This week on The Air Show, we talk Delta. Is the airline doing enough to maintain its first place position? We aren’t so sure, but it’s a topic that keeps me up at night. (Yes, I need serious help.)
JetBlue Shrinks Route Map… Again
JetBlue Airways will see several unprofitable routes say goodbye, including a complete market exit from San Jose (CA) and an end to minty-fresh flights to Seattle.
On its way out is service between Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville alongside New York/JFK to Austin, Houston/IAH, Miami, and Milwaukee. In the biggest news of all — to rich Westchesterites who have a deep affinity for South Carolina — Westchester to Charleston will go away too. The carrier will end its seasonal flight from Boston to San Jose (CA), pulling out of SJC entirely, consolidating its flying to the San Francisco Bay Area at San Francisco International Airport which is one of the two closest airports in the region to San Francisco Bay.
Two flights from Boston (Grenada and Phoenix) and New York/JFK to Tulum will operate in the winter only, while Seattle to both BOS and JFK will no longer fly on aircraft with Mint on-board. Instead, JetBlue will use that nasty bubble gum-flavored option which nobody in their right mind prefers.
Across the pond, the summer-only flight between JFK and London/Gatwick and the second daily service between JFK and Paris/CDG are out, but Paris will continue to be served once daily to both BOS and JFK on a year-round basis.
Frontier’s Newest Frontier: First Class
Frontier Airlines continues to reinvent itself on the fly as the carrier announced this week it plans to introduce a first class cabin and an enhanced loyalty program that will include upgrades to said new first class cabins and free travel for companions of elite members.
Frontier says it will have eight first class seats on each plane, two rows in a 2-2 layout. The image released by the airline shows what appears to be a pretty standard domestic first class seat, with slight recline and an ability to open a trap door in the flooring once per flight to send a deserving economy passenger to the cargo hold.
Beginning early next year, it plans to offer free upgrades to Frontier Miles Gold members and above when available, which may very well be “never.” Then later next year it will introduce unlimited free companion travel (except for government taxes and fees) for Platinum and Diamond members of Frontier Miles provided the companion is a member of the program (at any level) and is willing to endure a flight on Frontier.
For more on Frontier’s bougie revolution, please check out Thursday’s post on crankyflier.com.
Avelo Adds in the Tar Heel State
Avelo Airlines announced 10 new routes and two new bases with the bulk of the additions in North Carolina. The carrier will add new bases in both Wilmington (ILM, the airline’s second Wilmington base) and Concord (USA, the airline’s 10th base in the USA) in the state, while also adding its first two international routes outside of its home in Connecticut.
Concord — a secondary airport located about 25 miles from the last city that needs a secondary airport, Charlotte — will see two B737s based at the airport beginning in the spring, while Wilmington — still leaning on its reputation as the number one destination for Dawson’s Creek fans — will see three aircraft based there later in the year. Raleigh-Durham, where the carrier already has a base, will receive new service in February to both Montego Bay and Punta Cana.
Other new service includes Wilmington to Manchester (NH), Nashville, and Rochester, Concord to Daytona Beach and Nashville, Nashville to Rochester and Wilmington (DE), and Manchester to Myrtle Beach.
US – Thai Flights to Return
Flights between the United States and Thailand are expected to resume in February after the FAA returns Thailand’s aviation safety from the lawless and chaotic Category 2 back to the calm and demure environs of Category 1.
Thailand was downgraded to Category 2 late in 2015 after the U.S. government found several issues in the country including non-compliance with ICAO standards, insufficient personnel inspections, leniency in issuing air transport licenses, and being a “little too interested” in having flights operate to both Newark and Tucson.
Thai previously operated to both Los Angeles and New York/JFK, with service ending early in 2015 — months before the downgrade of Thailand’s safety rating to Category 2. The carrier is expected to resume both assuming it can get enough aircraft that aren’t thai’d up flying other routes.
Air Canada to Further Restrict Basic Economy Passengers
Air Canada will prohibit Basic Economy passengers from carrying on anything larger than a personal item beginning January 3, instead requiring larger carry-ons be checked at a price of C$35 for the first checked bag and C$50 for the second.
It’s not stopping there as it will also require Basic Economy passengers to pay to change the seat assigned at check-in. This policy will begin January 21, and is its second crack at this — AC implemented this fee earlier in 2024 but rolled it back after two days due to public outcry. The carrier considered taking it a step further and requiring Basic Economy passengers to stand the entire flight unless they wanted to pay a per-minute sitting fee, but decided to hold off at the last minute.
The new policies more closely align it with its main domestic competitor – WestJet – which has an “UltraBasic” fare that doesn’t include a carry-on, seat assignment, or in-flight oxygen without paying an additional fee.
- Aerolíneas Argentinas is going to codeshare with LATAM on more than 140 destinations.
- Air Canada is bulking up its transborder offerings from Vancouver next summer.
- Air New Zealand expects its B787 Dreamliners with its new cabin interior to begin flying in February.
- AirBaltic‘s IPO is on hold until at least the summer.
- Airlink CEO Rodger Foster is retiring after 33 years in the role.
- Alaska had a brief tech outage on Monday.
- Allegiant pilots tried to find the least consequential place to picket this week and it appears they succeeded.
- American is committing to Citi and dumping Barclays.
- Asiana‘s merger with Korean is expected to be approved by the U.S. DOJ later this month.
- BARK Air is expanding with… Air Wisconsin? Woof.
- Bees Airlines is buzzing to fewer destinations than it was previously.
- Cathay Pacific is adding new service to Munich and returning to Brussels next summer. These additions come as CEO Ronald “on the run” Lam is apologizing for the carrier offering an episode of Family Guy which included a scene satirizing the Tiananmen Square incident which apparently the Chinese government frowns upon.
- easyJet will add bases in both Rome/FCO and Milan/LIN next year.
- Finnair canceled flights Monday due to a controversial labor action.
- GOL met its goal of settling its debt.
- Icelandair is the newest member of the Airbus family.
- Korean will rebrand all of its LCC subsidiaries as Jin Air once its merger with Asiana is complete.
- LATAM entered into a $300 million sustainability-linked loan.
- LEVEL is now operating on the level, with its own AOC.
- Malaysia Airlines received its first A330 neo.
- Norse Atlantic is leasing six of its seven Dreamliners to a mystery airline for much of 2025.\
- Norwegian Air Shuttle is adding 17 new routes next summer.
- Pakistan International Airlines is back, baby!
- Porter is now flying the lone non-stop route between Montréal and Fort Myers.
- Qantas‘ first A321XLR entered final assembly.
- Southwest began this week its new policy of ending cabin service at about 18,000 feet during descent.
- SWISS is adding five more A350-900s beginning in 2027.
- TAP Air Portugal is tapping into three new U.S. routes including its first foray into Los Angeles.
- TUI is adding 14 B737-8s on lease from BOC Aviation.
- United wants to add service between Los Angeles and Beijing.
- Virgin Australia‘s codeshare agreement with Qatar received interim authorization from the Australian government. Air New Zealand too.
- Wizz Air was told by the UK government it’s not as green as it might claim to be.
How can you tell the difference between a crocodile and an alligator?
Easy…one will see you later and the other will see you in a while.
21 comments on “Cranky Weekly Review Presented by OAK: JetBlue Scales Back, Frontier’s First Class Frontier”
Interesting to see B6 exit the White Plains to Charleston route after competing with Breeze’s flights to Charleston from HPN & HVN. I wonder how well Breeze is doing on some of its flights.
Was going to comment about this route. I would guess Breeze is doing okay on HPN-CHS based on it’s relatively higher frequency of 5 times weekly(compare to many other twice weekly Breeze routes out of HPN).
I don’t know the markets at all, but as an outsider I’m surprised that there’s that much demand for flights to CHS from Southern CT/Westchester County NY.
Don’t get me wrong, I hear nothing but AMAZING things about Charleston (Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA are both at the top of my list for places to visit over a long weekend), but HPN/HVN to CHS just seem like very random/thin routes. I assume I’m missing something obvious, but I’m glad that Breeze is at least doing well enough to keep the flights going.
JetBlue has been trying unsuccessfully to treat CHS like an extension of FL for years. They went into CHS from LGA, EWR and DCA as well, and none of those flights exist anymore.
Interesting, thanks for the information. I don’t think about CHS as a warm weather destination, but maybe I’ve missed something, and I’m not really a beach/golf person.
“The carrier considered taking it a step further and requiring Basic Economy passengers to stand the entire flight unless they wanted to pay a per-minute sitting fee, but decided to hold off at the last minute.”
-Prepping early for April 1st I see?
In today’s commercial aviation world such a comment regarding Basic Economy should be taken seriously
I thought about the possibility of a frequent flyer program that strictly is based on butt in seat minute. The customers get rewarded more minutes if they had to sit longer due to delay etc, or less if the pilot made good time in the air. Butt in seat sensor to motivate passengers to board faster as the reward time starts the moment one sit down. Getting up to use the toilet? Sorry you are leaving minutes behind in the toilet. In the event of emergency, yes, you will earn more minutes if you choose to sit and wait for everyone else to evacuate first.
Shh… Don’t give Ryanair any ideas. ;-)
Meanwhile, Delta, one upping Southwest’s new 18,000ft service floor, has decided in the interest of crew safety to just not offer drinks or refreshments at all in coach.
It’ll be interesting to see what new European additions JetBlue announces next week. I still think there are some good opportunities in the UK – someone really needs to try Birmingham. The idea that people in Britain’s second-largest city have to connect in another country or schlep two-ish hours by car or bus (or longer by train) to get to North America just seems ridiculous (except for TUI’s seasonal service to Melbourne/”Orlando”).
Anyone know how many planes JetBlue has out of service, and the schedule going forward, because of the P&W fiasco?
As for Bark, their statement that they are “…is the world’s most dog-centric company” must come as a bit of a surprise to a lot of specialty dog food manufacturers and the merch department at weratedogs.com. But if I had a dog and had to fly, I’d seriously consider them.
And as for Air Canada more closely aligning with WestJet, all I can say is that the winner there is Porter, which must be rubbing its little paws together in glee.
B6 flying to LHR and LGW always seemed incredibly stupid. Guess I was right! In the UK, Birmingham might provide some opportunity, especially with IAG targeting Manchester for transatlantic services via EI. Was very surprised to learn it was the second biggest metro area in the UK, always assumed it was Manchester, but it’s almost 50% larger.
Measuring by metropolitan area, the Manchester metro area has greater population than West Midlands. The 2020 OECD stats for “functional urban area” (a city + its commuting zone) show 3.4m people in the Manchester area vs. 3.12m in the West Midlands.
The problem with serving e.g. JFK-BHX or JFK-MAN, is that the point of sale would be primarily on the UK side. There are a lot of people in the West Midlands and the Manchester area that would like to travel to New York City, but far fewer US-origin passengers seeking to travel to Birmingham or Manchester. This doesn’t play to JetBlue’s strengths – all of its branding, marketing, and existing customer base is in the US. It might be more viable if attempted by a UK airline like EasyJet or Jet2.
Does Thai even have the planes to fly nonstop to the US? I know they have a few A350s but Thailand is slightly farther away from the West Coast than the Philippines and Vietnam are, and Thailand doesn’t have the diaspora links that make their respective links work. I guess they could try their one-stops again, but that’s a crowded market.
Yeah I think that Bangkok Post article is a fluff piece like encouraged by the powers that be. If anyone were to add USA-BKK flights it would be United and – if I understand correctly – the Category 2 rating doesn’t stop them from doing that. I thought it was the opposite- a Thai airline could not add service to the US under a Category 2 rating. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong about this.
Either way, I’ll believe it when I see it.
BKK-LAX is a few hundred miles shorter than SIN-LAX, which Singapore Airlines uses the A350-900 on. Thai also has 777-300ERs. So my feeling is they probably do have capable aircraft.
Air Canada does YVR – BKK non-stop with a 787.
Is BARK Air a subsidiary of The Onion?
“consolidating its flying to the San Francisco Bay Area at San Francisco International Airport which is one of the two closest airports in the region to San Francisco Bay.”
Did the sponsor of this post require you to put in that line? :P
Jim – Ha, no, but it always seems like a good opportunity to poke fun at this silly mess!
I agree with OAK’s position on the matter, but the whole sage/controversy is definitely amusing.
There are plenty of other geographic examples where the same thing has been (or could be) reasonably done as a name change. For example, PIE could rename themselves as “Tampa Bay St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport”.