Author: Andrew Bashuk

Frontier Shifts SoCal Service Away From LAX

At first blush, it looks like Frontier is growing in Southern California by adding Burbank as its newest city while also adding a new route out of Ontario. There is more to this story, however, in that it appears to accompany a large pullback — if not pull-out entirely — at LAX.

Burbank will welcome Frontier on July 15 with flights to three cities: Denver, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.  All three cities will see daily nonstop service operate year-round. In Ontario, Frontier will begin service to Atlanta on July 16 with 4x-weekly seasonal service that will operate through January. The airline will also add four weekly flights on its Ontario to Denver route, going to 11 weekly flights, up from once daily.

The curious thing about the additions is that the four cities to which it’s adding service: Denver, Las Vegas, and Phoenix from Burbank and Atlanta from Ontario are the exact four routes the airline currently operates from LAX. A look on the website shows fewer flights from LAX into early September after which no flights operate through the end of the month. We will be watching to see if a return to LAX is in the cards or if the airline is truly gone for good.

Delta to Require New Hires be Vaccinated

Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said Thursday that he will require new hires for the airline to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Bastian will not require current employees to be vaccinated, figuring with Delta selling middle seats again it’s just a matter of time for herd immunity amongst cabin staff.

According to Bastian, more than 60% of current Delta employees are vaccinated and he expects that number to reach as high as 80%. To keep its percentage high, the airline considers anyone within 30 minutes of being vaccinated to be vaccinated.

Delta’s current job postings do not list a vaccination requirement, but the airline expects to inform diamond and platinum level applicants of the mandate within five days prior to the interview. Gold and silver level applicants will be informed within 24 hours of the interview with general members being informed at the interview itself.

Frontier Releases Q1 Financials

Yesterday was a busy day for Frontier, as the airline also released its first financial report as a publicly held company later on.  It posted a net loss of $91 million for Q1 2021, a result that includes $82 million of PSP support from the federal government.

Revenues were down 50% from Q1 2020 to $271 million with expenses down 44% to $636 million. Despite the Q1 loss, the airline was able to turn March into a cash-positive month, its first since the onset of the pandemic.

In Q1, Frontier finalized a transaction to return all of the four A319 aircraft left in its fleet. Three of the planes will exit the fleet in Q2 with the fourth leaving in Q3. Frontier also added three A320neo planes to its fleet as it looks to add larger and more fuel-efficient planes to its fleet, which honestly makes a lot more sense than wanting smaller, less fuel-efficient planes.

Frontier closed Q1 with $853 in unrestricted cash and cash equivalents, most of which it’s spending on parking fees at Burbank for staff who are getting its gate areas ready for service.

Wizz Air Adds Four Aircraft and 32 Routes to New Rome Base

Wizz Air announced that Rome/Fiumicino (FCO) will be its newest base, marking the fifth base in Italy for the airline and the only one that’s also a hub for a failing state-supported carrier. The vultures will start circling new base will open in July, also when the new routes from the airport will begin.

From FCO, Wizz Air is adding 32 new routes to 19 countries across Europe, giving it 57 destinations from Rome this summer. The flights include London/Luton and Liverpool in England, several Greek islands, Nice in France, Dubrovnik and Split in Croatia, Prague and more.

To facilitate all the new flying, Wizz will base four aircraft in Rome, all A321neos. This will bring the airline to 21 aircraft based in the country. It had 23 at one point but Alitalia asked to “borrow” two planes about eight months ago and never returned them.

Singapore/Hong Kong Travel Bubble Expected to Pop

The travel bubble between Singapore and Hong Kong, which was supposed to begin on May 26 is likely to be popped before it begins.

Singapore has recorded 112 domestic COVID infections this month, compared with 55 cases in April and just nine in March, which has Hong Kong officials concerned. While Americans may have trouble processing the concept, these governments see 112 cases this month as a lot — worthy of shutting the bubble down before it begins. Hong Kong on Friday completed its seventh consecutive day with no local positive cases.

Outgoing Singaporean transport minister Ong Ye Kung said that Hong Kong was a safe destination for travel with regards to its infection levels but recognized Singapore’s increase in infections likely would postpone the bubble. It was an outbreak in Hong Kong that forced a suspension of the opening of the bubble the first time back in November. Late last month, both governments agreed on May 26 as a target for the Bubble 2.0, and no one is saying what the next date might be if the May 26 date is pushed back.

• Breeze received its AOC (this one, not this one), moving it closer to launching passenger ops. This’ll be a top 5 real story when the launch actually happens.
• Emerald Airlines is close to signing a contract to operate for Aer Lingus Regional when the contract ends with Stobart Air.
• GoAir has filed an IPO in India and it plans to rebrand as Go First.
• Hibernian Airlines of Ireland is opening a new base where it will keep two CRJ-1000 aircraft in Maastricht, Netherlands (MST).
• Iberia added a new route from its Madrid hub to Ponta Delgada (PDL), operating twice weekly. The airline is also adding charter services from both Lisbon and Porto in Portugal to Porto Santo (PXO) beginning June 6.
• Icelandair CFO Eva Soley Gudbjornsdottir resigned.
• La Compagnie secured an additional $12.1 million in state-backed loans from the French Government.
• SWISS named Stefan-Kenan Scheib as new Head of Flight Operations.

Why is it a bad idea to iron your four-leaf clover? Cause you shouldn’t press your luck.

Southwest Doubles Up to Aloha State

Two years after introducing service to the 50^th state, Southwest Airlines is massively expanding its service to Hawai’i, introducing flights out of Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix while adding on to its current schedule out of San Diego and other airports. This is all possible thanks to the introduction of the 737 MAX on extended overwater (ETOPS) flights.

Prior to the announcement, the airline operated to Hawai’i from Long Beach, Oakland, Sacramento, San Diego, and San Jose. Long Beach and Oakland will see an extra daily flight to Honolulu this summer while San Jose gets an extra flight to Maui, but the real growth is in San Diego and the three new cities:

• Las Vegas – Honolulu 2x daily from June 6, Kahului 2x daily from June 27, Kona 1x daily from September 7, and Lihu’e 1x daily from September 8.
• Los Angeles – Honolulu 2x daily from June 6, Kahului 3x daily from June 6, Kona 1x daily from June 27, and Lihu’e 1x daily from June 27.
• Phoenix – Honolulu 2x daily from June 27, Kahului 1x daily from June 27, Kona 1x daily from September 7, and Lihu’e 1x daily from September 7.
• San Diego – Honolulu gets a 2nd daily from June 6, Kahului 2x daily from June 27, Kona 1x daily from June 27, and Lihu’e 1x daily from June 29.

The entry of the 737 MAX into Hawai’i — when not grounded for some problem or another — enables the Las Vegas and Phoenix flights since the 737-800s do not have the range. Notably, both those cities get morning flights from Honolulu while Vegas has a morning flight from Kahului, so the number of connecting options to the east will dramatically increase with this expansion. If you’re an east coaster who loves the idea of back-to-back 5 hour flights in unassigned seats with nothing more than snacks… it’s time to get excited!

Breeze Inaugural Route and Destinations Leaked

Breeze Airways, the startup airline planning to put flights on sale soon, has sprung a leak. Ahead of its launch announcement, the first routes and destinations appeared in an article hosted on Apple News on Thursday.

The article states the airline will fly 49 direct routes at launch, operating to 15 cities. The first route will be Tampa to Charleston (CHS), operated by E190 and E195 aircraft. The airline will eventually begin flying A220s once it’s up and running. The initial focus will be making enough money to operate for more than a month connecting the Rust Belt with the Sun Belt. Other cities at launch will include Nashville, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh.

It’ll operate with three fare classes: Nice, Nicer, and Nicest. Other finalists included Breezy, Breezier, and Breeziest along with Absolutely No Frills, Mostly No Frills, and Some Frills but Not Enough to be Frilly. The “Nicest” class will be the airline’s business class product which will launch when it puts A220s into service later in 2021.

What’s not included in the announcement is a launch date for the airline’s first flight. Look for that detail to come very soon, with some saying the airline is seeing which way the wind blows before it makes its decision.

Airlines Cancel Tel Aviv Flights

IAG airlines British Airways and Iberia canceled their flights to Tel Aviv today, joining several U.S. airlines in suspending service to the Israeli airport while tensions continue to escalate in the region.

An Iberia flight from Madrid to Tel Aviv was forced to divert over the Mediterranean Tuesday night as Israel’s defense system shot down rockets that were aimed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport.

The decision from the European airlines comes a day after American, Delta, and United halted flights to TLV for the time being. Lufthansa originally had planned to operate its Friday flight between Frankfurt and Tel Aviv before opting to cancel it early Thursday. British LCC easyJet and Israeli flag carrier El Al both plan to operate their schedules to and from Tel Aviv without cancellations, but both say they are monitoring the situation.

El Al has made Whatsapp messaging free on all flights so passengers can stay in touch friends and family on the ground. easyJet laughed at the idea, saying it doesn’t offer anything for free — even in a potential war zone.

Boeing Gains FAA Approval for 737 MAX Fix

Boeing received approval from the FAA on Wednesday of its fix for the electrical grounding issue that forced airlines to take approximately 100 737 MAX aircraft out of service last month.

The news comes as airlines are ramping up their operations with demand for summer travel reaching levels not seen since prior to the pandemic. In other words, they really need those airplanes flying instead of acting as shade structures for prairie dogs in the desert.

Of the ~100 aircraft taken out of service last month, more than 60 belonged to American, Southwest, and United – the three largest operators of the MAX in the United States. The airlines are eager to get their aircraft back into operation to get as many flights as possible out until the next issue forces it to be grounded again.

Germany Eases Restrictions for Vaccinated Travelers

The German government will permit travelers who are fully-vaccinated against COVID to avoid quarantine when entering the country beginning later this summer. The government will also allow non-vaccinated visitors to leave quarantine if they can provide two negative tests after Chancellor Angela Merkel approved the change to existing quarantine policies.

The country will launch its digital immunity certificate by the end of next month, which will be required for German residents to prove they’ve been fully vaccinated. The certificate will be stored in an app on your phone instead of the WHO’s vaccine booklet.

Germany has improved its vaccination rate after a slow start. Five million doses were administered last week, halfway to its goal of 10 million weekly jabs. A third of Germany’s 83 million residents have received at least one shot, with about 10% full vaccinated.

The government is making a strong push to complete the verification process prior to Wheneverfest Season which could be underway at any time.

• Air Busan is operating flights to nowhere that briefly leave Korean airspace just long enough to qualify for duty-free shopping.
• AirAsia X is beginning a $121 million fundraising drive.
• Allegiant is on the move at LAX, moving from its current location in Terminal 5 to the new Terminal 1-West gates. The airline will begin operating from its new location this Wednesday, May 19.
• Alitalia had a €12.8 million aid package from the Italian government approved by the European Commission. The cash will be transferred as soon as Alitalia can locate that darn routing number.
• Gulf Air is resuming direct summer seasonal service from Bahrain to Malaga. The flights will operate twice weekly between June 30 and August 29.
• Nauru Airlines put one of its B737-400 freighters up for sale. The airline plans to bring the plane to Narau’s monthly swap meet which takes place on the 2^nd Sunday of each month.
• Pobeda began operating its first flights at Moscow/Sheremetyevo (SVO) this week. The airline is operating at SVO, located 35 miles from its Moscow/Vnukovo (VKO) base, for the first time since its founding in 2014.
• SKY Express is beginning 6x-weekly service between Athens and Brussels. The flights will begin this Sunday, May 16.
• Spirit is adding two new destinations out of Orange County airport, beginning daily service to Phoenix and Sacramento on June 9. On July 7 it is resuming daily service to Oakland and adding a second daily flight to Las Vegas. All new routes are subject to Spirit’s schedule addition fee which the four airports have not yet paid.
• Starlux‘s first flight to Vietnam landed in Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) earlier this morning.
• TAP applied for the liquidation of its ground handling company. The airline is a creditor of the company and 49.9% owner.
• Thai’s restructuring plan will remain in limbo as its creditors postponed their vote.
• Virgin Australia will remain a fully domestic operation for some time, except for flights to Queenstown, NZ which will begin September 18.

I didn’t want to believe that my roommate was stealing from his job as a traffic cop, but when I got home, all the signs were there.

United Partners with Abbott On In-Home Test For International Travelers

United Airlines and Abbott have partnered to offer a CDC-approved self-administered COVID test that can be taken overseas and used for re-entry into the United States instead of having to hunt down a testing location in a far away land.

United passengers can order their BinaxNow test from Abbott, bring it to their overseas destination, and administer the test themselves. This does require an internet connection since travelers will need to be remotely guided through the test process by someone who may or may not actually know what they’re doing. Results can then be uploaded on to United’s Travel-Ready Center or presented at the airport to be cleared to fly.

The cost is just $150 for a six-pack of tests, which is expensive if just one person who really enjoys COVID testing needs it, but it’s downright cheap if you have a family of six. United says the tests are only the size of a day planner which, children, is something that used to be a thing before smartphones existed.

Alaska Announces Fleet Growth and New Destination

It’s growing day at Alaska Airlines, with the airline announcing it will need more airplanes because it expects domestic travel to return to pre-pandemic levels by next summer.

To meet that demand, Alaska is exercising options for 13 Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft to be delivered in 2023/2024 and 17 14 net new E-175 aircraft for its regional fleet over the next two years. Eight of those go to SkyWest while nine will go to Horizon Air, but three that Horizon was originally going to take have been pushed back later so it’s only a net increase of six for the airline by 2023. In this round, each regional carrier was guaranteed eight while the 17^th plane went to Horizon as it won a rock, paper, scissors battle over SkyWest.

Alaska also announced Belize City (BZE) as its newest destination. When it begins flying to the capital, Belize will become the fourth country to receive Alaska service from the West Coast. The airline has not yet announced to where it will fly from Belize, but we feel confident enough to say that it won’t be from Fresno.

Delta Asks for Sky Club Volunteers

Delta Air Lines is asking Atlanta-based employees to volunteer in its ATL Sky Clubs due to severe understaffing right now amongst its outsourced staff. The staff have stopped coming in once they realized that the SkyMiles they chose instead of cash for their wages are basically worthless.

The request had already been made to Delta’s “Peach Corps” volunteer team that often steps into different roles across the airline’s operation. Recently, their primary job has been to help the CEO remove his foot from his mouth after saying something wrong, but with the lounges understaffed by as many as 115 contract workers, they have been given a new assignment. Staff are asked to come help whenever they’re available, even if it’s just dropping in for a few minutes on break or for half an hour before putting your kids to bed.

The staff shortage is even dire enough that if it cannot find enough volunteers, the airline will force customers booked in Basic Economy to work a two-hour shift prior to departure.

Air Canada Learns to Say Aloha Again

Air Canada is adding new nonstop service from the Great White North to Hawai’i for travel this winter including the first nonstops between Montreal and Honolulu as well as Toronto and Maui. This optimistic plan assumes that Canada doesn’t “pull an Australia” and prevent most travelers from going anywhere by the time December rolls around.

Montreal to Honolulu will operate twice weekly beginning December 12 on AC’s B787 Dreamliner. Toronto to Maui will operate as Saturday-only Dreamliner service beginning December 18, while Toronto to Honolulu will operate three times weekly on the Dreamliner beginning December 17.

Western Canada will see the return of several routes. Calgary will get 3x-weekly service to Honolulu from December 18 while Maui gets 4x-weekly from December 17. All seven weekly flights to Hawai’i from Calgary will operate on a two-class Boeing 737. Vancouver will have flights to three Hawaiian markets: Honolulu, Maui, and Kona. During the winter, Honolulu and Maui will operate daily, while Kona will be 3x-weekly.

Canadians will be subject to quarantine upon arrival in Hawai’i, not for COVID but because they burn easily in the sun. The state insists all Canadian visitors quarantine for seven days to allow their skin time to adjust.

Qantas Formally Scraps International Service Through December

Qantas Airways ended its plan to resume international service in October after the Australian government “pulled an Australia” and announced that borders will remain closed through mid-2022.

The airline announced today that all international routes will remain in hibernation through at least the end of 2021 except for flights to New Zealand as part of Australia’s Trans-Tasman bubble. Qantas remains hopeful that other bubbles can be added to other regional destinations including Hong Kong and Singapore, but there is opposition. Ibiza has filed a complaint saying that if there are too many bubbles, it will turn into a foam party, diverting travelers away from Ibiza’s signature events.

The airline has turned its focus to strengthening its domestic network and will continue to do so until it can return to operating international flights. It will also operate its worldwide cargo network delivering Australian delicacies such as Vegemite across the globe to all who want them… in other words, it has one Cessna in the fleet.

• airBaltic announced a new weekly seasonal flight from its Riga hub to the Greek island Corfu (CFU) beginning June 12.
• Cebu Air posted a loss of $152.6 million in Q1 2021.
• Delta was named the #1 airline in the J.D. Power 2021 North America Satisfaction Study. Hold your applause.
• Mesa reported a pre-tax income of $7.6 million for the quarter ending March 31.
• Turkish is beginning service to Newark on May 21. Newark will mark its 10^th U.S. destination.
• Volotea announced Mike Powell as its new CFO effective July 1.

Someone broke into my house yesterday. They stole my coffeemaker, my speaker system, and my lamp. I don’t know how they even sleep at night.

Pipeline Hack Forces Airlines to Adapt

The cyberattack that caused the shutdown of the Colonial Pipeline has forced airlines to alter some east coast operations to account for a slowdown of fuel deliveries.

American is adding stops to two of its long-haul flights from its Charlotte hub. The airline’s nonstop flight to Honolulu will stop in Dallas/Ft Worth while its flight to London/Heathrow will stop in Boston. In Dallas, passengers will need to change planes to a Boeing 777-300ER to continue the journey to Hawai’i. No change of plans is needed in Boston where the aircraft will receive a top up of fuel to make it across the pond to London.

Southwest is flying planes with extra fuel into places like Nashville, which will be used to supplement the local supply. The extra fuel is then used as needed on flights leaving Nashville, pumped into the plane after the A-list fuel has been put in the tank. The extra fuel can pay between $19 and $69 per flight to be pumped in early, prior to the other fuel if it sees fit.

United — an airline without a southeast hub — is seeing less impact, but green-obsessed CEO Scott Kirby found this to be a great opportunity to push forward the idea of nuclear-powered airplanes to help ease the carbon footprint.

Delta Cuts Four Routes

Delta Air Lines cut four routes from its schedule over the weekend including two long-time underperforming domestic routes and two international routes.

Domestically, Detroit to Quad Cities/Moline (MLI) and New York/LGA to Chattanooga (CHA) are being axed. Both of these city pairs had been suspended since the onset of the pandemic, and the suspension is now permanent. The loss of the Detroit flights leaves Quad Cities with Atlanta as its lone remaining destination on Delta. Chattanooga keeps Atlanta and Detroit service with the Choo-Choo still the preferred method of transportation to the city.

The airline is ending its daily nonstop transborder flight from Atlanta to Vancouver, BC (YVR). Despite losing Atlanta, Vancouver will still see Delta flights to Detroit, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City, and Seattle.

And lastly, Delta has cut its fifth freedom route from Seoul/Incheon (ICN) to Manila (MNL). This was a legacy Northwest route which operated from Tokyo/Narita. Delta moved it to Seoul in 2019 when it moved its transpacific gateway to the Korean capital. Flights on the route were supposed to begin March of last year, but never took off due to the pandemic. The loss of the Manila flight will mark the end of Delta’s presence in the city.

Delta and LATAM Receive JV Approval in Colombia

Delta Air Lines and LATAM received approval on their Joint Venture in Colombia, clearing another hurdle as the two airlines expand their partnership in Latin America.

The approval will permit the two airlines to collaborate on scheduling and pricing for both passengers and cargo in Colombia. It also frees the two to share historical pricing, exercise tips, cocktail recipes, and the best restaurants in Bogotá. Colombia marks the third country in South America to approve the JV, joining Brazil and Argentina.

The biggest remaining hurdle is approval in LATAM’s home nation of Chile. The denial by the Chileans when American and LATAM tried to link up is what led to the alliance’s ultimate demise. Well, that and a whole lot of money from Delta.

State Department Eases Travel Advisories to UK and Israel

The US State Department lowered the travel advisory for Americans traveling to both Israel and the United Kingdom, coming just weeks after the government raised more than three-fourths of the world’s countries to the Level 4 ‘Do Not Travel’ designation.

The UK has been lowered to Level 3 ‘Reconsider Travel’ while Israel jumped all the way down to Level 2 ‘Exercise Increased Caution’ which seems incredibly strange since there are actual rockets being fired at Israel as we write this. Israel joins just 16 nations currently in Level 2, including Belize, Palau, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The United States is currently designated as an ‘amber’ country in the UK’s traffic light system for travel restrictions. Amber is UK for yellow. As an amber nation, visitors to the UK must self-quarantine for ten days upon arrival, take and pass three tests regardless of vaccination status, and complete the entire first two seasons of Downton Abbey on HBO Max or your local PBS station.

Australia Borders to Remain Closed for Another Year

In the federal budget for the next year, Australian Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg announced the government does not plan to reopen its borders until mid-2022, except for select travel bubbles.

Australia closed its international borders in March of 2020 during the first wave of the pandemic and has not reopened. Qantas had been planning for a resumption of most of its international routes on October 31 of this year, which no longer seems feasible. The airline is now expected to redeploy its long-haul fleet to its regional routes, just to dump even more excess capacity in order to annoy Rex.

The Australian government is shifting its focus to travel bubbles, such as the one already active with New Zealand. The government dismissed Qantas’s proposal that the country begin travel bubbles with eight countries: Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, UK, and the United States.

• Air Canada announced a Q1 loss of $865 million for Q1 2021.
• Alaska is moving forward with its B737 cabin retrofits which had been on hold since the onset of the pandemic.
• Bamboo Airways is now planning to launch service to the United States from Ho Chi Minh City (SGN) on September 1.
• Canadian North is retiring its two remaining B737-200 aircraft by early 2022. The last one in the fleet turned 40 last year, so it has earned its retirement.
• Cathay Pacific raised $650 million in its first U.S. dollar bond in 25 years.
• El Al and Israir have had their government bailout packages approved by the Israeli government. El Al will receive $210 million and Israir will receive $16 million.
• Gulf Air is adding 2x-weekly summer seasonal service from its Bahrain hub to both Santorini (JTR) and Mykonos (JMK).
• Hong Kong Air Cargo received permission to begin operating nine new routes.
• Lufthansa Group is extending its change fee waiver for all five airlines through July 31.
• SAS is launching a new route from Luleå (LLA) to London/Heathrow. The flight will operate twice weekly between December 17 and March 22.
• Singapore is resuming its fifth freedom route between Tokyo/Narita and Los Angeles on June 16.
• Turkish is resuming its onboard chef program for premium passengers on long-haul routes. The onboard chefs oversee the plating of your meal that was prepared 36 hours prior in a mass kitchen in an Istanbul office park 40 miles from the airport.

With vaccination rates in my community continuing to climb, I am trying to organize a hide-and-seek tournament for next weekend. But good players are very hard to find.

Delta and United to Swap Locations in Seattle

The Port of Seattle, which operates Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, is beginning a $100 million project to relocate Delta and United to optimize the use of space both for passengers and behind-the-scenes for staff. The changes are needed because of the new International Arrivals Facility (IAF) that will be opening shortly at the airport.

The relocations were supposed to begin last year but were delayed by the pandemic. United has three gates located in Terminal A with direct access to the new IAF, which isn’t ideal because, unlike Delta, the airline doesn’t operate any international flights from Seattle.  United will move its operation from Concourse A to Concourse B, selling its three gates to Delta, as it moves most of its operation from Concourse B to A. Delta converted 2.5 billion SkyMiles into 100,000 United Mileage Plus Points, which it redeemed for the gates. Delta will also move out of the South Satellite Terminal, with its entire Sea-Tac operation operating from Concourses A & B.

United will take over the current location for American Express’s Centurion Lounge as its United Club at the airport, with UA passengers hoping Amex leaves its recipes and ingredients behind for United to use for its food offerings. The new Centurion lounge will move to a new area in the Central Terminal so that more passengers can experience the hot food buffet, strange seating options, and overcrowding that Centurion lounges are known for.

Port of Seattle Commission Peter Steinbrueck supports the change, but wants to see it completed by early 2022, so this must be his first airport project. The Port currently expects all work to be completed by Jan. 1, 2024.

Breeze Looks Beyond Its Really Bad Plan for Flight Attendants

The winds of change have arrived at Breeze Airways even before the airline operates its first flight, as it has amended its odd plan to exclusively hire full-time, online college students as flight attendants. The airline will continue its work-study program with Utah Valley University, the noted Harvard of the Wasatch, but will look for some cabin staff through more traditional methods because, well, it needs more than it can get under this current program.

Under the original plan, flight attendants could only remain in that role while enrolled as a full-time student. The Association of Flight Attendants – CWA union opposed the policy for more reasons than can fit to print, but chiefly because it would limit seniority, which just isn’t true – the airline planned to hire plenty of college seniors.

The only group opposed to the change seems to be full-time and part-time college students, mostly male, who thought Breeze’s policy was a great idea for a new dating app. If Breeze ever does end up flying a plane somewhere, those college students have said they will strongly consider flying another airline.

Men Yell at Cloud; Senators Demand Air Travel Policy

Senators Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CO) spent the morning yelling at a cloud sent a letter to major domestic airlines urging each one to make all pandemic-related flight credits valid indefinitely. The Senators see no issue with keeping the liabilities on the books forever because it’s someone else’s finances and not their own.

The letters were sent to ten airlines: Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit, and United. Despite the Senators franking privileges that entitle them to send mail for free while in office, they did pay the $19 incoming mail fee for the letter to be received at Spirit HQ.

Airlines that were left out including Boutique, Silver, Southern Airways Express, and Sun Country. They laughed all the way to the bank when they discovered the Senators didn’t care enough about them to require they also process cash refunds.

American Revamps AAmenity Kits

American Airlines figured out how to fix all that ails it: new amenity kits. The new amenity kits for American — created by Shinola, a Detroit-based luxury design brand known for watches and leather goods — seems to go against American’s historical policies of promoting delayed flights and cloth seats. Not to mention, when thinking of high-end luxury goods, Detroit is often the first city that comes to mind.  

Shinola and AA aren’t stopping at amenity kits. They’re also creating a desk clock made from the metal of AA’s now-retired MD-80 fleet. One thousand clocks are being sold at $395 each – the clocks make the perfect gift for the traveler in your life, as they can monitor their flight delay with a clock made from an actual airplane that was well known for being delayed!

There are different kits depending on your class of service. The international first class kit includes an eyeshade, mini toothbrush and toothpaste, and socks. The bag is designed to offer the functionality to use post-flight to organize essentials for future flights, presumably not on American. Any socks used from the amenity kit but left on board will be collected, placed in plastic bags, and repurposed as used-sock amenity kits for basic economy passengers.

Rex and Qantas Just Cannot Play Nicely Together

Rex snarkily applauded the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) decision today to further scrutinize potential capacity dumping on both domestic and regional routes within Australia.

In a release today, the regional carrier continued to push that Qantas is attempting to squeeze it out of several regional routes by overwhelming them with excess capacity. It causes both to lose money, but Rex says it suffers more and that the bigger airline can sustain the losses far more easily.

Rex says that its competitors Qantas/Jetstar and Virgin Australia all increased capacity by an identical 80% from February to March on Sydney-Melbourne, the busiest travel corridor in Australia and for now – the world. The frequencies increased on March 1, the same day Rex began operating the route but also a key time as Australia began to loosen domestic travel restrictions – likely a factor in Rex beginning its service on that date.

The public slap fight between Rex and Qantas continues to make its way to the eventual conclusion – a no holds barred battle in the Octagon. Qantas’s kangaroo vs Good Boy Rex with the loser forced to avoid any public release slapping the other around for two years.

• Air Serbia is increasing its frequencies to three European destinations: Paris/CDG, Oslo, and Larnaca, Cyprus (LCA). Paris will upgrade to 11x-weekly, with Oslo at 3x-weekly, and Lanarca 5x-weekly.
• ANAP Jets of Nigeria added its first E145 to its fleet over the weekend.
• Austrian will move its two daily flights to Milan from Malpensa (MXP) to Linate (LIN) beginning June 1.
• British Airways will not return to Pittsburgh until 2022, according to Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis, despite the airport sending a case of Primanti Brothers sandwiches to BA headquarters near Heathrow.
• Bulgarian Air Charter rebranded to European Air Charter.
• China Airlines is placing all of its pilots into a 14-day quarantine to help slow a major COVID outbreak at the airline.
• Garuda Indonesia‘s deal with Bombardier with regards to the sale of 18 CRJ1000s from 2011 and 2012 is now being investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice. The DOJ joins the UK’s Serious Fraud Office which is already on the case.
• Pasifika Air’s launch is still on hold, despite the launch of a two-way air bubble between New Zealand and the Cook Islands next week.
• Prime Air is building a new air cargo facility in Tulsa.
• Qantas is launching a unique flight to nowhere, departing Sydney on May 26. The three-hour flight will fly over Sydney Harbour and head above the clouds, giving passengers a remarkable view of the next supermoon event in Australia which coincides with a full lunar eclipse. Upon hearing the news, Rex has filed a complaint with the ACCC about Qantas dumping too much capacity into supermoon flights.
• Qatar’s Chairman of the Board Ali Shareef Af Emadi, who is also the Qatari Minister of Finance, has been arrested on charges of embezzlement, abuse of power, misusing public funds, and not returning his seat to its full and upright locked position prior to takeoff and touchdown.
• Ryanair is opening two new bases in Scandinavia this October. It will base two aircraft each at Billund, Denmark (BLL) and Stockholm (ARN). The airline is expected to blame and sue the local governments in both cities when the weather turns freezing cold just as it opens it bases.
• Vistara is beginning a weekly flight from Delhi to Tokyo/Haneda beginning June 16 on its B787-9 Dreamliner aircraft.

I bought shoes from a drug dealer; I don’t know what they were laced with but I’ve been tripping all day.

UK Releases Green List – USA Left Out

The UK government finally released its ‘green list’ of countries from which visitors could travel to the UK without quarantine, and in retaliation for that distasteful “1776 incident,” the United States was surprisingly left off the list.

The UK only added 12 countries and territories to the list that will be effective on May 17, far less than what was expected. Additionally, the government went the other way on three countries – tightening restrictons on travel to and from the Maldives, Nepal, and Turkey.

The lucky dozen placed on the green list are:

• Australia
• Brunei
• Falkland Islands
• Faroe Islands
• Gibraltar
• Iceland
• Israel
• New Zealand
• Portugal
• Singapore
• South Georgia
• South Sandwich Islands

Reaction across the aviation industry was filled with disappointment. Willie Walsh, Director General of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said “It’s very disappointing and frankly not worth commenting on.” His anger is much more pronounced if you can imagine the quote in his Irish accent.

Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps said he expects more countries to be added as the summer continues, specifically mentioning France, Italy, and Spain.

Delta Heads to Croatia

Delta Air Lines will operate passenger flights to Croatia for the first time, beginning 4x-weekly service from New York/JFK to Dubrovnik on July 2.

U.S. travelers visiting Croatia can do so without any quarantine, provided they can provide a negative PCR test, proof of vaccination, or pinky promise that they have not been in contact with anyone who has tested positive for the virus.

Delta is the second or third airline — depenending upon what you consider to be an airline — to add service to Croatia since it reopened to Americans earlier this summer, following United and PRAGUSA.one. United plans to begin flying to Croatia on July 8 – six days after Delta. The flight is scheduled to push back from the gate on July 7, but will be delayed on Newark’s taxiway until the 8^th.

Delta will operate the new route on its 226-seat B767-300 aircraft.

Norwegian Closes Bases, Announces Layoffs

Norwegian, the official airline of the American Bankruptcy Institute, announced its plans to shut down three bases in Spain and lay off 85% of its staff in the country, or just shy of 1,200 people.

The airline is making the cuts now, figuring if it doesn’t, it’ll be forced to do so in a future bankruptcy proceeding. Bases will be closed in Barcelona along with Las Palmas (LPA) and Tenerife (TFS) in the Canary Islands. The airline will maintain its bases at Alicante (ALC) and Malaga (AGP) with one aircraft each, hoping to grow them to 4 and 2 aircraft respectively next summer.

With the Barcelona base closing, it means the airline’s five routes from BCN to the United States will not resume, which isn’t a surprise to anyone. The airline has shifted focus to its money-losing routes domestically within Norway and short-haul Europe instead of its money-losing long-haul routes.

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Introduces New Scanners

Amsterdam Schiphol, the 3^rd busiest airport in Europe, is introducing new scanners at its security checkpoints that will allow passengers to keep liquids, gels, and electronics in their carry-on luggage.

The new CT scanners have been tested at the airport as far back as 2015, but are now replacing the x-ray machines at each of the airport’s checkpoints. Terminal 1 has been fully renovated with all 21 security lanes having the new equipment. The remaining security lanes at Schiphol will be updated in the coming weeks.

While passengers can keep these items in their bags, the rules have not changed on what can and cannot be brought through. The liquid limit remains at 100 mL which equals just over three ounces, with no limit on how much Dutch cheese can be brought through the checkpoints.

Airline That Doesn’t Fly Acquires Company

Global Crossing Airlines, an airline that does not fly airplanes, acquired crowdsourced travel platform Flugy.com, an online travel platform whose members suggest far-flung destinations, and then vote on a winner. The cost of a group charter to the destination is then split among the participants. If that seems like an awful idea, that’s because it is.

By purchasing Flugy, Global Crossing can theoretically use its charter expertise to give members of the website more aircraft destination options. Global Crossing is looking for additional revenue streams because it is still waiting for FAA certification to begin scheduled passenger ops.

CEO Ed Wegel said that he believes “crowdsourcing of travel, given what we have all gone through over the past year, is the next big idea in using on-line booking platforms,” which is the exact thing you’d expect to hear from the CEO of an airline that doesn’t fly who just bought a company that he doesn’t really want.

• Air Serbia is increasing its flights to Russia from its Belgrade hub. Moscow/SVO will increase from 6x-weekly to once-daily on May 13.  New flights will begin to Rostov-on-Don (ROV) with 2x-weekly flights on June 4; Krasnodar (KRR) will also be 2x-weekly beginning June 4; with St. Petersburg/LED beginning twice-weekly service on June 8.
• Cargojet, a Hamilton, ON (YHM)-based cargo operator is looking to invest in a startup US cargo airline. This is no doubt a sign to anyone reading this who’s been on the fence about starting a cargo airline – now is the time.
• Carpatair added an A319 to its fleet and has ended plans to acquire Embraer aircraft.
• Cathay Pacific, which is still experiencing a cash burn of nearly $10 million per day, is considering a bond issue in US dollars for the first time since 1996.
• Comair has been granted US Chapter 15 immunity in its negotiations with Boeing.
• FLYSAX has submitted a revised offer of $10.4 million to purchase the bankrupt South African Express.
• interCaribbean might need to change its name as the airline begins operating on mainland South America for the first time. The Guyanese government granted the airline fifth and seventh freedom traffic rights to operate from Georgetown (GEO) Airport. (this one, not this one)
• LATAM posted its Q1 financials today, showing a net loss of $431 million on $913 million in revenue.
• Lufthansa is putting first class back on its A350-900 aircraft.
• Malawi Airlines will be recapitalized instead of being liquidated.
• NAC Charter, a South African-based charter operator purchased 25% of FLL-based Discovery Jets.
• Northern Air Cargo placed an order for four converted B767-300 freighter aircraft.
• Orion Airways in Cyprus will be dissolved. It’s unclear if the airline ever really flew.
• Qantas is launching two new routes operated by Qantaslink: Adelaide to Gold Coast (beginning June 25) and Canberra to Darwin (beginning June 21).
• Salam Air will not be funded by Oman’s sovereign wealth fund.

I got a job at a fire hydrant factory. It’s great work, but you can’t park anywhere near the building.

Avelo Heads East

Just a week after its inaugural flight from its first Burbank (BUR) base, Avelo Airlines announced its plan to establish an East Coast base at Tweed New Haven, CT Airport (HVN) this fall. Everyone in Connecticut who used to use New York airports for their vacations could be heard screaming with joy in unison as the news was announced.

Avelo will fly smaller B737-700 aircraft from its new base — it uses B737-800s in Burbank — operating to destinations it has yet to announce. At press time, Avelo’s senior leadership team was seen crowding around a map of the eastern half of the United States measuring the distances in inches of various airports from New Haven and then converting those to miles using the scale in the corner of the map.

New Haven is currently served by American – the only commercial airline to operate at the airport – with 5x-weekly service to Philadelphia on American Eagle. The airport has been in major demand to add service for years, according to Sean Scanlon who happens to be the Director of the New Haven Airport Authority, a fully-independent source on the matter who is definitely not exaggerating.

Avelo will invest $60 million by basing three aircraft at the airport, hiring over 100 employees, and inviting everyone who lives within five miles of the airport out to brunch later this summer. Service will begin in Q3 this year, and in the meantime, the airline will provide an additional $1.2 million to fund improvements to HVN’s existing terminal.

LAX Reopens Runway

Los Angeles International Airport reopened Runway 7R/25L today, after a $17 million rehab project to replace concrete, install energy-efficient LED lighting, and shine the stars of the Hollywood Walk of Fame that reside on the runway.

The project was completed on-budget and on-schedule, finishing one day early. LAX officials celebrated by hosting a cookout on the runway instead of turning it back into service early. Airport and airline staff enjoyed burgers and hot dogs cooked on the grill while each airline brought a side from its lounge.

Unlike its neighbor to the north at SFO, LAX performed the maintenance during the winter and early spring to prepare for the busy summer travel season. San Francisco thought now would be the best time to take its main runway out of service, figuring if the planes are grounded because of heavy fog, it doesn’t really matter how many functioning runways there are.

Runway 7R/25L is the main arrival runway for the south airfield. It’s used most often for arriving flights and as a place for arriving American flights to wait because no gates are available. Its counterpart, Runway 7L/25R (the two were always confused for each other growing up in school), is back resuming its normal operating of handling departures for the south airfield at the airport.

Mango Receives Cash Reprieve

Cash-strapped Mango Airlines finally received a payment from the South African government that’s been held up due to a technicality for several weeks. The $57 million payment was transferred to the airline today, the first of $187 million allocated to the airline as a part of a business rescue plan for its parent company, South African Airways.

Mango had been expecting the money since early March, and was forced to shut down its operation on May 1 when it ran out of cash. With some money in the bank (for now), the airline will pay its employees and overdue airport charges as it looks to return to the air. The airline’s board proposed that it be placed in business rescue until the rest of the government money comes in.

In the meantime, the airline will resume limited domestic operations while looking for new ways to raise funds. In addition to starting a GoFundMe, the airline plans to sell actual mangos aboard its flight for $6 each or two for $15 to jumpstart its return to profitability.

SWISS Plans Restructuring

SWISS, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Group, is planning to further restructure as it continues to struggle with the fallout from the pandemic.

The airline will cut its fleet by 15% from where it was prior to the pandemic and expects to reduce its workforce by about 20%. The airline hopes to use early buyout and retirement offers to cut as many staff voluntarily as possible, but expects to layoff as many as 780 employees.

SWISS officials met with local banking executives about a bailout, but due to confusion over Switzerland’s strict banking secrecy laws, the airline was hesitant to disclose how much it needed and to what it accounts it needed the money to be sent to. Further, the banks assumed the airline was in good financial shape when they heard it was “fully capitalized,” not realizing that this was only referring to the way the airline writes its name.

The airline remains fully committed to its two hubs in both Zurich and Geneva and will continue to offer a first class on long-haul flights. It wants to continue to represent Switzerland at home and abroad as a premium airline brand regardless of what a money-losing proposition it is. It also wants further collaborations within Lufthansa Group, which is bankrupt airline speak for “outsource more flying and labor to save money.”

New Zealand and New South Wales Suspend Travel Bubble

The travel bubble from New Zealand to Australia has been popped, at least temporarily, in the Australian state of New South Wales. Travelers scheduled to fly between New Zealand and NSW on either Air New Zealand or Qantas will be permitted to change to another flight next week once the ban is lifted or save the credit for future use.

Two community cases of a new Indian variant of the virus have been confirmed in NSW, causing both governments to pause the bubble for a couple days. Travel is scheduled to resume on Sunday if no further cases of the virus are confirmed in New South Wales.

The two cases are the first in the state since the travel bubble began on April 19 and have been connected to overseas travelers, though not from New Zealand, in a government-mandated quarantine hotel. The two infected travelers are being kept in quarantine in their hotel and being force-fed a diet of Vegemite only in an attempt to clean out their systems.

• Afriqiyah Airways — a Libyan carrier based at the Tripoli Airport (TIP) which has been closed on and off for ten years — has been fined $2.5 million by Sudan over its handling of COVID cases amongst its passengers. This is a real story and not an airline-related mad lib.
• Air Senegal plans to launch a twice-weekly flight from Dakar (DSS) to the United States, flying to Washington/Dulles with a stop both ways at New York/JFK. The flight will be operated by a wet-leased A330-900 neo that belongs to Hi Fly Malta. The airline has no intention of serving Hi C on the flight.
• easyJet Switzerland will add five A320neo aircraft to its fleet this winter.
• Georgian Airways (this one, not this one) launched cargo operations this week.
• Gulf Air is adding seasonal service to both Santorini (JTR) and Mykonos (JMK) from its Bahrain hub this summer.
• Jin Air is expanding its operations at Wonju Airport (WJU) in northern South Korea.
• Lufthansa is adding a stop in Dubai on its 10x-weekly flights from Frankfurt to three cities in India to change crew. This allows all crew to lay over in Dubai, and not India, in order to further protect its staff from the COVID outbreak in India.
• Qantas and JAL are likely to be denied regulatory authority to coordinate on flights between Australia and Japan for three years.

I picked up a can of bug spray today at the store. I asked the cashier “is this good for ants?” “No,” he replied, “it kills them.”

United Prepares to Reopen United Clubs

United is currently operating with just 11 United Club lounges open across the country — 10 at the hubs plus one in Honolulu — but the airline is planning to bring 10 more back online in the next few weeks. In the lounge arms race, this matches American, which is doing the same just in time for the summer travel season to heat up.

Over the next two months, the airline will open the 10 lounges at seven airports – three at Chicago/O’Hare, two at Houston/Intercontinental, and one each at San Francisco, Washington/Dulles, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and Las Vegas. After those ten clubs are taken care of, the airline plans to open eight more by Labor Day including its lounges at New York/LaGuardia and Boston.

As clubs reopen this summer, United plans to upgrade the food it has on offer including fresh sandwiches, salads, wraps, and overnight oats. The oats will be prepared at your flight’s departure time, will soak during the delay, and then just as your flight is finally ready to depart – voila – overnight oats.

The airline does not have a timeline for its Polaris lounges to reopen – but that doesn’t have anything to do with the pandemic. United hasn’t had a coherent plan for anything Polaris-related ever.

Allegiant Releases Q1 Earnings Report

Allegiant announced its Q1 earnings on Tuesday with the airline posting a profit of $7 million, thanks to $92 million in federal payroll support. If our second grade math is right, without the boost from the government the airline would have posted a loss of about $85 million.  Revenues were $279 million for the quarter, down 38% from Q1 2019. Expenses were down 29% vs 2019 to $254.5 million.

Allegiant is very bullish about its future, believing it has a shorter path back to success because it does not fly to any international destinations. With the domestic market returning more quickly, Allegiant believes it can return to true profitability sooner than legacy airlines, and it’s most likely right.

The airline’s improved outlook predicts Q2 revenues to be down just 6-10% from 2019 and capacity to increase by 2-6%. It expects to receive another $98 million of completely unnecessary payroll support from the federal government for the three months ending June 30. Your tax dollars at work.

During Q1, Allegiant added 50 new routes and three new cities to its network, bringing its totals to 580 routes to 129 cities. The airline ended the quarter with $728 million cash on-hand, up from $685 million at the end of the year. The additional $53 million comes in the form of surplus mixed nuts that Allegiant bought from American’s supplier when it couldn’t use them.

Seattle Tests TSA Checkpoint Reservations

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport is rolling out a pilot program – available to all travelers, not just pilots – to reserve a time to access the TSA checkpoint at the airport. The program allows “virtual queuing” for passengers, theoretically avoiding waiting in a physical queue to pass through the checkpoint.

Passengers will receive a 15-minute window to report to the checkpoint where they will theoretically be screened at that time instead of waiting in line. The Spot Saver program is available from 4 a.m. through noon on a daily basis through August 31 and is for any passengers not enrolled in PreCheck.

Alaska passengers can reserve their spot in line up to 24 hours prior to departure while those flying every other airline can sign up upon arriving at the airport. The program plans to launch a virtual queue where non-Alaska passengers can sign up for their physical spot in the queue to sign up for the virtual queue at the airport within the next couple weeks.

Connect Airlines Reveals City Pairs

Connect Airlines, the startup that looks remarkably similar to Porter Airlines, unveiled the cities it plans to operate from when it begins flying this fall. The airline, which has not yet begun operations, has actually flown the same number of flights that Porter has over the last 12 months.

Connect plans to connect Philadelphia, Chicago/O’Hare, Boston, New York/JFK and Baltimore to Toronto/City airport (YYT). It will also operate two domestic routes, what it’s calling the Yankee Doodle Shuffle, service from Boston to both Baltimore and Philadelphia.

The airline has connected with U.S. airlines about codeshare agreements to offer its potential customers to connect to more U.S. cities via increased connection opportunities. We’ll have more on this tomorrow at crankyflier.com.

Heathrow Delays Reopening of Terminal 3

London/Heathrow is delaying the reopening of Terminal 3 due to uncertainty over the travel restrictions currently in place from the UK government. Heathrow has been operating with just Terminals 2 and 5 since last May, but some airlines are clamoring to return to their original homes as demand and load factors begin to return towards pre-pandemic levels.

The terminal was shut down 13 months ago when worldwide travel hit record lows as the pandemic settled in. The planned reopen date for T3 was May 17, with partner airlines Delta and Virgin Atlantic returning to the terminal. But the airport is now pushing back the opening until later in May, with June seemingly more realistic at this point. The delay is reportedly due to the ghosts of Pan Am and TWA having taken over their old space in the 60-year old terminal once the other airlines left, and exorcisms take time.

Other Terminal 3 residents, Cathay Pacific and Qantas are planning to return to the airport soon and are in flux about where they will operate. Both have traditionally operated from T3 but haven’t flown to London since last year. Cathay intends to resume service to LHR this week, with Qantas returning this fall.

• Airlink will resume its safari air shuttle service on July 1.
• Air New Zealand flight 191 departed Auckland for Adelaide this morning, the first flight for the airline to South Australia in exactly 400 days.
• Azman Air has been cleared to fly by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority after the airline had been suspended since late March.
• Firefly has begun scheduled passenger services using a single B737-800 in Malaysia.
• Guna Airlines completed its rebrand and is preparing to relaunch as a domestic carrier in Nepal. The old name? Not Guna Fly.
• Helvetic Airways is launching new arial service to Kos (KGS) and Heraklion (HER) in Greece and Palma de Mallorca (PMI) for the summer travel season. Flight will operate from both Zurich and Bern between July and October and will be sans comic books for passengers.
• Qantas won a case in Singapore’s High Court delaying the appointment of former Qantas senior executive Nick Rohrlach as CEO of Virgin Australia’s Velocity loyalty program.
• Stobart Air is adding two new Aer Lingus Regional routes from Cardiff to both Dublin and Belfast.

I sympathize with batteries. I’m not included in anything either.

Delta to Add Premium Select to More Aircraft

Delta Air Lines announced plans to retrofit many of its A330 and B767-300ER aircraft with its Premium Select cabin and other enhancements.

Delta plans to update 19 B767-300ER aircraft by next May, representing roughly half the fleet. The other half of the fleet, we assume, will be re-dedicated as flying museums with all the comforts of the early-2000s. Delta’s entire fleet of A330-200 and -300 aircraft will also receive the upgrades, with completion expected next June. Delta’s A330-900neo aircraft already are equipped with the updated cabin.

Premium Select is similar to Delta’s domestic first class, offering a true premium economy option on international flights. The seats include a leg rest, footrest, and dedicated power outlet. In-seat power outlets will finally be installed in the main cabin as part of the aircraft refresh as well.

The first B767-300 is being worked on now in Kansas City, with the fleet finished in another year. Delta plans to celebrate the new cabin installatons by offering a special price of 250,000 SkyMiles for anyone who wants to test out the new cabin on ferry flights from Kansas City back to Atlanta.

AA Reopening Admirals Clubs, Adding New Food Options

American Airlines is poised to reopen three Admirals Club Lounges, extend operating hours at others, and add new food options at all clubs in time for the return of summer travel.

Lounges are reopening this month for the first time since the pandemic in Atlanta, Phoenix (gate B7 lounge), and Miami (gate D15 lounge). Other reopened lounges in Austin, Nashville, and Houston/Intercontinental will extend their operating schedule to seven days a week. American will have reopened 27 lounges in 21 U.S. locations by Memorial Day, despite keeping all of its Flagship Lounges closed for the foreseeable future.

The airline is also rolling out a new food-for-purchase menu including options for children. The decision came after consulting with local health officials which demanded AA not serve the food that was left in the kitchens of its clubs when they shut down last March, as originally planned.

New options include $9 chicken bites and $10 turkey cheddar sandwiches that might be designed for small children but could be far more appealing to adults than the new $11 chilled quinoa salad and $12 southwestern power bowl.

Cape Air Retains EAS Contract at Bar Harbor

The DOT has confirmed Cape Air’s EAS contract at Bar Harbor, ME (BHB), despite a challenge from Silver Airways.

Silver filed a petition to overturn the DOT’s awarding of the contract due to a Cape Air employee serving on the Bar Harbor Airport Advisory Committee. The airline alleged a conflict of interest existed because it was the Airport Advisory Committee that recommended Cape Air to the Hancock County Commissioners.

The DOT dismissed the allegation because the Cape Air employee was one of several members on the Airport Advisory Committee which only made a recommendation to the county, not an edict. The DOT said in its filing that the Venn diagram of competent people and those willing to serve on the Bar Harbor Airport Advisory Committee is not very large, and it can’t be disqualifying people just because they happen to work for Cape Air.

Cape Air’s proposal met all five of the DOT’s criteria and its service and subsidiary levels were reasonable, leading the DOT to affirm the decision. Cape Air’s proposal was for a longer term than Silver’s while coming it at a lower cost. The airline also has a codeshare with JetBlue providing greater connecting options in the northeast through Boston for its passengers. On a recommendation from the DOT, Silver Airways representatives have been seen at the beach in Bar Harbor literally pounding sand.

Lufthansa Plays Flight Number Roulette

Lufthansa is readying itself for the launch of Eurowings Discover, its 424^th attempt at a LCC subsidiary, by changing all Eurowings flight numbers to Lufthansa flight numbers.

Effective tomorrow, all Eurowings flights for travel on June 1 and beyond will change from an EW flight number to LH. Then, just as everyone gets used to that, when Eurowings Discover is ready to launch later this summer, the flight numbers will change from LH to 4Y (4Y is the Eurowings Discover IATA code). Lufthansa could keep everything with the EW code and then move it to 4Y when the new airline is ready to launch, but that would make things too simple and easy to understand.

The airline is also planning a test program to use other Lufthansa Group airlines codes on flight numbers to streamline its operations. All flights on Austrian will fly with the LX code from SWISS, while all SWISS flights will take Eurowings EW code that’s now been freed up. Brussels will use the OS code from Austrian while Lufthansa uses the SN code of now-defunct Sabena which is also the code of the non-defunct and generally-operating Brussels Airlines

Delta Passenger Gives Birth During Flight

Delta Air Lines passenger Lavinia Mounga gave birth to her son onboard a Delta flight from Salt Lake City to Honolulu last week. A family medicine physician and three neo-natal nurses happened to be on the flight and were able to assist with the delivery which occurred with relatively few complications.

Mounga had to be moved up to first class for the delivery to give the medical professionals more room to perform the birth of her son Raymond. Upon arrival in Hawai’i, Mounga was given a bill from Delta for three hours (half the flight) worth of a first class upgrade and a bill for her newborn son for showing up halfway through the flight without a ticket.

The doctor and nurses used shoelaces to tie and cut through the umbilical cord, made baby warmers out of microwaved bottles and used an Apple Watch to measure the baby’s heart rate. The newborn’s first meal consisted of Biscoff-flavored formula made by flight attendants.

Delta has rejected a post-flight SkyMiles request for Raymond because he did not have a boarding pass scanned upon departure in Salt Lake City.

• Cargolux appointed Christianne Walker as the new Chair of its Board of Directors.
• DHL International Aviation Middle East is taking delivery of six more B767-300ER freighters by the end of the year at its Bahrain hub.
• flydubai is adding three new destinations in Russia – Moscow/Zhukovski (ZIA) beginning May 12, Novosibirsk (OVB) beginning May 28 and Perm (PEE) beginning June 2. The airline originally didn’t want to begin service to PEE until late in the summer but determined it couldn’t hold it that long.
• Ibom Air and Dana Air in Nigeria have reached a agreement on an interline and codeshare agreement.
• Jazz Air added the first seven of 25 E175s it will eventually take delivery of after its revised purchase agreement with Air Canada.
• JetSMART, a Chilean LCC, is now flying 62 routes, more than it flew prior to the pandemic.
• Kenya Airways and other domestic Kenyan carriers have begun domestic flights again this week after
• Malaysia Airlines will retire its entire fleet of six A380 aircraft prior to the end of the year.
• Philippine Airlines informed its lessors that the airline plans to file for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in the United States by the end of this month.
• Smartwings is adding London/Heathrow as a new destination, flying from its Prague hub 4x-weekly beginning June 3.
• SpiceJet has deferred up to 50% of its wages for its employees until the thyme is right for it to afford the payments. Despite being peppered with questions from staff, the airline remains ginger about answering anything on the advice of counsel.
• Super Air Jet, an Indonesian start-up, has a super idea to operate a fleet of 180-seat A320-200 aircraft as a domestic LCC.
• Uganda Airways senior management team including its CEO have been placed “on-leave” by the Ugandan government over poor performance issues from the airline.
• Virgin Australia is still A$1.2 billion in debt, which is far better than the A$6.8 billion of debt it had when Bain Capital purchased the airline last year.

I have an inferiority complex. But it’s not a very good one.

European Commission Announces Plan to Welcome Vaccinated Travelers

The European Commission formally recommended that its member states ease travel restrictions for fully vaccinated travelers and those coming from countries where the pandemic is contained. The commission released its plan which includes:

• Visitors must be two weeks past their final recommended dose of vaccine.
• The vaccine must have been authorized for use in the EU (which applies to all U.S. vaccines).
• When the country waives a negative PCR test or quarantine for returning residents, the same action should be taken for visitors.
• Children who are unable to get the vaccine can travel with parents provided they have a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of arrival in the EU.
• Travelers agree not to wear a fanny pack at any time and will not awkwardly hover around the Mona Lisa when visiting the Louvre in Paris.
• If you want ice in your drink, bring your own.

The European Council will meet tomorrow to discuss the proposal from the European Commission at which point they will either decide or pass it off to another vaguely named gathering of European government officials. If it is passes as expected, EU countries will reopen their borders to most international travelers – including Americans – as soon as late this month.

Mask Mandate to Remain Through September

The TSA extended the mask requirement for airports, train stations, buses, trains, and commercial flights through September 13.

The mandate was originally set to expire next week but will now remain in place through the summer for U.S. travelers.  The government put the requirement in place last year based on guidance from the CDC, NIH, and Party City.

Airlines For America, the trade group representing most U.S. airlines and flight attendant labor unions both lauded the TSA decision declaring that by having passengers wear masks, Americans can more safely return to the skies in large numbers and people don’t have to look at each other’s faces as much.

All aspects of the mask requirement including exemptions and penalties for those who do not comply remain in effect. Fines start at $250 for travelers who do not comply with the requirement and rise up to $1250 per incident. Once a traveler passes the $1250 threshold, any further violations will banish them to the middle seat of the last row of a different redeye on Spirit every night for two weeks.

Sweden’s Third Largest Airport Closes Permanently

Stockholm’s Bromma Airport (BMA), located just four miles from downtown, will end operations and close in the coming weeks. The exact date is not yet determined, but the airport is currently home to just five airlines operating to eight destinations — three of which are fictional.

After hosting 2.4 million passengers in 2019, it dropped to 480,000 passengers in 2020 and then just 6,000 travelers passed through in March 2021.

The pre-pandemic plan was for the airport to close in 2038 when Stockholm/Arlanda, the major airport in the city, was expected to receive a second runway and United was planning to finish installing Polaris Business Class, but the timeline is being moved up. The small amount of remaining traffic at BMA will be shifted to Arlanda (ARN).

Most Basic Economy Waivers Are Kaput

At the height of the pandemic last year, most U.S. airlines put change fee waivers in place for all ticketed itineraries, regardless of what cabin had been booked. These included basic economy fares, allowing cheapskate customers who bought the bottom-of-the-barrel priced tickets the ability to make changes without a fee.

American was first to return Basic Economy tickets to the world of the damned last month, ending their waiver and once again making them nonrefundable and non-changeable… but then it promptly removed all domestic basic economy fares to make the end of the waiver moot. Alaska, Delta, and United all saw their Basic Economy waivers end over the weekend on May 1, leaving JetBlue as the lone remaining airline allowing changes on basic itineraries. Now we wait to see if American refiles Basic Economy fares once again.

JetBlue’s policy will remain in place through the end of this month, not expiring until May 31, giving additional freedom to its Basic Blue customers to change their itineraries to their hearts’ content.

New Zealand Opens Second Bubble

New Zealand will open its second bubble on May 17, this time with the Cook Islands. Residents of the Cook Islands, better known as Chefs, have been able to visit New Zealand without quarantine since the start of 2021.

With the bubble now going both ways, Air New Zealand will begin operating 3x-weekly service to Rarotonga (RAR) using B787-9 aircraft. Beginning June 7, the flight will upgrade to 4x-weekly.

The Air New Zealand weekly lifeline connecting Raratonga to Los Angeles remains suspended.

• airBaltic took delivery of its 26^th A220-300 aircraft, the first of seven it expects to receive in 2021.
• Air China and Air New Zealand have extended their strategic alliance for an additional five years.
• Delta announced a new agreement with Sabre that includes lots of punctuation, marketing buzzwords, and quotes from excited executives.
• flybe is closer to its relaunch as the airline obtained Heathrow slots from British Airways to operate to Aberdeen (ABZ) 3x-daily and Edinburgh (EDI) 4x-weekly through the end of the summer.
• ITA – the one in Brazil that actually exists, not the one in Italy that doesn’t actually exist—secured an Air Operator’s Certificate as it prepares to launch operations.
• JetSMART Peru applied for both a Peruvian Operating License and an Air Operators Certificate as it hopes to begin domestic service in Estonia Peru.
• Lufthansa placed an order today for five A350-900 and five B787-9 aircraft, the latter of which is because it was thinking that its fleet rationalization had given it too few aircraft types.
• Mack Air began domestic operations within Botswana on Saturday.
• Neos plans to begin 2x-weekly scheduled passenger ops between Milan and New York/JFK this June.
• Norwegian aims to fly 50 aircraft this year once it collects its winnings from Bankruptcy Bingo.
• PRAGUSA.ONE is an entity that claims to be an airline. It currently plans to fly airplanes with paying passengers on it between Dubrovnik and Los Angeles 3x-weekly beginning June 22, and then adding 3x-weely service to Newark next year.
• Ryanair hadn’t taken anyone to court since (checks notes) last week, so it filed a complaint in EU court against Alitalia. Once it’s done suing the carcass of Alitalia, it’s expected the next move for the airline will be to go to a schoolyard and beat up little kids.
• Singapore completed a sale and leaseback for 11 aircraft, raising $1.5 billion in cash which it promptly spent on buying a Singapore Sling for every resident of the city-state.
• South African has exited bankruptcy protection with its administrators declaring the airline both solvent and liquid. SAA’s subsidiary Mango respectfully disagrees.
• Sri Lankan Airlines is making plans to lease new A350 aircraft.
• Starlux Airlines received approval from the DOT to operate between Taipei and Los Angeles.
• VistaJet is unimpressed with Alaska, United and others, and has pledged carbon neutrality by 2025.

I once stumbled across the mass grave of a thousand snowmen, it turned out to be a field of carrots.