AIRLINE BRIEFS NEWS FROM AROUND
THE AIR INDUSTRY
Jukian Tiburcio, General Manager Spirit Airlines LaGuardia with Vicki Schneps, Schneps Media, after awarding
the lucky winner of two Spirit tickets at the Kings of Kings Awards. The tickets were raffled off for donation
to the Make the Grade Foundation, which is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that facilitates and encourages
academic achievement by implementing programs to tutor, mentor and motivate students, and providing
incentives and funding.
AIRPORT VOICE, FEBRUARY 2020 31
JFKIAT Terminal 4 welcomed
LATAM Airlines to its
terminal and celebrated with
congratulations from company
executives and enjoyed
some salsa music with Carnival
costumed dancers and
band.
Spirits lifted. Spirit Airline’s
introduced an innovative
automated bag heck-in
system at LaGuardia Airport.
This helps reduce labor costs
as well as encourage people
to check in bags and not pay
fees for taking extra weight
on board the plane.
Eastern Airlines, blast
from the past, has begun
weekly service direct from
New York City to Guayaquil,
Ecuador from Terminal 4 in
their newly colorful liveried
plane.
Its a Breeze. Or will it be?
JetBlue founder David Neeleman
announced corporate
headquarters in Salt Lake for
Breeze Aviation his new company
with plans to create 369
jobs in the next five years.
Breeze Aviation is founded
by David Neeleman, and he
plans to unveil an as-yet-unnamed
low-cost carrier in the
new year which will provide
flyers with convenient nonstop
service from secondary
airports.
But with Spirit, Frontier
and Allegiant growing will
introducing another domestic
airline to market be a
breeze as it accelerates plans
to begin flying in 2020?
AA right way. American
Airlines and the TWU-IAM
Association reached tentative
agreements this week for new
joint collective bargaining
agreements that cover more
than 31,000 team members.
The tentative agreements
are subject to ratification by
Maintenance & Related and
Fleet Service team members
represented by the Association.
The association will
communicate details of the
agreements to its members in
the coming weeks.
Allegiant Air is adding
two additional non-stop destinations
from New York Stewart
International Airport.
Beginning on May 20,
the airline will operate two
weekly flights to Savannah,
GA/Hilton Head, SC. The following
day, May 21, the airport
will begin twice weekly
nonstop flights to Destin-Fort
Walton Beach, FL.
Fares on both routes will
start as low as $55.
Azul. Jetblue’s founder
David Neeleman’s Azul will
begin service to JFK in June
2020. There will be daily operations
operated by the Airbus
A330-200 from the São Paulo-
Viracopos hub and New York
JFK beginning June 15, 2020.
New York will also serve as a
gateway to other cities in its
country. The codeshare between
Azul and JetBlue will
allow passengers to connect
at the JetBlue JFK terminal
to several cities throughout
the U.S., such as Boston, Chicago,
Houston, Las Vegas, Los
Angeles, Salt Lake City and
Seattle.
TSA pay. The House
Homeland Security Committee
passed the Rights for
Transportation Security Officers
Act. The bill would move
screeners at the Transportation
Security Administration
under the General Schedule.
The move would likely mean
pay and salary increases for
TSA workers. Committee
Chairman Bennie Thompson
(D-Miss.) says implementing
the bill will cost around
$700-million over five years.
But higher salaries will help
TSA better recruit and retain
top talent. The bill now heads
to the House for a vote.
Virus, non computer.
Non-citizen passengers from
China’s uhan area arriving
through John F. Kennedy
International Airport, LA
and San Francisco are being
screened by CDC personnel
for the potentially dangerous
respiratory corona virus.
Ironically this is occurring
during the same time of Chinese
New Year is celebrated
in New York City. The precautionary
measure affects travelers
on direct or connecting
flights from Wuhan in central
China on China Southern as
well as , China Eastern, Air
China. Corona viruses are
common in many different
species of animals yet one has
recently been identified as
transmitting the virus that
has affected hundreds of people
in China and some in the
U.S.
Boeing brightens. There
is good new from Boeing to
offset the drawn out 737Max
issue. The Boeing 777X was
recently introduced. It had
its first test flight recently as
the airplane program begins
the next critical phase of testing
towards certification and
then delivery to customers in
2021. The 777x is the latest series
of the long-range, widebody,
twin-engine aircraft
replacing the 747 “Queen of
the Skies” and a strong competitor
to the Airbus A350.
Boeing also recently unveiled
its first fully-assembled 737
MAX 10 passenger aircraft.
But you may not have heard
much about it. Announcements
of new aircraft are
traditionally big deals with
plenty of press—but the quiet
unveiling to employees at
Boeing’s Renton, Washington
factory took place under
the ongoing cloud of the 737
MAX investigations and the
global grounding of the 737
MAX fleet.
Delta Air Lines had a
very good year last year. Instead
of just verbally thanking
its employees for the company’s
strong performance, it
announced it would pay them
$1.6 billion in profit-sharing
bonuses.
That means every eligible
employee will receive a
check next month for 16.6%
of their annual salary, which
is the equivalent of an additional
two months’ pay. The
company’s profit-sharing bonus
is on top of all the other
financial benefits it normally
provides employees, such as
a 401(k) match and other bonus
programs for rank-andfile
workers, according to the
spokesperson.
Qantas. Pug and snub
nose dog owners will not be
able to fly on Qantas after one
dog died aboard a flight. The
airline will not carry Pugs
for another two weeks until
it determines ways that the
respiratory sensitive and the
breathing issues breed can
travel safely.
UPS chairman and chief
executive David Abney said:
“In 2019, UPS launched more
new services and operational
innovations than in any year
in the company’s recent history.
Our aggressive rollout of
innovative new services and
solutions was “squarely focused
on the needs of its customers,
especially small and
medium-sized businesses.”
Airbus fined. The Department
of State reached an
administrative $10 million
agreement with Airbus SE to
resolve the alleged civil violations
of the Arms Export
Control Act pursuant to ITAR
§ 128.11 to address providing
false statements on authorization
requests; the failure
to provide accurate and complete
reporting on political
contributions, commissions,
or fees that it paid, or offered
or agreed to pay, in connection
with sales; the failure
to maintain records involving
ITAR-controlled transactions;
and the unauthorized
re-export and retransfer of
defense articles.