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Do you care about Europe? Well, then I have the podcast for you. This week we take on the evolution of the Transatlantic market, and yes, we very briefly pour one out for PLAY which just failed. Are joint ventures a good thing? That is up for debate.

Southwest Goes Northwest

Southwest Airlines will begin flying to Alaska — starting service from both Denver and Las Vegas to Anchorage next year. The carrier says its new flights will begin at the very vague time period of “in the first half of 2026,” which is airline speak for ‘we’ll let the route planners fight about it until April, then then eventually just start when the first cruise ship arrives for the summer.’

Anchorage marks the 5th new destination for WN this year and the 122nd in its network. More notably, it makes Alaska the 43rd state it will serve, leaving just Delaware, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming lacking service from the carrier.

Southwest will not be alone on either route, joining Alaska on both and United on DEN-ANC. It is expected to release its schedule to Anchorage sometime later this month.

Spirit to Receive a $475 Million Liferaft

Spirit Airlines beleaguered year may have taken temporary turn for the better, as the carrier is expected to receive a $475 million reprieve, according to its bankruptcy lawyer and an overwhelmed accounts payable department.

The airline has an agreement with noteholders for debtor-in-possession financing, which of course is known as the Big Front Seat of bankruptcy — it might cost extra, but at least you get a little more breathing room. In addition to the operating cash, it’s close to an agreement for $150 million from lessor AerCap. This comes as part of a deal in which the two negotiated a new agreement on Spirit’s rejection of leases on 27 AerCap-owned airplanes. The agreement puts an end to the current dispute between the airline and the lessor, provided it receives approval in a hearing next Friday. The airline appears poised to reject another 87 aircraft from other sources, so it is shrinking very quickly.

Spirit said on Tuesday it now has immediate access to $120 million in liquidity after a motion was granted to use cash collateral. It plans to use the cash to throw a massive Halloween party in two weeks in its Broward County HQ. Admission will be free for attendees, but there’s a $25 charge if you come in costume, $30 if you don’t, $40 if your mask is oversized, and $9 if you want candy in a bag. The carrier also told the bankruptcy court it’s considering a seasonal codeshare with popup Spirit Halloween stores across the country to drive further revenue. Details of the codeshare were not available at press time.

Alaska Announces Personnel Shifts

Jason Berry will be Alaska’s new COO, effective November 3, as he takes over for the retiring Constance von Muehlen. Barry currently serves at the president of Horizon and an executive vice president of cargo for Alaska. In his new role, he will be succeeding von Muehlen who spent 15 years at the carrier, including five in her current role as COO.

To replace Berry’s current job as president of Horizon, the carrier will promote Andy Schneider. She currently is serving as the SVP for People — whatever that means — at Alaska, and has been with the airline for more than 35 years. As the new president and CEO of Horizon, she will be tasked with making sure customers stop confusing the carrier with Verizon and asking to upgrade their cell phone plans when arriving at the airport.

Despite these changes, the carrier has not yet announced a new role for Pualani. Despite taking out a lease on an apartment near the airport in Seattle, she is expected to continue in her role on the tail of Hawaiian-liveried aircraft with no corporate role in the merged airline as of yet.

Game over for PLAY

Iceland has lost another LCC, as the PLAY, the original OG of Iceland filed for bankruptcy and ceased operations on Monday. Customers who have pending travel on the airline will need to contact their credit card company to receive a refund. Anyone who use cash to purchase their ticket is likely out of luck, and deserves it for paying cash for a future flight on an Icelandic LCC that’s been on the brink of collapse since day one.

The carrier had 10 aircraft at the time of death, six A320neos and four A321neos — all of which can be had right now for a bargain. If inquiring about purchasing one of the planes, always remember to tell them Cranky sent you — we get one Reykjavik fermented shark hot dog stand punch card, already with three stamps. The demise of PLAY does not come as a surprise, as it recently ended service to a third of its cities, including premium destinations London and Washington, D.C.

PLAY set out to rise from the ashes of fallen LCC Wow Air, being an alternative to Icelandair. It never worked though, just like Wow. The airline never posted a profit in its history, finishing its last full year in 2024 $66 million in the red. The question now on Iceland is whether or not there will be another attempt to poke at Icelandair to win the hearts, minds, and Icelandic Krona of residents, tourists, and business travelers alike.

Frontier Becomes Latest to Shake up Boarding

There are few things U.S.-based airlines enjoy more than streamlining their boarding process, and Frontier is the latest to take its turn at bat. Frontier says its new boarding process will reward its most loyal members, but really it rewards its loyal members or those who have bought up to board early.

There are now eight boarding groups, and in classic airline fashion, they’re numbered 1-7. That’s because there’s also a pre-boarding group for those who need extra time, those who have a child under two, active-duty military, and Frontier Elite Diamond members. We understand pre-boarding is required for Elite Diamond members in order to allow for a psychiatric examination to better understand why someone would fly enough to become an Elite Diamond member on Frontier.

Then we have Group 1, the second boarding group, and that’s platinum and gold members with the carier or anyone who bought up for Group 1 boarding, because it’s not nearly as sexy to buy-up to Group 2 boarding. The rest of the groups progress about how you’d like, before groups 6 and 7 which consist of basic economy passengers, who we all know have no rights or privileges bestowed upon them, but Frontier is legally required to let them board the aircraft. These changes — announced on Thursday — are effective immediately, which really means for the first few weeks, it’s a 50-50 shot on which you’ll get, depending on how your gate agent is feeling that day.

• Air Botswana is experiencing a cash shortage.
• American is beginning a cabin refresh for its regional fleet.
• Asiana saw its tax penalty reduced in court.
• Austrian is ending its E195 ops.
• Avelo has a new membership program that seems wildly unnecessary.
• British Airways is headed to St. Louis.
• BRA‘s financial support that was holding it up ended this week, causing the carrier file for bankruptcy.
• Corendon Dutch Airlines is seeking cheaper airports to operate within Germany.
• Emirates Skywards loyalty program turned 25 this week. It celebrated by renting a car.
• flyadeal has 3x weekly flights to Damascus.
• Icelandair is adding former PLAY founder Arnar Mar Magnusson to its leadership team to make sure he doesn’t try to start up another airline.
• IndiGo will fly 3x weekly between Kolkata and Siem Reap, marking the first Indian carrier to fly nonstop to Cambodia.
• ITA unveiled its first aircraft with Star Alliance’s logo painted on. Star Alliance continually told ITA that it didn’t have to do it, and no one would notice either way, but the carrier seemingly insisted.
• Lufthansa and its buddies are seeking to add ITA to its JV.
• Lufthansa Group will cut as many as 4,000 jobs by 2030 thanks to AI. Let’s just hope its not pilots that will be replaced. At least not first.
• Norwegian is adding 10 new routes from Billund.
• Porter will begin codesharing with American.
• Qantas is going to consider its reputation in the market when determining the bonus for CEO Vanessa Hudson.
• Qantaslink is closing three crew bases.
• Royal Brunei Airlines is running back on its codeshare with JAL.
• Starlux‘s codeshare agreement with Alaska expanded to 12 new U.S. destinations.
• United is the latest carrier to join the CBP’s International Remote Baggage Screening Service (IRBS) — which seems like a condition that might send you to the plane’s restroom — on its Sydney to San Francisco flight.

I’ve just got a new job cleaning mirrors for a living. It’s something I can really see myself doing.