And just like that… Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport is back! We couldn’t be happier to have them return to sponsor the Cranky Weekly Review for another year. And really, nobody is happier than Andrew, who is thrilled to once again have regular meals and occasional baseball games.

Alaska Goes Transatlantic, Buys Itself a Dream(liner)

Alaska Airlines announced it’s flying from Seattle to London/LHR and Reykjavik/KEF starting spring 2026, continuing its glow up from “West Coast workhorse” to “global carrier that enjoys baked beans for breakfast.” The London service will be year-round, Reykjavik will be seasonal, and both the former will be operated by shiny new B787-9 Dreamliners with the latter on a B737-8 MAX — because if you’re going to jostle your way into the transatlantic party, you’d better show up in something nicer than a Q400 that just flew in from Spokane.

To complete the airline consultant erector set, Alaska unveiled a flashy new livery, which we’re told was inspired by the Northern Lights, which is basically airline code for “Please take us seriously now.” The airline says it plans up to 12 international long-haul destinations from Seattle by 2030, which feels wildly optimistic until you remember there’s a big world out there and tons of places where it can continue to fight Delta.

When it begins flying these two routes next year, it will join BA plus JV-besties Delta and Virgin Atlantic in operating SEA-LHR, while it only has to challenge incumbent Icelandair on SEA-KEF.

For more on Alaska’s transatlantic dreams, please visit Tuesday’s post on crankyflier.com.

Edited 8/8 to show that the Reykjavik flight on Alaska will operate on a B737-8 MAX and not a B787-9

American’s EuropeAAn Summer Vacation

American Airlines announced six new international routes for summer 2026, including nonstop service to Budapest and Prague (both from Philly), because someone in network planning clearly finished reading a Cold War era spy novel at the beach this summer. The airline will also launch summer flights to Athens (from DFW), Zurich (also from DFW), and Milan (from Miami year-round). Lastly, Buenos Aires will be extended to fly through summer.

The Budapest and Prague routes are new for AA which is great news for anyone who’s ever wanted to fly 10 hours in a $4,000 lie-flat seat to pay $3 for beer. Meanwhile, Zurich gets roped in to prove American can be serious about World Cup-focused business travel, and Buenos Aires returns to the summer schedule because Argentinians travel like crazy for the World Cup. American says it now serves 17 European destinations next summer, though the real number might vary depending on how many B787s are out of service that week.

While some airlines trim the fat, American’s out here ordering pasta in five languages and banking on premium leisure fliers who think lie-flat seats are a personality trait. Will it work? Who knows. But hey, nothing says confidence like betting on Miami–Milan fashionistas and Athens-bound Texans to anchor your summer flying. Bon voyage, y’all.

Frontier Posts $70M Loss, Declares Everything Totally Fine

Frontier Airlines reported a $70 million loss in Q2, which is apparently what “steady” looks like in ULCC land. Revenue dropped 5% year-over-year, but the airline insists it’s just “managing capacity” and not, you know, bleeding cash in broad daylight. Load factor dipped, costs crept up, and RASM stayed basically flat—so naturally, Frontier is calling this quarter “resilient.” Somewhere, a bean counter is aggressively high-fiving themselves for keeping the burn rate below total meltdown.

Not to be deterred by things like math, Frontier rolled out 35 new routes, handed elites a shiny “free companion pass,” and kept hyping its credit card program like it’s the next Chase Sapphire. Toss in five new A321neos and a promise of RASM growth in Q3, and Frontier seems to be betting big on optimism — and hoping investors don’t look too hard at the balance sheet. But hey, at least they still have $766 million in liquidity to keep the fantasy alive another quarter.

United’s Systems Take a Breather, Flights Take a Beating

United had a little operational timeout Wednesday, when its system handling aircraft weight, balance, and flight tracking decided to take the evening off. The glitch hit around 6 p.m. ET, idling hundreds of flights and giving major hubs like Chicago, Denver, and Houston that warm, familiar glow of mass delays. By the time things were patched up four hours later, more than 1,000 flights had been delayed and about 40 canceled, proving once again that an airline IT hiccup can ground more planes than a snowstorm.

United passed out hotel and meal vouchers like consolation prizes on a game show, while the FAA assured everyone this was not an air traffic control problem — translation: “Don’t blame us.” United Express flights and aircraft already airborne mostly dodged the mess, which is nice, though it does suggest the safest bet during a tech outage is to already be in the sky. Crisis over, schedule restored, lesson learned? Probably not. But at least it wasn’t CrowdStrike’s fault this time. Or was it?

Koala Airlines: The Cutest Airline That Ever Was Could Be

Because what Australia really needed was another startup airline with zero aircraft and a dream, enter Koala Airlines. With aspirations to begin flying by late 2026, Koala currently boasts a robust fleet of absolutely nothing and an Air Operator’s Certificate that — spoiler alert –isn’t even listed with CASA. CEO Bill Astling assures us that’s all under control, having acquired something called Desert Air Safaris (no, seriously) back in 2019 for its AOC, which apparently aged like an unopened Vegemite jar. But this time it’s different, he pinky swears — because now they have “investors who understand aviation,” unlike, say, every other failed airline ever.

Unlike Bonza’s spectacular flameout — and Rex for that matter — Koala won’t get dragged into a price war. No, it’s aiming to be “the Aldi of airlines” — which presumably means efficient, low-frills, a 25 cent deposit for shopping carts, and possibly offering discount flights next to bulk toilet paper. Astling declined to say what aircraft are coming or from where, but assures us they’ve been “secured,” which is totally believable and not at all suspicious. Still, they insist the full plan is under wraps for now — because nothing inspires confidence like a secret strategy and invisible jets. Koala says it won’t give rivals a 12-month head start… which is bold, considering it hasn’t even made it to the runway. But hey, dream big, little marsupial.

• Air Astana closed the first half of the year with a profit of nearly $11 million.
• Air Cambodia is launching fifth-freedom flights between China and Japan later this year that should be the darling of a corner of the blogger community.
• Air France is leaving Paris/Orly next year (unless you’re flying to Corsica, because the government pays them to do that)
• Airlink will lease 10 new E195s.
• ANA completed its purchase of Nippon Cargo.
• Asiana was fined $8.7 million along with Korean for violating terms of its merger from the Korean Fair Trade Commission.
• Cathay Pacific ordered 14 additional B777-9s.
• EgyptAir expects to receive its first B737-8 early next year.
• Emirates is adding a 4th daily frequency to London/Gatwick, beginning in February. Just don’t bring your power bank.
• Frontier set up a sale-and-leaseback on aircraft that haven’t yet been delivered.
• Korean unveiled its premium economy seats that will debut this fall on 11 B777-300ERs.
• LATAM will add long-haul premium economy in 2027.
• Lufthansa is the second European carrier to end its bid for Air Europa this month.
• Lufthansa City is receiving London/LHR slots.
• Turkish could be the next airline to take a crack at Air Europa.
• United is jumping in with both feet in an ITA partnership.
• Uzbekistan Airways MoU with China Southern could revolutionize the industry.
• Wizz Air is expanding in Bulgaria because nothing says sexy like Bulgaria in autumn.

My daughter wanted a bouncy castle for her birthday. The guy said the rental was $50, and the set-up fee was $1000. I said: “That’s outrageous.” He just shrugged and said: “That’s inflation for you”