Author: Andrew Bashuk

April 2, 2021

CDC Gives Vaccinated Travelers the A-OK

The Center for Disease Control announced today that fully vaccinated Americans can safely resume travel with the exception of to New Jersey – because no one should ever fly to New Jersey.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that fully vaccinated travelers are at a low risk to themselves, but the CDC is still reinforcing that travelers should take precautions such as social distancing and always wearing a mask in public.

For domestic travel, people who are more than two weeks past their final shot do not need to take any virus test or quarantine after travel – unless specifically required by a local jurisdiction. For international travel, those that are fully vaccinated do not need to be tested before leaving the country – unless required by the destination country – or if the traveler has a nostalgia about having a q-tip sent to their brain via their nose.

Fifty-six million Americans are currently fully vaccinated – approximately one-sixth of the U.S. population. For those who are not yet vaccinated, the CDC’s guidance remains the same as it did prior to the announcement, including a suggested seven-day self-quarantine following the trip’s conclusion.

United Makes Nearly All Travel Agent-Bought Tickets Refundable

United Airlines is making almost all tickets purchased through travel agents refundable – minus a fee – for the rest of the calendar year. The new policy goes into effect immediately and applies to all domestic flights, flights between the U.S. and Mexico or the Caribbean, and for international travel that originates in the United States.

These refundable fares are only available through United’s travel agent partners – including, much to our joy, Cranky Concierge – with the fee to refund the flight varying by cabin and geography. Domestic travel has a $100 fee for all non-basic economy tickets. International is $200 in economy, $300 in premium economy, and $400 in business. Basic economy remains fully refundable… minus a penalty equal to the full cost of the ticket.

This policy goes into place as part of United’s decision to allow travelers to keep the residual value as a credit for future use if they change to a less expensive flight. That option will not be available for travel agents, instead offering this refundability as a substitute.

Air Canada and Air Transat Call Off Merger

Air Canada’s purchase of Air Transat is dead, as AC backed out of the deal due to a expected lack of approval from the European Commission.

The deal was originally announced in 2019, and went through several stages as the two carriers attempted to complete the transaction amidst the pandemic. Air Canada made multiple proposals in an attempt to satisfy the European Commission but could not find one that would be acceptable to both the EC and the airline’s finances.

In order to cancel the agreement and get on with its life, Air Canada is on the hook for a $12.5 million payment to Air Transat. The agreement allows for the payment to be made up in equal parts cash, Toronto Maple Leafs season tickets, poutine futures, and maple syrup by the gallon. One the payment is made, Air Transat will be free to pursue other merger or takeover options without owing anything back to Air Canada – except a $200 Tim Horton’s gift card.

JetBlue Blinks, Reinstates Flexible Waiver

JetBlue Airways extended its flexible travel waiver through May 31 for all fares – including Blue Basic – JetBlue’s version of basic economy.

The airline had let its waiver expire on Wednesday, leaving it and American as the only major U.S. airlines to end the COVID practice that had been in place for over a year. With JetBlue reversing course today, American is now the cheese, standing all alone without a flexible waiver on all fares — for at least several more weeks.

JetBlue’s extension applies retroactively, so those who purchased a ticket yesterday – as long as it wasn’t intended to be an April Fool’s joke – will have the policy applied to their itinerary also.

Spirit Pushes Back on JetBlue/AA AAlliance AAgain

Spirit is continuing its never-ending quest to challenge the JetBlue/American Northeast Alliance to the DOT as it filed another response to the government in opposition of the agreement.

Today, Spirit’s complaint alleges that American and JetBlue are coordinating with each other outside the scope of the agreement between both airlines and the government.

Specifically, Spirit doesn’t care for JetBlue transferring its seven weekly seasonal flights between Fort Lauderdale and Quito, Ecuador to adding a second-daily frequency between New York/JFK and Guayaquil, Ecuador (GYE). The smoking ~~gun~~ schedule, according to Spirit, is that American moved its remaining frequencies into Ecuador from New York to Miami, while JetBlue moved its frequencies to Ecuador out of South Florida and into New York.

With the changes, the two airlines are able to dominate their respective markets to Ecuador – B6 in New York, and AA in Miami. AA says it upped its frequencies in Miami to match customer demand, which was the same reason given by JetBlue to leave South Florida. Spirit contends both statements can’t be true and the two are lying, A nation now waits with baited breath for American and JetBlue’s response in which it states a.) it’s all a big coincidence, b.) Spirit’s yellow planes are ugly, or c.) no one wants to fly Spirit to Ecuador anyway.

Airline Potpourri

Air Premia has taken delivery of its first aircraft — a B787-9 — in its quest to launch operations in South Korea later this year.
Albastar has announced three new destinations from Cuneo (CUF) to Palma de Mallorca (PMI), Menorca (MAH), and Lampedusa (LMP).
American is using non-union pilots for some test flights, drawing criticism from its pilots union.
Cargojet will operate two B767-300BDSF aircraft on behalf of Amazon Canada beginning in mid-2021.
Corsair International took delivery of the first of its five A330-900s early this week.
LATAM is allowing one free change for passengers on international itineraries for travel between April 5 and May 4.
Neos Air took delivery of two new B737 MAX 8 aircraft on Thursday.
Norwegian scored a victory in a U.S. court on Thursday in its $1 billion lawsuit with Boeing.
SA Express is facing liquidation as its sale to FLYSAX failed.
Singapore has been banned from operating to Hong Kong for two weeks.
Southwest has received approval to pre-clear visitors traveling to Hawai’i from its five mainland gateways to the islands.
SpiceJet signed a 50-jet sale and leaseback deal just in the nick of thyme. Most in the industry had seen this deal cumin for a while.
United is prepared to begin hiring hundreds of pilots as demand continues to soar.
Vietnam Airlines had its loan request approved by the Vietnamese Prime Minister.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

What do you call two birds stuck together?

Velcrows.

March 31, 2021

Delta to Offer Middle Seat Enhancements May 1

In a release expertly-titled “Ready, set, let’s go: Delta gives customers more ways to reclaim the joy of travel,” Delta Air Lines quietly announced that it would end its practice of blocking middle seats on its aircraft on May 1.

Delta tried to make the announcement on the sly, saying it will have “more available seats to choose from starting May 1,” which is a world-class effort in burying the lede. It’s like telling a prisoners they will have more opportunities to “enjoy our accommodations,” when their parole is denied.

Most airlines put in some sort of seat-blocking system at the onset of the pandemic last year, then ending the practice later in the year. Delta had been the last holdout, continuing the practice into 2021 and through the spring. The airline blamed the COVID vaccine for its new plan, saying that it expects 65% of its 2019 travelers to have had the first dose by May 1, and that arbitrary number is the catalyst for ending the block.

Trying to soften the blow, Delta also announced in-flight snacks will come back April 14, it will be handing out bonus miles to travelers, it has extended ticket validity through the end of 2022, and it will continue to waive change fees through April 30.

Alaska Formally Joins Oneworld, Adds Reciprocal Upgrades With American

Tomorrow might be the real Opening Day, but today is Opening Day for Alaska Airlines as it officially becomes the 14^th full member of the oneworld alliance. The airline celebrated by releasing a spectacular update of its Safety Dance video that includes execs and other employees from partner airlines straining to participate.

The airline took a major step towards joining the alliance 13 months ago when it announced its new tieup with oneworld-stalwart American Airlines. Alaska spent several decades avoiding alliances and playing both sides of the fence, partnering with both American and Delta. Once the Delta/Alaska break up was complete, this day perhaps became inevitable.

Beyond the oneworld participation, American and Alaska continue to inch closer. Today the airlines provided details of the plan giving repicrocal elite upgrades between the two airlines.

By joining the alliance today, Alaska gains a network of over 1,000 worldwide destinations in more than 170 countries. Alaska customers can earn and redeem points on all Oneworld member airlines and will receive reciprocal benefits. Those benefits include the right to wait for a delayed flight at an AA hub or be denied lounge access at a Royal Jordanian lounge in Amman because the agent doesn’t realize Alaska joined the alliance.

Puerto Vallarta Gets Spirited

The Mexican government must have finally agreed to pay Spirit its international destination expansion fee because the airline today announced its plan to launch service to Puerto Vallarta (PVR) beginning July 1. Puerto Vallarta will see Spirit flights from three cities – daily to Los Angeles and 3x-weekly to both Dallas/Ft Worth and Houston/Bush.

PVR will be Spirit’s third destination in Mexico including Cancún and Los Cabos – the latter of which will also see Spirit service begin on May 5 from Los Angeles. Los Angeles, meanwhile, will also get a new nonstop to Columbus, a market Delta abandoned earlier this year. This will make Los Angeles the airline’s fourth largest operation.

Spirit will accept fee payments in Mexican pesos for flights originating in Mexico but does intend to charge a hefty conversion fee for passengers who choose to do so since the airline is U.S. based and does business in dollars. The airline will also charge the conversion fee for payments in U.S. dollars on flights originating in Mexico because it is not the local currency of the departure airport.

Korean Air Plans to Phase Out Asiana Brand

Despite delaying its full takeover of rival Asiana to 2024, Korean Air is moving forward with its plan to completely phase out the Asiana brand when the purchase is complete.

Korean is lurching toward a $2.2 billion buyout of its chief Korean competitor, but it is currently being slowed by the process of receiving regulatory approval in several countries in which both airlines operate.

Korean is currently developing a post-merger integration plan for both brands as well as the three LCC subsidiaries – Korean’s Jin Air along with Asiana’s Air Busan and Air Seoul. It plans to consolidate the three LCCs into one brand we suggest naming Air Bujinoul Air that will become a top-level LCC in both Korea and the rest of Asia.

Additionally, there will be a merger of both airlines loyalty programs with Korean working out a conversion rate for Asiana Club’s members to transfer their miles to Skypass. Delta has offered to assist with the loyalty program, telling Korean that no one else has miles laying around that are worth basically nothing which Delta would be happy to offer to Asiana Club members during the transition.

Hong Kong Considering Removing Crew Quarantine Requirements

Democracy may be crumbling, but there is a bright spot for airlines in Hong Kong as local carriers are saying that the government plans to reduce harsh quarantine requirements if the vaccination rates amongst cabin crew and pilots continues to improve.

Hong Kong’s government has had punitive measures in place for flight crews flying onto the island since February 20. Currently, flight crews must quarantine for 14 days, followed by seven days of self-health checks at home for Hong Kong-based staff. The requirements have wreaked havoc with both Hong Kong-based and international airlines schedules flying to Hong Kong. The only exceptions to the policy were flights from either Anchorage or mainland China. Domestic Hong Kong flights were exempted as well, but with no other airport, that didn’t really help.

In a statement, the government said it was incorporating incentives for fully vaccinated people into its anti-epidemic measures. “As and when the evolving situation of the epidemic allows, the government will suitably review and adjust the prevailing air crew self-isolation arrangement,” a Transport and Housing Bureau spokeswoman added.

Airline Potpourri

Air Canada is extending elite status for all members through the end of 2022.
Blue Air has taken delivery of the first of its ten new 737-8 aircraft from Air Lease Corporation.
Jin Air is looking to sell $14 million worth of treasury stock. Proceeds will be used to pay for branding work for the new Air Bujinoul Air.
Ryanair is expanding in Croatia as it opens a new base in Zagreb (ZAG) and adds 17 new routes from Zadar (ZAD).
SWISS named Romain Vetter as Head of Western Switzerland, something it probably should have let the Swiss government know about.
TAP Air Portugal has announced it plans to operate 879 weekly flights this August, including eight domestic routes with 126 frequencies.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

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

March 30, 2021

CommutAir Keeps Growing, Opens Hub in Denver

CommutAir, a regional carrier flying on behalf of United Express, began operating from its newest hub in Denver on Monday. As recently as last summer, the regional carrier had just 37 aircraft operating from two hubs – Washington/Dulles and Newark. But today, it operates 168 aircraft from those two, Denver, and Houston/Intercontinental.

CommutAir was one of the first airlines to begin hiring during the pandemic, as it has brought on 200 new pilots in the first quarter of the year. With that the airline pays, some of the pilots can afford to dry clean their uniform if they achieve performance bonuses.

The carrier extended its agreement with United last summer to become the sole operator of E145 aircraft on its behalf — beating out ExpressJet. Its fleet of 66 E145s is the largest fleet of the aircraft type in the world, a distinction that few if any people care about.

New Zealand Business Travel Rebounding Quickly

Air New Zealand said today that domestic business travel has already returned to 90% of its pre-pandemic levels, surprising the airline with how quickly it has rebounded.

Air New Zealand Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty said they were “blown away” by the encouraging sales figures and that the airline had originally expected domestic business travel would maybe return to 70% of pre-pandemic levels by 2022. Then again, she was standing behind one of the airline’s A320s as it powered up at the time, so that might have actually been what blew her away.

In response to the strong sales, Air New Zealand has added higher-density aircraft on flights frequented by business travelers, loaded more business-friendly timed flights, and increased the number of crew on some flights.

New Zealand was better positioned for domestic recovery than most countries as it handled the pandemic as well as anywhere else in the world. The nation of just over five million people reported just 2,493 Covid cases with only 26 deaths. That compares to South Carolina – who’s population is roughly the same as New Zealand – which has reported over 550,000 cases and 9,122 deaths from the pandemic.

Norse Atlantic Airways Moves Closer to Launching Money-Losing Operation

Norse Atlantic Airways, the airline being launched by three guys named Bjørn, signed an agreement with AerCap to lease nine Boeing 787 Dreamliners in December. Only one of the nine is expected to be delivered this year with the rest by the end of Q1 2022, if the airline survives that long.

The airline, as you may recall, is designed basically to create jobs for founder Bjørn Kjos’ airline staffing company. It’s taking all the attributes that failed for Norwegian and almost copying them one-for-one. Norse plans to operate long-haul, high-density, low-cost flights from its Oslo hub to New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. It also plans to base some aircraft in London and Paris to make them harder to repossess when the time comes.

The airline may have planes, but it doesn’t have an operating certificate. And until it has one, it is not able to apply for a U.S. foreign air carrier permit. But other than that, everything is going great.

AirAsia Files Year End 2020 Financials

We’re one-quarter of the way through 2021, but AirAsia is still looking back towards 2020 as the airline posted financial reports for the 4^th quarter of last year and the full year ending in December.

AirAsia Group posted revenue in Q4 of $64 million to close out the full year with $775 million in revenue, a 74% drop from 2019. The total loss for the year was ~$800 million after the airline turned a ~$400 million profit the prior year. These results would be encouraging if they were only for perennial money-loser AirAsia X, but since it’s for the group, it’s somewhat more concerning.

The group did manage to reduce its costs by 52% for the year, led by a 61% reduction in the final quarter. Maintenance costs dropped a whopping 99% in Q4 which is possible when you have very few planes in the air and you require the passengers to handle maintenance prior to boarding.

To reduce cash burn and save for the future, AirAsia divested itself of AirAsia India late last year. It expects to resume its full international schedule by the second half of this year with a full recovery by some time in 2023.

Boutique Scores New EAS Contract

Boutique Air has won a two-year EAS contract to operate at Jackson, TN (MKL) over the objection of two competitors: Southern Airways Express and Air Choice One. The DOT selected Boutique for the contract which begins on June 1 despite the two other airlines saying that Boutique should have been disqualified.

The rivals felt Boutique’s plan was unrealistic financially, which the DOT quickly dismissed. It awarded the contract because it was comfortable working with Boutique over the last several years and that it met all the selection criteria. Boutique also was the lone airline of the three to present the DOT with an edible arrangement during the review phase.

Air Choice One currently serves the airport and will continue to do so until the new contract kicks in on June 1.

The airline will operate 18 nonstops per week from Jackson. It will fly 12-weekly roundtrips between Jackson and Atlanta, with another six weekly frequencies to St. Louis.

Airline Potpourri

Air Dolomiti joins Air Canada’s Aeroplan as a partner airline – the program’s 40^th – effective today.
Air Manas was granted 5^th freedom rights to serve Azerbaijan.
Allegiant has completed a sale and leaseback of three A320 aircraft with the appropriately named Aircraft Leasing & Management.
Bakhtar Afghan Airlines is seeking a wet-leased regional aircraft. If you’re looking to offload a plane before summer, give them a call.
Emirates is resuming its 4x-weekly service between Dubai and Orlando on June 2.
Flair Airlines will begin serving Montréal on July 1. The ULCC will serve four airports from its newest destination: Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax (YHZ), and Abbotsford (YXX).
Flyr is expctd to take delivry of its first two B737-800s this May.
Kenya Airways‘s nationalization plan was rejected by the National Assembly’s Transport Committee.
Ryanair is launching a new route this summer from Newcastle (NCL) to Zadar, Croatia (ZAD).
ToMontenegro is receiving a cash infusion from the Montenegrin government.
Viva Aerobus is beginning twice-weekly aero service between San Antonio and León (BJX) on March 1.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

No more Suez Canal Jokes. Seriously. When I said that yesterday, I meant it. You missed the boat.

March 29, 2021

JetBlue Reportedly Secures Heathrow Slots

After a lengthy battle to win slots at London’s most sought after address (after Buckingham Palace), JetBlue Airways has reportedly secured 270 slots to operate at London/Heathrow beginning August 2. The slots are not necessarily permanent, but at this point JetBlue will happily take what it can get. 180 slots have been allocated for service to JFK with the remaining 90 for Boston. JetBlue will operate out of T2 at Heathrow, known to most as The Queen’s Terminal.

JetBlue was going to make The Crown available on all planes that fly into Heathrow, but shelving that plan and allowing corgis to fly free got the Queen to pressure Heathrow into ponying up the slots. Now, travelers will be forced to listen to the Queen’s most recent Royal Christmas Message on a loop during descent.

The airline is maintaining the 270 slots it also has to fly into Gatwick, as it’s always smart to have a safety ~~school~~ airport as a backup plan. It has chosen to relinquish its Stansted slots, operating to just two airports in the city to begin with; the idea being that taxi times are long enough at Heathrow that you’ll feel like you’ve visited every London area airport.

Southwest Orders 100 Additional 737 MAX 7 Aircraft

Southwest Airlines announced the firm order of 100 new Boeing 737 MAX 7 aircraft plus 155 options for both MAX 7 and MAX 8 aircraft today. With the announcement, Southwest will accelerate the retirement of its current Boeing 737-700 fleet in order to eventually replace it with the new incoming planes. With this order, Southwest now has a total of 349 firm MAX orders and 270 MAX options for the next decade.

It was widely believed that Southwest was considering the 150-seat Boeing 737 MAX 7 and Airbus A220-300 as replacements for its 400+ strong 737-700 fleet. These two became finalists when Lockheed refused to restart production of the Lockheed Electra so Southwest could finally bring its original start-up plan to fruition.

Though the specific purchase price is uknown, it’s safe to assume that first Boeing’s CEO got down on his knees and kissed Southwest CEO Gary Kelly’s boots. Then he promised the company would never do anything to hurt the airline again. Finally, he asked Gary just how much he wanted Boeing to pay him to take the airplanes.

American Sales Are Soaring

American Airlines disclosed in a filing to the SEC (this one, not this one), that its online sales volume has recovered to a point where it is approaching 2019 levels.

AA is seeing the strongest revenue push since prior to the pandemic while filling nearly 80% of its domestic capacity last week. Bookings on aa.com are up between 150% and 400% compared to the same time in 2019.

In its filing with the SEC, American said that it expects the strength in bookings to continue through the first quarter (which ends on Wednesday) and through the summer. With the expected increase in booking, AA plans to have its entire fleet flying by May with no more planes grounded – even the uncomfortable ones that nobody likes.

With sales growing, the airline is rolling back some traveler-friendly policies from the early days of the pandemic. Beginning this Thursday, April 1, basic economy purchases will again become non-changeable and non-refundable. The policy applies only to domestic basic economy itineraries and those departing from North and South America.

Korean and Asiana Merger Delayed Until 2024

Korean Air’s purchase of and merger with rival Asiana Airlines has been delayed by Korean until 2024. When the merger occurs, Korean will become the world’s 7^th largest airline and second largest on the Korean peninsula behind North Korea’s Air Koryo. According to the North Korean government, Air Koryo flies to 480 destinations with its glorious fleet of 3,000 brand-new, state-of-the-art Ilyushin Il-62M aircraft.

Korean invested $1.3 billion into Asiana last year to acquire a 63.7 percent stake of the airline. It hoped to use that as leverage to complete the merger by 2022. But Korean is struggling to obtain approval from the eight different antitrust authorities that are serviced by both airlines. So far only Turkey has given approval while the airline waits to hear from Korea, the United States, China, Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Thailand.

Korean must receive approval from at least four of the countries – excluding Korea – for the merger to take place otherwise it would be banned from operating in the countries that do not approve of the deal. While the United States has an Open Skies treaty with Korea, several of the other countries awaiting approval do not.

Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport estimates 32 routes that Korean Air obtains from Asiana through the merger will lead to a combined market share of more than 50 percent.

Thailand Approves Quarantine Waiver for Tourists

The Thai government plans to approve a waiver for vaccinated tourists to visit the country quarantine-free while also announcing an order of five million more doses of vaccine from AstraZeneca for its own citizens and residents.

Like many tourism-focused countries, Thailand’s economy took a major hit last year with tourism and travel reduced to almost zero. The country was getting so annoyed that it was just going to swing open its doors for everyone just for kicks, but it decided that participating in a pilot program for vaccine passports was probably a smarter plan. Thailand now has over 73 million doses of vaccine as it races to vaccinate its population as soon as possible. The country currently has a goal of having half its citizens vaccinated by the end of 2021.

Phuket will be the first to reopen, once the island has inoculated at least 70% of its residents – which it expects to achieve later this summer. For the next month, the hotel quarantine will be halved down to just seven days for vaccinated visitors to Phuket, Pattaya, Koh Samui, Chiang Mai, Phang Nga, and Krabi. The government is hopeful that the quarantine waiver will be completely waved in all four tourist destinations by the fourth quarter this year.

Airline Potpourri

Alitalia has had €24.7 of aid from the Italian government approved by the European Commission.
ASL Airlines operated its first flight over the weekend from East Midlands (EMA) to Belfast (BFS). The airline is the first to receive permission to operate by the UK since Brexit.
Canadian North has hired ACC Aviation to help it sell two de Havilland Dash 8-100 aircraft.
CMA CGM Air Cargo has launched two new cargo routes from its Liege (LGG) base, neither of which is to Camarillo (CMA) or Camiguin (CGM). Beginning yesterday, March 28, the airline began A330-200F service to both Atlanta and New York/JFK.
Emirates will operate a special flight on April 10 – EK2021, a flight to nowhere that departs from Dubai and returns to Dubai 2.5 hours later that will be exclusively for crew and passengers who are fully vaccinated from COVID.
GoAir plans to initiate a $345 million IPO in the coming weeks.
Malawi Airlines has suspended flight operations through March 31.
Qatar announced a summer schedule that will include 1,200 weekly flights to an expanded route map that includes more than 140 destinations.
SAS is completing a sale and leaseback of four aircraft with CDB Aviation.
Smartwings signed a loan agreement for €76 million as part of the loan program offered by the Czech government.
SWISS is planning to announce further job cuts.
Titan Airways is preparing to operate an A321-200 on behalf of the British government.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

No more Suez Canal Jokes. That ship has sailed.

March 26, 2021

Delta Rewards Iceland for Vaccine Tourism Rules

With Iceland becoming the first European nation to welcome Americans who have been fully-vaccinated with no restrictions, Delta Air Lines is taking advantage by adding one new route to Iceland and confirming the resumption of two others that have been suspended for months.

On May 20, Delta will launch new daily service from its Boston hub to Reykjavik’s Keflavik International Airport. In addition to the new service, the airline will bring back two suspended routes – New York/JFK (May 1) and Minneapolis/St. Paul (May 27) to Reykjavik. Both of these routes will also operate daily. Delta will find itself going head-to-head with Icelandair on all three routes.

Delta’s Boston and Minneapolis flights will be operated by higher- density B757-200s with 193 seats including domestic First Class seats that double as Premium Select recliners as the airplane’s premium option. JFK will be operated by 757-200s that feature Delta One flat bed seating. This, of course, only matters if you are in the front cabin. In the back, it’s all the same.

Qantas Overwhelms Market to New Zealand

With Australians desperate to travel and a travel bubble to New Zealand opening up in the coming weeks, Qantas is overloading the market with cheap award seats to give Australians the opportunity to spread their wings over the next several months.

The airline announced that for the first three days of the bubble, it will make every seat on every flight to New Zealand available for the cost of its cheapest award – the Classic Flight Reward. For just 18,000 points, Australians can jet to New Zealand for their first international holiday — excluding Western Australia, even though that can feel pretty foreign — in over a year.

Qantas usually makes just a handful of seats available at this price per flight, with most awards to NZ offered at the Any Seat Award price of 55,000 points which can get as high as 110,000. Somewhere deep inside an Atlanta office park, a Delta employee sneers at the price, knowing that his airline would make 110k the discounted price for an award of the same length.

When the sale concludes, the airline still intends to offer 50% off award seats for the future as Australians expel their pent up energy from being stuck at home for over a year.

Spirit Customer Goes to Great Lengths to Avoid Fees

Spirit Flight 185 from Cleveland to Los Angeles was diverted to Denver on Wednesday when a passenger attempted to open the emergency exit door during flight. Other passengers onboard the aircraft said when the passenger saw what Spirit was charging for soft drinks, he decided to ditch the flight to get a Coke on the ground for far cheaper than what the airline was charging.

The unruly passenger was held down by his fellow passengers for the duration of the flight before the plane could divert and land in Denver. Law enforcement officials took the passenger into custody upon arrival in Denver, and the flight continued on to Los Angeles without further incident.

When the aircraft arrived at LAX, passengers were not permitted to deplane until each paid Spirit a $9.99 diversion fee to cover the costs for the unexpected stop en route.

Irish Courts Clear Norwegian Restructuring

Ireland’s High Court cleared the way for Norwegian to raise capital and emerge from bankruptcy protection in Ireland and Norway by May – leaving it with just four more countries in which to sort out its bankruptcy mess.

In its restructuring plan, the airline plans to end long-haul flying for good and focus on domestic operations within Norway and a limited, short-haul European network.

In its ruling, the Irish court is requiring that Norwegian raise at least $524 million from the issue of new shares and hybrid capital. The court was convinced by its own appointed representative to oversee the reorganization that the airline would have no issues securing the funding. In showing that it has no problem throwing good money after bad, the Norwegian government committed to providing at least one-third of the cash upfront for the airline.

The next step for Norwegian will be to secure approval on its bankruptcy plan from the Norwegian court system, then seek permission from the federal government to proceed with issuing its new shares. It’s still expected to file for bankruptcy one or two more times during the process just for old times’ sake.

United Prepares to Bring 767-400 Back Into Service

United Airlines is bringing a portion of its 767-400ER fleet back into service as demand continues to recover from the pandemic. The entire fleet has been in storage in the New Mexico desert since the pandemic began.

The 767-400 aircraft were some of the first to be suspended by United as they have the old business class product and primarily operate long haul international routes – making them almost unusable during the height of the pandemic. With the 767-400 in storage, United has relied heavily on its 787 Dreamliner fleet to operate its barebones international operation through most of the pandemic.

United is being forced to bring its 767-400s back into action with the grounding of most of its B777 fleet due to the trouble with its Pratt & Whitney engines. These B767s are the only twin-aisle jets in United’s fleet that do not have Polaris Business Class or plans for a Polaris retrofit.

Airline Potpourri

Austrian will launch new service from Vienna to Cancun. The service will begin on October 24 and will operate twice weekly until it’s canceled for lack of demand or the end of winter, whichever comes first.
Convisa, the 5-star airline as determined by the Venezuelan government, is beginning twice-weekly service from Caracas to Moscow. News of the route was broken, as most aviation news is, by the Russian embassy in Caracas.
Ethiopian, EgyptAir, and Kenya Airways have signed up to be strategic partners with the African Union Trusted Travel program.
GullivAir, the Bulgarian long-haul startup that is sure to succeed, has been granted permission to operate to both the United States and Canada.
Kenya Airways announced a loss of $330 million for 2020.
LOT and Turkish have both resumed operating the 737 MAX for the first time in two years.
Norwegian appointing Adrian Dunne as Executive Vice President for Operations.
RwandAir has become the first African airline to vaccinate its entire staff.
Volotea will launch new service on July 2 between Bilbao (BIO) and Gibraltar (GIB). The flight will operate twice-weekly and will be the first air route connecting Gibraltar with Spain.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

What did the Photon say when asked if she needed to check a bag?

No thanks, I’m traveling light!

March 25, 2021

Southwest Adds Destinations, Brings Back Beverage Service for Mimes

Southwest Airlines announced oodles of new routes and destinations today as it gears up for summer with Myrtle Beach and Austin seeing the biggest focus.

Beginning May 23, Southwest will fly from Myrtle Beach to 10 destinations, with three — Nashville, Baltimore, and Chicago/Midway — beginning first on May 23. Two more destinations, Dallas/Love Field and Pittsburgh, follow on May 29 as Saturday-only service with Atlanta, Columbus, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and St. Louis joining the fold on June 6.

The other big move sees Southwest fanning out from Austin with flights to Sacramento (beginning May 9), Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Orange County, and Salt Lake City (beginning June 6). The new cities will give the airline 37 destinations out of Austin and many of them are places people want to go.

Other additions for Southwest include dally service between:

Denver and Richmond (begins May 9)
Las Vegas and Palm Springs (begins May 9)
Miami and St. Louis (begins May 9)
Nashville and New York/Islip (begins June 6)
Chicago/Midway and Portland, ME (begins June 6)

In addition to launching new service, Southwest will bring back beverage service on all flights 250 miles or more. Southwest, however, is encouraging its passengers to order their drink non-verbally to limit interaction with flight attendants. The airline suggests passengers pull up the drink menu on their phone and zoom in to the picture of the drink of their choice – how a Coke will be distinguished from a Diet Coke remains a mystery. Southwest left out several great options for passengers including miming the beverage of their choice, playing a round of charades, or acting out the name of the beverage in a brief, one-person silent play.

United Points to New Point-to-Point Service

United Airlines is ramping up its domestic summer schedule with new routes to outdoor destinations from seven non-hub airports. Most of the new routes will begin May 27 and run through Labor Day weekend.

The list of origins is a who’s who of former airline hubs throughout the Midwest: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh. Most of these flights will be operated by United’s CRJ-550 aircraft — a 70-seat aircraft with only 50 seats onboard — which ensures profitability including fixed costs would be a pipe dream. But hey, if the costs are fixed, who really cares?

Cleveland and Milwaukee lead the way with five new destinations. Cleveland, a former hub, will see 3x-weekly new service to: Charleston, Hilton Head, Myrtle Beach, Pensacola and Portland, ME. Milwaukee’s five new destinations will look similar – Charleston, Myrtle Beach, Pensacola, Portland, ME, and Savannah – with all five receiving twice-weekly service.

United is also adding three new seasonal flights from domestic hubs: Chicago/O’Hare to Nantucket (ACK), Houston/Bush to Kalispell, MT (FCA), and Washington/Dulles to Bozeman, MT (BZN). When asked to comment on its new routes a United spokesperson pointed out that it managed to roll out dozens of new routes to several destinations while not adding anything to Newark – a boon for its passengers.

JetBlue Debuts Weirdly-Branded Travel Site

JetBlue Airways introduced Paisly, its poorly-spelled new website developed by the airline’s non air-travel subsidiary JetBlue Travel Products. The new site will offer add-ons for JetBlue’s air passengers, beginning with rental cars, hotels, theme park tickets, and Dunkin’ Donuts locations tied to their JetBlue air reservation.

The launch of the new site is another step in what the airline is hoping becomes an evolution into a travel tech company. Paisly will join JetBlue Vacations in offering the extras for air customers, with the distinction that Paisly offers them on an a la carte basis with JetBlue Vacations only offering packages.

JetBlue is hopeful that it can keep passengers on its site for non-air bookings because it is a trusted brand in the industry, especially compared to other online travel agents. So… why did it need to create a separate brand for this? Your guess is as good as ours.

Hawaiian Vaccine Passport Around the Corner

Despite no official word from government officials, Hawai’i Lt. Governor Josh Green believes the state’s vaccine passport program could be in place as soon as May 15.

Green is the state’s COVID liaison and played a key role in developing the program that allowed visitors to place out of the mandatory 10-day quarantine with proof of a negative test. That testing program has restored visitor levels to the state to as many as 15,000 per day, approximately 50% of where it was prior to the pandemic.

A spokesperson for CommonPass, the group working with the state to develop the potential passport also would not comment but did say that it would have news with regards to the passport being announced next week. Those people are such a tease….

State officials believe that a vaccination passport could give another boost to tourism, seeing as many as 75% of pre-pandemic levels of tourists enter the state on a daily basis almost right away. The Lt. Governor also believes it could allow large-scale events such as the Honolulu Marathon and the Ironman Triathlon World Championship take place safely later this year.

Australia Lifts Ban on New Zealand Travel; Melbourne Plans International Reopening

Australia has lifted the ban on travel to its Oceania neighbor New Zealand, creating the first legal, non-essential international travel option for Australians in over a year.

Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt amended Australia’s emergency biosecurity laws, carving out an exception for anyone who has been in Australia for the most recent 14 consecutive days to be able to travel directly to New Zealand. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern could only laugh, saying that the “whole bubble plan” was just a joke to give the Aussies false hope that they’d ever be able to leave their home continent, and New Zealand would never let those freaks in. (She actually said that she will announce a date for the start of the full travel bubble for her side of the Tasman Sea on April 6.)

Other good news in Australia came today as Melbourne International Airport announced it would again live up to the “international” part of its name, beginning on April 8. The airport had been closed off to international flights since mid-February due to a localized virus outbreak. When it reopens to international flights on April 8, MEL will be capped at 800 arriving international passengers for its first week, rising to 1,120 per week beginning April 15.

Airline Potpourri

Ariana Afghan Airlines is looking to purchase a lone B737-500 that is less than 23 years old.
Austrian has implemented more measures for its restructuring including parking two more Airbus aircraft for long-term storage.
Bees Airlines confirms the buzz that it pollens to begin operating later this summer.
Qatar will resume flying to Mykonos beginning May 14 with 3x-weekly service.
Ryanair is expanding its presence at its base at Milan/Bergamo (BGY). It plans to add new aircraft in addition to adding two new routes to Banja Luka, Bosnia (BNX) and Belfast City, Northern Ireland (BHD).
WestJet will restore the remainder of routes in its network that have still been suspended since the onset of the pandemic. Service to Charlottetown (YYG), Fredericton (YFC), Moncton (YQM), Sydney (YQY), and Quebec City (YQB) will resume between June 24 and 30.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

What’s the difference between a hippo and a zippo? One is really heavy and the other is a little lighter!

March 24, 2021

Aer Lingus to Link Manchester With Four Transatlantic Destinations

Aer Lingus announced today it will begin overseas operations from its new hub in Manchester (MAN). The airline will operate to New York/JFK and Orlando from July 29 with Barbados following in October and Boston in Summer 2022.

The four cities will be Aer Lingus’s first transatlantic services from the UK. This move likely dashes any hope that Englanders had that British Airways would someday live up to its name and not act like it was called London Airways.

The flights from Manchester to the three U.S. destinations will only be available for passengers originating in the UK right now. The airline only plans to stock Guinness and various hard ciders and doesn’t want U.S. based passengers on its aircraft ordering Bud Light. Ok, maybe not. In reality, the DOT just prohibited the airline from selling to U.S. based customers while it awaits approval from the UK CAA for its operating certificate.

Delta Upgrades Inflight Service; Brings Back Booze for Sale

Delta Air Lines will be bringing back a beefed-up version of inflight service for passengers onboard its domestic flights beginning April 14. The new service will include the sale of booze, which has not been on offer in its Main Cabin for nearly a year. With travel on the rise, passengers are once again desperate for alcohol to help them make it through the travel experience, and Delta is all about pleasing the customer.

Main Cabin passengers will receive an option of soft drinks for the first time since the pandemic caused service cutbacks. The drinks will be offered in 7.5 ounce mini cans to reduce interaction with flight attendants, and because the last thing most passengers need is more caffeine. Alcohol offerings will include beer and wine plus pre-mixed cocktails that will taste terrible but are sure to do the trick.

Delta will also refresh its snack offerings, shuffling through a combination of Goldfish, almonds, Clif Bars and Delta’s signature in-flight snack of Biscoff cookies.

Comfort Plus and First Class passengers will continue to receive complimentary beer and wine along with the new cocktail offerings. Basic Economy passengers will be offered the leftover crumbs from in their seat left from the previously flight as well as a shot of grain alcohol once the plane reaches 10,000 feet.

JetBlue Explores Sale and Leaseback of E190

JetBlue Airways is looking into selling 30 of its E190 aircraft then immediately leasing them back to divest itself of the long-term commitment to the planes while it transitions to the A220.

JetBlue is in discussions with several lessors to gauge their interest in purchasing the planes. The airline posted an ad for the planes on Facebook Marketplace to make sure it doesn’t overlook non-traditional buyers who could be interested in 30 Embraer jets.

The airline currently has 60 E190s in its fleet, half of which are currently leased and half of which are owned by the airline. By flipping the 30 planes it currently owns to a third party to perform a leaseback, JetBlue can raise cash in the short-term and relieve itself of the long-term debt on an aircraft that is not in its future plans.

JetBlue currently has just one A220 in its possession but has 69 more coming with an option for an additional 30. It posted the lone A220 on Facebook Marketplace by mistake and despite changing the posting to “not available” is still receiving multiple offers for the plane.

Rex Ready to Challenge Qantas

The escalating battle between Rex and Qantas will enter a new chapter next month when Rex begins service on the “Capital City Corridor” between Sydney and Canberra. Like any good dog, Rex is clearly trying to get the master’s attention.

Rex is not messing around, launching on April 19 and matching Qantas with seven daily round trips. Rex will put the flights on sale beginning next week and plans to fly its 33-seat, all-economy Saab 340B aircraft to begin. It has a fleet of B737 with eight seats in business and 168 behind the curtain ready to go if it sees the demand to swap aircraft. Qantas currently operates a mix of B717 jets and Dash 8 turboprops on the route.

Rex has plans for a new lounge in Canberra which will open when service begins. Qantas has been the lone operator on the route since Virgin Australia suspended services between the two cities at the onset of the pandemic.

Guatemala City Airport Shut Down Due to Ash

The Guatemalan government temporarily shut down Guatemala City International Airport (GUA) due to ash flowing on to the airport grounds from nearby volcanic activity as well as from a family celebration that involved heavy cigar smoking near the airport to celebrate the birth of twins.

The wind had been blowing the ash away from the airport, but a shift from south to north sent the ash onto the airport property, with several parked aircraft quickly becoming covered.

Ash can damage aircraft on the ground along with disrupting flight operations. Nine aircraft have been grounded at the airport due to effects from the ash. The airport remained closed all of Tuesday before reopening at 7 a.m. this morning. More than two dozen flights were cancelled before operations resumed.

Airline Potpourri

Andorra Airlines is working with the Catalan government on an aid package.
Bamboo Airways is planning a Q3 IPO on either the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange or the Hanoi Stock Exchange based on a market capitalization of $2.7 billion.
Calm Air calmly completed a wet lease for a Dash 8-300.
EgyptAir plans to acquire its first A321neo in Q1 of 2022.
Emirates plans to bring A380s back on its routes to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, and Christchurch late this year.
Fly All Ways, an adorably named Suriname-based airline, has received fifth freedom rights to operate from Guyana to both Curacao and Barbados.
Frontier has chosen Recaro to update the seats on its A320 and A321 aircraft. The seat chosen is the Recaro SL3710. It weighs 8kg and comes with a seat belt and tray table for passengers who pay a $19.99 seat amenity fee.
Nepal Airlines is continuing to attempt to sell the lone B757 in its fleet despite facing difficulties from the pandemic.
Ryanair announced 26 new routes to add to its robust Summer 2021 schedule. It also will take delivery of 16 new 737 MAX jets later this summer.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

There’s a fine line between a numerator and a denominator.

Unfortunately, only a fraction of people will get this joke.

March 23, 2021

Hawaiian Adds to Maui, United Adds Hawai’i Frequency

Hawaiian is adding a new nonstop to Maui while United is saying aloha to more Hawaiian service on four routes to the islands.

Hawaiian is launching seasonal non-stop service between Phoenix and Maui which will operate 4x-weekly from May 21 through August 15 and will be the only daytime flight returning from Maui to Phoenix. (American flies only redeyes.)

United is adding more flights on its new services between Newark and Maui along with Chicago/O’Hare and Kona. Those two routes were announced last fall and were supposed to launch as 4x-weekly service on June 3, but United is adding a fifth weekly frequency on both routes, adding Monday. Service on both routes will operate from June 3 until September 5. United is also adding significantly more frequency on its flights from Honolulu and Maui to Denver over the summer.

Lastly, the airline upgraded the aircraft it will operate on its Newark to Maui service, putting its B767 with 46 Polaris Business seats onboard. The airline justified the change by saying that anyone who has to transition from Maui to Jersey should be kept as comfortable as possible.

Travel Industry Pleads for End to Travel Restrictions

Several travel industry trade groups, including Airlines For America (A4A), sent a letter to the Biden administration pushing for an end to international travel restrictions into the United States. This request comes after a year where overseas travel to the U.S. dropped by 81%, creating a loss of $146 billion to the U.S. economy.

The letter asks the federal government to work with the industry on a “risk-based, data-driven roadmap” that leads to dropping international travel restrictions by May 1. The group believes that by developing clear metrics and a timeline, the government can keep “risk-based protections” while encouraging business and leisure travel; therefore increasing rehiring in the industry, creating jobs.

Additionally, the group wants to maintain the practice of a negative test as a prerequisite to travel to the United States while allowing those who can show proof of a completed vaccination to place out of the testing requirement. Alternatively, those who are super rich should also be able to just buy their way out of it. After all, they are very important.

Overseas travel to the U.S. dropped by 81% last year causing a loss of $146 billion to the U.S. economy.

Frontier Seeks $4.5 Billion in IPO

Frontier Airlines submitted paperwork to launch its IPO, aiming for a valuation of $4.52 billion in the process. The airline is going to list 30 million shares between $19 and $21 per share, which would raise $630 million for the ultra low-cost carrier.

Frontier is currently owned by private equity firm Indigo Partners and has Citigroup, Barclays, Deutsche Bank Securities, Morgan Stanley, and Evercore ISI as lead underwriters on the offering.

The airline’s IPO comes on week after a successful opening for Sun Country. That airline raised approximately $218 million on its first day of trading which saw its stock go from an initial price of $24 up beyond $36. It closed today down $1.06 at $34.25.

Frontier will trade under the symbol “ULCC,” proving that when US Airways listed as “LCC,” Frontier that was a pretty cool idea. It settled on ULCC after its idea of trading under a picture of a different animal every day was rejected by regulators.

UK Plans to Extend Overseas Travel Ban

The UK government is in the process of extending its overseas travel ban through the end of June as it desperately tries to curtail the newest strains of the Coronavirus. The government was previously hopeful to end its overseas ban on April 12, but now plans to take the drastic action of extending the ban.

Residents are permitted to travel overseas for approved “essential functions” that including certain business travel, weddings, funerals, and a long, drunken weekend in Spain. The government plans to narrow the definition of essential travel for the balance of the ban and will remove most wedding and funerals from the list.

Travelers will present proof of their reason for travel with border guards to show their travel is considered essential. Those who attempt to fly overseas without a government-approved reason will be turned away and sent home, subject to a fine of up to £5,000, and forced to watch Harry and Megan’s interview with Oprah on a loop for 72 hours.

As part of the crackdown, UK residents will be permitted to leave the country for their own wedding, but not to attend as a guest. The same logic will apply for funerals as well, although someone traveling for their own funeral likely has much less say over their method of transportation.

Star Alliance to Establish Center of Excellence in Singapore

Star Alliance plans to open a new management office in Singapore which it named the Center for Excellence. The other name considered, Center for Mediocrity, was rejected as it would require staff to base themselves in Newark.

The Singapore office will be complementing the alliance’s office in Frankfurt and will focus on progressing the digital customer experience, whatever that means.

Star Alliance selected Singapore based on its access to innovation, global competitiveness, and delicious options at food halls throughout the city.

Airline Potpourri

Air China will buy 18 aircraft from AFS Investment. The acquisition will consist of five A320-200s and 13 A321-200s.
Air Serbia is resuming nonstop service to Rome/FCO from its Belgrade hub. The airline will fly the route twice-weekly beginning April 30 with a third weekly frequency added on June 13.
Air Seychelles will resume flying to Tel Aviv with daily flights through March 27 that become 3x-weekly beginning March 31.
Blue Air is adding 14 new international routes and one domestic routes from its base in Cluj International Airport (CLJ) in northwest Romania.
Breeze took delivery of an E190 from Nordic Aviation Capital. The aircraft is the third of 15 that it will deliver to Breeze.
Emirates is once again banned from flying to Nigeria due to too many positive cases on its flights into the country.
Gol plans to sell advanced tickets worth about $55 million to Smiles Fidelidade, the company that manages its frequent flyer program.
IAG agreed to a revolving credit facility worth $1.755 billion over the next three years.
Interjet will enter administration next week.
JetSMART is increasing its frequencies into Chile. Its service from Santiago (SCL) to Bogota will increase from twice-weekly to daily, and Santiago to Cali (CLO) increases from twice-weekly to 5x-weekly. It also plans to launch twice-weekly flights on July 7 from Santiago to Medellín (MDE).

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

Why did Humpty Dumpty have a great fall?

To make up for his miserable summer.

March 22, 2021

TSA Screenings Hit New High

As air travel demand continues to rebound across the country, the TSA screened 1.54 million travelers at checkpoints on Sunday, a new high since a pandemic was first declared over a year ago. The number represents a 280% jump from the same day last year, and more importantly, 70% of the figure from the same day in 2019.

The 1.54 million is a 15% jump from the previous Sunday when 1.34 million were screened. The figure only includes humans and does not take animals or pets into account, nor does it include vermin that live at an airport such as the rats at LGA. The last time the TSA screening numbers exceeded yesterday’s total was March 13, 2020 when 1.7 million passengers passed through checkpoints with numbers in freefall, dropping more and more every day.

Sunday also marked 11 days in a row with a million or more passing through the checkpoint, something that hadn’t occurred since March 16 of last year.

Eurowings Plans to Spread its Wings Across Euro

Eurowings plans to expand its presence across Europe to take advantage of the pent-up demand for air travel in Europe and in its home country of Germany.

The Lufthansa subsidiary announced last week it was expanding its base at Mallorca to create more opportunities for Europeans to fly to the sun-splashed destination, but it also plans to increase other leisure destinations as the summer approaches.

Eurowings flights from Mallorca to both Birmingham and Manchester represent its first flights from the UK to a place other than Germany. It is also opening a new base at Berlin/Brandenburg with the idea of catching leisure travel into Germany from other nations. It plans to increase its summer flying to destinations all over the continent including Egypt, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Spain, Tenerife, and Turkey.

Eurowings will consolidate most of its flying through two hubs in Germany going forward – Frankfurt and Munich – with an opportunity to expand to other locations when it damn well feels like it.

New Charter Service Says Aloha

Hawaii Shuttle submitted a request to the DOT today to receive an exemption to begin operating as a charter service membership club between Kona in Hawai’i and three west coast gateway cities. It’s founder got the idea for the airline while waiting in line at a Costco last week.

The airline, should it receive permission to operate, would sell up to 400 memberships to its service which would fly from Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle to Kona. It plans to operate a B737 that it already has leased in an all-first class configuration with twice-weekly service.

The members of the club would be limited to those who live in five highfalutin communities in Kona and maintain another residence in one of the three gateway cities. It plans to run the airline itself, with the exception of contracting out the daily administration of the airline (reservations, finance, member relations), and contracting with Kaiser Air to do the flying and maintenance. But other than the day-to-day operations, finance and flying, it’ll do everything itself. Someone does have to paint the plane after all.

The airline will be funded by membership fees – if the fees are not enough to cover expenses, members will be required to pony up the difference. If the fees are more than enough to cover the operation, pigs will be flying, and the excess cash will be returned – but first the airline will have to outsource someone to do write the checks.

Alaska Hires New COO

Alaska Airlines announced its hiring of Costance von Muehlen as its next COO. Von Muehlen will officially move into her role on April 3 replacing the retiring Gary Beck.

Von Muehlen will be the first COO of Alaska Airlines, but not the first within Alaska Air Group as she herself was COO of Alaska’s regional airline Horizon from 2018-19. She says her first 90 days will be focused on the people of Alaska, both frontline employees and passengers. It will be her job develop the potion each passenger will be injected with upon boarding Alaska’s aircraft that keeps them from booking any flight on Delta.

Before joining Alaska in 2011, van Muehlen spent 20 years in aviation maintenance which is a really long time to work on an airplane, it must have been very broken. In those 20 years, she served as GM of Pratt & Whitney’s Canada service center and as Director of Airframe Maintenance at Air Canada. The AC role being particularly important for the airline and its image and it was her job to ensure that the maple leaf planted on the fuselage of each airplane was always looking bright and sharp.

New Haven Eyes to Add Service

New Haven, CT Airport (HVN) is located approximately 80 miles outside of New York City and is one of only two commercial airports in Connecticut, along with Hartford. The airport currently has scheduled passenger service to Philadelphia on American Eagle and seasonal flights to Nantucket on Cape Air but no more. The airport is trying to increase its number of airlines and cities served, turning its attention to startup airlines.

The airport has turned to the federal government’s Small City Airport Service Development Program which is thankfully abbreviated down to SCASDP. It requested $800,000 from the SCASDP to incentivize two new airlines to fly to the airport: Avelo and Breeze.

Avelo is in the process of hiring staff to begin operating and was kind enough to include a letter of support in New Haven’s SCASDP application. Avelo said that the airport fits well with its strategy of flying into secondary airports of major metropolitan destinations and that its executive staff are all big fans of New Haven pizza.

Breeze wouldn’t go as far as to include a letter of recommendation like it did for Northwest Arkansas Airport last week, but with its maintenance base nearby on Long Island, the airport would seem to be a logical choice. The airline did not comment on the record about whether or not its staff enjoys a slice of New Haven pizza.

Airline Potpourri

Aeromar will begin operating to a second Mexican city from McAllen, TX (MFE), as it begins twice-weekly service to Monterrey on April 22.
Air Baltic and Ukraine International announced an extension of their codeshare agreement.
American Airlines is testing touchless check-in at its Dallas/Ft. Worth hub.
Austrian is resuming regular operations to both London/Heathrow and Tel Aviv. It will fly to Heathrow twice daily with daily service to Tel Aviv.
British Airways now plans to operate its daily flight to Accra (ACC) from London/Gatwick on October. It has announced plans to move it to Gatwick only to reverse course and keep it at Heathrow several times now. Just show up where it says on the ticket.
China Airlines final B747-400 flew its last passenger flight on Saturday.
Delta announced several new outdoorsy destinations. Visit today’s post at crankyflier.com for more.
Eastern Airlines, presumably not the British one, will begin new nonstop service from Miami to Montevideo (MVD) this June.
Icelandair plans to resume its seasonal service to Portland, OR. The flight will operate 3x-weekly beginning July 2.
JetBlue has announced a $650 million convertible senior notes offering. If you understand what that means, then feel free to participate.
Rex is no longer ending service to five leisure routes at the end if March thanks to further funding from the Australian federal government.
Virgin Australia is reopening its meeting facilities at Melbourne, Canberra, and Perth Airports.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I used to hate the hokey pokey but I really turned myself around.

March 19, 2021

Northwest Arkansas Flirts with Breeze and Others

Breeze Airways, which is planning to begin operating this year is batting its eyes at advances made by Northwest Arkansas Airport (XNA). The airline has not committed itself to any routes or destinations yet in its planning to begin passenger service this year.

According to a filing published today, XNA is asking the government for $250,000 to woo Breeze to the foothills of the Ozarks. In its filing, the airport included a letter of support from Breeze to get the cash but wouldn’t guarantee that it would serve the airport. The airline did say that the quarter-million would “greatly enhance the probability of new service,” though, reminding us that everyone, even startup airlines are for sale.

What the airport didn’t tell Breeze was that it is also talking to several other LCCs that don’t serve XNA. When asked for comment, XNA said that it and Breeze “were just talking, and never agreed to be exclusive.”

The airport wants to expand its footprint to about two dozen cities across the country including leisure and business destinations alike. None of its desired destinations are in New Jersey.

British Airways Considering HQ Change

British Airways is exploring the idea of selling its headquarters as the airline expects teleworking to remain in-place (paywall ) for most employees even once the pandemic has ended. The 114,000 square meter HQ comprises of 14 buildings that housed 4,000 staff in a pre-pandemic world.

The airline is pondering a plan that will allow staff to split their time between home and the office, creating a need for much less space than it has now. The airline paid £200m for the land and construction in the 90s but believes it can fetch a much higher price now.

If the airline decides to sell its current office footprint, it has other options including many spaces in and around Heathrow. BA expects to create a more casual, communal layout for its future office space considering most employees will only come in once or twice a week.

BA has not put the land up for sale but commercial real estate experts in England say the land could currently fetch the airline as much as £500 million and 34 million Avios in a cash + points sale.

Rex Loses Battle with Qantas

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ruled that Qantas’ strategy of entering into regional routes previously dominated by Rex is not anti-competitive.

The commission actually ruled that the result of Qantas entering the market is the complete opposite, that it would create more competition and be better for the consumer.

Rex approved its larger rival of purposely entering markets it knows it cannot make money on for the sole purpose of driving Rex away. Of the 26 new routes started by Qantas since the start of the pandemic, eight of them are routes of which Rex is the sole operator. The regional airline said it would “stand its ground” on the routes even if it meant both carriers suffer losses.

QantasLink CEO John Gissing shot back at Rex saying that the regional carriers idea of competition is “something that happens to other people, because they believe they have an enshrined right to be the only carrier on some regional routes.”

Spirit Updates Mask Policy

Spirit Airlines is updating its mask policy after an incident where a young autistic traveler was forced off a plane for his inability to wear a mask.

The four-year-old child had a legitimate note from his physician that he was unable to wear a mask because it created a situation where he panics and could harm himself – or others.

Under President Biden and the CDC’s current guidelines, airlines are required to carve out mask exceptions for passengers with a disability as defined by the ADA. Airlines had a 45-day grace period to implement the new policy and Spirit had not yet made the transition.

Once the incident received national attention, Spirit apologized to the family and issued a refund for the unused portion of their ticket which came out to about $11 per person. The airline also said it would update its policy to align with the federal directive effective March 22 – which just happens to be 45 days exactly since the directive from the president. Passengers who present a valid note from a physician and pay the $11.99 mask-exemption fee will be permitted to fly without further incident.

Australian Airline Employees to Receive Government Cash

Employees from Australia’s two leading airlines, Qantas and Virgin Australia will receive government payments for several more months while the country awaits the return of air travel demand.

Thousands of Qantas employees will receive a weekly cash infusion of US$387 through the end of October. Virgin Australia will receive an undisclosed amount of money to offer its employees as well as to fund more flights returning, putting more people back to work.

The announcement comes just weeks before Australia’s JobKeeper program, its version of the CARES Act, comes to an end. Australia has kept its border closed to everything but the most essential of travel for over a year now and its travel sector has not come close to showing the signs of rebound we’ve seen in the United States.

In addition to 7,500 Qantas employees and 3,000 Virgin Australia receiving the aid package, JetStar employees who work international flights will also be eligible.

While most workers took the weekly cash option, the government did offer up a smaller cash payment accompanied by weekly deliveries of Vegemite on toast and meat pies.

Airline Potpourri

Aeroflot is opening a new hub in June at Krasnoyarsk (KJA) located in Siberia.
Air New Zealand is planning to launch direct flights from Auckland to Hobart (HBA) once the New Zealand government approved a trans-Tasman travel bubble.
Alaska is adding new seasonal, nonstop service from Anchorage to Minneapolis St. Paul. The flight will operate twice weekly on Saturday and Sunday from June 19 through August 15. Yes, this makes up to 8 flights a day from Minneapolis to Alaska this summer.
ANA is beginning B777 freighter service between Los Angeles and Tokyo/Narita.
Korean is beginning a trial with the IATA digital travel pass this May on KE11, its flight Seoul/Incheon to Los Angeles.
Qantas is returning its widebody A330 aircraft to domestic routes.
Ukraine International Airlines is resuming flights to four locations: Berlin, Vilnius, Barcelona, and Istanbul from Odesa (ODS).

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I ate a clock yesterday. It was very time consuming. Especially when I went back for seconds.