Author: Brett Snyder

American Moves Customer Roles Away From Chief Customer Officer

In the airline’s latest restructuring, American has decided to shift several key customer roles away from Alison Taylor — the airline’s Chief Customer Officer — and into Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja’s team.

Most notably, the airline’s AAdvantage loyalty program will now report to American’s VP of Revenue Management, Scott Chandler. This makes official what everyone has known for years — AAdvantage is not about customer loyalty. It’s about revenue generation.

Marketing will now report into the Communications team, and the Customer Experience group will also no longer fall under the Chief Customer Officer.

When asked about the rationale for these moves, American said it didn’t have any. Instead, it just told everyone to pick any desk in the new mammoth headquarters building and then randomly picked which floor would report to which executive.

Canada Jetlines Set to Fly

The long-planned Canadian ultra-low-cost carrier Canada Jetlines has officially received its air operating certificate (AOC) from the Canadian government, clearing its path to begin flying by the end of this month.

The launch of Jetlines has been in the works for nearly a decade, but with the final hurdle cleared it can officially begin service on August 29. The airline will begin flying its lone Airbus A320 from its Toronto/Pearson base to the bustling metropolises of Moncton and Winnipeg.

Jetlines joins an increasingly crowded Canadian low cost market which includes Flair, Lynx, OWG, and a handful of loosely-affiliated bush pilots who will take you anywhere you want to go for a couple of Loonies.

Qantas Says Acquistion of Alliance Doesn’t Hurt Competition

Shortly after the ACCC, Australian’s competition review committee, gave its preliminary assessment that Qantas’s acquisition of Alliance would hurt competition, Qantas came out with the shock release saying that… it definitely would not hurt competition at all.

According to Qantas, in the three years it has owned a minority stake in Alliance, the government has found nothing to suggest competition has been reduced. Besides, when it acquired that stake, it said it wanted to eventually fully acquire the airline. It seems Qantas has opted for the Chewbacca Defense to simply try to confuse the regulators into giving approval.

Alliance is currently the largest provider of charter services in Australia with 30% of the market. That is followed by Qantas at 23%, Virgin Australia at 22%, and a very enterprising young koala at 3%.

• Air France will stop transporting research monkeys… taking away one of the last options for monkeys wanting to vacation in Paris.
• Air Niugini is finally getting around to replacing its old Fokkers.
• Allegiant did some refinancing.
• Arajet will start flying in September.
• Brazil will no longer require masks on airplanes.
• easyJet is adding 12 new destinations from Lisbon thanks to a gift from the European Commission.
• Emirates can’t get its money out of Nigeria, so it’s leaving.
• Qantas is flying to Tonga.

I asked a flight attendant to change my seat because of a crying baby next to me.

It turns out you can’t do that if the baby is yours.

United Gets Ready to Order Widebodies

Reports suggest that United Airlines is working toward a widebody order sometime around the end of the year. Both Airbus and Boeing are in the running to replace United’s oldest B767-300ER and B777-200 aircraft.

Some of United’s B767s were built more than 30 years ago and will eventually need to be replaced. Airlines have struggled with how to replace these airplanes. American opted for more B787-8 aircraft while Delta has chosen to just keep making them look new on the inside so people don’t realize how ancient they actually are.

United’s current widebody fleet is exclusively Boeing with all growth coming from the B787 Dreamliner, but the airline does have a long-delayed order for 45 Airbus A350s on the books. This could be an opportunity to rework that order into something that may be more useful for the airline.

Air Canada Wants You to Know Its Operation Is Less Bad Than It Was

Following on the heels of Spirit’s solid operational report yesterday, Air Canada put out a report of its own, giving a slightly less rosy — and quite twisted — view of the airline’s performance.

Trying to make the best of a bad situation, Air Canada awkwardly compared its performance the week of August 8 vs the week of June 27, as if one week is enough to give a proper evaluation. Still, the news was positive. Delays dropped by nearly half with cancellations being cut by three-quarters. Further, baggage mishandling rates — which had been elevated to 2.5x 2019 levels — have returned to 2019 levels.

Air Canada doesn’t provide actual numbers because it knows that will look bad, but Anuvu data shows that for the week, Air Canada still canceled 3.5% of flights and saw just under one half of flights that did operate arrive within 14 minutes of schedule.

After seeing these numbers, Spirit took back its apology from yesterday and told late night talk shows that it was officially handing over the title of “whipping boy” to Air Canada.

Qantas May Face Trouble In Acquisition of Alliance

The ACCC, Australian’s competition review committee, has laid out its preliminary concerns in Qantas’s proposed acquisition of Alliance.

Queensland and Western Australia were the focus of the ACCC’s issues, with a real concern about regional and “fly-in fly-out” markets to remote locations with few options. Specifically called out by the ACCC would be the elimination of competition entirely on the Brisbane – Moranbah route. Moranbah, as we understand it, is an actual place where at least some people want to fly.

The ACCC’s final decision is due on November 17, so if you want to tell them about the importance of Moranbah in your life, now is your chance.

• Air Astana has a growth plan.
• Alaska has expanded Horizon’s “bring a case of wine home for free” program to more airports and on Alaska mainline as well.
• Condor firmed up leases for 19 Airbus neos.
• JetBlue is out $3.6 million because it wouldn’t let flight crews take breaks per California law.
• airberlin Norse Atlantic will make Fort Lauderdale its third US destination from Berlin.
• United will add premium economy to more of its 767s.
• WestJet will start flying from Winnipeg to Los Angeles, obviously for the crushing level of demand from Angelenos wanting to visit Manitoba.

I asked a train engineer how many times his train had derailed. He said, “I’m not sure, it’s hard to keep track.”

Oops, Our Bad: The data we presented for NYC airport performance on August 15 from Anuvu was actually far better than we printed. (It was entirely our fault, sorry about that.) The airports actually all saw fewer than 1% of flights canceled with on-time arrivals all above 70%.

American Adding Seats to Regional Jets

American Airlines will be adding 4 seats to its 76-seat CRJ-900 fleet operated by wholly-owned regional airline PSA. The addition of seats will help American in two ways: 1) It will allow the airline to fly more regional passengers during a time when it struggles to find pilots to fly the airplanes and 2) It will ensure that regional passengers are equally uncomfortable as mainline passengers by having their legroom reduced to fit the new seats.

While most US airlines are limited to having their regionals operate no more than 76 seats per aircraft according to their pilots’ scope clause, American does have an exemption for some regional aircraft that used to operate for US Airways in a 79 or 80-seat configuration. The clause allows for those airplanes or their replacements to have that higher density configuration, and all of those PSA aircraft qualify as replacements.

Thirty eight of the airplanes will have 80 seats sold while the other 35 will only be able to sell 79, having one of the new seats blocked. This will match the configuration that Mesa already has on some of its airplanes flying for American in Dallas/Fort Worth and Phoenix.

Spirit Wants You to Know It’s Having a Great Summer

In a summer where airlines have nearly all struggled to run their operations as planned, Spirit has proven to be an outlier and wants you to know it.

In a release today, Spirit laid out its victories.

• Canceled 0.8% of flights
• Ran 25 days in July without a single cancellation
• Had 77.5% of flights arrive within 15 minutes of schedule, in 4th place in the US
• Punched only 14 babies the entire summer, a new record low for the airline

Spirit quickly apologized for running such a solid operation and said it will do better to provide more fodder for late night talk show hosts right away.

More Details on the Emirates Cabin Upgrade

Previously announced plans to install a premium economy cabin on much of the Emirates fleet has provided the airline with an opportunity to roll out a complete cabin refresh. More details of what is to come have now been provided.

Sixty-seven of the airline’s A380s will get premium economy with the airline’s new First Class and an updated business class. Those will be followed by 53 B777s which may or may not finally get rid of middle seats and angled beds in business class.

It is believed the retrofit project will be completed before Emirates retires the airplanes and buys new ones.

• British Airways will restore wages to pre-COVID levels.
• Edelweiss is expanding by taking over a fifth hair-dryer-powered A340-300 from SWISS.
• Gulf Air will fly to Ras Al Kaimah.
• Jetstar in Singapore has gone live with its partnership with IndiGo in India.
• JSX is going long-haul from Dallas/Love to Orange County.
• KLM has a new agreement with its pilots.
• Seaborne Airlines is losing its exclusivity on the St Thomas – St Croix seaplane route.

What does Canada produce that no other country in the world produces?

Canadians.

American Puts Real Money Behind a Not Real Airplane

American announced today that it has signed a deal to purchase 20 Boom Overture supersonic aircraft with an option for an additional 40.

The Overture is an airplane awaiting an actual engine which will in theory propel it to Mach 1.7, reducing the time needed to get from Los Angeles to Honolulu from 5.5 hours to 3. (Yes, this is an actual example given by American that it thinks people might actually care about.) Even though it has not been built yet, Boom optimistically expects entry into service by 2029.

American says it paid a “non-refundable deposit” on the first 20 aircraft, which we assume it has already planned to write off on this year’s books as a loss.

Staffing Issues Make New York Flight Delays Even Worse

Shortly after telling Delta that air traffic control delays were not enough of a reason to grant a slot waiver in New York, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) yesterday said delays could reach 2 hours due to a staffing shortage.

The delays were announced yesterday for Newark and JFK with LaGuardia being hit hardest with a temporary ground stop. Anuvu data shows about 8% less than 1% of flights were canceled at each of the three NYC aiaports. The airports all saw on-time rates in the 70-76% range, or as we’d call it… a pretty good Monday in New York.

The dire warnings were lifted when additional staffing was found. So if you’re a pilot wondering why you were talking to a custodian on the radio yesterday, now you know.

Heathrow Continues to Fail to Be a Functioning Airport

London/Heathrow announced it is still unable to get a handle on its operational woes, so it has extended a cap on operations through the end of the summer season on October 29. The cap, which is set at 100,000 passengers per day, was originally expected to end on September 11.

The airport says “the cap has resulted in fewer last-minute cancellations, better punctuality and shorter waits for bags.” While this may sound like some sort of crowning achievement, that is exactly what has to happen when there are fewer airplanes and passengers. No gold star for you, Heathrow.

Heathrow did leave a glimmer of hope by saying that the cap “will be kept under regular review and could be lifted earlier should there be a sustained picture of better resilience and a material increase in resourcing levels.” It blamed the airline ground handlers as a particular bottleneck, along with Prince Charles and the staff who serve tea to everyone at the airport each afternoon.

• Delta will resume flying to Tokyo from both Honolulu and Los Angeles this Fall.
• Emirates and Aegean are now codeshare partners and best friends.
• Frontier is ready to grow.
• IAG has excercised its option to turn a 100 million euro loan to Air Europa into a 20% equity stake.
• Samoa Airways has finally gotten rid of the one 737 it had — but never flew — by paying $4.6 million.
• Tailwind will begin flights from its East River floatplane based in Manhattan to College Park (MD) which is almost Washington, DC… but not quite.

Why did the librarian get thrown off the plane?

Because the flight was overbooked

Delta Gets Permission to Not Fly

Delta, in response to its poor operations this summer, requested the FAA grant a waiver from slot usage rules at New York’s JFK and LaGuardia as well as at Washington/National. The FAA issued its decision on Friday, saying that it would grant the request with limits.

Rules say airlines need to utilize their slots 80% of the time at those airports or risk losing them going forward. Delta was unable to meet that benchmark, so it asked for relief for a variety of reasons. In the end, the FAA agreed that COVID was still causing problems for the airline, so it allowed the waiver for flights through September 5 at both New York airports and on flights from Washington/National to those two airports.

When asked for comment, every low-cost operator and new entrant started to scream with frustration in unison, saying they have airplanes and crews and would gladly meet the utilization rules if given the opportunity.

Spirited Passenger Creates Panic in Las Vegas

A loud noise caused by an “unruly subject” at the Las Vegas Airport Sunday created mass panic and heavy flight delays that were expected to last into Monday.

An apparently-disgruntled passenger on Sunday made a loud booming noise that some passengers misinterpreted to be an active shooter. The chaos that followed saw travelers surge through security checkpoints without being screened as they tried to seek shelter. There was no actual threat, but the aftermath of the incident required mass re-screening.

It’s unclear which airline the passenger was flying, but we think it’s safe to assume it was Spirit.

Malaysia Airlines Picks Its New Fleet

Malaysia Airlines has made a decision on its future fleet. The airline will order 20 A330-900neos with 10 being an outright purchase and another 10 coming on lease.

These 20 airplanes will replace 21 smaller A330-200/300s along with a few 747s, 707s, Comets, and Boeing 314s it found lying around the Kuala Lumpur airport that it didn’t realize it still owned. These will operate on medium-haul routes to Australia/New Zealand, Asia, and the Middle East. The airline’s 6 A350-900s will continue to ply longer routes.

The airline says these aircraft will be configured in a “premium” configuration with 300 seats in two classes. We believe this premium layout will include 20 flat beds in the first two-thirds of the airplane with the remaining 280 people stacked on top of each other in the back.

• AirAsia and Malaysia Airports have decided to end their many feuds.
• Delta had an internal brawl when one of its 757s sliced through a regional jet’s tail in Boston. It’s believed the regional said something about how the Red Sox suck and the Boston-based crew disagreed.
• Emirates will return the A380 to Perth from December.
• London/Heathrow is looking for airlines to fly to Aberdeen, Cairo, Edinburgh, Nice, and Riyadh next summer.
• SAS scored $700 million in debtor-in-possession financing as it navigates through the bankruptcy process.

My friend asked me, “what’s the best part about living in Switzerland?” I said “I don’t know, but the flag is a big plus.”

Since Christmas is on Saturday and not a weekday this year, we’re going to take tomorrow off along with most of the rest of the world. We’ll be back Monday full of jokes and cookies.

FAA to Allow United 777s to Return to Service Soon

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued three airworthiness directives (ADs) that, once complied with, will allow Pratt & Whitney-powered 777s to return to service. The aircraft were grounded after an uncontained engine failure due to metal fatigue caused a United 777 to return to Denver in February 2021.

The ADs would require airlines to make some modifications to strengthen engine cowlings and complete extra inspections on fan blades and other components. Depending upon the results of those inspections, corrective action may be required.

United is the only scheduled US airline that operates Pratt-powered 777s. It is the largest operator in the world with 52. Other airlines, including ANA, Asiana, Korean, and Japan Airlines, are also impacted. Japan Airlines has already announced plans to retire the aircraft. After hearing that, American immediately called the airline to indicate it would be happy to take any widebody capable of flying off the airline’s hands. I mean, ANY widebody.

Embraer’s Eve Sells 500 eVTOLs to Three Airlines

Embraer’s Eve Air Mobility electric aircraft unit has signed letters of intent (LOI) with three airlines to purchase a total of 500 electric-powered vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Eve becomes the 3,859,203rd company trying to make eVTOLs a thing.

SkyWest will take 100 of the aircraft, Republic will take 200, and lessor Azorra will also take 200, assuming the contraption gets built and functions as planned. Of the three, SkyWest’s announcement is the only one saying that it has signed a non-binding LOI. We assume without any further knowledge that means the others are binding, probably because by signing a binding agreement, the companies could get a 5% coupon off their next Embraer 175 purchase.

SkyWest says it will deploy the aircraft around the US while Republic says it will focus on Boston, New York, and Washington to start, eventually expanding through the central and eastern US. This all remains theoretical in our minds until we see them in service.

Qantas Still Has Eyes on Chicago, Seattle

With Australian borders opening soon, Qantas CEO Alan Joyce expects to put forward big expansion plans to pick up where it left off before the pandemic began.

Chicago — which was supposed to get a nonstop from Brisbane in April 2020 until COVID had other plans — is “still a huge opportunity,” said Joyce. He also indicated Seattle could be in the mix now that long-time partner Alaska has joined oneworld as a full partner. Kickapoo, Illinois, is also on the list, but that’s only because Joyce accidentally mistook the name for an Australian city to which Rex flew.

Qantas has begun flying to new cities Delhi and Rome, and it seems happy with early results — though for Rome, those results are VERY early since it was just announced.

• Breeze is trying hard to keep enough pilots on property, so it is now looking for Aussies to come and fly exciting routes like Norfolk to Columbus. Who could turn that down?
• Cathay Pacific is being hampered by Hong Kong COVID policies. It will only be able to muster 2x weekly to Sydney and nothing else in Australia in the new year.
• Etihad continues to consider a flip-flop that would see the A380s return to service.
• Garuda Indonesia will fly internationally only to Sydney, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, and a Chinese city TBD in 2022 as it tries to avoid bankruptcy.
• Irkut has taken passengers on a test flight of the MC-21 narrowbody. If you’re excited about this airplane, you can fly to Russia starting next September, but it won’t be flown many places outside the country.
• JetBlue has joined Delta in asking for a shorter isolation period for vaccinated people who test positive for COVID. A crew shortage may be coming if this doesn’t happen (or even if it does).
• Lufthansa is now giving a train to plane connecting option for all domestic routes.
• Singapore will restart Perth flights when Western Australia reopens on February 5.

What do lawyers call Santa’s helpers?

Subordinate Clauses.

American CEO Clarifies Mask Stance as Southwest CEO Gets COVID

In a hearing on Capitol Hill this week (questioning starts at 53:15), Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said “the case is very strong that masks don’t add much if anything in the air cabin environment.” American CEO Doug Parker gave a vague mention suggesting he agreed with Kelly, but he has now taken to the internet to set the record straight.

Parker put a clarifying statement on Instagram saying in part:

…I agreed with my fellow CEOs that being onboard a plane is proven to be a safe and healthy indoor environment. I did so by saying, “I concur”, and then talked about air quality. I didn’t mention masks or the federal mask mandate, but my concurrence was ambiguous and it is my fault for not being clearer in my response.  

We support the federal mask mandate. Full stop….

The mask mandate, which has been extended through March 18, has been contentious in some circles mostly for political reasons, so it wasn’t surprising to hear discussion of this arise while the airline CEOs were being grilled in the Capitol Building.

Kelly, who made the original comments, has now tested positive for COVID. We can’t help but wonder if wearing masks could have helped him avoid that fate….

United Rolls Out Free Inflight Messaging

United turned on free inflight messaging for travelers starting today, following a trend that has already taken hold at several other airlines in previous years.

Reports say WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and iMessage are supported. The entire United and United Express fleet has it active as of today with a few exceptions:

• Embraer 170/175s have it on select aircraft with the full fleet to follow by January.
• Boeing 757-200s and 767-300s have it on select aircraft with the full fleet to follow by March.
• Boeing 787-9s have it on select aircraft with the full fleet to follow by June.

Both the Embraer 145 and CRJ-200 fifty-seat jets will not have the service installed. United was concerned that installing the system would give a brief flicker of enjoyment to travelers flying on those airplanes and wanted to ensure a consistently unpleasant experience.

JetBlue Rolls Out Changes To Its Mosaic Elite Program

JetBlue has made several changes to its Mosaic elite program as it looks to beg attract people to continue flying the airline as the pandemic grinds on and business travel remains depressed.

Starting next year, and for next year only as of now, Mosaic members will get a 100% rebate on points redemptions for Even More Space seating, credited after flying is complete. They will also be eligible for FoundersCard membership, and lastly they will get free upgrades from Express to Business First on Heathrow Express. In other words, Mosaic members get free Even More Space and not much else interesting.

JetBlue will also introduce a new higher Mosaic+ tier which again is only planned to exist in 2022. Travelers who earn 45,000 Mosaic Qualifying Points or spend a cool $150,000 on the JetBlue credit card will get the coveted perk of 4 Mint upgrades… 24 hours before departure if a seat is available, and this excludes London. They will also get FoundersClub Elite membership.

Earning Mosaic+ by flying is easy. Just purchase 152 flights on a $99 fare that’s not in Basic Economy and you’ll be there.

• Air Europa may not be joining IAG’s stable, but the Spanish government says it will make sure the airline doesn’t fail.
• Alaska is celebrating Ugly Sweater Day today by letting anyone wearing an ugly sweater board early. We have no idea who will be judging if it’s ugly enough to qualify.
• Delta has officially declared it will fly to Stockholm this summer, even though we already knew that from last weekend’s schedule load.
• Delta is celebrating snatching the Olympics sponsorship away from United by painting a pretty airplane.
• Emerald Airlines is getting started early with first flights under the Aer Lingus brand starting March 17, 2022… St Patrick’s Day, naturally.
• Frenchbee, the low-cost carrier that flies to New York, San Francisco, and soon Los Angeles, has taken delivery of its first A350-1000 with a terrifying yet impressive 480 seats onboard.
• SpiceJet and De Havilland have cumin to an agreement to settle their spat over outstanding debt.
• WestJet and Transat have applied to the US DOT to begin codesharing to the US.

After hundreds of years of speculation, aliens have finally contacted earth. They prepare a simultaneous broadcast to all humans to give us their message:

Hello people of Earth! We have been trying to reach you about your planet’s extended warranty

SkyWest Server Issues Cause Operational Meltdown

Regional carrier SkyWest Airlines canceled hundreds of flights both Thursday and Friday, causing cascading problems across four airlines. SkyWest operates as a regional carrier for four mainline brands – American, Delta, United, and Alaska. The carrier canceled approximately 700 flights on Thursday night before resolving the issue, but the cancellations continued into Friday.

Though it was expected SkyWest might take a page from the Southwest playbook and blame the whole thing on weather, it opted to go with a truthful explanation instead, saying it was actually a server problem. The issue lingered for several hours before someone at SkyWest headquarters in St. George, Utah finally unplugged the darn thing and plugged it back in.

More than 500 SkyWest flights were cancelled today with another 500 being delayed. Of the hundreds of cancellations the last two days, about 220 were American flights – 170 on Thursday and 50 today – which is actually a pretty good day for American. The regional carrier’s operation is expected to be close to normal tomorrow.

Qantas Prepares for Accelerated Border Opening

Qantas and its LCC subsidiary Jetstar are gearing up for the return of international flying to and from Australia as soon as November 1, nearly six weeks earlier than previously expected. Both the Australian and New South Wales governments announced that borders would reopen sooner than planned as levels of Vegemite on-hand reached the point where they could spare some for tourists and maintain a sufficient stockpile.

Amongst restarted routes and new destinations, Qantas will begin flying to Delhi on December 6 with 3x-weekly service, expanding to daily by the end of 2021. The flights will operate through March with a chance to continue if the demand warrants.

Other international schedule updates include Sydney to Singapore beginning four weeks early on November 23 on Qantas, with Jetstar following from Melbourne and Darwin on December 16. QF will operate to Fiji beginning December 7, Johannesburg on January 5, and Bangkok on January 14 – all three starting months earlier than planned. Jetstar will begin Sydney to Phuket (PKT) on January 12 – two months early – with three weekly flights on a B787.

AA to Add First ClAAss Seats on a319 Fleet

During a meeting with flight attendants this week, AA President Robert Isom and VP of Network and Schedule Planning Brian Znotins said the carrier wants a larger first class on its A319 fleet along with larger overhead bins.

Of course, if AA is considering adding seats up front, it will have to remove seats from the back or tighten the pitch. The carrier is considering removing all seats in economy and replacing them with wooden benches approximately six inches wide and handles coming from the top of the plane in lieu of seatbelts. By placing the benches approximately 18 inches apart, the carrier could increase its first class seating from eight to 16 per aircraft while actually increasing the number of customers in can fit in economy.

The back four rows of benches would be removed entirely for basic economy passengers, who would be required to stand and hold on to the handles from the top during takeoff and landing.

• British Airways and Kenya Airways have begun a cross-alliance codeshare relationship. It is unknown whether its parents approve.
• Cathay Pacific has eliminated waitlists for standard award bookings.
• DHL Air Austria certified by the Austrian government and added its first B757 freighter.
• Fly2Sky expanded its fleet that goes 2Sky with two new A321 aircraft.
• Japan Airlines is joining the eVTOL party with up to 100 aircraft from Vertical Aviation.
• KLM Cityhopper has entered into Embraer’s Pool Program for maintenance support on its E195-E2 fleet. It is unknown whether this will be Olympic-sized or just a lap pool.
• Pegasus Airlines ordered six additional A321neo aircraft.
• Qatar will resume daily flights to both Melbourne and Sydney on December 1.
• Singapore placed seats for sale as it resumes 2x-daily service on November 1 between Singapore and Melbourne.
• SpiceJet floatplane subsidiary SpiceShuttle only briefly started flying last year, and now it might be done for. Sporty Spice had no comment while Baby Spice just looked happy anyone was talking to her.
• TAP will receive a total of 1.9 billion euro as part of its final bailout from the Portuguese government.
• Thai AirAsia‘s parent company Asia Aviation PCL is looking to raise about $420 million to fund a restart for the carrier because if at first you don’t succeed, throw more money at it.
• United has at long last opened its Polaris lounge at Washington/Dulles. We assume this is a temporary lounge since it is, naturally, on the ancient “temporary” midfield concourse.

My roommate is kicking me out because she’s fed up with my animal puns… ‘OK,’ I said, ‘Alpaca my bags.’

Southwest Loses $135m in Q3

It was a big day for Q3 earnings reports with multiple airlines, including Southwest, putting forth their numbers. For Southwest, it wasn’t a great quarter, but the bigger question is what lies ahead in Q4.

The airline had a net loss excluding special items of $135 million. It said it was profitable in July and would have been for the rest of the quarter if it hadn’t been for those meddling kids the Delta variant which hurt the airline by about $300 million. This beat Wall Street’s already-lowered estimates.

Q3 revenues were $4.7 billion, 17% below 2019 numbers but a very impressive-sounding, if completely irrelevant, increase of 161% over 2020. The airline has $17 billion in liquidity with most of that being reserved as a parting gift for outgoing CEO Gary Kelly.

Q4 may be a rough one for the airline. It estimates there is another $100 million impact from the Delta variant spilling over, but there’s also a $75 million impact from the airline’s recent operational woes and it’s unclear what the hit will be from reduced capacity to “fix” the operation. After all the other airlines heard Southwest say it does not expect to turn a profit in Q4, they issued a joint statement saying, “now you know how it feels, punk.”

American and Alaska Report Earnings With a Different Vibe

American and Alaska may be partners, but their Q3 earnings reports couldn’t have felt different from each other with Alaska looking like a rock star and American looking like, well, American.

American posted a Q3 loss excluding special items of $641 million on revenue of nearly $9 billion, slightly above previously-lowered Wall Street estimates. Thanks to its policy of always having $1 billion more than Southwest just to mess with the airline, American ended the quarter with $18 billion on hand.

Alaska, however, posted an actual profit of $187 million on just under $2 billion in revenue. For all the other airlines that might be a little rusty on this, a profit is when you make more money than you spend. It has just over $3 billion on hand which it is hoping to use to buy American when that airline’s stock price drops low enough.

Looking ahead, American says capacity in Q4 will be down 11 to 13% vs 2019 with a pre-tax margin of -16 to -18%, excluding special items. Alaska’s outlook is obviously sunnier, with hope for a profit once again.

TSA Expands Security Line Reservations to LA

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will expand its popular reservation system from Seattle/Tacoma (SEA) to some travelers flying out of Los Angeles (LAX) with a new test to see whether this should become a permanent fixture nationwide.

The LAX test will be called “The Fast Lane Program” and will run through January 18, 2022. During that time, United travelers will be able to schedule a time to go through the security checkpoints when departing from Terminals 7 and 8. Those with Precheck should be cautioned that if they use this service, Precheck can’t be combined with this. There will be no extra cost to use this service other than the emotional cost of having to fly United.

The program has seen success in Seattle where it was first pioneered, and it has already been expanded further there. The LA test will presumably give TSA more information with geographic variation such as… will LAX travelers be like Dodger fans and not show up until well after the scheduled time?

• Air Premia, a new South Korean airline, has received authorization to fly to the US from the DOT.
• Alaska Airlines still loves Boise. It is adding Boise – Idaho Falls and Las Vegas.
• Avelo continues to use cringeworthy marketing to announce news. Today, we learned that it will start flying from New Haven to Sarasota on January 13.
• Embraer delivered 9 airplanes in Q3, which is 9 more than the worst case scenario, so let’s call that a victory.
• Emirates has suspended flights to Khartoum for a couple days due to what is being characterized as a “deteriorating security situation.”
• Frankfurt was experiencing hurricane-force winds earlier today. If you were flying in, we hope you had your barf bag handy.
• IndiGo is ramping up for longer-haul, so it is adjusting its pure low-cost model. The new A321neos will have extra legroom seats, hot ovens, and promises of treating passengers like humans.
• United says you should worry about booking other airlines, because they may not be as reliable if they don’t have a vaccine mandate in place. We assume that includes all of United’s own regional partners.
• Victoria has joined New South Wales in Australia in committing to ending the required quarantine for returning international travelers as soon as November 1.

I’m so good at finance…

Even my bank says my balance is outstanding.

Give Us Your Tired, Poor, Vaccinated Masses: US to End Most Travel Bans for Vaccinated Visitors

The federal government plans to lift most travel bans and restrictions for international visitors who are vaccinated against COVID-19. The changes will take effect in early November in order to take advantage of increased travel around National Scrapple Day which falls on November 9 this year.

Non-citizens visiting the United States will be required to show proof of vaccination, a negative COVID-19 test taken within three days of departure, and must be able to explain what a balk is.

The CDC will require airlines to collect passenger information to aid in contact tracing. It also plans to use the information to follow up with any economy class passengers whose dining choice is the fish option on the flight over to check on their well-being.

The travel industry, led by airlines, has been advocating for this change for months, going so far as to attempt to bribe government officials with frequent flier miles to make the restrictions go away. The bribe almost worked until those on the take realized they were being offered Delta SkyMiles, a currency with less value right now than the Venezuelan bolívar.

Winter Waiver Wish Will Work Wonders

Slot-controlled US airports including New York/JFK, New York/LGA, and Washington/National will have the slot waivers they have in place extended in lieu of “use it or lose it” rules that are usually in place – but with one giant exception.

The current waiver is set to expire next month, but the proposal from the government is to extend it once more, this time through March 26 – but for international operations only. The international caveat means that the government is likely to require airlines to fly all of their domestic flights or face the possibility of losing them. That may very well lead to slot-squatting by flying short routes. Get ready for a whole lot more flights to New York, Baltimore!

With domestic travel recovering nearly to pre-pandemic levels despite the rise of the Delta B.1.617.2 and other variants, this does seem like a reasonable compromise, a rare accomplishment for the federal government.  This will offer relief to international carriers operating to the US, likely leading to reciprocity for American-based airlines operating at slot-controlled airlines overseas.

The compromise is very similar to a request made earlier this year by JetBlue, making it something Spirit is then going to object to just on principal. It plans to send lawyers to DC to make their objections in person, but booked them on their own airline, making it a less than 50-50 shot the lawyers ever make it to Washington.

Lufthansa Adds a Cool €2.1 Billion

Lufthansa is moving forward with a €2.1 billion capital increase, the proceeds of which it will use to pay the German government back for state aid it issued during the height of the pandemic and to buy each employee and customer a hot pretzel during the month of October.

The €2.1 billion is being underwritten by a syndicate of banks and BlackRock. The continued rollout of vaccines across the world and lifting of travel restrictions has the carrier in position to take advantage of the recovery in air travel, giving confidence to its lenders. Lufthansa expects to turn a profit in Q3 and operated with load factors over 70% in August.

Lufthansa says the capital increase is designed to increase its equity position, which is the same thing someone says when they land on Chance when playing Monopoly and pull the $200 bank error in your favor card.

For each share of Lufthansa stock owned by a shareholder, an offer will be made at a 1:1 ratio during the subscription period of September 22 through October 5. After the capital increase, the carrier will have 1.2 billion shares of outstanding stock, up from the current figure of nearly 600 million.

• Air Calédonie is currently grounded due to a new lockdown in New Caledonia. Old Caledonia has not announced a lockdown.
• Alliance Airlines formed a union or association formed for mutual benefit, especially between countries or organizations, with Embraer to provide support for the carrier’s fleet of E190 aircraft.
• American sent out a press release about a thing that it’s doing that seems to have something to do with the environment or something.
• British Airways is making it Concorde Room in both London/Heathrow and New York/JFK available to all Gold guest list members of its frequent flier program. It will remain inaccessible for BA first class passengers as any sucker who buys that product doesn’t deserve lounge access.
• Cabo Verde Airlines, like many college students around the world, needs more cash to resume operations.
• China Southern Airlines plans to sell 95% of its property maintenance unit. It plans to keep the leftover 5% for at least a week in the fridge before tossing it out.
• Connect Airlines, the Porter-clone from Waltzing Matilda Airlines — right down to the lack of actual flying — received the DOT equivalent of a breakup letter from the government, as it detailed everything about Waltzing Matilda that’s lacking, comes up short, and is woefully inadequate.
• flyadeal completedadeal for three new A320neo aircraft.
• Flyr is launchng three new routes to Copenhagen, Paris, and Rome.
• ITA — the successor of Alitalia — has been granted permission by the US to fly to the country from Italy. ITA is supposed to start flying on October 15.
• Maroomba Airlines took delivery of its first Q300. Aye, Maroomba.
• Medavia wet-leased a B737 to operate in Libya.
• Pakistan International Airlines will receive a $260 million bailout package from the Pakistan government. The money will presumably be used to hire someone to check pilots credentials and experience.
• Philippine Airlines is using 15 older aircraft, engines and frequent flier miles as collateral to secure a loan.
• Starlux is considering operating either the A330neo or the A350 on its Taipei-Singapore route. The carrier is also deciding between a buffet or passed heavy apps at its holiday party this December.
• Surinam Airlines is in talks to add an ex-KLM A330 to its fleet. It’s also in talks to add leftover ex-KLM Delft Houses to its corporate HQ to spruce things up a bit.

Did you hear about the mute chicken? It didn’t give a cluck.

(My apologies for the fowl language).