Author: Andrew Bashuk

October 30, 2020

Delta & Its Pilots Reach Deal to Avoid Furloughs In the Nick of Time

1 Delta Air Lines and its pilots came to a preliminary agreement late Thursday that would see the two sides avoid any furloughs until at least 2022. The agreement will still need to be approved by all of Delta pilots — nearly 13,000 — but that is expected to come through without issue.

The deal avoids furloughs which were going to begin this weekend — on November 1 — by reducing the minimum guaranteed hours for Delta’s pilots by 5%. Additionally, it gives partial pay of 30 hours a month to pilots who received furlough notices and won’t have to fly. Those who won’t be flying will also be provided a link to a website with a photo of a cockpit so they don’t feel too left out.

Nearly 2,000 of Delta’s pilots were facing furlough when October ended but will avoid that fate with this deal. The airline was able to avoid furloughs with the rest of its workforce thanks to pay reductions, the 18,000 staff who took buyouts, and the thousands more which accepted unpaid leave offers of varying lengths.

Mitsubishi Suspends the SpaceJet

2 The rumors that Mitsubishi would suspend development of the SpaceJet regional aircraft program have now proven to be true. The program will be almost entirely suspended through 2023, if not permanently.

Mitsubishi’s SpaceJet development efforts were long-delayed and seemingly unnecessary until the manufacturer decided to buy the remains of Bombardier’s CRJ program. Mitsubishi was then poised to be the only global competitor to Embraer in the small jet market, but it faced mounting costs and delays. Now, Mitsubishi has opted to simply save a billion dollars and put the program into hibernation. Instead, it will focus on growing the air conditioning, carbon neutrality, and cybersecurity businesses. (This may sound like a joke, but it’s not.)

Mitsubishi had already suspended the M100 which would have served regional airlines in the US, but now it’s taking that a step further. In unrelated news, Embraer threw a gigantic party.

Singapore Opens Borders to All Chinese and Australian Residents

3 Singapore is opening its borders to all visitors from China and Australia provided they test negative for the virus upon arrival to the island.

Singapore had previously opened its borders to visitors from Brunei, New Zealand, Vietnam, and most of Australia. Singapore had prevented those from Victoria from entry, but that restriction has been lifted. Victoria reopened on Wednesday after cases dropped all the way down to zero — the first time the state recorded no new cases in a day.

China’s infection rate is down to 0.00009 cases per 100,000 people, meeting the threshold for Singapore to open its borders to Chinese residents again. When asked when US residents would be allowed in, a Singapore representative just laughed maniacally at the notion.

Do You Believe in Miracles? SkyWest Reports Q3 Profit

4 Regional carrier SkyWest released its Q3 earnings report and was the rare airline to actually have earnings to report — not just losses for the quarter.

Granted, it helps that SkyWest doesn’t have to do any of the heavy lifting to turn a profit — you know like find customers or advertise — the mainline carriers do all that for the airline. But a profit is a profit, especially in 2020.

SkyWest made $34 million in Q3, down from $91 million in Q3 2019. Revenue was $457 million down from $760 million a year ago, with the airline flying 41% fewer hours than it did in 2019. Operating expenses were way down for SkyWest, at just $383 million compared to $614 million last year.

The airline also announced in its earning report that it has come to an agreement with American to place 20 used CRJ700s under contract to fly for the mainline carrier. It also secured agreements to acquire 21 used 50-seat CRJ700s and lease them to an unnamed regional carrier flying on behalf of United.

Kuwait Airways Takes Delivery of World’s First A330-800

5 Kuwait Airways took delivery on Thursday of the world’s first Airbus A330-800, one of only 14 of the aircraft on order.

The airline will receive two of the aircraft to start — the first of eight it’s expected to receive — making it the world’s largest operator of the A330-800 by a large margin. Kuwait Airways will operate the A330-800 with 32 seats in business class and 203 in economy.

Airbus has had varying levels of success with its two new variants of the A330. The A330-900 has been a hit with dozens of customers from all over the world ordering more than 300 aircraft. The A330-800 on the other hand has been greeted with a thud. The only other disclosed order for the -800 comes from Uganda Airlines which has 2 on the way. The other four are undisclosed, but it’s rumored that at least one was ordered by some kid named Jimmy who traded a Mickey Mantle rookie card for the airplane.

Airline Potpourri

airBaltic will move its operation from Berlin/Tegel to the new Berlin/Brandenburg for its service from Riga on November 8.
IAG posted a Q3 operating loss of €1.3 billion before special items.
KLM is placing 10 Boeing 737s in storage indefinitely. That must be one sturdy attic.
Myanmar Airways International added the first E190 to its fleet.
SKY Airlines is planning to issue $100 million in bonds and expects to go public in 2024. Mark your calendars.
United and Amtrak will end their partnership, further pushing the US behind the rest of the world in intermodal connectivity.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

Does anyone remember the levity I had recently about the chiropractor? It was about a weak back.

October 29, 2020

Spirit Loses Big in Q3 But Optimism Reigns for Q4

1 Spirit Airlines announced its most recent earnings late yesterday. The airline lost $99.1 million — or $215 million excluding special items — on revenues of $401.9 million between July and September.

Despite the weak performance in Q3, Spirit is downright excited for the holidays. It predicts revenues will be down “only” 43 to 45% in Q4 compared to nearly 60% in Q3. October is likely dragging that number down with a capacity cut of 36%. November and December capacity is now planned to only be down 20%.

On the cost side, expenses are expected to be roughly flat between Q3 and Q4 even though Spirit will have 10% more capacity flying in Q4. It is achieving that by charging a “no-furlough fee” to all employees. Total liquidity sits at $2.1 billion made up of cash, short term investments, and BuzzBallz.

United Tries to Open Borders With Free COVID Testing Program

2 United has announced it will be launching a free COVID testing program for those on “select” flights between Newark (EWR) and London/Heathrow (LHR) between November 11 and December 16.

Rapid tests will be administered with no charge to all passengers and crew over 2 years of age — though we assume there are very few crewmembers under 2… they’ve likely all been furloughed — on United flight 14 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during the testing period. When asked why it was limiting it to those specifically, United said there was nobody on the other flights anyway.

The point of the program is to try and nudge the authorities to open up borders and allow travel without quarantine. To that we say… best of luck. We mean it.

Silver’s Expansion Continues with Jacksonville

3 Silver has announced that its expansion streak continues with the return of service to Jacksonville, Florida. Flights will operate from both Fort Lauderdale and Tampa twice weekly.

Silver last served Jacksonville in 2018 with 1 to 2x daily Tampa flights. Those ended that November, and now Silver is back with a greatly reduced schedule that will appeal to only the most flexible leisure traveler/drug runner.

In the last couple of weeks, little Silver Airways has announced service from the South Carolina cities of Charleston and Columbia to Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and Tampa. It has taken delivery of several new ATR aircraft in its fleet and is looking for places to profitably deploy them. This may be as close as it gets for now.

Proletariat Revolution: United Coach Passengers Can Use First Class Lavs

4 United has told its flight crews that beginning November 1, passengers can temporarily use the lavatories in any class of service, not just their own, according to a memo obtained by Skift’s Brian Sumers.

This change allows coach passengers to slip past the curtain and see what First Class passengers have been experiencing. It also enable First Class passengers to feel better about themselves by seeing the horror endured back in the coach cabin.

The policy is meant to reduce lines for the lavs, therefore improving distancing onboard. The bad news: it is just temporary, presumably until enough First Class passengers complain and United gives in.

Hawaiian Will Keep Serving Moloka’i and Lana’i Because It Has No Choice

5 Hawaiian Airlines has reversed course on its previous plan to suspend flights Moloka’i and Lana’i at the end of this month. The reversal comes in advance of an expected requirement from the government that it continue flying.

Hawaiian has served both islands via its ‘Ohana by Hawaiian regional operated by Empire Airlines. A clause in the Hawaiian pilot contract required Hawaiian to end that service until pilots were recalled from furlough, additional mainline flights between the islands resumed, and an unlimited supply of POG juice was supplied to the cockpit on every flight.

Since both cities are Essential Air Service markets regulated by the federal government — even though Hawaiian receives no subsidy — the airline had to apply for an exemption to allow service to end early. It is believed that will not be granted, so Hawaiian has instead put forth a skeleton schedule in the markets until at least mid-January.

Airline Potpourri

Air Serbia will resume Moscow flights on November 9.
Airbus lost more than €2 billion in the first nine months of 2020.
Alliance Airlines in Australia has taken delivery of its first Embraer 190.
British Airways has finalized its November schedule which includes the return of Newark flights.
Condor will expand beyond German borders and base two airplanes in Zurich next summer to take vacationers on holiday.
Ryanair will suspend service to all Irish airport but Dublin for four weeks starting November 4 in protest of the Irish handling of the COVID outbreak.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

Two antennas got married last weekend. The ceremony was ok, but the reception was excellent.

October 28, 2020

Southwest Announces Schedule for O’Hare and Colorado Springs Flights

1 Southwest Airlines announced its schedule for both Chicago/O’Hare and Colorado Springs when the two airports join the airline’s route map in early 2021.

Southwest is the dominant carrier at Chicago/Midway and will be making its first foray into O’Hare when it begins service — on Valentine’s Day, naturally — February 14. From O’Hare, the LUV airline will serve five destinations:

Nashville (4x daily)
Baltimore (4x daily)
Denver (6x daily)
Dallas/Love Field (4x daily)
Phoenix (2x daily)

In addition to its O’Hare service, Southwest will also begin flying from Colorado Springs (COS) with 13 daily flights to five destinations on March 11. From Colorado Springs, Southwest will fly to:

Denver (4x daily)
Las Vegas (2x daily)
Phoenix (2x daily)
Dallas/Love Field (3x daily)
Chicago/Midway (2x daily)

In case you were wondering, that flight from Colorado Springs to Denver is a mere 73 miles which makes it a very atypical Southwest route. We’ll have more on this tomorrow on crankyflier.com.

Delta Manages to Decrease SkyMiles Value Even Further

2 You gotta give Delta credit — instead of trying to change the narrative that SkyMiles don’t have much value, it chooses to double down and prove that it’s true. Somehow Delta has found a way to further devalue SkyMiles, increasing the cost for long-haul awards both on its own and partner flights.

Delta, which was the first to remove its award chart for mileage redemptions, increased the minimum price for a one-way award to Europe by 40% in economy and 27% in Delta One. A one-way SkyMiles redemption to Europe now starts at 35,000 SkyMiles, an increase from the 25,000 it cost as recently as yesterday. Even worse is up front, where the entry level for Delta One across the pond is 95,000 SkyMiles, a significant increase from the previous 75,000.

Prices to Asia were raised similarly with a 23% increase in economy from 32,500 to 40,000. Delta One went from 85,000 to 102,500, a 21% increase.

The only real surprise here is that Delta didn’t do this sooner or devalue SkyMiles more. The day of a 200,000 price floor on a business class redemption to Europe isn’t that far away. SkyMiles have always had the least value of the legacy carriers in the United States and Delta manages to make them worth less and less every couple of years. It’s a good reminder that it’s never a good idea to horde any mileage currency, especially SkyMiles. They will only ever decrease in value as time goes by.

Allegiant Beats Q3 Earnings Expectations, Operation Turns Cash Positive

3 Allegiant Air announced its Q3 earnings late on Wednesday, posting a loss of $29 million for Q3, beating expectations thanks to a remarkable cash positive September — excluding a one-time $5 million charge — to close the quarter.

Allegiant posted $201 million in gross revenue, 54% less than Q3 a year ago, with operating expenses down 36% to $234 million. Moving forward, the airline expects to reduce its fourth quarter capacity by 15% from Q4 last year but will adjust as needed. Allegiant flew 6.5% less in Q3 2020 than 2019 and had a load factor of 57.4%, its highest since March. The airline is doing so well (relatively) that CEO Maury Gallagher said he was bored. To create a challenge, Maury will now dump all his effort into the Allegiant nonstop family fun centers which are unlikely to ever make money.

Allegiant ends the quarter with $709 million in cash. It has reduced its aircraft fleet down to 93 planes it expects to operate by the end of 2020. Allegiant moves into Q4 and then 2021 looking for new ways to drive revenue to make up for reduced capacity. It mentions in its report that it was intrigued by our idea of a charge to sit a non-smoking section from Monday’s Cranky Daily.

Paris/CDG is Europe’s Busiest Airport So Far in 2020

4 For the first time in its history, Paris/CDG has overtaken London/Heathrow as the busiest airport in Europe based on passenger count. With the caveat that nothing in 2020 is real – remember that Anchorage was the world’s busiest airport for a time this spring – it is a historic achievement for the Paris airport.

The 19.3 million passengers that have flown through CDG this year narrowly eclipsed Heathrow’s total of 19 million. 19.3 million represents a 67% drop for CDG which had seen 58 million passengers in the first nine months of 2019, while Heathrow’s number is a 69% drop from 61 million at this point last year.

Officials at Heathrow are currently projecting just 22.6 million travelers next year, less than 25% of the number of passengers who used the airport in 2019. The airport is currently losing £5m a day and is cutting 500 jobs through redundancy.

Despite the dramatically reduced passenger count and number of flights operating at the airport, Heathrow officials don’t want to deprive the passengers who do come through the airport the true Heathrow experience. Passengers can still expect for their aircraft to park at a bus gate a great length from the terminal, long lines at customs and immigration and an exhausting maze through duty free shops on the way to your gate.

United Attempts to Finish 787 Polaris Retrofit

5 United Airlines is currently using the downtime provided by the pandemic to catch up on the retrofitting of its B787 aircraft to include the most up-to-date Polaris offering in business class. United introduced Polaris as its business class of the future in the summer of 2016.

United’s current goal is to have the Polaris installations complete on its 787-8’s by next summer and on its 787-9 aircraft by Summer 2022. That puts it on track to finish installing Polaris in all of its aircraft just in-time for Polaris to be considered outdated and a new business class product to be announced.

United currently has 804 aircraft in its fleet, and of that figure, 190 are widebodies. The airline wants to concentrate on its widebodies that will remain in the fleet after the pandemic and ensure they are all retrofitted with Polaris. With the focus on the 12 787-8’s to be finished by summer 2021 and the 35 787-9’s by summer 2022, its fleet of 16 B767-400’s could be on the chopping block.

Airline Potpourri

American has issued a travel waiver for nine Gulf Coast cities due to Hurricane Zeta. It has also cancelled flights in and out of Gulfport, MS (GPT) for today, October 28, with the expectation that service will resume tomorrow.
El Al resumed nonstop service from Tel Aviv to Miami this week, operating once weekly through November 15 and then increasing to 3x-weekly.
Icelandair plans to take delivery of three 737 MAX aircraft in the first half of 2021.
Turkish plans to operate to at least 80 destinations from its Istanbul hub by this December.
South African will be receiving a $641 million bailout from the South African government.
Wizz Air is adding three new destinations from its base in Cluj-Napoca (CLJ) in Romania. Service to Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden (FKB) (3x-weekly), Hamburg (HAM) (2x-weekly), and Cologne (CGN) (2x-weekly) will begin in June.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I was going to make a Periodic Table joke today but then I realized all the good ones argon.

October 27, 2020

Oops, Our Bad: In Monday’s Cranky Daily, we reported that Ryanair would be flying a cargo route from China to Pakistan on behalf of the Daily’s official airline — Pakistan International Airlines. The article we used as a source was wrong — but it was close. It’s not Ryanair that’s doing the flying on behalf of PIA, it’s Pakistani-based Rayyan Air, which, as far as we know, has actual pilots flying its planes.

JetBlue’s Q3 Earnings Beat Expectations

1 JetBlue released its Q3 earnings report on Tuesday morning, reporting a net loss of $393 million for the three months ending September 30. That loss comes out to a $6.1 million cash burn per day, which is better than the airline’s target of $7-9 million per day.

Revenues on the quarter were $492 million, a drop of 76% from Q3 a year ago. JetBlue was able to drop its expenses 45% from 2019 down to “just” $1 billion, but nowhere even remotely near enough to break even or turn a profit for the quarter. JetBlue expects to reduce its expenses further in Q4 and is hoping for an average daily cash burn between $4 and 6 million.

The airline also disclosed in its earnings report that it is delaying delivery of seven A321LR jets that it plans to use for service to Europe. Despite the the deferrals, JetBlue is still taking delivery of three A321LRs next year with three more coming in 2022, enough to begin service from Boston & New York to London.

During the quarter, JetBlue repaid $95 million worth of debt and lease payments on aircraft and drew $114 million from the CARES Act loan fund. The airline ends the quarter with $3.1 billion in cash reserves, along with 4.2 million gallons of Dunkin Donuts coffee and 2.1 million Terra blue chips.

ANA Plans New Airline

2 ANA, the second largest carrier in Japan, is planning to launch a new airline — its third — in 2022. The airline to be named later will be based around the airline’s Air Japan charter service and will be a hybrid model, somewhere between ANA’s full-service offerings and its LCC subsidiary, Peach. Today’s Peach was a merger between Peach and Vanilla Air, back when ANA briefly thought fewer airlines was a good idea. Now it’s gone back to normal.

The new airline will fly an all Boeing 787 fleet with two classes, economy and a premium class, but it’s yet to be determined if it will be a business class product or premium economy.

The airline will focus on “Asian growth markets” where it will fly medium-length routes from Tokyo throughout Southeast Asia and Oceania. ANA wants to differentiate the product from its current offerings as well as those at Peach. Because of this, it’s expected that it’ll pick a new name that isn’t confusing for customers. Some names it is considering for the new airline are: Nectarine, Papaya, Apricot, and Not ANA.

Hawaiian Drops $97 Million in Q3 Earnings Report

3 Hawaiian Airlines also released its Q3 earnings report on Tuesday with the airline posting a loss of $97 million on gross revenue of $76 million.

The airline reduced its workforce by 2,400 employees during Q3, nearly 2,100 of which were voluntary departures. To increase its liquidity, Hawaiian raised $114 million through the sale and leaseback of two aircraft and accepted $45 million from the CARES Act.

Hawaiian is limiting capacity on its flights to 70% through December 15. With the state of Hawai’i launching its pre-travel testing program earlier this month, Hawaiian is hopeful that some tourism will return to the islands, helping push its numbers up from the bottom. Hawaiian expects to have about 30% of the capacity it had for Q4 a year ago.

The airline also reached an agreement with Boeing to delay the delivery of 10 787-9s on order, with the first coming in 2022.

Hawaiian ends the quarter with $979 million in cash on-hand. Hawaiian is using much its cash reserves to hedge on saliva futures. It’s hoping that all the pre-flight Covid tests it’s collecting in the coming months will turn into found money by the way of used spit. The airline declined to comment directly, but through a statement told us “It’s 2020, anything can happen.”

EasyJet Earns $400 Million Through Sale & Leaseback

4 EasyJet increased its liquidity by $400 million after completing a sale & leaseback on nine of its Airbus aircraft in two separate transactions.

It first sold five Airbus A320s for $191 million and will lease them back for an average of 117 months (just shy of 10 years) at a total lease price of just above $160 million. In a second transaction, easyJet flipped another four A320’s for $207.5 million, with an average lease length of 116 months and a total bill of $141 million.

The sale of the nine aircraft leaves easyJet with 44% of its fleet — 152 total planes — owned by the airline. It will continue to explore sale & leaseback options for its 152 remaining planes while simultaneously exploring new ways to drive revenue on its aircraft, including the possible sale of advertising in the cargo hold for any stowaways that might be on board.

Delta Flight Over Atlantic Canada Forced to Divert Due to Colorado Wildfires

5 Delta Flight 30 from Atlanta to London/Heathrow on October 22 was forced to divert to St. John’s Airport (YYT) after it reported smoke from Colorado’s wildfires entered both the cockpit and the passenger cabin.

Despite the fires coming from Colorado — more than 2,000 miles away — the Delta flight was not the only aircraft in the area to report smoke in the cabin to Canadian ATC. The smoke from the fires was stuck in the jet stream, rocketing towards the East Coast where they came into contact with the eastbound transatlantic flight.

The aircraft stayed on the ground for about three hours while it was checked for fire anywhere on board and then was cleared to continue on to London. While in Canada, passengers subsisted on Biscoff cookies from the flight crew and overwhelming politeness from the Canadian authorities that met the plane.

Airline Potpourri

airBaltic began its winter schedule this week, serving 40 destinations from its Riga hub.
Alliance Airlines first E190 aircraft has finished being painted in Costa Rica and is about to begin the multi-hop journey to its new home in Australia.
Emirates first A380, which entered service 12 years ago, took its final flight into retirement from Dubai to Tarbes (TDE) in France.
Finnair operated the world’s first ATR-72 for passenger service 31 years ago today.
Lufthansa has six Boeing 747-400 aircraft stuck at Twente Airport (ENS) in The Netherlands. The original plan was for the aircraft to be dismantled, but now that Lufthansa wants them back, the airport does not have the proper clearance for the heavy aircraft to depart. Airport authorities are working with the Dutch Aviation Authority to attempt to rectify the issue.
SkyWest COO Mike Thompson announced on Monday that he would be retiring after 20 years with the airline.
Vistara will begin 2x-weekly service between Delhi and Dhaka, Bangladesh (DAC) on November 5.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I’ve noticed that Lance is a pretty uncommon names these days. But back in medieval times, people sure were named Lance a lot.

October 26, 2020

DOT Approves Delta & WestJet JV — With a Catch

1 Two years after requesting government approval, the DOT finally said it will approve the partnership between Delta and WestJet on the condition that the two airlines divest themselves of eight slot pairs at New York/LaGuardia. WestJet will also be prohibited from including Swoop, its ULCC subsidiary, in the agreement.

Delta and WestJet combined to carry 28% of the 31.5 million who flew between the United States and Canada last year, second only to Air Canada who dominates with 44% of the market.

The DOT plans to auction off the eight slot pairs sometime in early 2021 to the highest bidder, airline or not. Rumors online say that the rats that live and run LaGuardia are exploring a consortium in order to purchase the slots in order to get out of the terminal and “finally get some fresh air.”

Lufthansa & Friends to Scale Back for Winter

2 Lufthansa is planning to reduce its operation for the winter, operating with just 80 aircraft flying 25% of its schedule in an effort to save costs.

The airline’s partners in Lufthansa Group will also operate reduced schedules with limited aircraft for the winter months as well. SWISS plans to operate only A220 and A320neo aircraft on shorter routes with its non-neo A320s parked through February. Austrian will only operate ERJ-190s on its regional flights while Eurowings will fly fewer than 30 of its fleet of 96 aircraft.

The reductions in service will see Lufthansa flying at levels it hasn’t seen since the 1970s. To commemorate the auspicious occasion, the airline plans to bring back Cold War era service options on its flight from Frankfurt and Munich.

Flights flying east out of Germany will receive Soviet-style catering, where everyone receives the same meal, whether in first, business or coach — borscht. Flights traveling west out of Germany will receive an American picnic menu, featuring hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, and Coca-Cola.

JSX Plans Texas Two-Step

3 JSX is moving into Southwest’s backyard, launching 2x-daily service between Dallas/Love Field and Houston/Hobby on November 20.

JSX will operate between the two Texas cities using 30-seat Embraer 145 aircraft with only a single seat on each side of the aisle in every row. The airline will operate from the private air terminals at both airports, offering passengers the ability to save time and bypass TSA checkpoints in the main terminal. It is hoping that this will somehow compensate for the fact that Southwest has much greater frequency and utility on this route for most travelers.

Previously JSX has offered seasonal, less than daily service from Love Field to both Las Vegas and golfing destination Pinehurst, NC. The airline is considering future expansion in the state from Love Field to possibly Austin or San Antonio.

Qatar, Eh: Air Canada Heads to Doha

4 Air Canada is launching 3x-weekly service in December from its Toronto/Pearson hub to Doha, flying the route on a Boeing 787-9 that features 30 seats in business class.

It’s an interesting move for Air Canada, with little connecting traffic from any Star Alliance partners in Doha, where the dominant carrier is Qatar Airways — a member of Oneworld. Qatar has shown interest in expanding into Canada, but the airline is only permitted four weekly flights to the country, and it uses its limited access to fly to Montréal, despite interest in also serving Toronto and Vancouver.

Though in different alliances, Air Canada and Qatar do have an interline agreement, allowing passengers to connect beyond Doha on Qatar after flying in on AC. Canadian citizens transiting Doha are expected to be offered special transit lanes that will allow them to adjust to the desert heat after arriving from Canada in winter. Cabanawear and iced coffee will be made available to all Canadians upon arrival, while any Qataris flying the opposite way will receive a hot coffee and parka upon arrival in Toronto.

Spirit, Ryanair Unite for Passenger Health

5 Spirit and Ryanair, two ULCC’s known for the penny-pinching ways have come together in an effort to support the well-being and health of its customers.

The two airlines are rolling out the first non-smoking section on an airplane in nearly three decades, in an effort to show that their focus goes beyond the bottom line and is more focused on passenger health.

For $99.99 per passenger on Spirit or €89.99 on Ryanair, passengers can assure a seat in the non-smoking section of the aircraft for the duration of their journey. The price is valid per passenger and per segment.

A Ryanair spokesman commented “We feel the price is more than fair. What we are offering is the peace-of-mind that a passenger will enjoy a smoke-free experience from takeoff to touchdown, and you can’t put a price on that. A family of four going on holiday can guarantee themselves to breathe smoke-free, COVID-free HEPA filtered air for just €360 per segment ($400 on our partner Spirit in the U.S.) and to us, that’s just priceless.”

Spirit Airlines had no further comment other than to say that today is a very, very slow news day, and they applaud the Cranky Daily for making this story up for fun, because there really isn’t anything else worth writing about. Happy Monday!

Airline Potpourri

Avianca‘s LifeMiles will allow any elite qualifying miles earned in Q4 of 2020 to roll over to 2021.
Japan Airlines posted a loss of $812 million in its Q3 earnings report.
Jazeera Airways is launching service to Muscat, Oman (MCT) from its Kuwait City base on November 2.
Ryanair will operate one of PIA’s Boeing 777’s to haul cargo between Urumqi, China (URC) and Pakistan. Ryanair plans to charge PIA an extra €99.99 per pilot per flight as a “licensed pilot fee.” PIA is looking for options to have the fee waived.
Saudia plans to resume service to 33 international destinations in November.
Swoop began operating from Toronto/Pearson on Sunday, with flights on its inaugural day to three destinations in Canada and Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I always hate when funerals start before noon. I’m not really a mourning person.

October 23, 2020

The Times They Could Possibly Probably Not But May Be a-Changin’: Southwest Considering A220

1 Like it or hate it, Southwest Airlines has valued consistency since it began operating in 1971 – holding firm to its open seating policy for almost 50 years and continuously operating just one aircraft type: the Boeing 737.

But all things must come to an end – at some point – and Southwest is using the pandemic to reevaluate its fleet and what its needs are. CEO Gary Kelly believes the airline needs a smaller airplane, one that seats approximately 140-150 passengers, and with a portion of its 737-700 fleet coming due for retirement soon, it is considering all options.

The airline is currently looking at both the Boeing 737 MAX 7 and the Airbus 220 as an option for the future. Deliveries on the new aircraft type wouldn’t begin until at least 2025, but Southwest feels that now is the perfect time to begin exploring an order for the future with Boeing and Airbus seeing a dip in sales due to the pandemic.

The airline is hopeful that the manufacturers see that it’s making its request very early, similar to its own EarlyBird, and that it is allowed to be at the beginning of the queue for the aircraft. A Southwest spokesman said Boeing and Airbus should consider splitting the suitors of the aircraft into three groups (they suggested A, B and C) and then number them within those groups based on when they check-in on interest for the planes. Neither Airbus or Boeing had any comment.

Canada to Implement Test-on-Arrival Program

2 Canada will begin a trial program of testing-on-arrival in lieu of the mandatory 14-day quarantine when entering the country on November 2. We assume it’s merely a coincidence that the date Canada plans to have the plan begin is the day before Election Day in the United States.

The trial program will be conducted in partnership with the government of Alberta and will be for arrivals into Calgary International Airport (YYC) and the Coutts Land Border Crossing in southern Alberta.

Visitors into Canada will be required to take a Covid test upon entering Canada and will be required to quarantine while awaiting the results of the test. Those who test negative will be allowed to immediately end their quarantine provided they are willing to:

Wear a mask
Not interact with any high-risk individuals
Take a second test on day six of their time in Canada
Agree to tip well at any Tim Horton’s visit during their time in Canada

Both WestJet and Air Canada managed to take time away from their twitter sparring over refunds to applaud the decision that they hope will kickstart travel to and from the country.

Qantas Looks to Korea, Taiwan to Restart International Travel

3 Qantas Chairman Richard Goyder said at the company’s annual general meeting today that the airline is considering new destinations that weren’t a part of its pre-pandemic network to restart international travel in 2021.

Qantas still does not plan to return flying to the United States or United Kingdom until late 2021 at the earliest. In order to jumpstart some international travel, it is looking at both South Korea and Taiwan as potential destinations, despite not serving either location prior to the pandemic.

Previously, the only direct flights from Australia to Taiwan were operated by China Airlines and EVA Air, both Taiwanese airlines. Korean airlines Korean Air and Asiana have handled almost all flying between Korea and Australia, with Qantas subsidiary Jetstar operating between Gold Coast and Seoul/Incheon in 2019.

This is exciting news for Korean and Taiwanese residents excited to put another shrimp on the barbie and Australians wanting to get jiggy Gangnam style.

India & Germany Restore Air Service

4 India and Germany had been at a stalemate over air service between the two countries, with Lufthansa and Air India having halted their flights. Thankfully for paneer-loving Germans and pretzel-loving Indians, both governments have come to an agreement allowing both airlines to resume service on October 26.

The standoff was caused due to a disparity of flights being operated by carriers from the two nations, with India frustrated that Lufthansa was operating 20 weekly flights between the two countries and Indian airlines were being restricted by the German government to just three or four weekly flights. India’s government suggested Lufthansa drop to just seven weekly flights to reduce the disparity, which Lufthansa quickly rejected, causing the Indian government to shut down the air travel corridor between both nations.

Since the shutdown, negotiations have resulted in a compromise with Lufthansa now operating 10 weekly flights and Air India increasing to seven, with the schedule loaded through March. We’re investigating reports of naan-wrapped-bratwurts being added to the on board menus for both carriers.

Delta Throws Shade at its Competitors Over Middle Seat Policies

5 It’s always entertaining when brands throw down with each other online, and Delta has taken to Twitter to call out its competitors and rivals for not blocking middle seats anymore. With Southwest’s announcement yesterday that it would no longer block the middle seat beginning December 1, Delta was left standing alone among the top-four carriers in the country maintaining its middle seat blocking.

American, United, JetBlue, Frontier, Allegiant, Spirit, and Sun Country have stopped – or announced a date to stop – blocking middle seats aboard their aircraft. The only two U.S. airlines left standing are Delta and its main competitor in Seattle, Alaska Airlines.

Airline Potpourri

Eastern Airlines has asked the DOT for permission to fly from Miami to both Buenos Aires and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, this winter.
FlySafair took delivery of a new B737-800, with a second due to arrive next week.
IAG & British Airways Cargo have restarted cargo service from London/Heathrow to Tokyo/Narita.
Pegasus Airlines secured a 12-year loan from the Turkish government.
PIA is looking for a $124 million sukuk — an Islamic bond — to improve its financial standing, and presumably to help pay its pilots. Actual licensed pilots cost significantly more than fake ones, causing a strain on the airline’s finances.
Qatar took delivery of three A350-1000, giving it 52 A350’s — the most in the world.
Rossiya has been sued for $1.1 million from a bankrupt lessor.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

Siri has been calling me Shirley all day. It turns out I left my phone in Airplane! mode.

October 22, 2020

Southwest’s Busy Day: Q3 Earnings Report, Two New Destinations, Middle Seats are Back

1 Southwest Airlines led off a busy Thursday by releasing its Q3 earnings, and they don’t LUV it. The airline reported a net loss of $1.2 billion for the three months ending September 30. The loss comes on operating revenues of $1.8 billion, a 68.2% drop from Q3 in 2019.

Load factors for Q3 peaked in September at 51.5%, but were still down nearly 40% for the entire quarter compared to last year. The airline wraps up the quarter with $10.9 billion in outstanding debt and liquidity of $15.6 billion.

Also in the earnings report, Southwest revealed it is returning to one previous destination and adding two new locations to its route map. The airline announced its intention to begin service in the first half of 2021 to both Savannah/Hilton Head (SAV) and Colorado Springs (COS), while resuming service to Jackson, MS (JAN).

Lastly, but most notable to passengers, the airline casually slipped in an update that it will be filling its airplanes to full capacity beginning December 1. Citing recent studies from Boeing and the federal government showing commercial aircraft to be as safe as can be during the pandemic, Southwest will no longer block middle seats starting with the holiday travel season. This is great news for anyone looking for extra incentive to skip out on that trip to the relatives; just send a link to Southwest’s press release and call it a day.

American’s Q3 Finances Aren’t AAmazing

2 American Airlines joined the earnings release party today, announcing its third quarter revenue reached $3.2 billion which seems like a good thing, until you see that that figure is down 73% from Q3 in 2019, and it comes on a net loss of $2.4 billion for the quarter.

In effort to bolster its liquidity, AA finalized a $5.5 billion loan from the CARES Act, and increased its loan capacity to $7.5 billion earlier this month. It reduced its daily cash burn to $44 million a day with an expectation to reduce it further to $25-30 million per day in Q4.

The airline also announced a cost-saving move to consolidate its fleet by retiring all 15 of its A330-200 aircraft, effective immediately. By immediately, we assume that any planes flying when the decision was made were permitted to safely land and deplane its passengers before retirement, but when it comes to AA and cost-cutting, one really never knows.

The decision comes about six months after AA revealed it would be retiring its fleet of nine A330-300’s, leaving the airline without any A330’s in service. The aircraft came to AA via its merger with US Airways which began operating the plane around 2000. The planes will be sent to the desert for the time being, but are available for purchase from the airline for interested buyers. A coupon for $99 off any aircraft purchase of $2 million or more can be found in the back of November’s American Way magazine.

Free Spirit: Spirit Unveils New Frequent Flier Program, Few Notice or Care

3 Spirit Airlines announced the details of its new Frequent Flier Program that will debut on January 21. The new Free Spirit will switch to a revenue-based model and come with surprisingly attainable status levels with actual benefits — a change from how the airline has operated previously.

Miles will become points — Status Qualifying Points (SQP) to be exact. Non-elite members will earn 6 SQP for every dollar spent on airfare and 12 SQP spent on what Spirit calls “extras,” but what most airlines consider basic inclusions in the fare. So bag fees, seat assignment fees and other Spirit “add-ons” will accumulate at double the rate of airfare.

Spirit Silver members, who accumulate 2,000 SQPs in a year will earn at a rate of 8x and 16x, respectively, while Gold members, the highest tier in the new program will earn at 10x and 20x. It takes 5,000 SQP annually to become a Gold member in addition to proof of membership in a Sadism club.

The benefits aren’t bad — Silver members can enjoy free seat selection at check-in, free same-day standby and more. Gold members can even carry on a free bag, receive a first checked bag for fee and nosh on a free snack and drink while on-board. It’s possible this is the first time the word “free” was written this many times in a paragraph about Spirit Airlines — 2020 really is the year where anything can happen.

Alaska’s Q3 Earnings Report Also Isn’t Great

4 Alaska Airlines also released its Q3 earnings report on Thursday and the airline showed a net loss of $431 million compared to $322 million income last year.

Alaska closed the quarter with $1.7 billion in debt, a number flat from where the carrier ended 2019. It’s debt-to-capitalization ratio is 59% including short-term borrowing due to the pandemic.

Alaska announced in its report that it would extend its blocking of middle seats through January 6, matching Delta in the regard. After Southwest’s announcement today that it will end middle seat blocking on December 1, Alaska and Delta will be the final two airlines continuing to block the middle.

Alaska closes the quarter with $3.8 billion in unrestricted cash, half of which is earmarked for deicing fluid during the winter for its expanded operation in Alaska.

Virgin Australia Announces Shady Travel Credit Scheme

5 Virgin Australia is rolling out its new travel credits, and has given them the clever name “Future Flight Credits.” These credits can be used to make a booking on the airline through June 2023. Some find it optimistic that the airline still plans to be around by then.

Customers who held bookings on Virgin Australia or Tigerair flights that were cancelled due to the pandemic will see their travel credits turned into Future Flight Credit. The credit can then be booked for travel booked on any Virgin Australia fight.

Well, any Virgin Australia flight besides one operated by Alliance Airlines, Singapore or Etihad. Also Virgin has limited seats available for use with Future Flight Credits on each flight, meaning there’s no guarantee a seat will be available on the flight you want using your credit. The credits are also available in any fare, except don’t even think about using them for full-fare business.

Other than that, these credits (AKA money you gave the airline for a flight that said airline previously cancelled) are available for any flight on the airline. Clear as mud, right? Good luck!

Airline Potpourri

Air Asia received a $72 million loan which will be enough to keep the airline operating for the foreseeable future.
Airlink has signed an interline agreement with Emirates.
ANA will allow its customers to redeem frequent flier miles on its budget-carrier, Peach.
Emirates will return to full inflight dining aboard its aircraft on November 1.
IAG released its Q3 earnings with total revenue declining 83% to just €1.2 billion compared to €7.3 billion a year ago. The group totaled a Q3 loss of €1.3 billion.
Silver, which announced expansion into Charleston, SC, last week is continuing its move into the state, adding service in Columbia (CAE). It will start with 2x-weekly service to three Florida destinations – Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa – with service beginning on November 22.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

In the word scent, is it the s or the c that’s silent?

October 21, 2020

Boeing Completes Aircraft Disinfectant Testing

1 Boeing announced the results from its testing of one of its aircraft to help grow consumer confidence to support the return of air travel demand. The company tested an unoccupied Boeing aircraft against a live virus called MS2. The MS2 virus — not to be confused with MS-13 or MS-DOS— has similar characteristics to SARS-CoV-2. The differences are that it’s harmless and it is more difficult to kill. In other words, it’s the Alitalia of viruses.

Boeing and its partners in the study from the University of Arizona placed the MS2 virus at high-frequency touch points throughout the cabin and technicians disinfected the cabin through two means: manual wiping and with an electrostatic sprayer, a device that applies a fine spray of an approved liquid disinfectant.

Each product showed different levels of disinfectant effectiveness, but the overall result was that each option used by the airlines was successful in killing the virus and removing it from the aircraft. No word on whether anyone will attempt to try this on Alitalia at a later date.

Hawaiian to Resume Flying to All Mainland Airports in December

2 Less than a week after the State of Hawai’i reopened to visitors, Hawaiian Airlines announced that it will return flying this December to the remaining three airports on the mainland to which it operated prior to the onset of the pandemic — but had yet to resume.

Hawaiian plans to reinstate service to its two destinations on the east coast in December, flying Honolulu to Boston twice weekly and New York/JFK thrice weekly. Hawaiian will also resume service to Long Beach (LGB) with once-daily service from Honolulu.

Outside of its Honolulu hub, Hawaiian will reinstate service from Lihu’e (LIH) to both Los Angeles and Oakland, along with Kahului, Maui (OGG) to both San Diego and San Francisco.

American Taketh Partner Seat Benefits and American Giveth Some Back

3 When American Airlines announced a series of positive changes for its own frequent fliers a couple weeks ago, one negative change for Oneworld elites was snuck into the bottom of the announcement. American said that effective October 1, oneworld elites would no longer receive complimentary access to Main Cabin Extra seating on AA operated flights. It has now backed off that plan.

The pushback within the alliance was enough to make AA reverse course — somewhat — on the decision, giving select partner elites access to Main Cabin Extra seating once again. Oneworld Emerald and Sapphire members who hold status with joint-venture partners British Airways, Iberia, Finnair, or Japan Airlines will receive the complimentary access and will be informed ahead of-time what passengers they can smugly look at as they walk past the elite members to the back of the plane.

All passengers on AA-operated flights, regardless of elite status, can expect to enjoy the same dread during mechanical delays, lack of information from gate staff, and sometimes on-time service.

Air Canada Offers Chance to Fly Amongst the Stars Like a Star

4 Air Canada’s all-business class charter jets — which usually operate under the Air Canada Jetz name — are going to be rotated into regular commercial service this holiday season due to the lack of charter business thanks to the pandemic.

The aircraft usually are chartered by professional sports teams and music groups on tour from city to city. But with the NBA and NHL having wrapped up their seasons for the time being and most sports being on hiatus or having travel reduced, the planes have been sitting around not flying.

Air Canada will enter the Jetz into service from Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, mostly on routes to the southern U.S. and Caribbean. The A319 aircraft feature 42-49 inches of pitch between the 58 seats on-board. There is one set of four seats that face each other with a table in the middle that is bookable for families who want to be able to look at each other the entire flight.

Flights aboard these exclusive aircraft are on-sale now for travel between December 12 and January 6. A second wave of flights around Spring Break is currently in the plans for Air Canada as well. Despite the nature of the aircraft’s normal clientele, it’s important for passengers to know that booking a trip on these aircraft does not include groupies or thousands of Instagram followers.

Alaska Eases Travel Restrictions

5 While Hawai’i got much of the publicity for reducing restrictions for travel, its non-mainland cousin, Alaska, has also made travel a bit easier both in and out of the 49th state.

Just as Hawai’i did, Alaska made its revisions effective October 15, and they include:

Reducing the quarantine requirement for people visiting the state with a negative test to five days. This differs from Hawai’i, which has eliminated the quarantine requirement for anyone who can show a state-approved negative test within 72 hours of travel.

Visitors to Alaska no longer have to take a second test at the end of their quarantine period.

Alaskans can travel out of state for up to 72 hours with the requirement of a virus test upon return to the state. (Previously it had been a 24-hour maximum to leave without a test upon return).

Any travel for “critical infrastructure,” which is defined rather loosely can follow their employer’s plan for testing and quarantine rather than those of the state.

These relaxed rules have been put in place just in-time for the arrival of winter when tourism drops to Alaska. They’ll allow the state to gauge the results of the new rules while not being inundated with tourists in the cold, dark winter months. At the end of the winter, the state will meet with its advisory board which includes seven non-political appointees, three caribou, and a moose to decide how to proceed for the spring and summer.

Airline Potpourri

Alaska will codeshare with American, placing its AS code on AA’s Seattle-London/Heathrow flight when it begins on March 27.
Arkia Israeli Airlines will begin daily service to Dubai on January 3.
Cathay Pacific has pushed its 777-9 deliveries back to at least 2025.
China Southern plans to raise $2.37 billion to take delivery of nine A321neo and two A319neo.
Eastern Airlines — the one basing itself in New York these days — has acquired three used Boeing 777s. Despite being used, the airline confirms that all three have that “new airplane smell.”
Japan Air Commuter and Hokkaido Air System have joined oneworld as JAL affiliates.
Virgin Atlantic is delaying the resumption of its planned daily service to both Atlanta and Johannesburg from Heathrow to November 16.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I’ve got a deep fear of speed bumps. I’m slowly getting over it.

October 20, 2020

Heathrow to Begin One-Hour Virus Testing

1 London/Heathrow Airport will begin to offer a rapid virus test to passengers flying through the airport with results available within an hour to those who say “pretty please.”

Testing will cost £80 (~$100), and the first airlines to participate are British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Cathay Pacific from their locations in Terminals 2 and 5. The testing program will last for four weeks, and appointments are required ahead of time.

This effort has the support of UK Transport minister Grant Shapps and the UK government, but it does not yet allow travelers to avoid the mandatory 14-day quarantine so it’s pretty useless. Shapps is currently working on a plan to bring the quarantine required upon entry to the UK from 14 days to just seven as part of a “test and release” program, but many in the UK aviation sector — and pretty much everyone else on Earth — believe that a 7 day quarantine is still too long.

The UK government has set December 1 as its deadline for a long-term plan with regards to testing and quarantines and — citing Brexit precedent — is expected to make no decisions when that deadline comes except to extend the deadline further.

Cathay Pacific to Eliminate 6,000 Jobs and its Dragon Brand

2 Cathay Pacific plans to announce the elimination of about 6,000 jobs worldwide and its Cathay Dragon brand on Wednesday.

The airline was previously expecting to layoff as many as 8,000 of its staff, but it was able to reduce the number by a quarter down to 6,000. Of those losing their job, nearly 5,000 of the employees are based in Hong Kong, with the rest being employees from around the world. The airline plans to operate at approximately half capacity through the end of 2021, compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Cathay Pacific suffered a $1.27 billion loss in the first six months of the year. As a part of the cutbacks, the Cathay Dragon brand and its 3,000 employees will be eliminated, with the staff and resources of the two airlines being merged. The airline plans to keep as many Dragon pilots as it can, most of whom were trained locally in Hong Kong.

Etihad Operates First Passenger Flight from UAE to Israel

3 Etihad Flight 9607 landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport from Abu Dhabi on Monday morning, marking the first commercial flight between the two nations. It also makes Etihad the first Gulf airline to operate a passenger flight to Israel.

The UAE and Israeli governments are expected to sign an agreement today to allow up to 28-weekly flights between the two countries that would begin in the coming weeks. Israel also signed an agreement on Sunday with Bahrain to establish formal relations between the two countries. Gulf Air, the flag carrier of Bahrain has expressed interest in service to Tel Aviv but has not yet made a formal announcement.

After the flight landed in Tel Aviv, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner returned to Abu Dhabi with an Israeli travel and tourism delegation on board. The delegation was en route to the UAE for a two-day trip to spread potato latke recipes and offer dreidels to UAE citizens in-time for Hanukkah.

Singapore to Resume World’s Longest Flight

4 Singapore Airlines plans to resume flying from Singapore to New York on November 9 – restarting the world’s longest nonstop flight. However, when the flight resumes next month, it will operate to New York’s JFK airport instead of Newark, where Singapore had been operating since 2018. Those three extra miles make this the new world’s longest. Take that, New Jersey.

In addition to swapping airports, Singapore is swapping aircraft on the route. Singapore wll operate a 253-seat Airbus A350-900 on the route instead of the previous 161-seat A350-900 ULR. The Newark aircraft had just 67 seats in business and 94 in premium economy, but this will now have 42 in business, 24 in premium economy, and 187 in old-fashioned economy. While the aircraft will not be equipped with Singapore’s first class Singapore Suites product, all those who take the flight in economy will receive a 10% off coupon to see a chiropractor upon arrival in New York.

The airline is moving to JFK in order to “better accommodate a mix of passenger and cargo traffic,” which is code for “anything is better than Newark…even JFK.”

Finnair Cuts 700 Jobs

5 Finnair has completed its internal review process that began in September, and it has resulted in the elimination of about 700 jobs. The redundancies will be completed by March but will not include flight attendants or pilots.

Of those losing their job, 600 of the 700 will be located in Finland with another 100 at Finnair posts worldwide. The 700 jobs represent about 12% of the airline’s total workforce.

The airline was able to save between 150 and 300 jobs, as up to 1,000 employees were initially targeted for layoffs. The airline is also continuing its program of temporary layoffs for most of its employees in Finland.

The temporary job losses are to continue indefinitely until demand returns. Those employees temporarily laid off receive a portion of their salaries from the government, with the amount based on how many years they’ve been with the company.

Airline Potpourri

Air New Zealand will resume a second weekly flight between Norfolk Island (NLK) and Sydney beginning November 9.
Enter Air has based a B737-800 at Basel (BSL).
JetBlue unveiled its first A220 this week as it prepares to enter the aircraft into its fleet in early 2021.
Virgin Atlantic is adding service to both Mumbai (BOM) and Delhi (DEL) from Manchester. Mumbai flights will be 3x-weekly, beginning December 19, while Delhi will be 2x-weekly, beginning January 5.
Wizz Air Abu Dhabi has received its Air Operator’s Certificate from the UAE.
ZIPAIR will begin passenger flights from Tokyo/Narita to Bangkok in November.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I saw a ham sandwich walk into a bar and order a beer. The bartender kicked him out, “we don’t serve food here,” he said.

October 19, 2020

American Plans to Resume 737 MAX Flights in December

1 American Airlines intends to put its 737 MAX aircraft back into service this December, the first time the aircraft will fly passengers since its grounding in March of 2019. American will fly the 737 MAX between New York/LaGuardia and Miami once-daily between December 29 and January 4, with the possibility of extending the schedule as the dates approach.

When asked why it chose that Florida route to start, someone who is definitely not an American spokesperson said, “those people are all super old anyway, so if something goes wrong… no big deal.” If all goes well, West Palm Beach and Sarasota will obviously be next.

The airline removed more than 1,900 flights scheduled to operate with the MAX between December and March, and put those flights on different aircraft types due to uncertainty over the approval process. It will fill that back in when dates are more certain on the aircraft’s return.

The FAA is working through its process to certify the 737 MAX to fly again, but is moving more cautiously than European regulators who are expected to approve the plane to return to passenger service shortly.

Flybe Plans to Return in 2021

2 Flybe is planning to resume operating in 2021 after its administrators reached an agreement with investors and creditors to restart the bankrupt airline. Flybe had been sold to Thyme Opco, a Cyrus Capital affiliate, in an attempt by Virgin Atlantic to rescue the airline.

Flybe collapsed this spring, just as the pandemic began to unfold. Any movement towards reviving the airline was stopped before it started due to the lockdown in the UK. Early in the administration process, Loganair took control of 16 of Flybe’s routes and the UK government revoked its operating and route licenses.

The sale to Thyme Opco is an example of someone buying low — as low as can be — as it plans to restart the airline on a smaller scale with a regional focus. Flybe originally planned to operate to 24 regional airports in summer 2020. It now expects to operate on a scale of roughly half that when it returns to the sky in 2021, before ultimately going bankrupt and shutting down again.

Raleigh/Durham Airport Announces Incentive Program

3 Raleigh/Durham Airport is rolling out two incentive programs designed to lure new airlines and new routes to the airport along with reinstating previously shuttered routes that no longer operate.

The airport is offering a 12-month waiver of landing fees for airlines that launch new service or reinstate a previous route back to the airport. The program caps the savings a $1 million for new service and $700,000 for a returned route.

Now we know why JetBlue announced all those new routes from the airport. It was the first to accept the offer, inaugurating service between RDU and Cancun on November 19, the first day the landing fee waiver goes into effect.

The airport settled on the landing fee waiver after considering several other incentives. RDU had offered airlines one BOGO coupon (up to $5 value) at both Auntie Anne’s locations at the airport for every new route inaugurated during November in December, but balked when Auntie Anne’s wanted to charge the airport $3 for each coupon. Other options considered were 50% off economy parking for airline officials and a free 30-day trial of Clear (valid at RDU location only).

TSA Screenings Exceed One Million

4 For the first time since March 17, more than one million passengers were screened through TSA checkpoints on Sunday, with a total of 1.03 million marking the highest figure in more than seven months.

Screening numbers have been steadily increasing since bottoming out at just 87,534 travelers on April 14. The current figure represents about 40% of the total number screened on the matching Sunday from 2019, showing that we still have a long way to go before matching pre-pandemic numbers.

In addition to passing the one million threshold on Sunday, the TSA totaled 6.2 million screenings last week from Monday-Sunday, the highest one week total since the beginning of the pandemic.

EGO Airways Prepares to Launch Service

5 EGO Airways, the airline that always feels good about itself, is preparing to launch from its Milan/Malpensa base and has announced its plans for summer 2021.

The airline plans to serve cities throughout Italy along with neighboring Slovenia with its fleet of Embraer 190 and Embraer 195 aircraft, codesharing with other airlines to offer connections at Malpensa. It will launch with flights to eight destinations from MXP:

Florence/Peretola (FLR)
Forli (FRL)
Ljubljana (LJU)
Pescara (PSR)
Pisa (PSA)
Venice (VCE)
Verona (VRN)
Super Happy Magical Profitable Airport (LIE)

It’s that last one that’s expected to be the primary driver of profits.

EGO will ultimately have three focus cities beyond Milan: Florence, Forli, and Parma (PMF). In keeping with its name, flights for the airline will launch with a mirror at every seat and selfie stations located in all gate areas.

Airline Potpourri

Afriqiyah has resumed daily service between Tripoli (TIP) and Benghazi (BEN). The US Congress has immediately launched an investigation.
Air Asia X is out of money and needs to raise $120 million to restart operations.
Air Canada CEO Calin Rovinescu announced his retirement, effective February 15. Deputy CEO and CFO Michael Rousseau will follow him in the CEO role.
Allied Air took delivery of a B737-800SF Freighter.
British Airways is moving its flights to the Maldives (MLE) and Barbados (BGI) from Gatwick to Heathrow.
Caribbean Airlines is launching its first flight from Guyana to New York/JFK today, October 19.
Eastar Jet is eliminating 605 jobs in an effort to be more attractive to potential investors. The decision comes after the airline was unable to successfully complete the Weight Watchers program for airlines.
Jet Airways creditors have accepted a bid to revive the airline from Indian entrepreneur Murari Lal Jalan and asset management firm Kalrock.
Qantas has requested permission to operate a cargo-only operation between Australia and South Korea.
Qatar does not expect to operate its A380 fleet for at least two years.
Smartlynx Airlines has converted two A321 aircraft into freighters.
Uganda Airlines unveiled its first A330neo that will enter operation by the end of 2020.
Volaris Costa Rica will restart operations on November 23.

Andrew’s Moment of Levity

I really wanted to go to the grand opening of the new LEGO store in town this past weekend, but never made it. I couldn’t believe that people were lined up for blocks.