What’s this? A resident of Airlineville that’s starting to feel good about life? It seems unlikely, but indeed, the Queen has started making some more plans. I guess that’s what happens when the borders open up so she is actually allowed to come visit. The Eagle couldn’t be more pleased.
The Cirium data was again heavy with change this week, though much of it was just a shuffling of deck chairs as opposed to something more significant. The Taxi has finally set his holiday plans while Ms Blue and the Eskimo are looking further beyond the horizon. Is it too early for spring cleaning? Apparently not.
All this and more this week. Like sands through the hourglass, so are the skeds of air lines.
Alaska Pulls Down 2022
Alaska pulled out the ole’ axe and chopped down schedules from February into March by 13 percent and 10.5 percent respectively. Other than that, it was pretty quiet, but the airline did decide it’ll fly Portland – Paine Field from Feb through Apr when it was supposed to suspend the route.
Allegiant Hates Jackson Hole
Or maybe Jackson Hole hates Allegiant. Flights to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix/Mesa, and Reno are gone through the winter. Allegiant also canceled Houston to Fort Walton Beach/Destin and Savannah through the winter.
American Tinkers
It was a week with a lot of interesting little nuggets from American. The airline will fly Austin – Salt Lake and Sarasota on Saturdays over the holidays along with Philly – Daytona Beach on a more robust holiday schedule.
Internationally, DFW-Madrid is now going to fly this winter. Service restarts in December. It’s also boosting DFW – Paris from 1x to 2x next summer. Oh, and the Beijing switch to Capital airport must have been a mistake. It’s now switched back to Daxing, whenever it starts.
Delta Gives Boston a Boost
Delta is pouring more capacity into Boston, including some surprising routes. Both Athens and Tel Aviv will operate next summer. It’s also adding Baltimore, Denver, and San Diego.
In other news, Delta was just kidding about canceling Salt Lake – Durango entirely. It’s now back for a brief holiday appearance. And JFK – Sao Paulo’s restart has moved up from February to December.
JetBlue Brings Reality to Spring
JetBlue took February down 6.4 percent, March down 22 percent, and April down 17.6 percent as it tries to get the months closer to reality. It also reworked its Washington/National plans. It will grow Boston flights from around 9 a day up toward 15, rallying mostly around its focus cities instead of flying point-to-point.
Also, Boston – Portland (OR) was going to be suspended into February. Now it’s gone through May. The same goes for Aguadilla to Fort Lauderdale and Newark. Newark also loses Port-au-Prince while Raleigh/Durham – San Juan and Richmond Tampa meet the same fate. Bozeman loses Boston and LA in April and May. Boston – Palm Springs won’t fly in February or March, but it currently shows coming back in April, presumably for Coachella. Palm Springs will get Fort Lauderdale back in March and April.
Spirit Finally Adjusts the Holidays
Despite already having made adjustments in January, Spirit kept its holiday schedule rather vague. It has finally pulled the trigger on cuts, pulling down capacity during the off peak days while keeping the peaks relatively close to where they were. The pre-holiday period saw a bit of a haircut as well.
Beyond that, it appears that Greensboro – Orlando has been removed for good. Sorry, Greensboro, but I’m sure it’s all High Point’s fault.
United Smashes China
United has decided to give up completely on China flying through the full winter… with one exception. And for once, that exception is not Shanghai – Incheon. Starting in January, it is hoping to resume flying nonstop from Shanghai to San Francisco 4x weekly instead.
On an unrelated note, Newark – Lima is also gone through winter.
Other Randomness
- Advanced Air will have the Merced essential air service contract starting in January when it will fly to both LA and Vegas.
- Air France now won’t fly Miami – Point-a-Pitre and Port-au-Prince through the winter.
- Air New Zealand will only serve the Auckland – LA route in the US through the winter. It will fly 3x weekly.
- Avelo filed its new Burbank – Tucson flight to operate 2x weekly.
- British Airways is actually adding service for November now that the US border should be opening. Baltimore and Newark rejoin the network, with Orlando getting Gatwick service back.
- Caribbean Airlines won’t fly Fort Lauderdale – Port of Spain through winter.
- Condor is going back into JFK – Frankfurt from November.
- Denver Air Connection has reduced Clovis service from Denver, instead spreading the wealth to also connect Clovis to Dallas/Fort Worth.
- EVA has extended its pandemic schedule through year-end. That means 3x weekly from Taipei to LA along with 2x weekly to New York/JFK and Seattle.
- Lufthansa has downgauged Orlando – Frankfurt from a 747-400 to an A340-300. Yes, it still flies those.
- Singapore has filed schedules returning JFK – Frankfurt and San Francisco – Hong Kong in November.
- Surinam Airways has reinstated Miami – Georgetown from November.
- Ukraine International has canceled its JFK flight from Kiev.
- Ultimate Air Charters has filed schedules through the end of the year. Cincinnati/Lunken will have service to Cleveland/Lakefront, DeKalb (GA), and Nashville.
- Virgin Atlantic has canceled London/Heathrow – Washington/Dulles flying through the winter while Seattle is gone only through year-end.
- WestJet pulled down its November schedule by just over 11 percent. It’s mostly frequency reduction, but San Jose (CR) – Toronto will not operate through April.
That’s all for this week. Stay tuned for next week’s exciting episode of Skeds of air Lines.
