Cranky Weekly Review Presented by OAK Airport: Southwest, We Hardly Knew Ye

Southwest Sells Out

There’s not much to say here that hasn’t been covered both here on the blog and all over the internet this week. Southwest Airlines announced this week it was getting rid of everything that differentiated it from every other airline in the U.S. market, finally caving and adding baggage fees, basic economy fares, and variable award redemption rates while adding expiration dates to ticket credits.

Most of the changes will become effective May 28, with previously announced enhancements such as both extra legroom and assigned seating to come later this year and beyond.

A Southwest executive was overheard at a Dallas-area whisky bar this week saying that Elliott Investment Management officials saw how much fun airlines had mocking basic economy customers and felt it wasn’t fare they didn’t have the same opportunity at Southwest. As for bag fees, the carrier figured once they announced layoffs for the first time in its history, nothing was left that couldn’t be touched. Some insiders are bracing for WN to get rid of everything else that makes it recognizable including its name, with a possible rebrand to be called AmedeluniskaBlue. The new carrier plans to paint its tails yellow and put animals on its fuselage, while opening a resort in Florida swamp country.

For more on Southwest’s descent into the abyss, please visit Tuesday’s post on crankyflier.com.

Major U.S. Airlines Brace for Weakened Demand

Three of the top U.S. carriers — American, Delta, and Southwest reduced their outlooks for Q1 2025, acknowledging the elephant in the room that weakened demand for air travel and a potentially unstable economy are not good indicators for the industry.

American said it now expects to lose between $0.60 and $0.80 per share, notably more than the $0.20-$0.40 loss it previously expected. Delta still expects to turn a profit, but cut its expectation in about half, saying it will grow revenue no more than 4% in Q1 compared to last year, down from a previous forecast of up to 9%.

Southwest’s filing that it cut it guidance on RASM by 3% on Tuesday was lost in the shuffle of its other, ahem, announcement. It said “less government travel” is one of the reasons for its less-than-shiny forecast, which is true, but also sounds better than “everyone hates us now.”

JetBlue actually bucked the trend, showing that the crystal ball which provided its initial guidance predicting demand weakening was better than the others’. It says unit revenue and unit cost ex fuel guidance holds firm, but fuel costs have dropped which means it should produce less terrible better results than originally predicted. United also said it wouldn’t update guidance, just that it would hit the lower end of previous expectations.

Spirit Exits Bankruptcy

Four months after it entered bankruptcy protection, Spirit Airlines exited Chapter 11 nearly $800 million of debt lighter, with new funding, and stocked with a case of Buzzballz to enjoy this weekend.

The carrier shed $795 million of debt through its restructuring while it also took on a $350 million equity investment from current investors, much of which will go to serving caviar onboard as part of its new focus on the premium customer.

The leaner, meaner Spirt has a new board, as CEO Ted Christie is the only member who remains from prior to the bankruptcy filing. In filling its new board seats, Spirit had a few requirements, looking for candidates who a) had previous airline experience, with LCC experience preferred, b) had a success track record in working with companies emerging from bankruptcy restructuring, c) have an affection for the color yellow, and d) are not named Elliott.

AA Flight is Too Hot to Handle

American flight 1006 from Colorado Springs to Dallas/Fort Worth diverted to Denver shortly after takeoff on Thursday when the crew reported engine vibrations aboard the B737-800 aircraft.

The plane landed safely in Denver at 5:15pm local time and then an engine caught fire when taxiing to the gate, forcing an immediate evacuation of the airplane. All 178 people on board — surprisingly including those who paid for Basic Economy — safely exited the plane with no major injuries reported. While most believe it was the engine fire which led to the evacuation, the FAA will investigate further to see if it was actually the attitude of that jerk in seat 24B who was watching WWE wrestling without headphones.

Passengers whose final destination was not Denver (It’s understood that several passengers booked AA’s popular COS-DEN service with a change of planes in DFW) were rebooked by AA personnel on site in Denver except for Basic Economy passengers, for whom AA reminded them “no changes means no changes, enjoy Denver.”

Avelo Adds On

Avelo is adding a fourth international destination — Nassau — along with two new domestic destinations in New York/Islip on Long Island and Grand Rapids in Michigan.

Avelo will be the ninth U.S. carrier to fly to Nassau, but the only ULCC to do it as Frontier, Spirit, and Sun Country all three flew to the airport in the past but have since pulled out. Avelo will operate 2x weekly service to NAS from Raleigh-Durham beginning June 11. Nassau joined Cancún, Montego Bay, and Punta Cana as international destinations for Avelo.

Islip will launch with flights to three destinations, Concord, Lakeland, and Wilmington (NC), while Grand Rapids will begin with service to both RDU and Lakeland.

Other additions for Avelo include Wilmington (DE) to Jacksonville, Concord (or as Avelo calls it…Charlotte) to Detroit and Washington/Dulles and Wilmington (NC) to Detroit, Houston/Hobby, and Washington/Dulles.

• Aegean is adding eight more A321neos.
• Air Belgium continues to be a mess but somehow still exists.
• Air France will take six A350 freighters now instead of the eight is previously expected to receive. It’s also starting to fly to Riyadh.
• Air India Flight 126 was forced to return to Chicago more than four hours after it departed due to a crappy situation.
• Air India Express added its 100th airplane.
• airBaltic had a record 2024.
• Cathay Pacific posted a profit last year.
• Delta is now the official airline of the PGA Tour.
• JAL‘s JV with Garuda Indonesia will begin next month.
• Korean just placed a huge order for both light and dark blue paint.
• LATAM posted a 3.1% increase in passenger traffic last month.
• Lufthansa is in a pickle with the business class seats on its B787s.
• Norse is returning its three leased B787-8s.
• Qatar is increasing frequencies to 11 markets worldwide.
• SAS is resuming Beirut service this summer from both Copenhagen and Stockholm.
• Scoot will receive as many as 16 new airplane this year, allowing it to scoot to more destination than ever.
• Smartlynx is consolidating its fleet.
• Thai is banning power banks.
• Volaris turned 19 on Thursday.