3 Links I Love: Sadness at Small Airports, Condor Goes Bold, Delta Seat Blocks, Trouble in Thailand

Apr 8, 2022

More Reading on This Topic: Delta, Links I Love

This Week’s Featured Link

With routes slashed during pandemic, small airports are on shaky flight path – The Washington Post
It’s not great for smaller airports these days, especially those that don’t have Essential Air Service funding. But it’s hard for me to feel bad for a place like Williamsport. The service was a perennial drain and State College is an hour away. That’s how it goes if you choose to live in a small town and there isn’t enough demand. There are trade-offs in life.

Tweet of the Week

Den richtigen Weg findet man nur mit einem Ziel vor Augen. Für uns ist dieses Ziel seit 1956 klar: Der Urlaub unserer Gäste soll bereits bei uns an Bord beginnen! Wie wir den Weg zu diesem Ziel finden? Mit einem Kompass, auf den man sich immer verlassen kann: Unsere Leidenschaft. pic.twitter.com/4dV2CjKWzf
— Condor Airlines News (@Condor) April 5, 2022

I don’t speak German, but I don’t need to. Condor is a leisure airline that mostly focuses on beach destinations. And now, it has a livery that stands out like none other. Just look at how much people are talking about it. It feels leisure-y and it fits the brand perfectly. Is it ugly? Maybe to some. But is it awesome? It sure is.

Two for the Road

Delta now has ‘dynamic’ seat maps that automatically block rows for families – TPG
I like this. Delta now blocks some rows at the back from being assigned unless you have a larger party which Delta assumes will have kids.

Thai airline’s April Fool’s Day joke could run afoul of local laws – Reuters
Uh… oops. Pretty funny though.

Brett

8 responses to “3 Links I Love: Sadness at Small Airports, Condor Goes Bold, Delta Seat Blocks, Trouble in Thailand”

Kilroy

Apr 8, 2022 at 5:47 am

I feel like there might be bit of a pun between Condor’s slogan (“Leidenschaft ist unser Kompass”, or “Passion is our compass”) and the first word of the slogan (or perhaps just part of the first word) and the stripes on their new livery, but I don’t speak German.

At the very least, Condor’s new livery should be hard to miss on the apron.

Reply
CraigTPA

Apr 8, 2022 at 6:01 am

I admit Condor’s livery is unique, but the words “Fruit Stripe gum” keep springing to mind.

Hadn’t considered the “beach towel” angle, though…nice touch.

Reply
1. SkyVoice
  
  Apr 18, 2022 at 8:44 pm
  
  And I thought that I was the only one here old enough to remember Beech Nut Fruit Striped Gum! “Yikes! Stripes!”
  
  Reply
GS in PDX

Apr 8, 2022 at 11:07 am

Condor’s new livery will definitely stand out! I can only imagine the painting cost on an A330n for that pattern!!

Reply
1. Oliver
  
  Apr 8, 2022 at 2:45 pm
  
  Is it really that expensive compared to some other liveries? E.g., Frontier manages to afford big letters and a unique animal photo on the tail.
  
  Reply
Nick Barnard

Apr 8, 2022 at 2:04 pm

Delta’s seat blocking is yet another reason that I want my airlines to be reasonably profitable, which is why the current arrangement of the Big 4 is a good thing. Something like this takes a little bit of money, and if an airline isn’t profitable, this likely isn’t going to move above the waterline for projects that’ll get greenlit.

Now, I just wonder how much longer until AA and UA copy them.

Reply
Yo

Apr 8, 2022 at 9:33 pm

I love the livery on Condor! It somehow works.

Reply
Paul A.

Apr 14, 2022 at 10:00 pm

It seems to me that smaller regional airlines like Sun Country should try to make a play for some of the smaller airports like Williamsport or Cheyenne, it wouldn’t need to be daily flights, maybe something weekly. I know it’s hard for smaller airports to get pax but it would maybe be a start. Now granted most of these smaller communities are EAS airports and that could complicate matters but I would think there is some money to be made.

Reply