Author: Andrew Bashuk

JetBlue Posts Profit* in Q2 Earnings Report

JetBlue Airways released its earnings report for Q2 and the airline posted a slim $64 million profit when accounting for government payroll support. Without the extra funds, JetBlue would have lost $206 for the three-month period.

JetBlue brought in $1.5 billion revenue in the quarter, a slight improvement from its $215 million of revenue from Q2 2020. Expenses came in at $1.4 billion with $366 million of government aid and special items deducted from the figure. JetBlue reduced its debt by more than $300 million, from $1.2 billion to below $900 million, which is less than its debt load from prior to the pandemic.

Load factors for the quarter as a whole were around 79%, but they improved later in the summer, rising to the mid-80s by the end of June. The airline ended the quarter with $3.7 billion in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, a number that made its lawyers which are defending the airline’s Northeast Alliance with American very happy. 

Frontier Adds More Frontiers

Frontier Airlines announced an addition of 20 new routes today to five new cities for the airline – one domestic destination and four international.

Antigua & Barbuda (ANU), Belize City (BZE), Liberia, CR (LIR), and Providenciales (PLS) will join Newburgh, NY (SWF) as Frontier’s newest destinations. SWF, located about 65 miles north of Manhattan will have its first flight on October 25 with service to Orlando, followed on November 2 with flights to Miami and Tampa.

Orlando will see new service to a whopping 17 new cities including all five in this announcement. In addition to the 4x-weekly flights to SWF, Orlando will get twice-weekly flights to Liberia beginning November 11 and once-weekly to Antigua, Belize City, and Providenciales. Orlando also adds intra-state service with Fort Myers (daily) and Pensacola (3x-weekly) beginning on November 1.

Heathrow Plans £5 Drop Off Charge

London’s Heathrow airport, already one of the least-liked airports in the world, is not likely to see its standing rise as the airport plans to introduce a £5 drop off charge this October.

The charge will apply to nearly all vehicles entering the terminal drop off areas at the airport, including taxis, personal vehicles, Uber, and more. The only cars exempt from the fee will be emergency vehicles. The airport has kindly let visitors know there are many options to avoid the fee – being dropped off at long-term parking and riding the shuttle is one. Other options include riding the Heathrow Express trains, leaving three days before departure to ride the tube, using another airport, making your car invisible, or walking to your final destination.

Heathrow follows two other UK airports who have started with these shenanigans prior – London/Gatwick and Manchester. Gatwick is charging the £5 for both pickups and drop-offs, while Heathrow is charging on drop-offs only.

Air Canada and Eurowings Discover Become Besties

The airline Eurowings Discover has learned the hazards of putting a verb in your name, as the subject above shows. So, to be clear, Air Canada and Eurowings did not discover something called “Become Besties.” Nay, instead, Air Canada and Eurowings Discover, the airline, have become besties. We thank you for your attention.

Air Canada’s Aeroplan has launched a new loyalty partnership with Eurowings Discover, the latest offshoot of Lufthansa. EW Discover will operate as a long-haul, leisure operator for Lufthansa, it’s 423^rd attempt at a lower-cost, long-haul subsidiary. The new airline will base its long-haul flights in Frankfurt and Munich with a fleet of three-class A330 aircraft.

Travelers will be able to redeem Aeroplan miles on EW Discover using Aeroplan’s standard partner award chart. Most routes between North America and Germany will costs 70,000 miles on EW Discover for one-way travel. Aeroplan is a transfer partner of some credit card programs, information which probably exists on the internet somewhere.

Aeroplan members will also earn miles for revenue flights on the new airline based on distance flown. Aeroplan is also a partner with Eurowings, Lufthansa’s short-haul LCC, giving travelers the chance to redeem miles via Aeroplan on Eurowings Discover for their long-haul flight to Europe, and then combining with a second award on Eurowings for intra-Europe flying. Good thing it’s not confusing.

FAA to Help Mexico Regain Top Safety Rating

The FAA will offer hands-on technical assistance for Mexico’s AFAC – the country’s civil aviation authority – to help it reclaim its Category 1 safety rating.

The FAA downgraded Mexico’s rating in May following an audit of the AFAC which revealed several deficiencies and infractions related to minimum worldwide safety standards. The FAA will send a group of experts to Mexico next month to conduct a technical review to determine if the AFAC has upgraded its actions to meet the international standards.

The downgrade prevents carriers from either side of the border to begin new service across the border and prevents U.S. airlines from codesharing on flights operated by Mexican airlines. Airlines are permitted to maintain their level of service at the time of the downgrade.

If the assistance helps Mexico return to Category 1 quickly, the FAA will have a major opportunity on its hands. The government can downgrade countries’ safety ratings and then offer to guide them back to Category 1 — for a fee.

• Air Austral took delivery of the first of its three A220s, marking the first A220 to be operated by a French airline. Suck it, Air France.
• American is expected to open three new gates at Concourse E of its Charlotte hub by the end of the year.
• Bangkok Airways will resume international operations on August 1.
• Cabo Verde Airlines is bracing for government-mandated restructuring.
• EcoJet in Bolivia is adding its first ARJ-100 aircraft.
• IAG’s purchase of Air Europa will remain in limbo as the EU’s antitrust office has extended its investigation into the transaction by 20 days.
• Mango has suspended all operations for an indefinite future after the airline applied to be placed in business rescue yesterday.
• Tajik Air was ordered to pay $20 million to Lithuanian lessor Skyroad Leasing after a ruling from the Supreme Economic Court of Tajikistan.
• SKY took delivery of a new A321neo, marking the first A321neo to operate in Chile.
• Southwest is suing airfare savings site Skiplagged over use of its schedule and fare information, and Skiplagged’s aggressive promotion of the shady – but not illegal – practice of hidden city ticketing.

I accidentally drank a bottle of invisible ink last night. I’m in the hospital now waiting to be seen 100%.

Western U.S. Airports Running Dry

A shortage of fuel at airports in the western United States is creating cascading problems for airlines, and it will only worsen if the problem is not rectified and the well stops running dry — literally.

Issues exist throughout the entire supply chain, from the amount of fuel available to a lack of people to supply it and a greater demand on the product from firefighting aircraft due to wildfires in Montana and the Pacific Northwest. Flights in Fresno (FAT) were delayed due to fuel shortages blamed on a lack of tanker truck drivers.

Reno-Tahoe International Airport in Nevada is facing the cancellation of cargo and commercial flights due to a lack of jet fuel. When fuel shortages slowed operations in the east earlier this summer due to the Colonial Pipeline hacking, airlines flew aircraft in with extra fuel to compensate for the limited supplies at some airports. Due to construction on Reno’s longest runway, this is not an option at the airport, because flights cannot come in as heavy with only the shorter runway available. Instead, we understand local politicians have instead opted for sheer panic and fingerpointing.

The governors of Wyoming and South Dakota have signed emergency orders allowing for longer working hours for truck drivers that are delivering fuel for firefighting aircraft to help stem some of the supply plane issues.

Southwest Joins the 20^th Century

Southwest Airlines began offering nearly all fares and real-time availability for flights in Sabre (this one, not this one), the leader in corporate booking in the United States today for the first time.

Southwest has been planning this move since at least 2019 when it launched Southwest Business, designed to update the way the airline focuses on business travel. The two-year journey was mostly spent reconciling with Sabre’s antiquated technology that could not compute when Southwest put zero as the default for its bag and change fees, with Sabre constantly thought was a mistake.

Sabre was ready to launch the partnership last month, but the company opted not to purchase Southwest’s Early Bird offering to begin the partnership right away, and was instead forced to wait until its number was called this morning to get started.

The airline’s offerings still will not be available on online travel agents, so customers who like their itineraries without bag fees or seat assignments will still need to go to Southwest.com to search for flights and fares on the airline.

Allegiant Ready to Rock

Travelers on Allegiant will soon have the option to combine their flight bookings with concert tickets due to the airline’s new partnership with Live Nation and Ticketmaster. We assume the partnership will not feature concerts that are part of a worldwide tour playing a new city every night, but rather concerts which take place sporadically, once or twice a week in medium-sized cities throughout the country that don’t usually receive concerts in order to remain on brand.

As fans purchase tickets across Live Nation and Ticketmaster platforms, they will receive access to travel packages – including flights on Allegiant to purchase as part of the transaction. Customers booking travel via Allegiant will also receive offers for concerts, experiences, and events run by Live Nation or Ticketmaster at their destination.

The burgeoning partnership will allow Allegiant travelers to discover and experience the music scenes in noted music towns such as Minot, ND, Moline, IL, or Elmira, NY.

Mango’s Financial Saga Turns Rotten

Mango Airlines will enter bankruptcy protection in South Africa based on a decision by its board and shareholders. The airline first went into administration in December 2019 and then emerged from the process this past April, living out the definition of one step forward, two steps back.

The airline, a state-owned LCC subsidiary of South African Airways has been in fiscal limbo since the pandemic began with no real sign of recovery. The South African government allocated about $180 million of the $700 million it provided to SAA to go to its subsidiaries, but those funds were held up for months due to legal wrangling and technicalities in the language of SAA’s rescue package.

Fifty eight million dollars of the aid was penciled in for Mango, and every few weeks the airline thought it was finally time to receive the money only to see the goalposts moved once again. The airline is currently $168 million in debt with next to no money in its bank account. It’s largest creditor is the $48.3 million it owes SAA Technical, followed by $24.6 million to Macquarie AirFinance. Mango also owes its 750 employees $10.5 million in unpaid salaries.

Mango was forced to shut down earlier this spring when it was on the brink of financial collapse. It is now hoping to resume cargo operations next month if it can get its AOC restored.

GLOBALX Moves Closer to Flying Actual Passengers

GLOBALX Airlines, the startup that is planning to fly charter and wet-lease operations in the United States, Canada, Caribbean, and Latin America, received its initial authority from the DOT to begin charter operations.

The Miami-based airline — which plans to operate an A320-200 and A321-200 from it Miami base — was involved in a drawn-out process with the government due to its complex ownership structure. It satisfied the DOT’s questions by explaining that no one from its ownership group intends on forcing potential customers to attend bad concerts in random cities like Allegiant is doing.

The startup plans to operate charter flights from its Miami hub to Latin America, Cuba, and the Caribbean. It also wants to provide casino and sports charter flights on behalf of other charter airlines – provided the charter company pays for fuel, landing fees, and ground handling. GLOBALX will handle the cost for ice and toilet paper in the lavs.

• Air Canada is launching a private offering of two series of senior secured notes seeking $2.75 billion. When it gets the money, it might re-open refund processing from last year. But probably not.
• American is adding twice-weekly service from its Miami hub to two Caribbean destinations – Anguilla (AXA) beginning December 11, and Dominica (DOM) beginning December 8.
• Delta is now offering lifetime Diamond Medallion status for anyone who achieves 6 million lifetime miles on the airline. Those who earn the lifetime status will also be gifted a lifetime supply of Biscoffs, Woodford Reserve, and in-home delivery of Sky Magazine.
• Flair Airlines apparently turned its phones back on long enough to sign a new maintenance partnership with Wright International.
• Finnair, Qantas, Royal Jordanian, and Sri Lankan will move to Terminal 3 at London/Heathrow tomorrow, July 27.
• flybig is looking for a big investor to help it raise $13.4 million to continue operating in India.
• Onur Air is delaying its relaunch.
• Qantas and the Australian government have been criticized by trade unions and politicians for what they see as one-sided support of Qantas. A government spokesman declined to comment other than to say “but the kangaroo on the tail is very cute.”
• Plus Ultra’s government bailout was put on hold by a Spanish court.
• Samoa Airways took delivery of its first B737-800 although the aircraft has not yet been registered or certified by the Samoan government.
• United is extending status for its Global Services members through January 31, 2023. If you have to ask what Global Services is, then it’s not for you.
• WestJet will add its WS code on KLM flights to 16 European destinations this fall.

Today we present a very special moment of levity from Airchive founder Chris Sloan’s son Caleb.

What do forks, knives, and spoons dress up with? Silverware!

Use It (At Least Some of it) or Lose it, Says European Commission

The European Commission is reinstating its use it or lose it rule for slots this winter – at a 50% threshold – requiring airlines to fly at least half of their slots at slot-controlled airports or risk losing them.

Slot usage requirements around the world have generally been suspended since the beginning of the pandemic, allowing airlines to relax their networks and frequencies without risk of losing slots that would again be valuable when demand fully returned. The European Commission’s decision to bring its slot-usage policy back, even at a 50% threshold, was not warmly received by IATA – the world’s leading airline trade association.

The EC says that the recovery of intra-EU traffic justifies the return of the usage requirements, while IATA argues that intra-EU recovery is not a reasonable indicator of the recovery at these slot controlled measures. It also says that the combination of winter demand lagging behind the summer – the time period the usage requirements are coming back for, and the hesitancy of some countries to open their borders create an untenable situation for the airlines. Let’s just forget that the EC is just saying they have to use half their slots, not all.

As with most things in Crankyland, it’s our hope that this resolves itself with a feats of strength battle between IATA Director Willie Walsh and EC President Ursula von der Leyen.

Alaska Posts $397 Million Profit* In Q2

Alaska Airlines Q2 earnings are out, and the airline posted a net profit of $397 million when adding in the $489 million of PSP funds it received from the federal government.

Alaska officially joined oneworld on March 31, the final day of Q1, making the recently completed quarter its first as a member of the alliance. Alaska officials, while holding up the July 23 edition of the Seattle Times to prove their video was filmed today, said that oneworld officials were offering them three hearty meals a day and plenty of recreational time in the outdoors.

Expenses for Alaska totaled $978 million reduced by the PSP offset, following expenses of $709 million in Q1, also with the offset. Its revenue of $1.5 billion in the quarter outpaced Q1 by 263%.

During Q2, Alaska repaid $570 million in debt, including the full $135 million loan it received from the federal government as part of the CARES Act. It closes the quarter with $4 billion in unrestricted cash, much of which is being spent on the new pool in American CEO Doug Parker’s house.

WestJet, Canadian Government End Discussions over Pandemic Relief

WestJet ended negotiations with the Canadian government over financial support to help the airline recover from the pandemic. The airline said it was instead now focusing on ramping up its operation for the reopening of Canada’s borders to foreign visitors.

Other Canadian airlines including Air Canada, Air Transat, and Porter received more than C$6.8 billion between them in government support since the pandemic, but WestJet will remain shutout of the cash trough. Air Canada received the bulk of the funds – C$5.9 billion – but still doesn’t want to pay refunds going forward because it prefers to keep its government money than give back to the customers to whom it should belong.

WestJet flies to 109 destinations in 24 countries, but the bulk of its flying is domestic within Canada and transborder service to the United States. The airline flies to 24 destinations in the USA, and many warm-weather cities in Mexico and the Caribbean.

Tasman Travel Bubble Bursts

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is closing the Tasman travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand for at least eight weeks following Australia’s most recent outbreak of COVID-19’s Delta variant.

Air New Zealand will operate “managed return flights” for the next seven days to repatriate New Zealanders in Australia. Kiwis returning home will need proof of a negative pre-departure test and proof they are not bringing Vegemite into New Zealand. Travelers from returning from New South Wales and Victoria will be subject to more extensive quarantine upon arrival.

More than 200,000 travelers have flown between the two nations since the bubble first opened in April. New Zealand ended the bubble for Australian residents of Victoria or NSW several weeks ago.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder…Maybe? ExpressJet Restart Approved

ExpressJet suspended all flying last fall when it lost its contract to fly on behalf of United for United Express. UA opted to move all of its E145 flying to CommutAir to simplify operations and cut costs during the pandemic.

When United ended its relationship with ExpressJet, it left the regional carrier without any passengers to fly, a non-profitable way to run an airline. But in April, ExpressJet announced it would explore a restart as an independent regional carrier with a single E-145 aircraft. It does plan to add at least nine more planes over the next 12 months because if there’s anything Sandpiper Air taught us, it’s that running an airline with just one airplane leads to fun and hijinks but little profit.

The airline’s authorization from the DOT covers its first ten airplanes. Should it expand beyond that number, it would need further approval from the government. The carriers plans to focus on second- and third-tier cities in the US, although starting off by calling them third-tier probably isn’t the best way to win new business.

• Aeroflot took delivery of a new A321neo aircraft.
• American confirmed it is will not bring IFE screens back on its narrow-body aircraft, instead offering fights between passengers as entertainment.
• Avianca filed a motion seeking approval from bankruptcy court from its preliminary documents to exit Chapter 11 reorganization.
• Cathay Pacific is considering closing its London pilot base.
• Cayman Airways received a $8.5 million aid package from the Cayman Islands government.
• Frontier took delivery of the second of four A320neos that it will receive through the end of next month.
• Hi Fly took delivery of a new A330-300 with 46 flat bed seats up front and 203 seats in the back.
• Icelandair finished installing and receiving certification on Viasat wifi on its B737 MAX 9 fleet.
• United has mostly phased out cargo-only flights because it has begun converting its cargo-only widebodies back into passenger service. Some basic economy passengers might be seated with cargo pallets until the conversions are complete.

Me: “Can I get a bagel with cream cheese please?”

Person at the register: “No, we only accept cash and credit cards here.”

American Shows Small Profit (With a Giant Asterisk) for Second Quarter

American Airlines released its earnings report for the second quarter of 2021 and the airline turned a teeny-tiny profit of $19 million when doing some mathematical gymnastics. Excluding the special items and add-ons, the airline actually lost $1.1 billion, which sounds bad – and it is – but it’s also AA’s smallest loss since the pandemic started.

Q2 revenue for American was $7.5 billion, a whopping 87% increase from the year’s first quarter when people on really started traveling again during the final month (March). In further good news, on the airline’s earnings call today, CEO Doug Parker said the airline expects a full recovery of domestic business travel by next year, which is great news for all of us who enjoy listening to a fellow passenger shouting into his or her phone at the gate about the Des Moines sales numbers.

Parker also said American was not lobbying the federal government to change the federal mask mandates — he was immediately pelted by tomatoes thrown by flight attendants — and that the airline will follow whatever the government decides. Well yeah, Doug, they’re the government, that’s how it works… unless you’re Air Canada.

American finished the quarter with $21.3 billion in liquidity – a new record for the company. It plans to speed up its debt repayments, expecting to have paid down $15 billion of its debt by 2025 which is the same thing we tell ourselves every January after going a little crazy with holiday shopping.

Southwest Reports Q2 Earnings

It’s a busy day in Airline Earnings Land as Southwest also announced its Q2 report, earning a $348 million profit – when accounting for $724 million in offsets through the Payroll Support Program.

Southwest earned $4 billion in revenue in the quarter, a 32% drop from the same timeframe in 2019 but a 300% improvement from the $1 billion in revenue it earned a year ago.

On its earning call today, incoming CEO Bob Jordan said the airline is committed to the airline’s lack of bag and change fees, a stance that makes even more sense with the incoming federal regulations to require refunds for delayed bags – there’s nothing to refund if you didn’t charge anything in the first place. Southwest is playing chess while we’re all playing checkers.

Southwest ended the quarter with $17.9 billion of liquidity and $11.4 billion in outstanding debt. Of its debt, nearly half is tied up in the large deposit it placed on booze for Gary Kelly’s going-away party when he retires as CEO in February. Half of that is expected to go unused since deceased former CEO Herb Kelleher won’t be in attendance.

Tailwind Sees Tailwinds Between NYC and Boston

Tailwind Air is debuting the first seaplane flight that offers nonstop service between Boston and New York, linking Manhattan and Boston Harbor.

As scheduled the flight will take about 75 minutes in both directions, which is much quicker than current options between the two cities if you consider drive time and airport congestion, cutting travel time by 40-60%. In Boston, the seaplane will depart off a floating dock near the East Boston shoreline, a brief water taxi ride from Fan Pier. In Manhattan, the flight will operate from the Skyport seaplane terminal at East 23^rd Street on the East River.

As of now, Tailwind plans to operate seasonally, between March and November. Service will begin this year on August 3 and will fly twice daily on weekdays, going up to 4x-daily on August 21. The flights will be operated by Cessna Caravan EX Amphibians, with room for two pilots, eight passengers and the egos they must have to be willing to pay between $395 and $795 one-way to go between NYC and Boston on a seaplane.

Tailwind will not charge change fees, and all tickets include one 20 pound carry-on. Tailwind markets itself as dog-friendly, with important restrictions, which means you can bring your dog, but it has to fly on the wing. As of now it does not offer a loyalty program, which means it only offers slightly less value than Delta SkyMiles.

Several Airline Sites Part of Internet Outage

Many major websites across the internet went down on Thursday as part of a widespread outage, with most being back up and running shortly before 1 p.m. ET.

Air France, Breeze, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, and Delta were part of the outage, making airlines with names starting with a letter not at the beginning of the alphabet concerned about what might be coming for them tomorrow.

Delta’s mobile app and website were both down, but flights were operating normally. Delta was asking passengers to check-in with agents at the airport with the app being down, while begging and pleading with customers not to call the airline’s customer service line because wait times are long enough as it is.

Air France did not issue a statement when its website was down, going with their standard French hospitality of making people figure it out for themselves, while Breeze was just excited to be included in with Air France, BA, and Delta and was in no hurry for its website to come back up.

Oneworld Alliance Chairman Wants Oneworld Alliance to Grow

Qatar CEO Akbar Al Baker was appointed as the chairman of oneworld this past spring, and he has big plans for the alliance, saying his main priority will be to grow the alliance by bringing in more members. Al Baker wants oneworld to be number one amongst other alliances, and it is currently third – out of three assuming you don’t count Etihad Partners… which we certainly don’t. Oneworld’s 14 members trails SkyTeam with 19 and Star Alliance with 26.

Al Baker did not name the airlines he plans to look into adding to the alliance, but there are dozens of free agent airlines out there who would love to join oneworld – Spirit has been wanting to introduce its fee structure around the world, while Avelo and Breeze just discovered what airline alliances are and they’re very intrigued.

Globally, Ryanair doesn’t have an alliance and that’s a probably a good thing – but if it did join, Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary and Al Baker could engage in a Festivus-like feats of strength to determine the alliance’s CEO going forward.

• Aer Lingus is requesting authorization from the DOT to codeshare on its flights between Europe and the United States.
• Chair Airlines of Switzerland is finally standing up and wet-leasing a B737-800.
• easyJet signed a lease agreement to construct a maintenance base at Berlin/Brandenburg.
• Med-View Airline of Nigeria retired its lone B777 aircraft.
• Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said he may have to furlough staff for an indefinite amount of time if lockdowns continue in Australia.
• Rossiya is leasing 15 high-density SSJ 100/95s for delivery by the end of the year.
• Super Air Jet’s President Ari Azhari outlined his carriers super network strategy at launch that will target six cities in western Indonesia with service on its fleet of A330-200 aircraft.
• TAP bondholders have waived early repayment of their outstanding debts.
• Uep! Fly, a subsidiary of Swift Air swiftly launched operations this week using ATR 72 aircraft.

Waitress: How did you find your steak tonight, sir?

Customer: I looked down next to the potatoes and there it was!

United Releases Q2 Earnings Report

United Airlines’s Q2 earnings report is out, and the airline registered higher revenues and smaller losses than any earnings report since the pandemic began as it continues to rebound financially. United expects to turn a positive adjusted pretax income for Q3 and Q4 this year thanks to ever-increasing demand and improvement in bookings.

United’s Q2 revenue was $5.47 billion, a 50% drop from Q2 in 2019 but a 70% increase from Q1 2021. United’s loss for the quarter was $434 million, a huge step forward from its $1.6 billion loss in Q2 last year and $1.4 billion loss in Q1 this year.

The $5.47 billion revenue figure beat expectations by $100 million. Cargo revenue rose 51% from last year to $606 million for the quarter, partially because the airline now recognizes revenue from basic economy tickets as cargo since the experience is roughly the same.

The airline ended the quarter with just under $21 billion in cash and cash equivalents which includes an investment of several billion dollars in outlets and charging cables in anticipation of its electric aircraft orders that are supposed to begin arriving in a few years.

US Extends Land Border Closure with Mexico and Canada

Despite Canada reopening its land and air borders with the United States next month, the U.S. is not prepared to reciprocate quite yet with its land border.

Canadians have been able to enter the United States by air for a while now, but land crossings will remain for essential travel only on both the northern and southern U.S. borders. The closure is being extended for another 30 days, through August 21.

According to DHS, officials in all three countries have mutually determined that non-essential travel at land and ferry crossings poses additional risks. This is similar to how parents and children mutually determine that kids will clean their room and do their homework before going outside to play and how Spirit and its customers agree to mutually determine what fees will be charged on any given itinerary.

DOT Releases Proposed Guidelines for Ancillary Refunds

The DOT filed its proposal stemming from President Biden’s executive order to require airlines to refund passengers for baggage and other ancillary fees when the airline does not deliver. The DOT is asking for comments by September 20, and while it will see some pushback from airlines, the proposal is far more airline-friendly than what was previously expected.

The DOT would mandate refunds to passengers for delayed checked baggage that is lost for 18 hours on domestic flights and 30 hours on international flights if it takes the airline suggestions. Instead, the DOT suggests refunds to kick in at 12 hours on domestic flights and 25 hours for international. On itineraries that include domestic and international travel, the international standard would apply.

The DOT would consider the 12- or 25-hour clock to start once the plane reaches the gate and its actual arrival time is recorded. The rule would not apply to the scheduled arrival time, meaning delayed flights that arrive late would not be counted against the baggage clock which is a relief for Southwest considering its operation as of late.

As for other ancillaries, the government is considering taking action against passengers who are dumb enough buy unhelpful bundles offered by the airlines. A fine would be issued to people who buy mileage accelerators, overpriced “priority access” bundles that include priority check-in, security, and boarding for a crazy-high price, or anyone who pays for a bag on Spirit at the airport.

Aeromexico Adds to Fleet; Posts Q2 Earnings

Aeromexico signed a letter of intent with Dubai Aerospace Enterprise (DAE) to lease 12 more 737 MAX aircraft according to a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court where the carrier is currently undergoing a trip to the bankruptcy spa Chapter 11 restructuring.

The agreement would increase the airline’s commitment to the plane from 24 to 36 in addition to the seven it’s taken delivery of this summer. Aeromexico would be grabbing these planes on the cheap, as DAE had outstanding orders for 14 737 MAX as recently as April. The judge in Aeromexico’s bankruptcy court will hear the terms of the lease deal on August 12.

Aeromexico also announced its Q2 earnings today, as the airline recorded just under $500 million in revenue for Q2, a 40% drop from Q2 2019 but a nearly 400% increase from Q2 last year. AM posted a loss of about $60 million, after the airline turned a $5 million profit in 2019.

Rex Suspends Non-Regional Flying

Rex, the regional carrier in Australia that’s trying to carve a niche as a good boy and mainline carrier, is suspending its non-regional flying due to border closures and lockdowns in Australia.

All B737 flying will be stopped. The airline will continue some regional flying but with dramatically reduced frequencies. Rex’s B737 service operates its network of flights between major cities Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide, and Australia’s Gold Coast.

Rex has told passengers the airline will stand by its COVID-19 guarantee to offer a refund within days of their claim. Air Canada heard this and asked Rex, “yeah, but what’s a refund really?”

• Aer Lingus has transferred its remaining order of five A350-900s to an undisclosed carrier. It would be hilarious if the undisclosed carrier turned out to be Aer Lingus UK.
• airBaltic is requesting more funding from the Latvian federal government. Ryanair is skeptical.
• Air Canada is seeking new loans worth $5.3 billion to refinance its debt, and likely to continue to fight the U.S. government on paying COVID-19 refunds.
• American extended its aircraft maintenance base lease in Pittsburgh for another five years. The deal will keep at least 500 mechanic jobs in the Steel City for its duration while doing nothing to address the fact that Primanti Bros. sandwiches are wildly overrated.
• China United Airlines is opening a base at Chengdu/Tianfu (TFU) in the Sichuan Province.
• Delta has extended SkyBonus points expiration dates to December 31, 2022.
• EW Discover discovered Munich airport this week, and so it now plans to open a base there in 2022.
• Korean Air is planning to launch missiles and orbital vehicles from a B747 in a joint research program with the Seoul National University and the Korean Air Force. These missiles should not be confused with the missiles dropped by AA passengers two summers ago when the airline introduced chili as a dining option in first class.
• Kuwait Airlines is defending itself in court against bribery claims from Airbus.
• My Indo Airlines is suing rival Garuda Indonesia over the latter failing to pay a debt that the two airlines undertook together to pay a consultant. That doesn’t sound shady at all.
• Ryanair released its schedule from Manchester for the rest of 2021 that will include over 315 weekly flights to 67 destinations and dozens of lawsuits.
• TAP continues to cancel select flights as the ground staff at Lisbon Airport began the third day of their strike.
• Volaris El Salvador has pushed its debut to late this fall after previously hoping to begin flying this summer.

Every morning I walk outside and I get hit by the same bike. Every single morning. What a vicious cycle.

Oops, our bad: In our story about Canada reopening, we listed the five airports that can now welcome U.S. arrivals beginning in August while noting that Canada’s biggest airports were left off the list. That’s because those four airports (Calgary, Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver) are already taking international arrivals and will continue to do so.

JetBlue & American AAnounce next PhAAse of Northeast Alliance

JetBlue and American announced more details of their Northeast Alliance today, including launch dates for previously-announced routes and greater connectivity and coordination between the two.

Of the 17 routes announced in April that JetBlue is adding from Boston and New York (both JFK and LGA), the airline released launch dates for 12 of them, leading off with four on Halloween: San Antonio (once daily from both BOS and JFK), Jacksonville (twice daily from BOS), Sarasota (once daily from LGA), and Savannah (once daily from LGA). New routes to Kansas City, Milwaukee and some flights to San Antonio will be operated by JetBlue’s new A220 aircraft. Remaining without a schedule start date are San Pedro Sula (SAP) from JFK, Vancouver from both BOS and JFK, Asheville from BOS, and Portland, Maine from LGA.

JetBlue also will be saying goodbye to the Marine Air Terminal — now called Terminal A — at LGA and moving into the brand-spanking new Terminal B in the coming months. Spirit is moving in over there and will charge JetBlue a move-out fee of $3,000 per pound.

The alliance will offer lie-flat seats on a total of 11 cross-country routes including three out of LAX and two each out of SNA, SAN, SFO and SEA. The duo will also introduce more reciprocal elite benefits this fall including priority check-in, security, boarding, and checked bag allowances.

Frontier Announces 21 New Routes

Frontier Airlines announced 21 new routes from three major markets: Atlanta, Dallas/Fort Worth, and Las Vegas. The airline will be going right at Delta, American, and Southwest at the three entrenched hubs. It will continue going at them until it comes up with a better idea at which point it will rapidly cancel all flights.

Atlanta leads the way for Frontier with nine new destinations, all of which are cities already served by Delta from the airport:

• Baltimore, 4x-weekly, begins September 8
• Cancun, 4x-weekly, begins November 2
• Chicago/O’Hare, 4x-weekly, begins September 8
• Detroit, 3x-weekly, begins September 7
• Houston/Bush, 4x-weekly, begins September 8
• Montego Bay, 3x-weekly, begins November 1
• New Orleans, 3x-weekly, begins September 9
• West Palm Beach, daily, begins November 1
• St. Louis, 3x-weekly, begins September 7

Dallas/Fort Worth is adding seven cities:

• Buffalo, 3x-weekly, begins April 24
• Durango, once weekly, begins April 30
• Hartford, 3x-weekly, begins April 25
• Phoenix, 4x-weekly, begins November 1
• San Diego, 3x-weekly, begins September 7
• San Francisco, 4x-weekly, begins September 8
• Tampa, 4x- weekly begins November 1

And lastly, Vegas:

• Des Moines, 2x-weekly, beginning September 10
• Harlingen, Texas, 2x-weekly, beginning September 9
• Minneapolis/St. Paul, 4x-weekly, beginning September 9
• New Orleans, 4x-weekly, beginning September 9
• Sioux Falls, 2x-weekly, beginning September 9

Air Canada’s American Revival

With the news that Canada will be opening its border to Americans early next month, Air Canada announced it will return service to all 34 destinations it served in the United States pre-pandemic, with 220 weekly flights on 55 routes.

The airline will begin adding American destinations back as early as August 1 with seven restarts on that date and will continue through September 7 at which point it will have to reverse course when the Canadian government changes its mind again about that whole reopening thing.

Once Air Canada is back fully up and running, it will operate to 13 U.S. destinations from Montreal; 30 from Toronto/Pearson; 12 from Vancouver, and one from Calgary. Toronto to New York/LGA is the flight with the highest frequency at 5x-daily, while Toronto to Newark and Chicago/O’Hare will operate 4x-daily and all other route pairs are 3x-daily or less.

ITA Prepares to Launch Operations this Fall

Alitalia 2.0 ITA is preparing to begin flying this October as a new airline unshackled from many of the constraints that doomed its predecessor. Just kidding, it’s still Italian.

The new airline will begin operating with just under 3,000 staff compared to the over 11,500 that Alitalia had prior to the pandemic last spring. The new airline will also be placing its ground handling and maintenance up for bid, and while Alitalia’s subsidiary can place a bid for the business, ITA will have the freedom make its own selection.

When ITA takes to the skies in October, it will do so with a fleet of 52 planes – 45 of which are narrowbody aircraft designed to fly European routes only. It will see itself facing off against low-cost carriers across the continent on these routes in addition to legacy carriers. As for long haul flying, it plans to start slowly with flight just to Boston, New York, Tokyo, and Miami. Once things start going well, it will rapidly add more money-losing long-haul routes to ensure it never makes any money.

Alitalia has long been closely aligned with Delta and is a member of Skyteam. Shockingly, Delta wants to keep ITA in the family – kind of like the crazy uncle who gets belligerently drunk at Thanksgiving each year, but he’s family, damn it, and he’s ours – while Lufthansa and Star Alliance are looking at the possibility of poaching the airline for themselves. Safe to say, the only winner in this battle will be oneworld, which won’t have to be the one to clean up ITA’s mess each Thanksgiving.

DOT Calls Air Canada Out for Shady Refund Policy

The Department of Transportation’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) filed a motion to deny Air Canada’s motion to dismiss the pending claim of its disingenuous handling of COVID-19 refunds, essentially calling the airline’s actions total BS.

The government states that Air Canada relied on three arguments that its practice of ignoring the U.S. government and denying refunds was fair which were: that the U.S. government relied on nonbinding guidance – not laws in its claims; OACP brought the case without adequate notice; and that AC is acting within Canadian law. The government dismissed the first two as completely false and said the third point has no standing since this is an issue in the U.S.

The bottom line is that Air Canada was very shady with its handling of refunds over the last year and is continuing its shady behavior in trying to avoid being taken to task by the U.S. government. The judge overseeing the case has told both parties to take three weeks to try and find a settlement. It’s understood that if no agreement can be had, the two will have a U.S./Canadian decathlon to settle the issue including a maple syrup chugging contest, apple pie baking contest, Tim Hortons vs. Starbucks blind taste test and more.

• Air Seychelles will launch charter operations to Almaty this August, the carriers first foray into Kazakhstan.
• Alaska and LAX have broken ground on a $230 million upgrade to Terminal 6. The project will expand the checkpoint, concourse, and gate areas to ensure no passenger goes without a $14 tuna sandwich made last Thursday or a piping hot Auntie Anne’s pretzel dripping with melted butter.
• Austrian is adding as many as 3x-daily flights to Pristina, Kosovo (PRN).
• Cyprus Airways is beginning new daily service from its Larnaca hub to London/Heathrow beginning September 10.
• Frontier passengers on flight 2293 on Sunday brawled after the plane arrived in Miami around 9 p.m. because one passenger allegedly took too long to remove his luggage from the overhead bin which is a perfectly reasonable reason to start a fight.
• KLM’s €3.4 billion aid package from the Dutch government was re-approved by the European Commission.
• Malta Air took delivery of its first B737-8-200 aircraft.
• SpiceJet chairman Ajay Singh is gingerly putting together $1 billion to make a bid for Air India. Accumulating $1 billion in liquidity is a big dill even for Singh who believes the thyme is right to make a sage offer for the carrier.
• Spirit is adding two new routes from Atlantic City (ACY) to San Juan and Cancun. Cancun will begin 4x-weekly service on October 29 and will mark Spirit’s first international destination from Atlantic City. San Juan will begin on October 31 and operate 3x-weekly. Still no announcement on when Spirit plans to launch the Degenerate Express route from Atlantic City to Las Vegas.
• Thai Smile and Thai Lion are frowning today after suspending domestic operations indefinitely.
• Tunisair secured a wet-lease A320 to boost its summer capacity.

I quit my job today as a treadmill tester. I just wasn’t going anywhere.

Oh, Canada! Canada Announces Border Reopening

The government of Canada formally announced its timeline for the easing of border restrictions for fully vaccinated travelers to enter the country.

The first step of the reopening will take place on August 9 when Canada will begin allowing fully vaccinated American citizens and permanent U.S. residents who can prove they’ve tried poutine and have attended at least one NHL game to enter Canada.

Assuming the rate of positive virus cases continues to go down and vaccination rates go up, Canada will then reopen its borders to fully vaccinated travelers from all other countries on September 7. This reopening will welcome visitors regardless of their NHL fandom.

To enter Canada via air, visitors must arrive at one of five airports:

• Halifax (YHZ)
• Québec City (YQB)
• Ottawa (YOW)
• Winnipeg (YWG)
• Edmonton (YEG)

Noticeably absent from this list are Canada’s three busiest airports: Montreal (YUL), Toronto (YYZ), and Vancouver (YVR).

All travelers, regardless of vaccination status, will still require a pre-entry COVID-19 molecular test with a negative result. However, fully vaccinated travelers will no longer be subject to a test-on-arrival except for those randomly selected for a Day 1 COVID-19 molecular test. The visitors selected at random will be chosen amongst arrivals both by air and by land.

Record Breaking Weekend in the Skies

It was a record breaking weekend for the U.S. air travel system for both the number of passengers screened through TSA checkpoints and the number of planes in the air.

On Sunday, 2,227,704 passengers were screened by the TSA, the first time the figure exceeded 2.2 million since February 28, 2020. Travel at that point had not yet begun to drop significantly, as the TSA screened more than 2 million passengers for six of the next nine days after the 28^th. Yesterday’s 2.2 million marked the 3^rd day in the last four the figure was over 2 million for TSA screenings and the 7th out of the last 11 days.

It wasn’t just the TSA that saw increased volume this weekend – flight tracking website FlightRadar24 tracked 100,085 commercial flights on Friday – the first time more than 100,000 flights took to the skies since March 13, 2020. Of the 100,000 it’s believed that some of them – mostly operated by Delta, JetBlue, and Southwest – operated on-time, while most of the other flights did at least land at the location it says on the ticket…or a location nearby.

American to Suspend Sydney Flights Through October

American Airlines will suspend its service between Los Angeles and Sydney at the end of August until at least the end of October. American has been operating one-way service from Sydney to Los Angeles, flying its plane to Sydney without passengers due to Australian entry restrictions.

The return from Sydney is currently slated to be suspended from August 31 to October 29 with American reserving the right to extend the suspension if Australia does not loosen entry requirements before the fall or because people just don’t want to sit in AA coach for that long.

With American temporarily ending its service to the country and concern that other international carriers will do the same, the Australian government is increasing the number of government-funded charters it offers to repatriate Australians. The flights, flown by Qantas from points all over the globe arrive at Darwin (DRW) Airport and its dedicated Howard Springs quarantine facility.

United Leaving Paine Field

United Airlines will be leaving Paine Field on October 5, leaving Alaska as the lone carrier at the alternative to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Paine Field opened to commercial ops two years ago with service from both Alaska and United. United flew E-175 aircraft operated by SkyWest as United Express to both Denver and San Francisco. United pulled San Francisco service from the airport last February, prior to the pandemic.

Alaska recently added a new destination from Paine Field, adding seasonal flying to Tucson beginning this November. Alaska announced earlier this year it planned to resume its pre-pandemic schedule of 18 daily nonstops from the airport by spring of next year, if not earlier.

When service to the airport was announced, it was to be limited to 24 daily flights. Southwest earned five slots but cancelled its flights before beginning service. United had six to begin, but when its Denver flight ends, Alaska will be the lone airline left at the airport – for now.

FAA Says Mechanics May Learn for Eight Hours a Day and Not a Minute More

Last summer, the School of Missionary Aviation Technology (SMAT) requested an exemption from the FAA to permit the school to hold class for an extra hour a day – increasing from eight to nine – to make up for lost time during the pandemic. The FAA finally ruled on the request and denied it with vigor.

The government said that by limiting instruction to eight hours a day, 40 hours a week and no more than six days a week provides assurances that students are retaining a sufficient amount of knowledge each day. The government also says that offering more than eight hours a day does not equate to a real-world training experience as SMAT suggested, because learning in a classroom is not remotely similar to working overtime as a certified aircraft mechanic.

Says the FAA: “In a learning environment, there is a point in the day at which the student may not retain additional information. After this point in time, any additional instruction provided would be of little value.” At this point, the FAA is saying that just because students can get through the class faster, it doesn’t mean they would retain the information or learn more efficiently, a stance that could apply to a lot more than just FAA mechanic school.

• Air New Zealand appointed Alison Gerry, Claudia Batten and Paul Goulter as directors on the airline’s Board.
• Canada Jetlines announced it intends to undertake a non-brokered private placement to raise up to C$5 million. If you know what that means, congrats on your MBA.
• Green Airlines has given all of its international flying a red light for the time being, suspending service.
• Rutaca Airlines added MD-83s and MD-88s to its fleet.
• Smartlynx Estonia is wet-leasing an A320-200.
• SAS’ $346 million aid package from the Swedish and Danish government was approved by the European Commission.
• Sky Mali has begun flying from Kayes, Mali (KYS) to Dakar (DSS).
• Titan Airways is adding its first widebody freighter, an A330-300 to its fleet.
• United has begun offering free inflight messaging on its 737 MAX 8 aircraft, a great feature to let your loved ones know your arrival will be delayed.

I saw a microbiologist today. He was much bigger than I was expecting.

Oh Canada: Mid-August Targeted for Border Reopening

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told a group of premiers that he expects that Canada’s border with the United States will open for vaccinated travelers on non-essential business by mid-August. With the NHL season wrapped up last week, the federal government has a lot more time on its hands now and can fully focus on reopening the border safely.

The border has been shut to non-essential travel since last March with the closure being extended one month at a time. The current closure is in place through next week, but indications from the Canadian government are that the extension into August will be the final one.

Canada took a first step towards easing border restrictions earlier this month when it announced that fully vaccinated Canadians could skip the mandatory 14-day quarantine upon returning home. Canada has maintained that it would not loosen border restrictions until 75% of its population is fully vaccinated. At this point, about 70% of Canadians have received at least one dose with just shy of half being fully inoculated.

Leave a Message at the Beep: Flair Airlines Turns off Phones

Flair Airlines is dealing with an overwhelming number of customer service calls, as most airlines around the world are right now. But the ULCC is taking low-cost to a new level this weekend as it shuts down its phones to all inbound calls.

Luckily for travelers, the airline isn’t shutting down its flights for the weekend, just its phone lines. The airline is struggling to respond to customer enquiries and is experiencing very long hold times to reach an agent. In order to solve this problem, it’s gone nuclear – or as nuclear as you can go when it comes to phone lines.

With the phones offline through Monday, the airline plans to get caught up on the backlog of customer enquiries and also train new staff. It says it’s tripling the size of its customer care team – but without hard numbers, its hard to know if this will make a difference as going from two to six may not make a big dent.

Flair’s phone lines should be turned back on Tuesday, assuming there are still any customers left willing to fly an airline that just arbitrarily walks away like that.

Tampa is Calling: TPA Wants to Add Heathrow Flights

Tampa International Airport is currently focused on adding a route to London/Heathrow as the airport attempts to rebuild its international network that took a hit due to the pandemic. The airport has been without direct service to London since last March when both British Airways and Norwegian ended their flights to London/Gatwick.

Heathrow is the airport’s largest international destination without a direct flight. In 2019, about 50,000 passengers flew roundtrip between Tampa and Heathrow, with most connecting through Atlanta or New York/JFK. The total market between the two cities in 2019 carried 215,607 passengers, a figure that includes service to all of London’s airports and probably Manchester too because we’re pretty sure it’s close enough.

Tampa is also seeking two other additions to its route network, San Juan, Costa Rica (SJO) and Orange County (SNA). Tampa currently has nonstop service to 78 cities by 13 airlines with Atlanta the destination with the most capacity.

Volaris Looks South for Growth

Mexican LCC Volaris is adding 25 A320neos to its fleet by the end of next year which will give the airline 113 aircraft. It’s making these additions despite not being able to launch any new service to the United States since the FAA downgraded Mexico’s safety rating in May.

With Aeromexico currently restructuring during Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, Volaris is adding flights at slot-constrained Mexico City with an eye towards the south to fill its airplanes. The airline is also launching a new El Salvadorian subsidiary that will fly to Mexico and the United States.

The carrier also expects to launch new service between Mexico City and Bogota in October, marking its first flight into South America. It expects to follow that up with flights from the Colombian capital to Central American cities shortly after.

Volaris turned a profit in Q2 of this year seeing a 38% jump in revenues compared to 2019 with only a 15% increase in expenses.

Pilot Sues Delta for $1 Billion Because He Invented Text Messaging

A Delta Air Lines pilot is taking the airline to court over a complaint that Delta stole his idea that allows flight crew to send secure text messages to one another. Captain Craig Alexander says he spent $100,000 of his own money developing his QrewLive app and was in discussions with Delta about the app before the airline stole the idea and made his own.

Alexander claims he developed the app several years ago and had positive meetings with Delta in 2015 and 2016. His complaint is centered on the idea that Delta stole the idea of secure text messaging between its employees. We reached out to Captain Alexander to see if he had also filed suit with Apple over iMessage, WhatsApp, Viber, Slack and other secure messaging apps since he discovered the concept, but the captain did not get back to us.

The lawsuit claims that Delta’s “Flight Family Communications” is a carbon copy of his QrewLive, but at least Delta managed to spell each word of its app’s name correctly, something QrewLive cannot claim. Alexander is also considering a second suit against Delta over the idea of omelets as an on-board meal for morning flights as he claims he’s the first person to combine cheese, meat, and egg in the morning, in addition to stating he has the patent on oxygen masks on the plane as the only person who’s ever figured out that oxygen is crucial for sustaining life.

• flyadeal received a brand-new A320neo, the first out of 30 of which it will take delivery over the next three years.
• Gullivair has been granted permission to operate twice-weekly service between Sofia and Cairo, which indicates that the airline is considering reentering the scheduled passenger market.
• Malaysia Airlines placed all six of its A380 aircraft up for sale.
• Pakistan International Airlines suspended flights between its Islamabad hub and Saidu Sharif (SDT) due to a lack of demand. (Presumably from paying customers, not qualified pilots, but with PIA, who knows).
• Rhoades Aviation, the operator of Transair 810 that crashed near Oahu earlier this month has been ordered to ground all of its aircraft by the FAA.
• Silk Way West is beginning weekly cargo service between its Baku hub and Mumbai.
• SWISS named Martin Aspel-von zur Gathen its new Head of Operations and Planning. His first job in the role will be to figure out how to fit his whole name on a business card.
• TAP had a €1.2 billion rescue loan re-approved by the European Commission.
• Wizz Air is delaying the opening of its new base in Cardiff until 2022.

Interviewer: Why should we hire you to be our waiter?

Me: I bring a lot to the table.

Avelo Gambles on Vegas

Avelo Airlines announced its first new city since it began operating earlier this summer, as the airline will begin flying from Sonoma County Airport (STS) to Las Vegas on September 16. CEO Andrew Levy said he was always interested in Santa Rosa when he was running Allegiant, so apparently he’s just going to fly what should be an Allegiant route.

Avelo’s service to Sin City will operate 4x-weekly, departing Sonoma at 10:05 a.m. The plane will then turn back to STS with a 12:25 p.m. departure out of Las Vegas. LAS will represent the airline’s second destination from Sonoma County, complementing its pre-existing service to Burbank.

Avelo’s flight from Burbank is timed up to connect to its Vegas flight if one were so inclined to buy two separate tickets and connect despite the thousands of daily nonstops between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. We understand Avelo is thinking about including a free 60-minute session with a therapist for anyone who chooses to fly via STS for travel between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Southwest Considers South America

Southwest Airlines is considering beginning service to northern South America according to outgoing CEO Gary Kelly. Kelly’s comments on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” podcast indicated that the airline is thinking about expanding its B737 service to the continent as it grows its international footprint.

Kelly did say that the airline’s fleet is not large enough to sustain all the flying it has planned for 2022 and 2023 and that it would need to grow in order to meet future demand, including the addition of flying to South America. During the pandemic, Southwest sold three aircraft to Avelo before it realized that Avelo was a real airline.

Southwest currently has 747 aircraft in its fleet, 472 B737-700, 207 B737-800, and 68 B737-8s. We think it might still have an old 727 around too, but we can’t be sure. It has 232 B737-7 and 132 B737-8 on order. There will be a test on Friday.

The B737-7 has a 4430-mile range, which would make northern South America within reach for the airline.

Surprise! Austin to Close South Terminal

Austin International Airport is closing the South Terminal, its home for vagabond LCCs that are willing to send their passengers to essentially a double-wide trailer to save costs.  The terminal, which is the home to Allegiant and Frontier, is so undesirable that even Spirit won’t subject its passengers to its spartan offerings.

The third party that operates the terminal on behalf of the airport discovered it was going to close without any warning from the city. Lonestar Holdings was surprised by the announcement, especially since it currently is in the midst of a 40-year lease with the city to operate the terminal and many of the insects that make their home have life-expectancies well beyond 40 years.

The South Terminal needs to go in order for taxiways at the main terminal to be relocated so more gates can be added. Despite opening just four years ago, the South Terminal is already proving to be obsolete as several airlines have grown their operations at AUS this summer in both terminals — including Allegiant which is pouring $75 million in to add 90 full-time jobs and base 3 A320s. It’s gotten so bad that American briefly considered adding an airport codeshare agreement to its flights, listing them as departing and arriving from Austin but actually operating in and out of Dallas/Ft. Worth.

Cathay Pacific Offers Up a Plane for a Day

Cathay Pacific is joining the vaccination incentive game as the airline, in conjunction with the Hong Kong government, is offering one of its planes for a day for one lucky Hong Kong resident who is vaccinated.

The grand prize winner will receive a 90-minute ride around Hong Kong on an A321neo aircraft for themselves and up to 201 of their closest friends. The aircraft seats 12 up front and 190 in economy, so the smart move might be to put yourself and 12 friends in business and put 190 of your enemies in the back. Ten runners-up will receive one million Asia Miles points each, or as Delta calls it – a basic economy award ticket to Toledo.

Just under 25% of Hong Kong’s 1.9 million residents are vaccinated with the island’s government hoping to push that number closer to 75%.

The End of an Era: Arrivederci Alitalia

The fall of the Berlin Wall; Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon; the first time Spirit charged a customer a fee – most remember where they were for those historic moments. And one more can be added to the list – the moment Alitalia will cease to exist.

October 15 will be the first day for Italia Transporti Aereo — known to us as ITA — the newly created airline to replace Alitalia. This means October 14 will be the final day for the carrier which has amazingly been in administration since May of 2017 and has been finding new ways to lose money for decades.

It’s taken seven months of negotiations, stops and starts, and setbacks since the Italian government has planned the move, but it has finally come to an agreement with the EU on the terms of the transfer to the new airline. The formal process will see a €700 million cash injection into the new airline in 2021 which will be enough to purchase the aviation branch within Alitalia and begin operating.

The government will supply the new airline with another €400 million next year and €250 million in 2023. Those holding tickets on Alitalia on dates beyond October 15 “will be protected” according to the EU, but truthfully should they be? Anyone buying a ticket on this airline that far in advance deserves whatever is coming to them.

• Air India’s potential buyer Tata Sons is considering a protection clause from the Indian government to protect itself from aircraft seizures and other claims due to the airline’s heavy debts from previous ownership.
• Cathay Pacific’s new A321neo aircraft is expected to enter regular service beginning August 4.
• Finnair is attempting to achieve €80 million in permanent cost base reductions by 2022.
• Fly Peru earned its Air Operating Certificate and now plans to build up its main base at Lima (LIM) where it hopes to operate to at least 20 destinations.
• Ryanair is entering the domestic Irish market with daily flights from Dublin to Kerry (KIR) beginning July 28.
• Scoot is looking to acquire fifth-freedom rights within Europe to scoot passengers between Berlin and Athens, beginning August 10.
• Vietnam Airlines is selling its fleet of ATR72 aircraft. The airline is also resuming international flights today, July 15.

Today we present a very special moment of levity from Airchive founder Chris Sloan’s son Caleb.

Why are vegetables great DJ’s? They are good at TURNUP-ing and dropping the BEETS!

Delta First to Announce Q2 Earnings, Posts “Profit”

Delta Air Lines is the first U.S. airline to release its Q2 financials, and the airline announced it turned a profit for the first time since 2019… thanks to federal aid covering the majority of its payroll costs.

Q2 ended up $652 million in the black for Delta as total revenue smashed expectations coming in at $7.13 billion vs. a forecast of $6.22 billion. Delta actually posted a loss of $881 million when it excludes the $1.5 billion in payroll assistance it received from the government. Capacity in Q2 was down 32% when compared to Q2 2019, and it expects Q3 to be down between 28 and 30% from two years ago.

Expenses were down to $6.3 billion, a 43% drop from 2019. Savings came mainly from an $811 million reduction in fuel expense and 34% reduction in maintenance expenses. Much of the fuel savings are tied to having less weight on its airplanes due to the airline removing crazy passengers who try and start fights on-board.

Delta closes the quarter with $17.8 billion in liquidity, most of which is tied up in Biscoff and Woodford Reserve futures. The airline has debt and lease obligations of $29.1 billion, nothing it can’t pawn off on Virgin Atlantic or LATAM if it feels like it.

Flydubai Reduces MAX Order by 65 Aircraft

Flydubai, which had about 250 B737 MAX aircraft on order from Boeing, reduced its order by 65 this week after coming to an undisclosed agreement with the manufacturer. The airline made the decision to reduce its order due to a slowdown in its growth strategy related to the pandemic.

Flydubai exclusively operates the B737 and placed orders in 2013 and 2017 for a combined 250 MAX aircraft – 130 MAX 8s, 70 MAX 9s, and 50 MAX 10s. The airline has already taken delivery of 16 planes from the order — including two MAX 8s last month — with 11 more expected to be delivered before the end of the year. The decision comes after the airline announced a loss of $194 million for its 2020 fiscal year which ended in May. And apparently flydubai is one airline that actually minds losing money.

Flydubai’s current fleet consists of just over 50 planes. When delivery of this order is completed, even with the reduction of 65 planes, it will still have over 200 – four times what it has now.

Air Arabia to Launch Flag Carrier for Armenia

United Arab Emirates-based Air Arabia signed an agreement with a state-owned investment group in Armenia to establish a joint venture to become a flag carrier in the country.

The new airline does not yet have a name, but the government will pick a name from a list of proposals submitted by Armenian citizens through August 14. Anyone who’s been on the fence about earning Armenian citizenship and who’s also wanted to name a start up airline has a golden opportunity on their hands. Despite the contest to name the airline, the country is expected to go with the obvious choice of Airmenia. They can thank us later.

Airmenia will be based out of Yerevan (EVN) and will take on an LCC structure. Because it does want to fly at some point, the airline will wisely begin its campaign for an AOC soon. The last state-owned flag carrier in the country was Armenian Airways which went out of business in 2003, mostly because people were mad it wasn’t named Airmenia.

KLM’s Caribbean and South American Network Back to 2019 Levels

KLM has resumed flying to the Caribbean and to South America at the same levels from prior to the pandemic with 17 destinations seeing service and two more — Port of Spain (POS) and Bridgetown (BGI) — to be added this winter.

Of the 17 destinations KLM operated to in 2019, 15 are the same. Havana and Fortaleza, Brazil (FOR) are currently suspended, and have been replaced by San Jose and Liberia in Costa Rica after a deal was struck for the Costa Rican government to buy all the tiny, liquor-filled Delft houses for KLM’s business class passengers on the flights. Both destinations were seasonal prior to the pandemic but have been increased to year-round service.

Much of the frequency from KLM to the Caribbean operates to the ABC islands: Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao. The airline operates 24 weekly round trips total to the self-governing constituent countries of the Netherlands.

On-Board Food Sales Returning to BA

British Airways is bringing back the option to buy food and drink on-board from its website during flight for departures from London/Heathrow with the exception of flights it deems “express routes,” which includes flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Dublin, Paris, UK destinations, and whatever else it damn well pleases.

The option is for drinks and shelf-stable food options. More hearty meal options will still need to be ordered ahead of time from BA’s website. Regardless of if food is ordered on-board the aircraft or ahead of time, passengers can expect to be disappointed in bland taste and mediocre quality of the on-board offerings.

The new ordering system is available on BA’s website accessed on mobile devices through in-flight WiFi. Options to purchase from flight attendants during service are not yet available as they will be busy explaining to pre-paid customers why their option wasn’t catered.

• Air Astana earned a profit of $4.9 million for the first half of 2021.
• Allegiant flew 2.3% more passengers in June 2021 than it did in June 2019.
• American has asked its flight attendants to stop leaving cash tips for hotel staff during layovers in Sydney because a handful of new COVID-19 cases have been traced to hard money changing hands in New South Wales.
• Austrian had its state aid from the Austrian government upheld as the European General Court threw out Ryanair and Laudamotion’s suit against the aid. 
• Comair – the South African version – is looking for a cash infusion to sustain the business while it remains grounded through at least August 31.
• Delta has relocated from Terminal B to Terminal A in Burbank.
• flyDubai is adding 3x-weekly service to Sohag (HMB) beginning July 25 via Sharm El Sheikh (SSH).
• Global Crossing signed a lease for a fourth aircraft – an A320-214.
• SAS‘s Irish subsidiary resumed passenger operations.
• SCAT Airlines added its first B737-800 aircraft.

Who spends an entire party in the bathroom? A party-pooper.