Frontier still sorting through problems after weekend ‘meltdown’ at DIA – KDVR
If you were flying Frontier last weekend, my condolences. The airline’s operation melted down when a lot more snow came in than expected. Flights were canceled or at best, delayed. And bags were scattered all over the place. It was a true mess, and a lot of vacations were ruined. What’s worse is that it’s still bad, though improving slightly. According to masflight, Wednesday saw a mere 8 percent of flights canceled (which is still terrible) and almost a third of all flights actually running on time. Ouch.
So what’s happening? Well, it’s true. The forecast for snow in the Denver area was relatively minor. Even United, which had a big weather waiver for Chicago and points east, hadn’t bothered to include its hub in Denver. But snow came down hard and fast, and that snarled operations for everyone. Frontier had a much worse operation than others, however. According to the airline, some of the problem is that it has more crews based in Denver than other airlines and they couldn’t get to the airport. The pilot union blames the airline for not doing a good job. And now, Frontier is still scrambling to catch back up.
Ultimately, Frontier should have just pre-canceled more flights, but it didn’t think the weather would be that bad. You can bet that next time, it’s going to be more conservative.
Lufthansa ‘to absorb Air Berlin’ – DW
airberlin Board appoints new CEO – airberlin
It looks like airberlin’s days are numbered, as if that’s a surprise. The airline has been bleeding cash, and Etihad isn’t able to put much more in. (Etihad may be changing its strategy anyway, possibly under a new CEO, but that’s a topic for another day.) The leisure business has been spun off into a joint venture with TUI and another few dozen airplanes are being leased to Lufthansa Group, but what about the remains?
A new CEO has been brought in, and he just happens to come from Lufthansa. The expectation is that this is an attempt to nudge the airline into being absorbed by Lufthansa. Presumably if it were to happen, Lufthansa would just fold it into its lowish-cost provide Eurowings to give a stronger presence in Berlin and Dusseldorf. But with airberlin being such a financial mess, it remains to be seen if there’s anything left to salvage. I’d say probably not, but that doesn’t mean government forces won’t find a way to make it happen anyway.
Thank you to those who work at 1:00 a.m. in snowstorms so people can travel – reddit
And now for something lighter. A great shout out from a reddit user to those who brave the elements to get you where you need to go. It’s just a photo, but it sure says a lot. I’ll add my thanks as well.
Happy holidays to all who celebrate.
