Now that the new year has begun, it is time to reveal the nominations for the upcoming 2025 Cranky Network Awards presented by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The ceremony which honors the best in airline network planning will be on February 27 in the Valley of the Sun for invited guests, and again, we will only post highlights after the event is done. That being said, you can follow along on social media where we’ll post the winners live. Look for more details on that as the event draws closer.
This year we have expanded beyond just the US and Canada to include Latin America north of the equator, so we have some new awards this year.
But enough about that. Let’s get into this year’s nominees, listed in alphabetical order for each category.
Sexiest New Route – Short-Haul presented by Embraer
For the sexiest new route under 3,000 miles
- Alaska from Los Angeles to La Paz (México)
- American from Miami to South Caicos
- Avianca from Bogotá to Tampa
- JetBlue from Westchester to San Juan
- United from Newark to Nuuk
Sexiest New Route – Long-Haul
For the sexiest new route over 3,000 miles
- Air Canada from Vancouver to Manila
- Air France from Phoenix to Paris/CDG
- Alaska/Hawaiian from Seattle to Tokyo/Narita
- Delta from New York/JFK to Catania
- United from Newark – Madeira
Most Clever Flight Number
- American 824 from Los Angeles to Philadelphia highlighting Kobe Bryant’s two jersey numbers flying between his home town and his professional home
- American 1989 from Kansas City to Las Vegas for the Super Bowl, giving a Taylor Swift connection
- Sun Country 355 from Minneapolis/St Paul to Atlanta for the 355ml size of a bottle of Coke
- United 80 from Newark to Nuuk for the 80 percent of Greenland that is covered in ice
- WestJet 1124 from Edmonton to Salt Lake for the number of Canadian players (11) on the new Utah hockey team during its first season (24)
Best Airport Partner
As nominated by the airlines themselves
- Abe Weber from Appleton
- Sonja Harvey and David Zielke from Portland (Oregon)
- Lori Lynah from Savannah
Best New Destination – North America
For the newest destination in North America not previously served from the US and Canada (in recent times)
- Aero to Napa (APC)
- Allegiant to Gulf Shores (GUF)
- American to South Caicos (XSC)
- Avelo to Lakeland (LAL)
- United to Puerto Escondido (PXM)
Best New Destination – Global
For the newest destination outside North America not previously served from the US and Canada (in recent times)
- Air Transat to Valencia (Spain)
- Delta to Catania (Italy)
- Neos to Bari (Italy)
- United to Bilbao (Spain)
- United to Faro (Portugal)
Tailgate Express Award presented by John Glenn Columbus International Airport
For the best college football fan flying program
- American
- Delta
- Southwest
- United
Most Promising New Partnership presented by Pittsburgh International Airport
- Air Canada and Landline new regional service from Toronto
- Allegiant and Viva for their proposed joint venture which will keep being nominated until the government actually does something about it
- Delta and SAS for their new codeshare and frequent flier partnership
- JetBlue and Cape Air for their new frequent flier partnership
- Southwest and Icelandair for the new (or, ahem, returning) interline partnership
Calculated Risk Award
- Alaska for its big Seattle international expansion plan
- Frontier for its continuing network shift away from traditional leisure markets
- United for the restart of its Tokyo/Narita hub shifting capacity from Guam
- Viva for its move into Guadalajara
- Volaris for its move into Monterrey
Best Aircraft-Enabled Opportunity
For the best opportunity that couldn’t be served either economically or operationally without newer generation aircraft
- Aer Lingus for Nashville – Dublin on the A321XLR
- Air Transat for Toronto – Berlin on the A321LR
- Breeze for Norfolk – San Diego on the A220
- Porter for Toronto – Palm Springs on the E195-E2
- United for Newark – Madeira on the 737-8 MAX
La Red Más Mejorada
The most improved network for Latin American airlines (north of the equator)
- Aeromexico
- Avianca
- Copa
- Viva
- Volaris
Most Improved Network presented by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
The most improved network for US and Canadian airlines
- Breeze
- Delta
- JetBlue
- Porter
- United
In addition, we have our usual “lifetime achievement” style winners which will be announced for both the Route Victory and Network Victory awards. This year we also have the new Over the Wall Award presented by Oakland International Airport to honor the best achievement in flying between the US and México.
The stage is set, so stay tuned to see who wins the trophies!
edited short haul for Avianca was meant to be Tampa, not Miami
9 comments on “Announcing the 2025 Cranky Network Award Nominations”
How is Avianca bogota-Miami on the list for sexiest new short haul route??? Avianca has served that route for decades. Did you mean to write Emirates?
Jason – It was Tampa, not Miami. Fixed. Sorry.
ah cool. no worries – I knew something was off!
I feel like the United to Nuuk route got the most attention (although perhaps United gets a little too much credit compared to the city of nuuk who reinvisioned tourism with the new airport) but also how is that route not part of the global nominees? Greenland isn’t part of America (yet).
Also United to Puerto Escondido is both interesting and necessary (given the only other US flight around there is a sometimes flight on American to Huatulco, but also a bit irrelevant as mexico just built a high speed interstate to the city from Oaxaca…
Also Avelo should be nominated somewhere…what they are able to build out of mostly New Haven has been impressive
Mike – I don’t understand what you mean that Nuuk got the most attention.
It had two nominations, one for flight number and the other for sexiest short haul route. It has nothing to do with global or not. It’s just a short flight.
And Avelo is nominated for Lakeland. New Haven is nothing new and has been nominated in the past.
Of all the routes you reference, the United Nuuk route was easily the one that made it into the mainstream news and not just on the CF-adjacent blogs
United’s “new” (was initially announced in 2023 for 2024….) Faro (FAO) service clearly is one of the most anticipated new links: Portugal is booming in American tourism and a new nonstop American connection to south Portugal had been asked for years. A route to watch closely as others may follow from other markets – BOS, per example
Thanks for including the significance of the Most Clever Flight Numbers.
Prior to this post (and subsequent googling), I had no idea (a) that Napa had an airport and (b) who the hell Aero is. While I’m now aware Aero is a JSX clone intent on flying rich Angelinos to a half dozen bougie spots from decidedly not so bougie Van Nuys, the inclusion of Napa in the best new destination category seems like a massive stretch considering its status as a destination consists of 2 weekly flights on a semi-private, pseudo-charter, part 380, not an actual airline airline.