed Steve Gunning as its new CFO. His first task in the new role will be to figure out exactly how much BA could save if it rebranded to British Airway.
• LATAM has requested another extension to file Chapter 11 reorganization plans, this time to November 26.
• Qantas is selling a parcel of land near the Sydney Airport for $595 million.
• SKY Express signed a propeller maintenance agreement with Fokker Services.
• Thai resumed daily service between Sydney and Bangkok. It also repaid $38 million worth of debt to its creditors.
• TUI Travel took delivery of a brand spanking new B737 MAX 8 aircraft.
• Volotea will open a base in Alghero (AHO) after the carrier won the right to operate up to six routes for seven months connecting Sardinia with mainland Italy.

When two vegans get in an argument, is it still called a beef?

United Adds a Slew of New International Routes in 2022

United Airlines announced a major expansion of international flights today to new destinations in Europe and the Middle East. The carrier is adding 10 new transatlantic routes in all in 2022 — in addition to restoring previous routes that had their introduction delayed by the pandemic — betting that U.S. customers will return to international travel in droves next year.

New destinations for United include:

• Washington/Dulles to Amman, Jordan (AMM) 3x-weekly beginning May 5
• Newark to Bergen, Norway (BGO), 3x-weekly beginning May 5
• Newark to Palma de Mallorca (PMA), 3x-weekly beginning June 2
• Newark to Tenerife, Spain in the Canary Islands (TFS), 3x-weekly beginning June 9
• Newark to Ponta Delgado, Portugal in the Azores (PDA), daily beginning May 13

Other new routes to previously served destinations include Denver to Munich, Chicago/O’Hare to Milan and Zurich, Washington/Dulles to Berlin, Los Angeles to Tokyo/Haneda, San Francisco to Bangalore, and Newark to Nice. There were probably more, but we were distracted by Southwest again making more excuses for melting down and lost track.

In the teeny-tiny fine print of United’s announcement, the carrier also announced it would end three previously flown routes: Newark to Manchester, Newark to Glasgow, and San Francisco to Dublin, news that came as a big relief to the people of Manchester and Glasgow as the regular service from Newark was ruining their reputations.

For more on today’s United new destination announcement, please visit today’s post on crankyflier.com.

Air Canada Expands Worldwide

Air Canada announced increases in service in South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and India today as it tries to regain its footing now that borders are open in its home market.

Beginning with South America, the carrier will fly its maple leaf-adorned aircraft to São Paulo daily from Toronto beginning December 6, and 4x-weekly from Montreal beginning December 8. Those flights will tag on to Buenos Aires 4x-weekly. Montreal to Bogotá resumes with 3x-weekly service on December 2 with Toronto to Bogotá increasing to 4x-weekly beginning November 7. Toronto to Santiago will resume in January with 3x-weekly service.

Air Canada’s summer schedule for Europe, Africa, the Middle East and India includes year-round service to 19 destinations and summer seasonal flights to an additional 10. The 29 destinations will operate from AC’s four Canadian hubs – Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Calgary. Year-round service returns include Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Lyon, Madrid and Lyon, along with seasonal returns to Athens, Rome, and Lisbon.

Beginning October 31, Air Canada will begin new nonstop service from Montreal to Delhi, with Toronto service on the route increasing from daily to 10x-weekly.

ANA to Begin Mixed Fleet Flying

ANA will begin Mixed Fleet Flying (MFF) for the A380 and A320 family of aircraft after the concept was approved by Japan’s Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB). ANA will become the first airline in the world to introduce MFF between these two types of aircraft.

Mixed Fleet Flying is a unique concept to Airbus aircraft, due to commonality on its aircraft in both the flight deck and passenger cabin. The level of technical commonality between Airbus fly-by-wire aircraft also simplifies maintenance activity, leading to reduced costs, or so they want you to believe.

The change will allow the carrier to swap different sized aircraft at short notice without having to disrupt crew scheduling, so when that tidal wave of demand hits the Tokyo – Nagasaki market, the A380 will be ready to step in. This idea is certainly something that Southwest will be watching with a careful eye.

• Advanced Air has earned the EAS contract for Merced Yosemite Regional Airport (MCE), operating 12-weekly nonstops to each of Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The flights are being timed to provide easy connections to the city’s bus schedule to and from the airport, something more airlines should take into consideration.
• Air Astana will begin twice weekly service to Phuket on October 31st.
• Alliance Air is the latest airline owned by the Indian government to be put up for sale.
• Alt Air has offered up an alternate start date, now expecting to begin operations in Q2 of next year.
• Connect Airlines‘s parent company Waltzing Matilda responded to the DOT’s request to fix the mistakes in its AOC application. The new document has been spell checked and everything.
• Ethiopian linked up with Airlink on an interline agreement.
• HelloFly said hello to Trapani, Italy (TPS), the site of its new Italian base.
• JSX will begin 5x-weekly service between Westchester and Miami beginning November 18.
• LATAM group plans to keep its B767s around, canceling its yard sale which was planned for Thanksgiving weekend.
• PIA is suspending service to Kabul indefinitely.
• Ryanair is launching new routes from Derry (LGY) to Manchester (operating 3x-weekly through March) and from Leeds (LBA) to Poznan, Poland (POZ).
• SARPA plans to begin scheduled passenger operations late this year.
• Singapore is bringing the A380 back into service on November 18.
• SWISS plans to retire its entire A340 fleet by 2025.
• TruJet has been sold to former promoter Vankayalapati Umesh. It’s tru.

What’s the difference between a clown and an athletic rabbit? One is a bit funny and the other is a fit bunny.

American and JetBlue Move Relationship to Next Level

American and JetBlue announced the next phase of their Northeast Alliance — despite the DOJ’s ongoing lawsuit regarding the tie up — as the two carriers launch reciprocal elite perks with award redemptions to follow soon.

Reciprocal points earning began this past spring, and now elite fliers of both loyalty programs will receive perks when flying the other airline to include:

• Priority check-in
• Up to two free checked bags, weighing up to 50 pounds each
• Priority baggage handling, which on AA means your bag might make it to its destination
• Priority security
• Priority boarding (with JetBlue’s Mosaic elite passengers on JetBlue flights, and with Group 4 on American which is actually the 11^th of 43 boarding groups)
• Free same day flight changes (Mosaic flying American only)

What’s missing? Complimentary access to upgraded economy (Main Cabin Extra on AA and Even More Space on JetBlue), free alcoholic drinks in economy (each airline offers this to their own elites), and the holy grail: premium class upgrades. Surprisingly, all three of these missing benefits are available to any fliers on either airline who present a DOJ badge, but neither airline would confirm it had any correlation with the pending lawsuit.

Reciprocal award redemptions are expected to begin next month once JetBlue figures out how to redeem AAdvantage miles for anything other than an economy flight from Dallas/Ft. Worth to Wichita.

Delta Earnings Report Reveals Profitable Third Quarter

Delta Air Lines held its third quarter earnings call today, and announced the carrier turned a profit for the three months ending in September, its second profitable quarter since the pandemic and its first when not accounting for federal aid.

Delta turned a profit of $1.2 billion, down 19% from the third quarter in 2019, on gross revenues of $9.15 billion. The revenue figure beat analysts expectation of $8.4 billion as the carrier made more than predicted due to actually flying the flights it listed on its schedule.

American Express was a key driver in Delta’s profit as the carrier brought in just over $1 billion from Amex, through the sale of SkyMiles, revenue split on co-branded credit cards, and one-time payment to the airline in exchange for Delta agreeing not to expose Amex’s secret that its platinum credit cards aren’t really made of platinum.

Delta ended September with $15.8 billion liquidity including cash, cash equivalents, Biscoff reserves, and money owed to it from other airlines for transporting their passengers during all the operational meltdowns all summer.

United Gives Employees $1,000 Bonus

United Airlines is giving all of its active employees $1,000 in hazard pay bonus checks to note the gratitude the carrier has for their hard work during the pandemic. United typically recognizes 100 employees each year with cash bonuses and its United 100 award but instead awarded it to everyone this year.

A plane has been painted in a special livery to recognize the dedication of UA employees, and the carrier guaranteed it would not ever fly it to Newark as to not sully the unique aircraft. United has about 80,000 full-time employees, leading to a bill of $80 million for the airline, or roughly what it spends on compensation vouchers on one foggy morning in San Francisco.

• Aegean Airlines plans to add ATR72s to its fleet early next year.
• Air Belgium entered into an agreement with Rolls Royce to handle maintenance and repair on its A330neo engines.
• Bluebird Nordic added a B737-700 (BCF) aircraft.
• Etihad raised $1.2 billion in a sustainability-linked loan to help outfit its cabins with more bling.
• Fly Sky airlines will continue to fly airplanes in the sky despite rebranding itself as Rom Cargo.
• Flyr agrd to lease six new B737-8 arcrft to be delvrd next year.
• GlobalX, an airline that doesn’t yet fly was allocated 508 slots to fly airplanes to Havana.
• Lufthansa repaid €1.5 billion back to the German government earlier than previously scheduled.
• Middle East Airlines is running a 2-month trial offering live television onboard its A321LR fleet.
• Ryanair will open a new Manchester, UK base before the end of the year.
• Volaris El Salvador now plans to begin U.S. service in March.

What kind of shoes does a lazy person wear? Loafers.

Southwest’s Weekend from Hell Continues

The holiday weekend may be over, but Southwest’s operational challenges remain, as the carrier’s meltdown is now in its 4^th day. After canceling nearly 2,000 flights combined on Saturday and Sunday, Southwest axed another 350 on Monday and is still expecting cancellations into the triple digits on Tuesday.

The reasons being bandied about for the meltdown are as varied as the number of cancellations themselves, from bad weather, to FAA staffing issues, the carrier overextending itself with its scheduling, a potential pilot work action over vaccine mandates, a honey roasted peanut supply chain issue, the airline misplacing its boarding number signposts at airports across the country, and someone unplugging an important computer at operations HQ in Dallas and no one has realized it yet to plug it back in.

As Southwest gets its planes and crews back where they need to be, it hopes to be back to normal on Wednesday, operating most flights as scheduled with some of them operating on-time. For more on Southwest’s operational meltdown and its attempted recovery, visit today’s post at crankyflier.com.

LCC Startup Bonanza Continues Down Under with Bonza

The newest entrant into the LCC world is down under, as new Australian airline Bonza plans a mid-2022 launch, flying a fleet of B737 MAX 8 aircraft in an all-economy configuration.

The new carrier will be entering a crowded Australian market that includes Qantas and its LCC subsidiary Jetstar, but also Rex and Virgin Australia. If Rex spent most of the last year complaining about competition from Qantas, there’s no way it’s going to be happy with another entrant into the market.

Bonza plans to focus on a network of regional leisure destinations across the country via point-to-point service, a different approach in a country where most air travel is focused on the vaunted triangle of Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

Bonza’s CEO Tim Jordan gave the LCC boilerplate about low cost not meaning low quality, and that the airline will be for all Australian travelers, implying that Qantas is only interested in the business traveler and it is turning away customers at the boarding door who appear they’re going on vacation. It plans low frequency service of two or three times a week to as many as 45 airports around the country, some of which are places people really want to go.

American Expects Strong Fourth Quarter

American Airlines is “planning for a robust peak travel period in the fourth quarter,” it said in an 8-K filing with the SEC today, also announcing a stronger than expected third quarter.

Its full Q3 fiscal report will be released soon, but the carrier said its Q3 revenue was down 25% from Q3 2019, on the high-end of its forecast at the start of the quarter where it expected a loss between 24% and 28%. American paid $2.08 for jet fuel in the quarter and consumed 941 million gallons of gas. It saved $0.20 per gallon from the original price of $2.28 because it bought all of its on-board snacks for its entire operation at one Safeway in Northern California, and used the accumulated points on its Safeway card for the savings on the 900 million gallons of fuel.

AA flew 61.1 billion total available seat miles, a drop of 19.4% from Q3 2019. Sixty of the 61.1 billion miles were flown circling DFW waiting for storms to clear and a gate to open up, with the remaining 1.1 billion used to fly customers around the world. AA expects to end the quarter with about $18 billion in liquidity which it expects to use to hire new pilots to replace the ones who won’t get the vaccine.

• Aer Lingus is in talks with the Irish government for additional state aid. Fellow Irish carrier Ryanair is taking the news well.
• Air Belgium took delivery of its first of two A330-900neo aircraft.
• Air Canada is increasing the check-in and baggage drop-off deadline to 90 minutes prior to departure in Toronto for flights to U.S. and international destinations, two groups that are not exclusive of each other.
• AirAsia is requiring all customers check in via its app. The app will confirm vaccination status and other requirements from the Malaysian government.
• easyJet predicts a £1.1-1.2bn pre-tax loss for its FY2021 that ended in September.
• Enter Air entered into a $19.6 million loan agreement with the Polish government.
• Ethiopian has resumed flying 3x-weekly to Enugu, Nigeria (ENU).
• Fiji Airways is resuming operations on December 1.
• Great Dane Airlines is not having a great day as the carrier filed for bankruptcy on Monday.
• Greater Bay Airlines is having a great day as it secured its AOC from the Hong Kong government.
• LATAM plans to fly 56% of its capacity from October in 2019 this month.
• Porter is launching a co-branded porter style beer with Beau’s Brewing Co. known as the Porter Porter to distract the public from the fact it didn’t operate a flight for a year and a half.
• Qatar has requested government permission to move its route to Brisbane from seasonal to year-round.
• Ryanair and Wizz Air both plan to open new bases at Venice/Marco Polo next spring with Ryanair saying “Marco” while Wizz Air replies “Polo.”
• Singapore will operate 4x-weekly seasonal service to Seattle and Vancouver. The flights will operate from December 3 through February 15 and will operate from Seattle to Vancouver and then to Singapore.
• SWISS will begin service to Beirut with twice weekly flights beginning December 2.

I was invited to a Halloween party this weekend, but it’s a costume party and I don’t really want to go. So I decided to dress up as a Southwest B737 from this past weekend and cancel.