Southwest filed its spring break schedule last week, extending its booking window from ending March 10 to April 5. This was a big schedule update, and there is a lot to parse. But one thing that stood out to me right away was the further downsizing of the interisland operation in … | Continue reading
United Reports $805 Million Profit United Airlines’s Q2 earnings were released Wednesday after the close of the market, and the carrier earned a profit of $805 million on $17.7 billion in gross revenue. The revenue figure is a 16% jump from last year’s Q2 but profit dropped more … | Continue reading
Earnings season has officially begun with, as always, Delta kicking off festivities late last week and then United just yesterday releasing its numbers. The airlines unsurprisingly did very well, but the results and more importantly, forward-looking guidance, show that we may hav … | Continue reading
It’s time for another post about the 1980s thanks to SkyGo’s schedule data, but this one actually begins much earlier. Today I want to talk about Pan Am, but more specifically, Pan Am’s famed Internal German Service (IGS). Why am I writing about this? Well, I was busy playing aro … | Continue reading
To celebrate Hawaiian’s official entry into oneworld, the airline decided to have a media event in Honolulu to unveil its new oneworld-liveried airplane, showcase some food, and set up some interviews. It’s been awhile since I last did an event with the airline so I decided to ta … | Continue reading
Record heat, crowds drive offseason boom in international travel – CNBC Shoulder season travel is doing well, and that means good news for everyone. The longer an airline can justify a long-haul route during the year, the more airplanes it can justify buying. I chatted with Lesli … | Continue reading
Delta Q2 Profit Nears $2 Billion, Revenue Nears $20 Billion Revenue continued on its record trajectory for Delta as the carrier boasted a $19.8 billion gross revenue for Q2, a whopping 19% increase from last year. But profit fell by a quarter, from $2.1 to $1.6 billion as the car … | Continue reading
Though my focus is usually on airlines, I do occasionally dive into the world of aircraft manufacturing. And there is no manufacturer I find more fun to follow than JetZero. Sure, it helps that the company is based right here in Long Beach, but it’s a large aircraft concept that … | Continue reading
We’ve already talked about American’s operational issues, but today I’m looking at you, Delta. American hasn’t been a star performer for ages, but Delta? Delta has been the king for years. That crown appears to have some tarnish on it these days. You may have heard about the Delt … | Continue reading
Avelo has made it clear that its newfound focus is on alternate airports in areas with good-sized population, and so far it has found New Haven, Lakeland (FL), Concord (NC), and Wilmington (DE). We had already learned number five would be McKinney (TX), and now schedules are load … | Continue reading
Predictions for the future of aviation as Cruising Altitude departs – USA Today Zach Wichter is moving on from USA Today (best of luck, Zach!) and so he did a final column looking into the future. I gave my own take. Airlines embrace stopover itineraries in Hawaii, Panama and bey … | Continue reading
American AAdds Three from Chicago Things may have cooled for a while in the Battle of Chicago between American and United, but AA is back this week adding three new routes from O’Hare including a return to Tokyo/Narita from the airport. Whether this supplements joint venture-part … | Continue reading
Have you had enough talk about Hawaiʻi lately? Too bad. I spent the last couple of days on Oʻahu where Hawaiian celebrated joining the oneworld alliance. It was a nice celebration, especially for the employees, but I was most interested in my sit down with Hawaiian CEO Diana Birk … | Continue reading
Delta has decided to add a new route from Los Angeles, and it’s not one you might have expected to see. Next April, the airline will begin twice daily flights from LAX to Newark. Yes, that’s right… Delta will fly to the home of one of the most special HoJo’s still in existence. O … | Continue reading
It seems like a time-honored tradition for me to write about American’s operational problems. I suppose when an airline has them so consistently, that’s just how it goes. But today is different. If you listen to American, they’ll say things are going great. In fact, I was given a … | Continue reading
This week’s episode of The Air Show is live, and if you’ve been reading the blog this week, you might not be surprised to hear we’re taking a deeper look at the Hawaiian interisland market. Jon tells us more about this discussion with Alaska’s incoming President Shane Tackett, an … | Continue reading
It’s not really a special thing when Breeze announces new routes, because it does that all the time. But occasionally I like to check in and see exactly what the airline is doing. Its big announcement this week shows Breeze is still focused on picking up opportunities that other … | Continue reading
In yesterday’s discussion about Hawaiian’s planned replacement for the B717 on interisland trips, I mentioned how Southwest uses a model that flows airplanes from the mainland into the interisland operation. Today, I’m going to look more closely at how that is constructed. Southw … | Continue reading
The Air Current reported last week after Jon Ostrower talked to new Alaska/Hawaiian President Shane Tackett that the airline is likely leaning toward the B737-800 as a replacement for the B717 for interisland flying when the time comes to replace that airplane. This has always be … | Continue reading
A new airline is coming to Cleveland. Here’s what travelers should know – Cleveland.com Imagine you aren’t familiar with Avelo, but they come to your town for the first time. How do you describe the airline? I spoke with the Cleveland paper to explain that this is truly basic air … | Continue reading
JetBlue Reduces at EWR, LGA, Grows FLL Again JetBlue Airways with its significant presence at New York/JFK has been drawing back at NYC’s other two airports — New York/LGA and Newark — and instead focusing on warmer climes. The carrier, which is fighting a mountain of debt, is lo … | Continue reading
It is official. One of the last meaningful routes in the world that required a connection due to distance will be getting nonstop service starting in October 2027. Qantas has announced that is when the Sydney – London flight will begin on the Airbus A350-1000ULR. Tickets go on sa … | Continue reading
With American having stabilized its positions in LA and New York while continuing to build its presence at Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth, the airline set its sights on growing its reach. American not only opened three hubs from scratch, but it also made a big move into Latin Amer … | Continue reading
If you hated the 1980s, then I have bad news for you. This new SkyGo tool I’m using has me diving deep into the weeds during that decade. Today, I want to do an ’80s review of the powerhouse that is (ahem, was) American Airlines. This is actually a two-parter, and today I’m going … | Continue reading
Spirit, Port Authority Spar over LGA Slots Spirit’s planned sale of its slots at New York/LGA to raise capital and pay off some creditors has hit a roadblock as the Port Authority of NY and NJ told a U.S. bankruptcy court that “slots themselves are not ‘fungible and transferable’ … | Continue reading
Delta seems ready to pounce further on Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) in order to grow its relevance, as shown by this week’s start of service to both Chicago/O’Hare and Hong Kong. The ultimate goal is presumably to become the dominant carrier in the market, but as I wro … | Continue reading
There are dominant airlines in nearly every airport in the US, even those that are the most competitive. You have Delta at LaGuardia and JFK, United at Newark and Chicago/O’Hare, Alaska in Seattle, and the list goes on. But there is one airport that nobody has ever been able to c … | Continue reading
There are few airlines quite like Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), a company with a glorious history, legendary complexity, and now, a new lease on life. It has been a reclamation project for decades, but the time has come to sink or swim. I’m betting on “swim.” SAS was formed … | Continue reading
Alaska, Korean Team Up While Delta Looks on It’s rare that a simple codeshare agreement feels like a significant story, but this one does. Korean Air, Delta’s longtime JV partner, SkyTeam stalwart, and an airline that’s closing in on the integration of its main rival filed a requ … | Continue reading
I’ve written a couple of times about BermudAir, but I’ve never been overly impressed with the airline’s prospects to make something of itself. But now, well, now I may be rethinking this. In a massive change in operating structure, the airline announced an innovative new expansio … | Continue reading
It may almost be summer, but today we need to talk about cold, dark February. That may be the toughest winter month for many, and that’s why — thanks to our presenting sponsor Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport — next year’s Cranky Network Awards will once again be in Phoen … | Continue reading
It is official. The last airline in the US that still handed out free meals on domestic coach flights is going to serve its last freebie on June 30. The next day, Hawaiian Airlines will move to a buy-on-board program (except for the JFK flight) that aligns more closely with Alask … | Continue reading
In what is probably a dramatic understatement, Southwest has faced a great deal of change over the last couple of years. I don’t need to rehash all the gory details, but this is an airline that has felt like it has been in transition since Gary Kelly stepped down as CEO in 2022 a … | Continue reading
Interested in LGA Slots? Now’s Your Time to Shine As Spirit continues to liquidate on its way out the door, the shuttered carrier plans to put its 22 slots at LGA — with their street value of almost $87 million — up for bid in July. While we haven’t received confirmation as of pr … | Continue reading
I’ve written a lot about American’s former hubs in recent posts of this series, but none of them can say they were dehubbed by American twice. Only San Jose holds that… uh… well, let’s call it an honor. Within a span of 10 years, American took its hub away from the airport on two … | Continue reading
Allegiant’s strategy has always focused on finding markets that others wouldn’t serve. Whether it’s because the route was too small for anyone to care or it was due to Allegiant using alternate airports, the airline has long shied away from direct competition. Now, however, it se … | Continue reading
Spirit’s March was Bad, Like Really, Really Bad The airline may not be flying anymore, but the bankruptcy continues on. Spirit filed its Monthly Operational Report for March to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court this week and some of the results are legitimately eye-popping. For the month … | Continue reading
Landline has been something of a chameleon. Yes it’s a bus operator that likes to masquerade as a regional airline, but it’s more than that. And now it is rolling out what is probably the most interesting and useful service yet: skip security in Boston and instead do it at a remo … | Continue reading
One of the problems that has long plagued airlines in their long-haul networks is what to do with their widebody fleet during the winter. Demand across the Atlantic is enormous in summer — and summer demand has extended further into spring and fall — but in winter it’s always a s … | Continue reading
I’ve talked about how JetBlue has been making a push to replace Spirit in Fort Lauderdale and become a clear number one in the market, but this is much bigger than that. For the first time, it looks like JetBlue is trying to create a real hub for itself. Connecting the US to the … | Continue reading
Allegiant and Sun Country: ‘Til Death do They Part Allegiant’s acquisition of Sun Country officially closed on Wednesday, attaching the two at the hip forever…or until the next industry consolidation. For the front-facing consumer, nothing is changing yet. Sun Country customers g … | Continue reading
Let’s talk about another brief American hub adventure, this time it’s the one in Raleigh/Durham. The airport built its first terminal in 1955, and it has been like a yo-yo… growing, shrinking, and growing again over the many years since. But for a glorious minute, it was an impor … | Continue reading
Alaska made me happy last week. The airline announced it would finally return to Long Beach after an absence of more than ten years. But you don’t care if I’m happy, right? What you care about is… why am I writing about one lousy new route? Trust me, there’s something more intere … | Continue reading
I’ve been so focused on Spirit lately, I’ve been neglecting some of the broader industry stories. With Frontier having finally reported its Q1 earnings last week, I decided to take a closer look at revenue and profit performance since all airlines have been crowing about just how … | Continue reading
JetBlue Grows Fort Lauderdale in Spirit’s Absence One person’s trash is another’s, well, you know. And in that vein, JetBlue Airways, now Fort Lauderdale’s dominant carrier by a wide margin with Spirit’s demise, is already adding 11 new destinations to replace the yellow airplane … | Continue reading
This is the last post I’m writing on Spirit’s demise directly, but you know you want more. So, head to The Air Show and listen to this week’s episode where we talk about the government’s role in Spirit’s demise. No, this isn’t political. It spans multiple administrations led by b … | Continue reading
When I stepped away from active management of Cranky Concierge, one of the things I wanted to focus on was the growth of Cranky Network Weekly. I’m proud to announce today that we’ve rolled out changes including a new tier and an entry-level price dropping from $25 to only $10 a … | Continue reading
With Spirit having shut down, the focus now shifts to what will happen to fill the void. Of course, Spirit had more capacity than the industry needs right now, so not all of it will be backfilled. But there is absolutely going to be movement in the airline’s three biggest markets … | Continue reading