Zzzzzz… oh sorry, I was taking a nap. See it’s been mighty slow in Airlineville this week, so it seemed like a good opportunity to doze off. That’s what both the Heart and the Taxi decided to do, and good for them for taking a break.
That’s not to say the Cirium data cupboard was bare. No, not at all. The Eskimo, Ms Blue, and Pualani all did some fall trimming. Meanwhile, the Maple Leaf and the Globe took things further into the winter. The Globe in particular seems to have some big plans for quality time in the mountains when the snow starts falling.
All that and more in this week’s episode. Like sands through the hourglass, so are the skeds of air lines.
Air Canada Starts Planning for Winter
Air Canada decided to get an early start on winter, cutting several routes at least until the end of March. That includes Halifax – London/Heathrow; Toronto – Brussels, Copenhagen, Madrid; and Vancouver – Brisbane, Melbourne. It will also cut weekly frequencies on Montreal – Geneva and Lyon (-2x/week each), Toronto – Dublin and Santiago (-1x/week each), and Vancouver – Auckland (-1x/week) and Sydney (-2x/week when/if it returns).
The winners this week? Air Canada will run Montreal – Athens through the winter and add more flying there from Toronto. Another winner is Doha, which gets an extra weekly flight from Toronto.
Alaska Trims Into Fall
Alaska was all about the cuts this week, taking down capacity from August all the way into November. July capacity has been down 18 percent vs 2019. August is now down 17 percent while September is down 4 percent. October had its first cut bring it down to being up “only” 10 percent while November is up 15 percent. From December on, capacity is still showing up more than 20 percent. I imagine everything past August will be subject to more cutting.
Alaska also filed new service from Seattle/Paine Field to Tucson this fall as it ramps back up to full capacity there.
Allegiant Rolls Its Schedule Into the New Year
Allegiant has extended its schedule through the winter holiday season. December as filed is up 14 percent vs 2019. Zooming in, I was surprised to see Allegiant pull out of Phoenix/Mesa – Stockton starting in October. Stockton, remember, is one of the markets Allegiant will serve from Phoenix/Sky Harbor when it enters later this year. The other market, Provo, looks to keep its flight to Phoenix/Mesa but will be losing Denver service instead.
Delta Brings Down Labor Day, Boosts Up Spain
It looks like it just took Delta an extra week to decide to bulk up Spain after the market opened up. It will go from 4x weekly to daily in Atlanta – Barcelona and from 3x weekly to daily in Atlanta – Madrid, both starting in August. In other news, Delta took a bunch of flights down on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, knowing that most people will be flying on Monday instead that week.
Hawaiian Extends International Cuts
Hawaiian has continued its schedule reductions to Asia for August and September. Meanwhile, Oceania reductions continue in October and November.
JetBlue Cuts Further in the Fall
JetBlue had done its initial cuts already, but now it’s cutting another 5 percent of capacity in September and October. Many summer seasonal routes look to be ending early, with 11 from Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket headlining the list.
United Blankets the Rockies, Adds the MAX 8
United has rolled out an aggressive winter schedule when it comes to the Rockies. Notable cities with big increases from all the hubs are Aspen, Bozeman, Gunnison, Jackson Hole, Kalispell, Montrose, Steamboat Springs, Sun Valley, and Vail.
In other news, United has quietly filed its first schedule for the 737 MAX 8. It will launch service on July 15 between Houston and both Newark and Las Vegas. This airplane will seat 166 passengers just like the 737-800s in the fleet. The 737 MAX 9 has been flying for some time.
WestJet Flies the 737-800 Flag
WestJet made some unique capacity shifts this week. It has taken its non-domestic flying through the winter and put most 737-600 and 737-700 flying into the 737-800. Presumably it will divvy up the fleet later.
Other Randomness
- Aeromar is feeling the heat in Laredo and has cut back from 5x weekly to 3x.
MoxyBreeze has now officially filed its schedule under the MX airline code. ¡Viva Mexicana!- Cabo Verde Airlines has suspended its Sal service from Boston and Washington through October. It is still planning on flying weekly from Boston to Praia.
- China Airlines won’t fly Taipei – Guam, Honolulu, or Ontario until the end of October. JFK now won’t start until the end of August and LAX will continue to have a reduced schedule through that same period.
- Elite has decided to switch its planned Westchester – Melbourne (FL) service to go from Newark instead. It will also now plan on flying from Westchester to Portland (ME) through the winter.
- Silver is giving up on Jacksonville – Tampa in July.
- Singapore is still planning on bringing back its LAX – Tokyo flight this month, but it will now fly it only 3x weekly instead of 5x until the end of October.
- Swoop canceled all the US flying it had filed last week for this winter.
- VivaAerobus is pouring capacity into its US flying with big increases planned in Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and New York/JFK to Mexico City and Monterrey.
- Zip Air is going to start weekly Tokyo/Narita – Honolulu flights next month.
That’s all for this week. Stay tuned for next week’s exciting episode of Skeds of air Lines.
For more in-depth analysis of the most important schedule trends, subscribe to Cranky Network Weekly. This week we feature:
- United Taps the Rockies This Winter
- Viva Aerobus Makes Its Move on the US
- Air Canada Prepares for a Long, Cold Winter
- Allegiant Makes Holiday Plans
- WestJet Temporarily Goes Big Outside Canada
