Spring has sprung in Airlineville, but as some folks begin to cut May, many of the fearless residents are already starting to power toward the summer. The Eskimo seems to have not-so-dire plans for June while the Maple Leaf, well, let’s just say it’s going to be a rough one for those north of the border during the non-frozen season.
The residents are all looking in different directions. The Globe is looking south, the Widget is pointing north, and the Eagle is taking a roadtrip from Fort Worth, right down I-35.
Cirium had its hands full this week with a whole lot of changes rolling through, and we’ll talk about them all this week. Like sands through the hourglass, so are the skeds of air lines.
Air Canada Takes Summer Down
Air Canada is losing faith that it’s going to have a good summer season, and I can only feel bad for the airline. This week it slashed US service. The following routes won’t operate until the fall, if then:
- Calgary – Houston/Intercontinental, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Newark, Phoenix, Portland (OR), San Francisco
- Edmonton – San Francisco
- Halifax – Boston
- Montreal – Baltimore, Dallas/Fort Worth, Hartford, Las Vegas, Miami, Pittsburgh, Raleigh/Durham, Washington/National
- Ottawa – Boston, Newark, Washington/National
- Toronto – Austin, Cincinnati, Fort Myers, Hartford, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Memphis, Milwaukee, Miami, Minneapolis/St Paul, Nashville, New Orleans, Phoenix, Portland (OR), Providence, St Louis, San Diego, Savannah, Tampa
- Vancouver – Anchorage, Boston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Newark, Sacramento, San Diego, San Jose
Alaska Sets May and June
Alaska has taken a swing at both May and June. May is down 21 percent vs 2019, the same as April, so this is likely a realistic cut. June is only down 7 percent, however. Whether that can hold up is questionable. Alaska also added new routes Boise – Austin and Chicago/O’Hare along with Seattle – Idaho Falls and Redding.
On the other side of the coin, it looks like Alaska has thrown in the towel on its Oakland – Hawai’i service. It all looks to be gone through the end of schedule now. The same goes for the weekly Sacramento – Cabo flight. For the summer, California – Florida has been pruned with three California routes going away.
American Sets May, Adds Austin, Introduces New Aircraft
American had a really busy weekend. It also took a stab at May, with the month now sitting down 23 percent vs. 2019, 5 points better than April. Several long-haul routes will return, but American has also shed a few others. Charlotte – Munich and Philly – Zurich are gone through summer. Philly – Lisbon looks to be gone for good. Meanwhile, Joplin and Sioux City will disappear now that another airline has been been chosen to continue the EAS flying under contract.
American also loaded its first 65-seat Embraer 170s into the schedule. With this reduced capacity, American can add a ton into the fleet thanks to the pilot contract. Republic starts flying the airplane with May with Envoy following in June, all from LaGuardia for now.
Lastly, all that new Austin flying that American announced this week was loaded.
Delta Goes North
Delta had a relatively quiet week, but it did load big increases in Alaska. I find the winter capacity most fascinating since it seems like that’s going to be really hard to fill.
- Anchorage – Atlanta and Fairbanks – Minneapolis/St Paul go year-round
- Anchorage – Minneapolis/St Paul goes from 1x to 2x daily in winter
- Anchorage – Salt Lake goes from 1x to 2x daily in summer
- Anchorage and Fairbanks – Seattle increases by 1x daily in summer and 2x daily in winter
- New Summer Seasonal Service: Anchorage – Detroit, Los Angeles, New York/JFK
- New Year-Round Service: Fairbanks – Salt Lake
Hawaiian Bulks Up New Routes
It’s an early positive sign that Hawaiian is already increasing service on Honolulu to Austin and Orlando. It’ll bump up from 2x to 3x weekly, which is good because 3x weekly is much more sustainable than 2x from a logistics perspective.
JetBlue Goes May Too
JetBlue surprised with an early cut at May this week. It is currently only down 13 percent which seems aggressive. I imagine there will be more to come, but it’s hard to know just yet. In a bit of good news, JetBlue has added back a handful of flights over Easter. That’s a last minute add that indicates there’s some underlying strength to be found.
Spirit Files Its New Flights
Spirit announced this week that it would add new flights from New York/LaGuardia and start service from St Louis and Pensacola to several cities. All of those were filed this week.
United Goes Big in Latin
United filed a massive increase in Latin America flying, following in American’s footsteps and setting the tone for the international recovery to really begin in the western hemisphere. There were big increases across the board.
Other than that, there were a few delays. Auckland won’t return in July, with the return now scheduled for August. And the tag flight between Anchorage and Fairbanks now won’t operate in May. You’ll have to wait until June.
WestJet Takes Down the Summer
WestJet has also done some pruning north of the border, though it’s nothing like the cut from Air Canada. The airline won’t fly Boston – Calgary nor Orlando – Halifax, St Johns, and Vancouver this summer.
Other Randomness
- Aeroflot has reversed course and brought Washington/Dulles service back as 1x weekly beginning in November. New York/JFK will drop this summer from 1x daily (already cut from 3x daily) all the way to 4x weekly. LA and Miami will only see 2x weekly flights through the summer.
- Air Europa is hoping to resume New York – Madrid in July, but it will now try to fly it only 3x weekly instead of daily.
- Air France has canceled its LA – Papeete flight into early May.
- Air New Zealand has canceled its LA – Raratonga flight through the summer season, until the end of October.
- British Airways has continued its pandemic schedule through May. Even beyond that, Baltimore and Nashville won’t operate through June.
- Copa keeps rolling its service to Boston and Chicago. It now won’t resume until at least June.
- EVA has extended its pandemic schedule through May, reducing service on all US routes.
- SATA won’t fly Boston – Terceira through May.
- TAP Air Portugal will not fly from Boston to Ponta Delgada through October.
And that’s a wrap for this week. I’ll be back next week with the next exciting installment of Skeds of air Lines.
