The Complete List of Cranky Network Award Winners

Was it just me, or does nobody else remember last week either? Once I arrived in Phoenix for the 5th annual Cranky Network Awards presented by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, it was a complete and total blur until it was all done. In the end, we had what I think was our best event yet, and I want to thank all ~170 of you who joined us.

We started with the new Cranky Confab where we had an in-depth discussion with four aircraft manufacturers and another that focused on the US-Mexico market. That was bookended by the Forecast Breakfast the morning after the awards. I’d love to tell you about those, but I can’t. See, we use the Chatham House Rule for all those events, because we want people to feel comfortable opening up. And open up they did, making for good discussion.

What I can talk about, however, is the awards themselves. We had more categories this year since we expanded to include all of the Americas north of the equator. We also had more, glorious outfits. I think I really classed it up this year. (If you were at the awards, this is when you’d jump up and push the new Bullshit Bell we introduced this year, because I’m obviously lying.)

So, let’s get to it and run through the winners.

Sexiest New Route – Short-Haul presented by Embraer

United Airlines won for its new Newark – Nuuk route. Why is this short-haul? Well, as we said when we read the nominees at the event, “it’s a 737 on a soon-to-be domestic flight shorter than transcon,” so yup, that’s short-haul.

Sexiest New Route – Long-Haul

Air France won for its Phoenix – Paris/CDG route. The airline did send someone out to the event, and when he came up to accept, he told us he had no idea when he had boarded the flight that very morning that he was flying such a sexy route.

Best Aircraft-Enabled Opportunity

This is the award that looks at a route that’s been enabled either physically or economically by new aircraft technology. Porter won the Cranky this year for its Toronto – Palm Springs flight on the Embraer E195 E2.

Emilio Carranza Award presented by OAK Airport

We named this award after Emilio Carranza who was known as the Mexican Lindbergh back in the early days of flight. He tragically died in a plane crash at 22, so he isn’t nearly as well known as he might otherwise be. (If you’d like, you can visit a memorial in Central New Jersey where the plane went down.)

This award was meant for the airline that had the biggest growth between the US and Mexico in 2024, and that was Viva with more than a 30% increase in seats.

Best New Destination – North America

South Caicos on American won this award which goes to a destination that has service to the US, Canada, or Mexico for the first time in at least five years. South Caicos was supposed to have started last month, but it’s been delayed while they work out some regulatory issues. It’s a brand new airport serving a brand new resort, so there’s a lot to figure out.

Best New Destination – Global presented by Medjet

This year we split Best New Destination into two, because there were so many good options. The winner for Global was Bilbao on United, a city which is great in its own right but is also the gateway to San Sebastián.

Tailgate Express Award presented by John Glenn Columbus International Airport

This was a new award for us this year, and it looked at the fan flights for travel to college football games. With conference realignment, people have to travel further than ever, and Delta stepped it up this year with one-off flights to 31 markets last fall, flying 82 flights with 8,892 seats. This doesn’t even include the playoffs or extra sections/upgauges on existing routes. Delta’s focus was mostly on traditional SEC teams (read: not those that used to be in the Big 12) and Notre Dame.

La Victoria de Ruta Aérea

Volaris took home this award that’s the Latin version of our regular Route Victory Award. What for? Guadalajara to Fresno. I know, I too was surprised that Fresno won an award for anything, but this market is now flying on Volaris up to 3x daily, and Alaska has decided to fly it during peak times as well. Of course, most of the travel is for visiting friends and relatives, so with what’s happening with immigration, this route is probably going to struggle in the short run.

Route Victory Award

We gave United this award for its success on San Francisco – Rome. It’s the Atlantic route with United’s highest fare from SFO… by a lot, and it’s now likely going to only get better once ITA gets fully integrated with its new overlord Lufthansa.

Best Airport Partner

We ask airlines to nominate their favorite people who do air service development at the airports, and this year’s winner was Abe Weber from Appleton. Multiple airlines love Abe and really appreciate his creativity in marketing.

Most Clever Flight Number

This year’s winner was Sun Country for its flight 355 from Minneapolis/St Paul to Atlanta. The 355 refers to the number of milliliters in the standard Coke bottle from the early days. This is, however, equal to 12 ounces so… why not just go with flight 12? We’ll never know.

Most Promising New Partnership presented by Pittsburgh International Airport

Our winner this year was Delta and SAS for their new codeshare which we assume will result in SAS’s eventual inclusion in the joint venture over the Atlantic. It’s early days, but that’s the point of this award, to look forward and think about the potential.

Network Victory Award

Our winner here was Southwest Airlines for its Austin market performance. With American pulling out and ULCCs struggling to get a foothold, Southwest has conquered this market with rising share and improving revenue. With gates at a premium for many years to come, Southwest is well-positioned. (And am I the only one, or does this image make you a little sad too?)

Calculated Risk Award

This year, this award seems tailor-made for Alaska and Hawaiian’s expansion into long-haul international flying from Seattle. It is most definitely a risk, and it was calculated. We won’t know how it works for awhile, but as we say… if they succeed, their names will be remembered for generations for pulling off this majestic feat, and if not, well, there’s always next year’s Airlines We Lost.

La Red Más Mejorada

This is the Latin version of our biggest award, Most Improved Network. This award goes to the airline that did the most to improve its position during the last year, regardless of what it started with. And in the Latin market, we chose Avianca, or sorry, avianca, to win the award. It has had incredible growth in the last year with 20 percent seat growth and eight new airports. It’s US growth was in the double digits as well.

Most Improved Network presented by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport

Our winner this year was United Airlines, mostly on the strength of its incredible international growth. United has 41 Transatlantic destinations now planned, up from 28 before the pandemic. Over the Pacific, there are 29. And what I found most interesting of all, United will serve 34 destinations outside of the US this year that have no other service from another US-based airline.

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Do you want to hear more detail on some of these? Tune in to The Air Show this week where we’ll talk about it in more detail. That should be live Wednesday or Thursday, but as always, subscribe so you can see when it comes out.

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