Author: Andrew Bashuk

Delta Proposes National No-Fly List for Jerks

Delta Air Lines has proposed that U.S. airlines be permitted to share their no-fly lists for passengers who create disturbances on-board over their refusal to wear a mask. As it’s currently constructed, a passenger kicked off a Delta flight for refusing to wear a mask could conceivably walk across the airport and buy a ticket on another airline without incident – until he got zip-tied for not wearing a mask and being violent on that airline – but Delta’s proposal would put an end to that.

Delta now has more than 1,600 people on its mask-related no-fly lists and wants to share that list with other carriers to further protect employees across the industry. The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents 50,000 flight attendants, supports Delta’s proposal and has called for a centralized database of banned airline passengers in the past. Delta also proposes adding anyone to the no-fly list who willingly joins Spirit’s loyalty program or that lives in Florida.

The carrier would allow someone off the list if they paid a ransom of 1.2 million SkyMiles (roughly the cost of a one-way domestic redemption) and agreed to fly on the wing and not in the passenger cabin for a one-year probationary period once reinstated.

E-Gate Failure Clogs Heathrow Arrivals Hall

A failure of e-gates across the United Kingdom on Friday caused a backlog on arrival across the country, with the worst delays reported at London/Heathrow’s Terminal 5. Planes were collecting on the taxiway as Heathrow officials were not able to allow the passengers to deplane due to the overcrowded conditions in the arrivals hall as it looked to get things under control.

Some passengers were stuck on airplanes for up to two hours after arriving in London, and others reported waits in excess of two hours to pass through customs and immigration. Duty free operators at the airport had no comment when asked if they purposely sabotaged the e-gates to force people to pass the time in their stores.

Airport management at Heathrow and across the UK blamed the Border Force for the outage, while Border Force simply shrugged its shoulders and went back to working on the country’s red, amber, and green traffic light system for COVID-19 arrivals. The issue was resolved around 3:30 p.m. at which point the airport went back to its normal operation of long queues, lengthy walks to bus gates, and generally delayed flights.

AA Pilots Union Wants Ops Team Replaced

The American Airlines pilots union voted for the airline to remove its operations management team after the carrier suffered several operational issues earlier this summer. The leadership of the union voted 17-2 with one abstention for the airline to make the personnel changes.

The union’s leadership team also voted 18-2 for Coca-Cola to offer more Coke Zero in restaurants and for Southwest to bring back the honey roasted peanuts as a snack option, figuring as long as it was voting for one thing it had no power to enforce, it might as well vote for others.

As a final burn, the board also directed its president to ensure that new pilot hires are informed that the current scheduling uncertainties could affect their quality of life. While that may be true, that’s not anything new for a new hire at AA.

American keeps around 30% of its pilots on reserve, double the industry standard of 15%. The pilots union says this “is highly inefficient, and adds more hours of flying on the remaining pilots creating less scheduling flexibility causing record reassignments and pilot fatigue.”

• Aeromexico‘s pilots union prefers that the carrier maintain its partnership with Delta and its current majority Mexican ownership.
• Air Mauritius will receive a government bailout worth $281 million pending approval from its creditors and Ryanair.
• Cathay Pacific turns 75 today. Happy Birthday, Cathay!
• Citrus is the name of Russia’s S7 Airlines new low-cost carrier. It’s no Mango, but it’ll have to do.
• Cubana is indefinitely suspending its flight to Buenos Aires. Both its customers are disappointed.
• El Al sent a letter to the Israeli government demanding $100 million in compensation for what it described as damages caused by the government’s tough travel restrictions.
• GetJet Airlines signed an agreement to fly tour groups on behalf of TUI Baltics.
• KLM is resuming service to Las Vegas and Miami in December after realizing how many clubbing outfits it had in its closet after suspending service to both cities last month. Both cities will see their service to Amsterdam resume on December 7 now that US borders are reopening.
• Pakistan International Airlines owes $758 million in unpaid debts. Its strategy of saying it “never got the invoices” seems to have run its course as the Pakistani Civil Aviation Authority is threatening to cut all services if it doesn’t pay its debt by November 1. The chances of PIA coming up with nearly $800 million in the next five weeks are, to put it bluntly, not good.
• Pegasus Airlines is resuming twice daily service between London/Stansted and Istanbul/Gokcen (SAW) and 5x-weekly service between Manchester and SAW.
• PLAY will be playing in Amsterdam this summer, flying twice-weekly from Reykjavik beginning December 3.
• Thai Lion took delivery of an A330-900 this week.
• United should be given all advantages at Newark because it’s totally full and can’t take service from any new carrier, but United can add whatever flights it wants according to what the Commerce & Industry Association of New Jersey as filed with the DOT today.

I failed my driving test today. The instructor asked me, “What do you do at a red light?” I said, “I usually check my emails and see what people are up to on Facebook.”

Southwest is Prepared for Spring Break ’22 – Probably

Incoming Southwest CEO Bob Jordan said on Thursday that the carrier is halfway to its goal of bringing on 5,000 new workers this year and has already cut its schedule for the remainder of 2021 to avoid service disruptions.

The carrier expects to meet demand for Spring Break travel next year, and hopes to have another 8,000 new staff added on by then. But Jordan made it clear that if staffing levels did not reach what was deemed necessary, the airline would reduce its schedule to a point where it could comfortably operate. Meltdowns this summer from American and Spirit provide a road map of what not to do, especially Spirit, which canceled nearly a week’s worth of flights stranding customers in the most undesirable places Spirit flies, like Atlantic City and Myrtle Beach.

Southwest raised its starting pay to $15 an hour and is offering retention bonuses, referral bonuses, and cost-of-living bonuses for employees in locations with higher cost of living like Amarillo or Albuquerque.

BA Takes Its LCC Ball and Goes Home

British Airways dramatically huffed and puffed, announcing that it’s no longer planning on launching a low-cost subsidiary based at London/Gatwick after BA’s pilot union walked away from the negotiating table earlier this week.

The union left negotiations because the carrier would not agree to offer the same benefits to pilots of the new subsidiary as it offers mainline BA pilots, which misses the whole point of having an LCC in the first place. To show that it can walk away from a negotiating table also, the carrier said it wasn’t interested in creating the LCC anymore, and in fact would eliminate most of its short-haul operations at the airport.

The decision by BA is likely a negotiating ploy to get BALPA back to the bargaining table, as it seems unlikely that years of work gathering Gatwick slots would be all for naught after one disagreement.

British Airways planned for the airline to start with up to 17 A320 aircraft based at LGW in summer 2022, with more added as needed. With its plans scrapped for now, BA will store those 17 planes at gates at Heathrow with no intention to operate them, forcing more flights to operate from bus gates just for the fun of it.

SAA Hopes Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

South African Airways resumed operating both domestic and regional service within Africa today, the first flights for the carrier in almost 18 months.

South African went into business rescue in December of 2019, before the pandemic, and its fiscal instability was exacerbated by the worldwide shutdown, forcing the airline to stop flying in April of 2020. The first flight back left Johannesburg this morning and landed shortly after in Cape Town. The most remarkable news is that the airplane was not impounded upon arrival and was free to operate another flight. The flight is one of three daily round trips between the two airports on SAA.

Other service launching today goes to five regional destinations around Africa: Accra (ACC), Kinshasa (FIH), Harare (HRE), Lusaka (LUN), and Maputo (MPM).

• Aeromexico had its exclusivity period to file a reorganization plan extended until October 8.
• Alitalia retired its lone B777-300ER. It thinks it might have had more at one point, but it misplaced them at the onset of the pandemic.
• Avelo is adding a second destination from Las Vegas — Arcata/Eureka. The carrier will operate the route with twice-weekly service on Thursday and Sunday.
• British Airways reopened Executive Club membership for Australia and New Zealand residents for the first time since 2003.
• Condor is launching 5x-weekly service from Frankfurt to New York/JFK beginning November 11.
• Fiji Link resumed scheduled flight operations on Wednesday. It’s operating twice-daily round trip service between Suva (SUV) and Nadi (NAN).
• flydubai is resuming operations to both Prague and Zagreb beginning September 23. It will operate to Prague 5x-weekly and Zagreb 2x-weekly.
• Lufthansa is bringing its final B747 out of storage and back into service.
• Northern Pacific Airlines, an airline that isn’t quite yet an airline, purchased six B757-200 aircraft to operate its new service to Asia and the contiguous United States from its Anchorage hub.
• United flight attendants will not be cleaning bathrooms outside of what’s in their union contract despite on-board announcements for passengers to let flight attendants know when restrooms have become soiled.
• Vistara will begin twice-weekly service from Delhi to Paris/CDG beginning November 7.

How does a penguin build a house? Igloos it together.

AA & JetBlue Respond to DOJ Lawsuit

Both American Airlines and JetBlue Airways released statements and create the NEAflies website in response to the lawsuit filed by the DOJ yesterday and the two carriers were united in their belief that the DOJ is off-base and that their alliance would proceed as planned.

JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes said the alliance has led to lower fares for the northeastern United States and that the airlines compete vigorously elsewhere, which seems like what someone would say whose alliance is being challenged by the government. “DOJ presided over an unprecedented amount of consolidation to create four large airlines,” Hayes said, using the “if someone else did it, then it must be OK for me to do it” defense that younger siblings have tried to use unsuccessfully since the beginning of time.

Doug Parker, CEO of AA said the DOJ lawsuit “seeks to take away consumer choice and inhibit competition, not encourage it. This is not a merger: American and JetBlue are – and will remain – independent airlines.” And he’s right, except for the coordination on scheduling, loyalty programs and slots at the nation’s busiest slot-controlled airports, the two carriers are totally independent airlines competing with each other.

Australia Plans to Reopen by Christmas, Unless it Doesn’t

Australia expects to reopen its borders by Christmas according to Dan Tehan, the country’s minister for trade, tourism, and investments. Tehan said on Wednesday that after nearly two years of being closed, the country expects it border to finally open to vaccinated Australians and visitors provided 80% of Australians were vaccinated by the winter.

International visitors to Australia will need to be vaccinated to enter the country, and Australia is reportedly working out a vaccine passport with several countries including Singapore, Japan, and the United States. And if they’ll let Americans back in, you know they’ll let anyone in.

Australia still has more than 45,000 citizens stranded overseas and unable to return home due to arrival caps and limited options from much of the world. It’s being pushed hard by the Vegemite industry to get the stranded Australians home because no foreign visitor would be clueless enough to buy their product.

SFO Introduces Vaccine Mandate            

San Francisco International Airport is instituting a vaccine mandate effective December 1 for all tenants, on-site contractors, and on-site personnel. It originally planned for the mandate to begin November 1, but it was delayed by Karl (the fog).

The definition of on-site personnel includes anyone whose main job duties are performed at the airport or who require an airport ID to perform their duties. Airline crew members are not subject to the mandate, but other airline staff based at the airport are.

By October 1, each tenant and contractor will have to share the number of its on-site personnel that are fully vaccinated, partially vaccinated, and those who have been granted an exemption. To ease the rapidly approaching December 1 deadline, employees can receive the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine on-site at the SFO Medical Clinic.

The airline will allow exemptions for legitimate religious or medical reasons, but specifically noted that exemptions would not be granted for scientific reasons and is being generous using the word scientific. Exempted workers will be required to take weekly COVID-19 tests to continue their employment.

• Aer Lingus ground crew rejected the most recent proposal from the airline that would include a pay freeze through 2024.
• airBaltic plans to recruit and hire an additional 320 crew members by next summer.
• Alitalia‘s final weeks are being plagued by chaos, labor strife, and protests. So, no change, really.
• Bamboo Airlines signed a nearly $2 billion dollar deal with GE to purchase engines for its Dreamliner aircraft and a lot of light bulbs.
• Condor is adding an A330ceo aircraft to its fleet. Remain calm.
• Eastar Jet submitted its restructuring plan to Seoul’s Bankruptcy Court, revealing it hopes to resume operating early next year.
• El Al plans to lay off up to 1,500 employees and cut 26 aircraft.
• ExpressJet requested the DOT register a bunch of annoying potential new airline names including “aha!” and “fly-aha!”
• JetBlue‘s flight attendant union is suing the carrier because it does want to be forced to supply a doctor’s note for sick days.
• orange2fly is feeling blue today as it filed for bankruptcy.
• Starlux is taking delivery of its first A330neo this February.
• SWISS is planning to operate to 90 unique destinations this winter from Geneva and Zurich, including 25 from Geneva and 81 from Zurich.
• United says 97% of its employees are vaccinated. Terminations for unvaccinated employees can begin at the carrier as soon as Tuesday.

My friend told me Canada’s prime minster was reelected this week. I thought he was lying.

It’s Trudeau.

Justice Department to Tell AA, JetBlue to Pump the BrAAkes

The Department of Justice filed a lawsuit to halt the Northeast Alliance between American and JetBlue on antitrust grounds after government lawyers found the big bag of money Spirit left for them buried underground at what is left of Gate 35X at Washington/National Airport.

The two carriers announced their relationship last summer, and started officially dating earlier this year, with the two coordinating on schedules and introducing earn and burn reciprocity in their loyalty programs. The pair had to divest themselves of limited slots at slot-controlled northeast airports and are not supposed to discuss pricing strategies, but they are allowed to pass unmonitored notes between each other during class so anything’s on the table, really.

American is using JetBlue’s strong northeast presence to build its international operation out of New York and Boston while JetBlue uses AA to show its customers what it’ll do to them if they misbehave on-board.

The alliance has faced criticism from the start from other airlines, specifically Spirit. But like the little boy who cried wolf, Spirit’s complaints had fallen on deaf ears – until now. Spirit’s contention that the two rushed their agreement through the previous administration now might bear fruit as the Biden administration’s DOJ takes aim at the alliance.

The British Airways New LCC Plan Loses Union Support

The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) pulled out of negotiations with British Airways over the establishment of a new LCC from BA to be based out of London/Gatwick. The union walked away when BA refused to contractually commit to providing the same benefits to pilots of the LCC as it does pilots for BA… which would defeat the whole point of what BA wants to do anyway.

The union canceled the vote amongst its members, creating a major issue for the carrier which was supposed to launch in time for next summer. BA told the Daily Mail that it remained “committed to dialogue with all interested parties,” which makes sense because it’s prohibited from operating a subsidiary without signoff from its pilots union.

Instead of the same benefits mainline BA pilots receive, the carrier offered pilots of the new carrier a 50% off Netflix subscription plus £10 Harrod’s cash, but the union refused to budge.

Vueling Grows at Paris/Orly

IAG’s Spanish LCC Vueling will be growing its presence at Paris/Orly airport as the carrier is the beneficiary of 18 slots at the airport divested by Air France.

As a condition of the €4 billion in aid it received from the pandemic, Air France agreed to give up 18 coveted slots at the congested airport, and the European Commission approved the awarding of the slots to Vueling. The decision was a compromise between Air France, the European Commission, and Ryanair, the latter of which has given itself final authority on all European state aid packages.

The 18 slots will transfer to Vueling this November, and the subsidiary of Iberia will begin operating the additional flights right away. Vueling currently operates to 15 destinations in five countries from Paris/Orly. For the new slots, it is planning on asking Air France where it doesn’t want Vueling to fly, and Vueling will then put its airplanes there.

• AirAsia and Airbus agreed to reschedule deliveries and restructure pending orders after Airbus realized otherwise it had no chance in hell at getting paid.
• Atlas Air and DHL Express have extended their agreement on Trans-Pacific cargo ops.
• Austrian will operate 16 weekly flights from Vienna to the United States once fully vaccinated EU travelers can visit the United States beginning in November.
• British Airways is keeping its lounge in Singapore closed for the indefinite future, but premium passengers on the carrier can now access the Chili’s to Go Marhaba Lounge in SIN’s Terminal 1.
• EGO Airlines is very proud to announce it plans to restart flying later this year and plans to do it better than anyone has ever done it before.
• Gol signed a commitment for up to 250 VA-X4 aircraft. It also purchased several unicorns to deliver luggage to customers, bypassing the traditional system of doing so via carousels.
• Icelandair COO Jens Thordanson resigned his position. He now plans to move somewhere warm and more southern, such as Denmark.
• Mesa announced Torque Zubeck as its new CFO. He’s getting acclimated in the new role trying to figure out how he works for an airline that does its flying for other airlines.
• PLAY won the right to purchase four A320neos for its fleet.
• Qantas will operate a one-time repatriation flight on October 5 from Buenos Aires to Darwin that will take 18 hours to cover the 9,124 miles.
• Southwest is opening a $135 million maintenance facility in Baltimore after it decided it was worth the $125 in savings to drive to Baltimore from DC.
• Spring Airlines is opening a new base in Dalian (DLC) this fall.
• SWISS is seeing an increase in demand for travel to the United States since the government of the United States announced it would again allow people to travel to the United States.

I tried to come up with a carpentry pun that woodwork. I think I nailed it.

Boeing and Ryanair End Ten Month Negotiation

After ten months of negotiations over a new deal for the 737 MAX, Ryanair is taking its drink cart and going home, claiming that Boeing won’t drop its price enough to meet Ryanair’s cheap-ass price demands for the potential order. This is usually the point when Boeing reluctantly drops it price and they take a picture of both sides smiling holding a model airplane.

Ryanair has been a big customer of Boeing’s, including an order of 75 MAX aircraft just last year. But Ryanair walked away from the negotiating table on Monday ending nearly a year of talks because Boeing refused to lower its price or agree to Ryanair’s stipulation that the manufacturer accept Ryanair vouchers as payment for the planes.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary said he was disappointed an agreement couldn’t be reached, and that his carrier does not share Boeing’s optimistic pricing outlook. O’Leary also said Boeing would not agree to Ryanair’s other terms, including reinforcing the aisles to handle hot coals to encourage fast boarding and deplaning to allow for better plane utilization times.

Philippine Airlines Files for Bankruptcy

Philippine Airlines filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York with a lender-supported plan that aims to cut $2 billion in debt. The airline will reduce its fleet from 90 to approximately 70 airplanes while cutting routes and future airplane orders.

Routes to London, New York, and Toronto are expected to be cut from the carriers route map. It will focus on routes to Asia, the west coast of North America and domestic flying within the Philippines as those are traditionally the airlines top money-makers. The three routes being cut have been highly unprofitable for the airline which makes one wonder if it had cut them before entering bankruptcy, perhaps it wouldn’t have to enter bankruptcy in the first place.

Airbus agreed to postpone deliveries of 13 new planes and gave the carrier the option to cancel some scheduled deliveries for 2026 and beyond once the airline promised to continue to send 1,000 lumpia to Toulouse every month.

Avianca Battles Low-Cost Competition

Colombian carrier Avianca is adding new point-to-point regional routes on to its route map as it looks to battle an influx of low cost carriers into Colombia and northern South America.

The airline is being forced to alter its business model to compete with LCCs, not just with new routes but by adding seats on its narrowbody jets including going to 186 seats on its A320s, the same number as its LCC competition. It is also investigating how many people it could store in the overhead compartments.

New point-to-point service from Bucaramanga(BGA), Cali (CLO), and Medellin (MDE) in Colombia; Guayaquil (GYE) and Quito (UIO) in Ecuador; and San José (SJC), Costa Rica will connect those cities to other destinations in the Americas.

• Air Seychelles‘s liquidation case is now seeing the government of Seychelles intervene as it makes good on its guarantee to prop the carrier up as needed.
• Air Wisconsin added its first dedicated CRJ freighter aircraft that will enter into service later this year. It’s expected to predominantly ship dairy products.
• Ariana Afghan Airlines resumed domestic operations over the weekend.
• Bamboo Airlines plans to operate 12 “proving flights” from Vietnam to the United Stated between September and November, proving that it can fly empty airplanes across the Pacific with ease.
• Emerald found that the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is actually an Air Operating Certificate as the carrier officially became Ireland’s newest airline on Monday.
• Ethiopian is introducing MyShebaSpace which will let passengers in coach pay to block the middle seat… so that Tom from MySpace can sit there and become your very first friend on the airline. Prices start at $30.
• Greater Bay Airlines‘s first plane arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
• KLM expanded its network to Canada, now operating from Amsterdam to Vancouver (4x weekly), Calgary (daily), Edmonton (2x weekly via Calgary), Toronto (daily), and Montreal (4x weekly).
• Jet Airways‘s previously impounded B777 sold yesterday for just $9 million as part of bankruptcy proceedings in the Netherlands.
• United is adding three new Saturday-only routes to the Caribbean. Beginning December 18, it will operate Cleveland to Nassau, Chicago/O’Hare to Guatemala City, and Denver to Roatan, Honduras.
• Virgin Atlantic extended elite status for another six months.

I had the first meeting of my camouflage club today. It looked like no one showed up.

Newark Cancels Hundreds of Flights Due to Ida

Newark airport has reduced its operation after the airport was flooded Wednesday night as the remnants of Hurricane Ida roared through the New York area. Newark’s largest carrier, United, temporarily suspended operations on Thursday morning at the airport while it evaluated whether this was a problem or actually just a welcome, long-overdue cleaning.

The airport canceled 102 flights on Wednesday night as the storm moved through, representing about 20% of what was scheduled to fly for the day. Today is looking worse as the region wakens to flood waters, with 370 flights canceled so far. New York JFK and LaGuardia also saw significant impacts.

The cancellations come on the doorstep of Labor Day Weekend, traditionally one of the last chances for residents to flee New Jersey for a weekend before the reality of summer being over sets in.

ATC was forced to abandon the control tower Wednesday night due to a tornado warning in the vicinity of the airport. The controllers were given the all-clear to return around 10 p.m., but at that point flights to all three main NYC airports had been diverted elsewhere.

Winds of Change Bring Service Reductions to Breeze

Breeze Airways completed one major initiation to join the worldwide airline club as the carrier made its first permanent route cut, while reducing several other frequencies.

Other airlines reminisced about their first permanent cut when they heard the news, with Delta remembering that Monroe to Shreveport route it cut in 1933, Hawaiian sharing memories of a flight from Honolulu to an island that doesn’t even exist anymore, and Spirit drifting back to that magical time of… last month when it canceled everything.

The change for Breeze will come Sunday when the airline axes its route between New Orleans and Huntsville. Frequency reductions from New Orleans include Oklahoma City, NW Arkansas, and Tulsa dropping from four weekly flights to two.

Apparently the state of Oklahoma has done something to anger Breeze, because in addition to the cuts to New Orleans, Oklahoma City, and Tulsa to Tampa will be reduced from three weekly flights to two. Boomer Sooner it is not.

JetBlue Extends Reduced London Schedule

JetBlue Airways will continue to fly to London through October with reduced frequencies to stem potential losses as travel between the US and UK continues to lag.

The airline will operate to London/Heathrow 4x-weekly (Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday), and to London/Gatwick 4x-weekly (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday). Heathrow service has already been flying, but Gatwick won’t launch until later this month on the 29th.

JetBlue only has access to slots at Heathrow through October 30, as the airline was able to grab unused slots for the balance of the summer slot season. Exemptions for the winter season have not been allocated at this point, leaving JetBlue standing at the M4 off-ramp with a sign, begging for any slots that any airline would be willing to spare.

Aer Lingus UK Receives US Authorization

Aer Lingus new flights between Manchester and the United States moved closer to taking to the skies as the DOT approved the carrier’s application, saying, “yeah, sure, why not? I mean, if we approved Norwegian a few years back, we’ll approve anyone.”

The government is now asking for any final objections to the new service (speak now or forever hold your peace, Ryanair), and the order should take effect before the end of September provided there are no objections.

The airline now hopes to launch US routes from Manchester – New York/JFK on December 1 and Orlando on December 11. Once tickets go on sale, the flights will be available under British Airways and Aer Lingus flight numbers in addition to Aer Lingus UK.

Australia Extends Border Closure Through December

Australia will keep its borders closed through at least December 17, one day before Qantas plans to resume international flying on December 18.

Australia’s flag carrier is scheduled to fly to Singapore, London/Heathrow, Los Angeles, and Vancouver on the 18^th, with Tokyo/Narita and Honolulu resuming the next week. The service hinges on the Australian government reopening its borders as planned when this border closure extension expires, and, believe it or not, that might actually happen.

The country has had closed borders since March 18, but is approaching an 80% nationwide vaccination rate, which is the benchmark the federal government placed to reopen borders.

• AlbaStar plans to end its B737 operation by the end of the year.
• Air Antilles resumed regularly-scheduled commercial ops.
• American added three seasonal routes from Austin to Fort Myers, Denver, and Aspen. All three will operate during the holiday period only, from December 16 to January 3.
• Atlas Air will open a maintenance base at Seoul/Incheon in 2025.
• Cathay Pacific is moving towards firing pilots and flight attendants who have not been vaccinated. The carrier has about 99% of its pilots and 93% of its flight attendants vaccinated, leaving between 60 and 80 staff potentially on the chopping block.
• Fiji Airways expects to begin flying to Australia again on December 1.
• FlyLeOne, Italy’s newest airline, (not ITA, this is an actual new airline) received its AOC.
• Frontier added flights to Antigua last month but forgot to let the government know. It’s since removed the island on its list of destinations until it receives permission.
• Hawaii Island Air, Trans States Airlines, Island Airlines, Compass Airlines, and Peninsula Aviation Services have all had their authority to operate in the United States revoked by the DOT. If any of these carriers still existed, they might be upset at the news.
• Hevilift Australia opened a new base in Perth.
• Lalona Air, a German startup, is planning to launch in January from its hub in Dusseldorf.
• PLAY isn’t playing around with its fleet as it looks to add an A320neo early next year.
• Qantas added streaming movies and tv shows to all its QantasLink jets. Rex has complained the airline did so to distract its customers from its anti-competitive practices in the marketplace.
• Virgin Atlantic is debuting “The Booth” on its leisure A350 fleet for passengers who miss the feeling of being squeezed into a tight seating area with strangers in the regular cabin and would prefer to do so in a booth. The carrier says its a unique social space designed to facilitate conversations between travelers which seems like a horrible idea.
• Volaris is raising $74.5 via a bond issue to revamp its fleet.

I moved into my new igloo last week and my friends threw me a housewarming party. Now I’m homeless.

Southwest Pilots Sue Southwest

Southwest Airlines has taken its pilots for granted and used the pandemic to unilaterally impose changes to working conditions and pay. At least, that’s the case according to the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association (SWAPA), which filed suit against the airline in federal court this week.

The union alleges in its suit that the carrier illegally granted itself “force majeure” rights at the onset of the pandemic to make changes to its agreement with its pilots. This comes shortly after the union’s lawyers looked up force majeure on Wikipedia to confirm that it wanted to go forward with the suit.

Much of the union’s complaint centers around the airline’s infectious disease policy that “significantly altered the working conditions, rules, and rates for pay for pilots.” It also doesn’t care for the airline’s decision to tell pilots who might have been in close contract with a positive COVID-19 case to go into mandatory quarantine, saying that it used this to avoid paying pilots for work trips.

Russell McCrady, Southwest’s vice president of labor relations, disagrees with the suit, saying the airline is committed to pilots’ health and welfare, just as long as pilots continue to fly the airplanes without contracting any deadly viruses.

Iberia and Alaska Request Codeshare on 78 Routes

Alaska is not wasting any time making new friends in oneworld as the carrier is requesting permission to codeshare with Iberia on 78 routes from both Los Angeles and San Francisco.

The partnership would cover 62 domestic and 16 international routes from the two California airports. The 16 international routes would service Alaska destinations in both Costa Rica and Mexico. The airlines told the DOT its application is in the public interest because it will add additional services between the EU, the US, and these 78 locations. It also believes it would benefit the public because the two airlines want to make more money and these routes would allow them to do so, which would benefit the public… as long as the public buys shares of the company.

Iberia currently flies three-weekly flights to Los Angeles from Madrid for serious travelers and two-weekly flights to San Francisco from Barcelona under the LEVEL low-cost brand which is for all the cool kids. (If you don’t know the brand, you aren’t cool.) If the codeshare is approved, Iberia will be Alaska’s 15^th codeshare partner.

Sale of SAA Nearing Completion According to Firm Buying SAA

Takatso Consortium, the preferred strategic equity partner of the South African government that will purchase a majority of SAA, is at an advanced stage in its negotiations to buy the airline according to the consortium.

Takatso is nearly complete with its due diligence of the carrier and did not identify any major issues, thanks to SAA’s well-placed hiding of Mango, a fleet of 37 Boeing B707s, and other fiscal weights around its ankles. The group is a JV between asset management firm Harith General Partners and ACMI specialist Global Aviation – not to be confused with US-based startup GlobalX. Global also owns the Lift Airlines brand, proving that a rising tide does lift all airlines… or any of them.

The consortium is moving forward with a 51% purchase of SAA from South Africa’s Department of Public Enterprises. The airline is hopeful to resume flying on September 23 with one domestic and five regional routes from Johannesburg.

Porter Debuts World’s Lightest Aircraft Seat

Porter Airlines, the Canadian carrier that hasn’t operated a flight in 18 months, used its hiatus to update the interior of its fleet, introducing the lightest seat ever used on a passenger aircraft.

All 29 of its Dash 8-400 aircraft feature the new TiSeat E2 from Expliseat, weighing in at 50% less than previous seats, dropping aircraft weight by 1,000 pounds. The seats are attached to the floor of the plane using heavy Canadian maple syrup as a glue-like substance.

As many other carriers have done, Porter is promoting the new slim seats as a passenger benefit due to the increased pitch. Most passengers would trade the extra half an inch of pitch for support around the general butt region, but airlines think otherwise.

Other aircraft upgrades include new carpeting and updated LED lightning. Porter also expects to enhance its aircraft by actually flying them with people for the first time in a year and a half, but we’ll believe that when we see it.

Eastern Airlines Launches Air Cargo Operations

Eastern Airlines – the North American version – announced it acquired 35 B777 aircraft to begin an air cargo operation. The carrier is jumping in with both feet, going for 35 planes from the get-go, as opposed to many carriers who start cargo flights with 1 or 2, or even 34 planes instead of 35.

The 35 are all passenger planes that are being converted into freighters, becoming class-E cargo aircraft. Eastern is designing the fleet to serve the e-commerce express freight market, ensuring that your bread maker purchased online gets to you within 72 hours.

The planes are expected to enter service early next year. The conversion from a passenger configuration will allow the entire main deck cabin to hold low-density, express freight cargo. The airline expects to offer general cargo sales, wet-leasing, dry-leasing and any other form of leasing for which it can make a buck.

• Air France KLM named Pierre Teboul its new Senior Vice President Commercial.
• Azul Chairman David Neeleman is joining the board of Lilium, a German-based company that’s designing an eVTOL jet.
• British Airways reopened its Concorde Rooms in both London/Heathrow and New York/JFK. Unfortunately, it did not return the Concorde to the skies.
• Cally Air in Nigeria is at risk of being grounded just a month after it began flying because it doesn’t seem to be interested in paying its bills.
• Emirates will take delivery of its final A380 this November.
• Kenya Airways is looking for another government bailout from the Kenyan government. The bailout would need approval from both Kenya’s treasury and Ryanair.
• Qantas plans to release oodles — that’s a technical term — of award seats at reduced rates when it begins international flying again this December.
• Rex deferred delivery of four B737-800 aircraft it was due to receive this year to mid-2022, probably because of something Qantas did.
• SWISS is launching dine-on-demand in business class, finally curing all that is wrong in the world.
• WestJet announced new service to Scotland, with the airline flying 4x-weekly to Glasgow from Toronto beginning May 20 and 3x-weekly to Edinburgh from Toronto, beginning June 2.

How do you deal with a sad astronaut? Just give them some space.

Oops, Our Bad: We noted yesterday that United’s EAS route from PQI to EWR was the only EAS route in the country with first class. Alaska operates first class on several EAS routes within Alaska, making the UA route the only EAS route with first class in the continental United States.

New Orleans Cancels All Flights Tuesday

All flights in and out of Louie Armstrong New Orleans International Airport were canceled again on Tuesday, the fourth consecutive day of no commercial activity at the airfield.

Despite the terrible winds and storms from Hurricane Ida, the airport’s runways and taxiways made it out of the storm relatively unscathed. Some jet bridges were damaged, but the airport is already working to repair those issues. Other issues sustained at the airport include debris on airport roadways and damage to the perimeter fence.

Power at the airport is being run on generators, and water pressure is dangerously low. Approximately 200 flights have already been canceled for tomorrow, or as Spirit calls it, “Wednesday.” More are expected to be axed through the evening and into tomorrow morning.

AA AAds 18 New Widebody Routes to LAAtin AAmerica

American’s new schedule for November includes widebody aircraft on 18 routes to Latin America that were previously served by either narrowbody planes or rickety boats that sometimes made it to their destinations and sometimes didn’t.

AA will send B787 Dreamliner aircraft to Jamaica for much of the winter season from Dallas/Ft. Worth, Miami, and Philadelphia. The DFW flight will operate between November 2 and March 26, with an intermission between January 6 and February 16, marking the first widebody service to Jamaica from DFW on AA since at least 2003 as far as we know. But then again, we were in a bit of a haze on our last Jamaica trip.

Flights from Charlotte and Miami to Punta Cana, DR (PUJ) will see B777-200 service beginning November 2 and through at least January 3 (CLT) and March 26 (MIA). In South America, All DFW to Bogota flights will be flown by a B777-200 beginning November 2 through March 26, and one daily from Miami will as well. The airline will also put its B787 Dreamliners from Miami to both Cali (CLO) and Medellin (MDE).

Ryanair Launches 14 New Routes from London

Ryanair announced 14 new routes for this winter from three London airports – Gatwick, Luton, and Stansted. It managed to release the news in-between lawsuits and legal challenges to aid packages issued to other EU air carriers.

London/Stansted is the big winner with seven new routes to five countries. It’s adding Helsinki and Tampere (TMP) in Finland, Oradea in Romania (OMR), Stockholm, Trapani (TPS) and Treviso (TSF) in Italy, and Zagreb.

London/Luton is adding Fuerteventura (FUE) and Gran Canaria (LPA) in the Canary Islands, Grenoble in France (GNB), Naples and Turin in Italy, and Shannon over in Ireland. It’s adding one route from London/Gatwick to Malaga.

The airline claims this will create 500 new jobs at the three London airports and CEO Michael O’Leary threatened to fight anyone who challenged the figure.

Jet2 Becomes Newest Airbus Customer

UK leisure airline Jet2 announced an order for 36 A321neo aircraft, diversifying the carrier’s fleet which currently consists exclusively of Boeing jets.

Jet2 Executive Chairman Phillip Meeson said the A320neo is the most efficient and environmentally friendly aircraft available on the market today. He neglected to mention to steal of a deal his airline got on the airplanes and how Airbus said it could replace traditional airline seats with wooden benches to enable the airline to cram as many passengers on to a flight as possible.

The 36-aircraft order comes with an option for 24 more. They will be delivered over five years between 2023 and 2028. The airline is paying for the planes through a combination of internal cash on-hand, debt, and a GoFundMe campaign.

The planes will be fit with 232 seats in economy, almost at the limit for the most seats allowed. They’ll also come with larger overhead bins to enable more carry-on bags as well as overflow seating options for when the airline chooses to oversell a flight but does not want to pay out bump compensation.

Lithuania Wants EU Out of the Business of Belavia

Lithuania’s government is lobbying its counterparts at the EU to end dealings between EU-based aircraft lessors and the maligned state-run airline of Belarus.

Months after the airline was banned from flying to or over most EU countries due to the Belarusian government’s forced landing of a Ryanair flight to take two passengers into custody, things are only getting worse for the carrier. Several EU countries have accused the Belarusian government of facilitating or organizing a human smuggling operation, moving people against their will from the Middle East to the EU via Belarus.

Belavia owns just nine of the 30 aircraft in its commercial fleet, with 16 of the planes leaded from European lessors and five from US-based lessors. Lithuania’s plan, if successful, would the EU-based lessors to call in their leases and prohibit them from working with the airline in the future. It would leave Belavia with just the nine aircraft it owns outright and the five it leases from American companies.

• Air Austral is receiving a €20m loan from the French government. The carrier would be advised to cash the check quickly, before Ryanair catches wind of the deal.
• Air Seychelles has been told by the Seychelles government that it will support the airline during its liquidation hearing on September 6. The government would not comment on whether or not its fingers were crossed.
• Alaska opened its new lounge at SFO today. The space includes a build-your-own sourdough toast bar, which used to just be called a toaster.
• Camair-Co of Cameroon acquired two Dash 8-Q400 aircraft.
• Delta is doubling the number of flight attendants it hopes to hire by next summer from 1,500 to 3,000.
• Firefly plans to resume B737 ops early next year.
• FlyArmenia has rebranded as Hayways.
• GoAir has been given permission to GoForward with an IPO
• Lufthansa and Singapore are starting a vaccinated travel lane between Frankfurt and Munich and Singapore.
• Mandarin Airlines plans a $71.5 million capital raise.
• Nepal Airlines finalized the sale of its final B757.
• Norwegian Air plans to grow its fleet from 51 B737s to 60-70 by the end of 2022.

I’m starting a new airline that only allows bald people to fly on it. I’m calling it Receding Airlines.

EU Drops American Travelers from Safe List

The European Union showed today that it has working internet and knows how to do a web search as it reversed its decision from earlier this summer and removed Americans from its safe travel list.

When the EU made its decision in June, it warned that being moved to the safe list was dependent on the number of positive COVID-19 patients remaining below 75 per 100,000 people over a rolling 14-day period and the USA is currently at more than 500 per 100,000 and growing. The rising figures, plus the federal government’s insistence that a hot dog is a sandwich have forced the EU to take action… which is ultimately toothless.

Despite being removed from the list, it’s up to each individual country to decide whether to ban Americans outright, or require prerequisites to reduce COVID risk such as negative tests, proof of vaccination, or the ability to correctly identify who won the 2020 US presidential election.

United to Keep B777s with Engine Troubles Grounded

United Airlines will keep its fleet of B777 aircraft equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines on the ground through at least early next year. Federal regulators are still considering additional safeguards delaying the planes’ return to the air which was previously hoped to occur this summer.

United has 52 aircraft that will remain grounded, as the government considers an additional type of engine-blade inspection and a proposed modification from Boeing designed to prevent engine covers from ripping off. This proposed action is proving far more popular than a previous proposal that encouraged engine covers to rip off mid-flight.

When a United 777 returned to Denver shortly after takeoff in February after parts of its engines ended up in people’s backyards, it marked the third similar incident in recent years forcing the government’s hand to ground the planes. The loss of these aircraft from its fleet has forced United to scramble to find aircraft to fly certain routes including those to Hawai’i. In the meantime, the carrier will operate the portion of its fleet that’s engines stay attached to the airplane in-flight for the foreseeable future.

Man Takes Unscheduled Tour of AA Plane

A Los Angeles man broke through a security perimeter at LAX early Sunday morning and managed to board an American plane for reasons that are not clear to anyone. He is presumed to be the first person to voluntarily board an AA plane without the benefit of at least getting to fly somewhere. The man supposedly used a metal pipe to pry up a security fence at LAX and slithered underneath to help himself into the secure section of the airport. A cleaning crew was on the aircraft that the individual was able to access and they quickly contacted security and held the man down until police could arrive.

The alleged trespasser thought he had found a clever way to skip abnormally long lines at TSA checkpoints this summer, but despite his ingenuity, he was taken into custody by law enforcement and given a psychological exam for not trying to get onto a plane of an Asian airline with a much more opulent passenger cabin.

The plane, N826AN, is a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that had arrived on Friday from Sydney. The aircraft was inspected by security later Sunday and given clearance to fly. It departed Los Angeles Sunday night at 11:27 p.m. as AA73 bound for Sydney without further incident with the exception of the vegan first class meals.

Uzbekistan Airways Unveils Uzbekistan Express

Because apparently there is a lot of untapped potential in the Uzbekistan leisure travel market, Uzbekistan Airlines released plans for its leisure focused LCC spin-off: Uzbekistan Express.

The new airline will operate two A320-200 aircraft, acquired from – you guessed it – Uzbekistan Airlines. The planes are currently configured with 138 seats in economy and 12 up front, but will be reconfigured to squeeze 174 seats in an economy-only configuration because nothing screams leisure airline like cramming as many people into as tight a space as possible.

The airline will focus on domestic routes and international routes which makes it like most every airline in the world. It will begin flying three routes regularly beginning September 2, with the popular Tashkent (TAS) to Nukus (NCU) corridor being served 4x-weekly alongside two other once-weekly routes. It will also operate two one-off routes next week for reasons that remain unexplained.

BA to Keep A380s Grounded

British Airways is holding off the return of its A380s to the skies for at least another six months as demand has not returned to the level the airline needed to bring the jumbo jets back into service.

As of now, the A380s are scheduled to return to the air as soon as March 27 and operate seven destinations for the airline including Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco in the United States. The previous plan to have A380s fly to LA and San Francisco this winter has been replaced with a new plan to just refit 777s with only standing-room seats so that the same level of capacity can be offered.

The planes are currently in storage around the world with several in Madrid at IAG partner Iberia’s hub while two are being held in the foyer of Buckingham Palace.

• Air New Zealand resumed planning for its nonstop service between Auckland and New York, designed for aviation enthusiasts who think 18 hours in coach is a good time.
• airBaltic took delivery of the first of three A220s through a sale and leaseback with Azorra.
• Breeze took delivery of its 10th and final E190 aircraft from Nordic Aviation Capital.
• Compass Cargo Airlines launched operations this weekend.
• Gol will require all employees to be vaccinated. Its gol is to have everyone vaccinated by November 1 or risk termination (of employment, life termination will be determined by the virus that causes COVID).
• Interjet is seeking a 90% write-off of its debt, which seems like a great plan for someone with a lot of debt.
• Qantas Club memberships are being extended by seven months to when they might actually be useful again.
• Spicejet is being peppered with lawsuits, this time by the salty Sky Gourmet who says the carrier has missed payment deadlines thyme after thyme. The caterer said it chives to have a good relationship with all partners, but that the airline had this cumin.
• Sunwing is winging its way back to Ottawa, adding 11 routes from the Canadian capital through April 2022.
• Tarom is being offered a €7.8mn aid package from the Romanian government, pending approval from the European Commission and Ryanair.
• Turkish is requiring a negative PCR test or proof of vaccination for domestic flights, effective September 6.
• United will operate the CRJ-550 on its EAS route from Newark to Presque Isle, ME (PQI), marking the only EAS route to offer first class.
• Virgin Australia will require all staff be vaccinated, with frontline staff facing a deadline of November 15 and office staff of March 31.
• Vistara received approval to fly to the United States.

I’ve started telling friends and neighbors about the benefits of dried grapes.

I like to call it raisin awareness.

Southwest Softens Schedule

Southwest Airlines will reduce its schedule for the final four months of 2021 as a concession to employees who have been overwhelmed by understaffing all summer long.

Through October 6, the airline will take 27 daily flights out of the schedule, and then take 162 out from October 7 to November 5. It will make further adjustments after November 5 after it throws darts at a US map more accurately sees where demand is at that time.

Southwest was one of the first airlines to report a downturn in demand and bookings due to the B.1.617.2 Delta variant, and it’s possible these cuts are in response as much to the reduced demand as they are to employee complaints – but it works out very nicely for the airline to announce that as the reasoning.

Passengers booked on flights affected by the cuts will be given the option of rebooking, a refund, or still coming to the airport and getting tanked at an airport bar without actually traveling anywhere.

Avelo Means Hello and Goodbye: Airline Scraps Two Markets

Avelo Airlines is pulling two cities off its map – Monterey, CA (MRY) and St. George, UT (SGU) – before service ever began to either one.

Flights were originally supposed to commence September 30 to MRY and October 7 to SGU from the airline’s west coast hub in Burbank but are now being put on a hold for a year – airline speak for “never to be seen again.” Avelo announced the addition of both cities to its route network less than a month ago but is apparently being scared off due to lack of demand.

Avelo would have had a monopoly on both routes, as no other airline flies from Burbank to MRY or SGU, but perhaps no one operates the routes for a reason – something Avelo just learned for themselves. Customers who booked a flight to either city, and clearly there can’t be too many of them, are entitled to a full refund or an unusable Air Canada voucher.

Connect Airlines Connects Some Dots on Launch Plans

Connect Airlines still plans to launch this fall as a US-based, Canadian hub carrier providing shorthaul service from Toronto/City, the city’s conveniently-located downtown airport.

Connect connected with American to sign an interline agreement earlier this year and are close to securing a codeshare agreement as well. The codeshare will open Toronto/City to American’s network, allowing travelers to connect through AA’s hubs on their way to Connect flights into the close-in airport.

Despite being a US-based airline, Connect will use Toronto-based Canadian pilots paid on a Canadian pay scale, who are expected to exclusively drink Tim Horton’s when on the clock over Starbucks and Dunkin’. The pilots will bring Canadian flare to the skies from their overly polite cabin announcements to the singing of O’ Canada on approach.

Honolulu Opens New Concourse

The new Mauka concourse at Honolulu’s Daniel K. Inouye International Airport opens today, marking the first gate expansion at the airport in nearly 30 years.

The 230,000-square foot concourse can accommodate up to 11 aircraft, 3,000 leis, and 25 gallons of POG juice at any given time. The concourse is opening at a time when Hawai’i governor David Ige has urged people not to come to the islands due to the surge of the Delta variant in the state… as well as the anticipated surge the first time thousands of people flush toilets simultaneously in the new concourse.

In addition to the new gates, the new concourse comes with six new TSA lanes, adding six new opportunities to wait while Gail from Cleveland tries for the third time to get everything out of her pockets before going through the TSA nude-o-scope.

Hawaiian Airlines will use the new concourse primarily for long-haul flights. Since the concourse sits on top of the old commuter terminal, it is expected that the ghosts of Aloha and Mid Pacific Air will also become tenants.

Singapore Reopens Terminals 1 and 3

Singapore’s Changi Airport is reopening Terminals 1 and 3 on September 1 after both terminals had been shut earlier this year as a precaution due to the surging Delta variant.

The airport is taking new steps to keep passengers and staff as safe as possible. To begin with, any passenger whose journey began on Spirit, who flew on Spirit within 90 days of their arrival, or who even thought about flying Spirit will be denied entry into Singapore. Other safety measures include restricting the arrivals hall to arriving passengers, appropriate airport staff, and professional meet-and-greet service personnel.

The airport’s air-conditioning and ventilation systems have been improved, including hospital grade filters and new sanitization in the AC system. It set up a dedicated rest and dining area for airport staff to minimize their interaction with the public, but that begs the question – how long are these shifts that staff need a dedicated rest area?

• Alaska is operating confidential charter operations on behalf of the United States government related to the situation in Afghanistan. For more information on the confidential flights, click the link above to see Alaska’s press release.
• Copa is converting two B737-800s into freighter aircraft.
• Garuda Indonesia, Hong Kong charter specialist CapaJet, and all Indian-based airlines are currently prohibited from entering Papua New Guinea’s airspace.
• HK Express launches new service this week to Taipei and Kaohsiung (KHH).
• Porter is tightening things up for its return to the skies — literally. During its 18-month hiatus, the carrier added an extra row on its Q400 fleet, with 78 seats and 20 rows. Prior to the pandemic, it flew 74 seats in 19 rows.
• SWISS repaid $54.4 million of a $1.6 billion loan it received last year from the Swiss government. The Swiss government would not confirm or deny the payments.
• Virgin Australia will bring nine “new” B737-800 aircraft into its mainline fleet later this year.

What do you call a boomerang that doesn’t come back?

A stick.