---

United Passes FAA’s Safety Test

The FAA completed its audit of United Airlines and confirmed that it found no major safety issues with the carrier outside of its insistence on maintaining a hub in Newark.

The inquiry came after a tough spring for the carrier which saw a series of safety-related incidents in quick succession. These included a wheel coming off a B777 while taking off in San Francisco and a gear collapse on a B737 when landing at Houston/IAH.

With the audit now being complete, and the FAA being off its back, United is free to get back to doing what it does best — running a moderately on-time operation that is profitable some of the time, and that even sometimes gets people where it is they’re trying to go.

Spirit Considers Nuclear Option

Spirit Airlines and bankruptcy — sometimes the jokes just write themselves. The airline has been in discussions with some of its bondholders about a potential Chapter 11 filing, plunging its shares down 40% down to $1.66, or roughly $10 short of the price to purchase a BuzzBallz on-board a Spirit flight.

The beleaguered stock has lost nearly 85% of its value this year following the carrier’s failed merger with JetBlue. Spirit has more than $3 billion debt and leases on its books, and that’s before accounting for cash payments it has to make to customers who win their fistfights onboard its flights. Were the carrier to file, it would not happen in the immediate future — according to the Wall Street Journal — which ironically is the same thing Spirit said about your cousin’s flight to Myrtle Beach — it’ll get there, just not in the immediate future.

Spirit’s Q3 earnings report is scheduled to be released later this month and has the potential to be ‘look-away bad, which is the same way it describes how you’ll feel after a couple BuzzBallz on a cross-country flight.

Delta Signs Saudia Codeshare

Delta Air Lines’s newest codeshare partner is fellow SkyTeam carrier Saudia, as the two airlines prepare to offer more options for customers through the agreement — provided it receives approval from both the U.S. and Saudi governments.

The partnership will see Delta flight numbers to nine new destinations in Saudi Arabia via Saudia’s hubs in Riyadh and Jeddah, while Saudia’s SV flight code will be available to 12 destinations in the United States on Delta. This comes about a decade after Delta said it would not codeshare with the airline — then known as Saudi Arabia Airlines, but clearly it has changed its tune since the its new name makes it less obvious its a Saudi-based carrier.

This marks Delta’s third new codeshare partner in the last few months, as it finalized a deal with SAS last week and linked up with fellow Saudi carrier Riyadh Air earlier this summer.

Qatar Purchases 25% Stake in Virgin Australia

Qatar Airways is stepping up its battle down under with Qantas, agreeing to purchase one-quarter of Virgin Australia from Bain Capital — pending approval from the Australian government. Bain said last year that it was considering an IPO for VA that would raise around A$1 billion, but the process was delayed after learning that it was only A$1 billion, which is only like US$4,000.

The acquisition comes after Qatar was denied access to increase its frequencies into four key Australian markets — Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney — all of which are confirmed to be real places. The deal comes with a guarantee that Virgin Australia will begin flying to Doha from all four Australian gateways, helping Qatar funnel connecting traffic through its hub.

Alaska Adds Five

Alaska Airlines launched new routes for its customers on the west coast plus the resumption of one cross-country flight from its Portland hub.

The carrier added two new cities from Las Vegas: San Diego and Santa Rosa, while Los Angeles sees flights to both Pasco/Tri-Cities in Washington State and Reno. Portland’s on-again, off-again relationship with Atlanta is on-again, as the carrier resumed flying to a second city from Atlanta (along with Seattle), with daily B737-900ER service.

Las Vegas makes 39 destinations for Alaska from San Diego, and its no coincidence that Vegas was chosen as #39, as the number 39 is known to stand for good luck throughout the state of Alaska.

• Aer Lingus is headed to Music City.
• Air Canada was fined $250,000 by the U.S. DOT for flying in restricted Iraqi airspace in 2022 and 2023.
• Alaska will reach for the stars with its newest codeshare partner.
• Cebu Pacific ordered 70 A321neos.
• China Southern is headed down under.
• Frontier pilots are holding a vote to authorize a strike.
• Garuda Indonesia is not having a good year.
• ITA reminds us that what’s old can always be new again.
• JAL signed a joint business agreement with Garuda Indonesia.
• JetBlue is seeking a resolution to a lawsuit in Florida over income tax payments.
• KLM is reducing its investment portfolio.
• LOT apologized for forcing BBC journalist Frank Gardner crawl along the floor to his seat. Maybe next time he won’t book in Basic Economy. It’s also looking to add a lot more airplanes.
• Lufthansa is suspending service to Beijing.
• Philippine Air is cutting service to China.
• Qantas will send its A380 aircraft to Africa for the first time.
• Qatar is adding service to Toronto, its second destination in Canada.
• Ryanair flight 846 left about 450 meters (that means 492 yards in Euro) of damage on the runway after its four rear tires blew out upon landing at Milan/BGY Tuesday morning. Ryanair is expected to sue the airport for unspecified reasons.
• SAS announced three new destinations in Sweden — Halmstad, Kalmar, and Sälen. As of press time, we have been unable to confirm if any of these are real places.
• Spirit cut a bunch of routes, but they also might be seasonal suspensions.
• Southwest is suing San Antonio International Airport over future terminal and gate allocation.
• TAROM is selling off its A318s.
• Thai SmartLynx is about to become Thailand’s first ACMI provider.
• TUI named Peter Glade its new CCO.
• United is now a global partner of Monumental Sports and Entertainment, the parent company of the Washington Capitals, Mystics, and Wizards. Much to United’s surprise, the three teams compete within the city limits of Washington, D.C., and not in Northern Virginia.
• Virgin Atlantic is enhancing its loyalty program. It’s also going to codeshare with SAS.