AIRLINE BRIEFS NEWS FROM AROUND
AIRPORT V 30 OICE, NOVEMBER 2019
THE AIR INDUSTRY
Homeland Security.
Chad Wolf has been selected
as Acting Secretary of Homeland
Security by President
Trump following the resignation
of Kevin McAleenan.
100 years old. KLM was
the first airline to celebrate
its 100th year anniversary.
Next to be a centenarian is
Avianca which will celebrate
its 100th birthday on December
5th, 2019. The Colombian
firm Avianca was founded in
the form of SCADTA at the
end of 1919 and is the second
oldest airline in the world
and first airline in the Americas.
Soon Qantas will begin
to celebrate their 100th anniversary
in 2019 leading up to
the 2020 100th year of service.
Qantas Dreamliner completes
longest ever commercial
flight Airline hails
achievement after 19-hour
New York-to-Sydney flight
carrying 50 passengers and
crew.
In other news from Qantas,
one or more of the Boeing
737’s has been grounded
after finding hairline cracks.
Despite it’s union call for all
737’s to be grounded, Qantas
says the others are not yet
mandated for inspection and
will do so when scheduled.
IBERIA Airlines, subsidiary
of IAG, has announced
plans for the acquisition of
Air Europa which currently
offers service from JFK T4 to
Madrid, Spain. Commenting
on today’s announcement,
Willie Walsh, Chief Executive
of IAG, said: “Acquiring
Air Europa would add a new
competitive, cost effective
airline to IAG,”
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
president and CEO Pieter
Elbers said connecting
regional UK airports to Amsterdam
Schiphol Airport
is the carrier’s “bread and
butter” He added the carrier
won’t be drawn into giving up
regional connections to gain
slots at Schiphol Airport.
“If you want to fly from Cardiff
to Sao Paolo or Osaka or
Hangzhou, we are your best
choice… The moment we stop
doing Cardiff and reallocate
that slot to a new destination
in the US, you start to disrupt
the system and the wheel”.
Security settlement. An
amended class action settlement
between Allied Universal
Security Services LLC
and airport security workers
at John F. Kennedy International
Airport obtained
preliminary approval from
a New York federal judge.
The $2.5 million hybrid settlement
resolves overtime
claims brought by more than
100 security workers under
both the Fair Labor Standards
Act and New York labor
law. Class and collective
members will divvy up $1.6
million of the total settlement
fund, after certain deductions.
Thomas Cook, Chinese
company Fosun Tourism
Group which held a stake in
Thomas Cook, picked up assets
from the bankrupt company
for a reported $14 million.
Fosun says it will take
over the main brand name as
well as the hotel brands Casa
Cook and Cook’s Club. The
firm had been negotiating
as a white knight before the
liquidation in September but
the deal was never finalized.
Into the night: More than
30 Delta leaders across the
country will spend a night
spent a night on Nov. 22 in
an effort to raise awareness
and funds to combat homelessness
among young people
in partnership with the Covenant
House for their annual
executive sleep out. www.
sleepoutamerica.com
Air Canada Air Canada
employees will be told to start
their announcements with
“hello everyone” or “good
morning everyone. Currently
Air Canada’s flight attendants,
gate agents, and
pilots, refer to passengers as
“ladies and gentlemen” when
making announcements, but
they’ll soon be updating their
phrasing to be more gender
neutral. Air Canada has also
entered into an agreement
with Drone Canada to test air
delivery of good via drones.
El Al Israel Airlines last
Boeing 747 revenue passenger
flight from JFK to Israel
took place in mid October,
and the last for all passenger
routes was on November 3
from Rome to Tel Aviv.
The ubiquitous Boeing 787
Dreamliner will replace the
“Queen” on most U.S. direct
flights to Tel Aviv.
Norwegian Air and Jet-
Blue have signed a Letter of
Intent for an interline agreement.
The partnership will
allow customers to combine
low fares in a convenient single
booking for connecting
flights between the Americas
and Europe. Customers will
have the possibility to book
connecting flights on both
airlines’ websites by combining
the best of the complementary
and expansive networks.
The partnership is
planned to launch in early
Summer 2020 and bookable
in early 2020.
“We are very excited to
partner with JetBlue as this
will make international travel
even smoother and more
available for our customers.
JetBlue is the largest airline
at several of our key gateways
in the United States, specifically
New York JFK, Boston
and Fort Lauderdale, and
this partnership will create a
plethora of new route connections
for customers on both
sides of the Atlantic” said a
Norwegian spokesperson.
In the Spirit. Spirit Airlines
continues to use Air-
Bus as it has signed an MOU
with Airbus for the purchase
of 100 A320neo family aircraft.
Spirit said the order
will include a mix of A319,
A320 and A321 models, with
deliveries scheduled out to
2027. Spirit currently operates
138 Airbus A320-family
aircraft, with another seven
due for delivery by the end of
the year. The ultra-low-cost
carrier expects to receive
another 48 A320neos during
2020 and 2021.
AA down under. American
Airlines becomes the
first U.S carrier to fly to the
North Island of New Zealand.
Services between Dallas
Fort-Worth and Auckland
will commence on October 25
next year through to March
25, 2021 on a three times per
week basis.
Air New Zealand has announced
that they’ll start
flying nonstop between
Auckland and Newark as of
October 2020.
This ultra long haul flight
will cover a distance of 8,810
miles in each direction, and
will be blocked at 15hr40min
eastbound and 17hr40min
westbound. This will be Air
New Zealand’s longest route,
and the fifth longest flight in
the world by distance.
Hong Kong flights reduced.
Cathay Pacific is
cutting 3x weekly flights
between Hong Kong and
New York. Cathay Pacific’s
Hong Kong – New York JFK
CX846/845 service is closed
for booking on 3 of 7 weekly
flights in winter 2019/20 season
Effective 10/29/19, 3 of 7
weekly CX846 HKG-JFK and
CX845 JFK-HKG flights cut.
CX846 flights on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Saturdays
and CX845 flights on Sundays,
Tuesdays and Thursdays
are the ones cancelled.
Boeing more troubles.
Some nexgen 737-800 have
been grounded due to hairlline
cracks. This adds to woes
for the giant aircraft maker
as the Boeing Co.’s chief executive
Dennis Muilenburg
testified before Congress
taking responsibility for the
two737 Max crashes while defending
its right so sign off on
aircraft designs. Meanwhile
Southwest Airlines and Air
Canada has extended the removal
from service of their
Boeing 737 MAX aircraft until
early in 2020.
/www.sleepoutamerica.com
/www.sleepoutamerica.com
/sleepoutamerica.com