Cranky Weekly Review Presented by San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport: Frontier’s Newest Frontiers, Elliott Won’t Stop

Frontier Adds 11

Frontier is adding 11 new frontiers as the carrier will add flights for this fall and winter to give customers who prefer their airplanes with an animal on their tail more options.

The new flights include:

• Atlanta: Austin (3x weekly), Newark (daily), Washington/Dulles (daily)
• Burbank: Denver (3x weekly), Phoenix (4x weekly), San Francisco (daily)
• Cincinnati: Sarasota (weekly)
• Orlando: New York/JFK (daily), Washington/Dulles (4x weekly)
• Seattle: Salt Lake City (3x weekly)
• Tampa: New York/JFK (daily)

The flying public is especially excited to see Frontier add these routes as they will fill a void in several markets that lack service, including Atlanta to NYC and Washington, DC, and NYC to both Orlando and Tampa. Now that there’s some service on those city pairs, life will get a lot easier for millions, thanks Frontier!

Elliott Continues Pursuit of Change at Southwest

Elliott Investment Management – the little hedge fund that could — continues to pick a fight with the senior leadership team of Southwest, sending a letter this week to shareholders proposing that the carrier form a board-level committee to conduct a business review and consider several significant changes.

Representatives from Elliott — which now owns almost 10% of the carrier — has a meeting scheduled with Southwest for September 9 but it warns that it still plans to pursue a board challenge when if it doesn’t like the results of the get-together. Their concerns range from the future of the airline’s revenue streams, to the introduction to assigned and extra-legroom seating, and what snacks will be served during the meeting. Elliott has threatened an immediate board challenge if the airline dares to serve any fruit that isn’t perfectly ripe, and insists that no salty death mix be anywhere in the building.

United FAs Approve Strike

Service is their passion, safety is their priority, and a strike could be in their future after United Airlines’s flight attendants voted by a North Korean-type 99.99% majority to authorize a potential work stoppage after the carrier declined to negotiate a new contract to replace the current, expired agreement.

The union is insisting on higher pay, back pay since the previous deal expired, boarding pay, improved work rules, and increased hazard pay for overnight layovers in Newark. This vote marks a first for the carrier, as it hadn’t seen its FAs vote to authorize a strike since emerging from bankruptcy in 2005. The flight attendants seem especially peeved at the raises UA’s executive team have given themselves in recent years, including the $18+ million salary for CEO Scott Kirby, which doesn’t include the $500 he receives from Ed Bastian every time he says on TV that Delta is the shining star that guides him.

This vote, of course, doesn’t mean a strike is imminent, as it must follow a 30-day cooling off period mandated by the federal government, and it also requires the National Mediation Board to release the union from negotiations, all of which are unlikely anytime soon.

Australia Debuts the Cutest Airline There Ever Was

Goodbye Rex, hello Koala! If it ever feels like Australia and Canada compete to see which country can both launch more new carriers while also seeing others shut down than the other, that’s because it’s true — we think. And the latest entry in the Australian market is the wonderfully-named Koala, which will attempt to adorably fill the abyss chasm vacuum pit void left when both Bonza and Rex bid farewell down under earlier this year.

The new carrier already has a management team, a website, an Air Operators Certificate, and a warehouse full of eucalyptus leaves — all of which it hopes will lead to a good start. The airline will base itself in Melbourne, as it was determined that the southeastern city has the best climate for koalas to thrive, and will fly a fleet of B737-8 MAXs.

Koala says its goal will not be to offer cheap fares, but to instead “carve out a niche that enhances the industry landscape without disrupting existing standards by creating a lasting impact on the industry,” a statement that must have cost at least several hundred thousand dollars between the various PR and consulting firms that had a hand in crafting it.

SAS Looks Forward

It’s a big week for SAS, as the carrier exited the U.S. bankruptcy process on Wednesday, and wraps up its final week as a member of Star Alliance. The carrier restructured more than $2 billion worth of debt and had its most profitable month ever last month as it begins a new era.

The bankruptcy process was originally supposed to take about a year and ended up taking double that, but it emerges from the process as a leaner airline with a new investor in Air France-KLM. AF/KL also has the right to increase its stake and become a majority owner of the airline over the next several years. As part of its new partnership with Air France-KLM, SAS will immediately begin looking down on the British. It will also officially join SkyTeam on Sunday.

• Aer Lingus is reducing the number of frequencies it operates to London/Heathrow after discovering that London Bridge isn’t actually falling down.
• Aeromexico is rebranding.
• Air Belgium creditors are voting on the carriers’ restructuring plan today.
• Air France-KLM completed its 19.9% purchase of SAS.
• Air New Zealand‘s fiscal outlook isn’t great. That means a call to the bullpen could be in order.
• Air Senegal isn’t dead yet.
• Air Serbia‘s first E195s will begin flying next month.
• Air Vanuatu is back flying domestic routes for your needs to fly within the vast land that is Vanuatu.
• Breeze is interested in several Small Community Air Service Development routes.
• Delta is ending its 4x weekly service from Atlanta to Stuttgart.
• Flair is offering $1 routes.
• JetBlue is making Bozeman smell minty fresh this winter.
• KLM took delivery of its first A321neo.
• LOT does not like the Boeing-DOJ MAX plea deal a lot.
• Lufthansa is testing free drinks — including the good stuff — in short-haul economy.
• National Jet Express took delivery of its 10th Q400 aircraft despite its name.
• Norse Atlantic is moving the deck chairs around.
• Qantas profits went down.
• Royal Brunei Airlines is adding service to Chennai.
• Royal Jordanian is suspending service to Beirut.
• Ryanair isn’t mad at Boeing, it’s disappointed.
• SAS was able to avoid a cabin crew strike for its Norway-based crew.
• SkyTeam is seeing one of its oldest members of the alliance Czech out later this year.
• Singapore is the first international carrier to announce an intention to serve the new Western Sydney Airport, scheduled to open in 2026.
• SpiceJet flew empty planes from Dubai this week after the airport refused to let passengers check-in or board the plane over the carrier’s mounting unpaid debts. The passengers who were denied boarding were encouraged to keep calm and curry on.
• TAP is going to need to tap into some new ideas to turn its profit forecast around.
• Vistara‘s brand will go away in November.