Last week, we left off with the residents of Airlineville making big changes well into the summer and fall. This week, they took a break from all that and did some housekeeping. It was a lighter week in the world of Cirium data, but that’s not to say it wasn’t an interesting one full of twists and turns.

The Animal surprised by picking up its toys at LAX and walking away for the greener pastures of… Burbank and Ontario. Ok, maybe they aren’t greener literally, but the Animal thinks there’s certainly more money to be made.

Meanwhile, the Heart was busy dreaming of the islands, the Widget took a swing at the Eagle, and the Sun decided no, it wouldn’t take the day off to start June.

All this and more this week. Like sands through the hourglass, so are the skeds of air lines.

Alaska Takes Down August

Alaska has cut the first half of August to match July almost entirely. The only difference? Minor increases in San Luis Obispo flying plus an attempt to go back into Seattle – Calgary. The second half of August presumably will go lower since that’s when the summer travel season starts to trail off, but it hasn’t been cut yet.

Allegiant Brings June 1 Back

Well, it turns out it was just a mistake. Allegiant restored its June 1 schedule after canceling the entire day last week.

American Boosts a Few Routes and Cuts Others

American gave an extra daily flight on several Charlotte routes including Appleton, Fort Walton Beach, Las Vegas, and Sarasota. It also cut back some markets, mostly in the Caribbean. And again, China has been pushed back. The resumption is now set for August, but I expect further delays. This was really a housekeeping week.

Delta Takes a Shot at American

Delta has filed some retaliation against American up in Boston. The airline will start flying from Boston to Charlotte 3x daily and Dallas/Fort Worth 2x daily beginning October 4. It will also add back Boston and LaGuardia to Toronto, border-willing, and LA to San Diego to the network.

In broader news, Delta cut the summer back some more, including taking down Canada flying since the border likely won’t be open. Most of the other cuts are largely international in July and domestic in August. They appear to be markets that were hoping to resume but won’t. The only thing that looks more permanent is Indianapolis – Salt Lake which is out through Nov.

Frontier is Out of LAX

This week Frontier said it would go into Burbank with flights to Vegas, Phoenix, and Denver. It also grew Denver from Ontario and added Atlanta from there as well. What it didn’t say is that it is pulling out of LAX entirely. Everything goes away in July except for 3x weekly to Denver that stick around until September. I have confirmed that the airline will walk away. I’m planning to write more on this tomorrow.

Southwest Is All About Hawai’i

Southwest filed its blizzard of new Hawai’i flying on the 737 MAX. To account for the shift of MAX airplanes west, it also upgauged several routes to get the airplanes into place and provide feed opportunities. Other than that, Southwest did add back flying in June, as it usually does after making its cuts.

A Huge Change for Spirit

Spirit this week decided to swap airplanes on Orlando – DFW and Orlando – Philly. Philly gets the bigger airplane while DFW gets the smaller one. That was the entirety of the filing. Huge.

United Adds a Dulles Bank

It looks like United has started firming up July, or at least the first half of it. The airline has added a new late night bank at Dulles for east coast flying, improving utilization of existing aircraft. As part of that, it looks like Milwaukee – Dulles will rejoin the network for the long run.

United is also upgauging Newark – Athens and starting Newark – Dubrovnik a week early, a positive sign of the demand in the market. In other news, San Francisco – Washington/National is going to come back in July.

Other Randomness

• Advanced Air is back operating for Taos Air after a pandemic hiatus. It will fly from its Taos (NM) hub to Austin, Carlsbad (CA), Dallas/Love, and Hawthorne/Los Angeles on the Dornier 328JET.
• Air Canada is making some frequency adjustments through the winter on Caribbean routes, mostly downward, but at the same time it’s growing Hawai’i with new service from Montreal and Toronto in addition to increased frequencies from Calgary and Vancouver.
• Air China has cut everything to the US through Oct except for 1x daily LA to Beijing and 1x weekly to Shenzhen.
• Air Transat is going to stay out of the US market until September at the earliest.
• Elite will fly a couple times a week from Westchester to Melbourne (FL), Portland (ME), and Sarasota this summer.
• Lufthansa wins head-scratcher of the year with a 2x weekly flight from Newark to Malta. It will pull down a Munich flight to fund this one.
• Neos has filed its 2x weekly schedule from New York/JFK to Milan/Malpensa this summer. Good luck.
• Singapore won’t fly Newark – Singapore, Houston – Manchester – Singapore, or Seattle – Singapore through the summer season.
• Southern Air Express has won the Chadron (NE) essential air service contract. Boutique is moving out of the market in June when Southern picks up the Denver flying.
• Virgin Atlantic has postponed all US – Manchester flying with New York hoping to start midway into June and nothing else happening until July at the earliest.
• WestJet has finally come to terms with the fact that June is lost. It slashed capacity to a realistic level now. In the longer run, it appears to have given up on the summer season in Calgary – Orlando, Edmonton – Phoenix, Toronto – Puerto Vallarta, Vancouver – Palm Springs, and Winnipeg – Vegas through September.

That’s all for this week. Stay tuned for next week’s exciting episode of Skeds of air Lines.