JetBlue Adds Two to Europe

JetBlue Airways announced two new European destinations on Wednesday, adding service from Boston to both Barcelona and Milan/Malpensa. The flights will be daily for the summer, and will connect JetBlue’s second destination in Spain and its first in Italy with its Boston hub. Barcelona flights will begin April 16, followed by Milan beginning on May 11. Tickets went on sale yesterday.

Boston’s large and vocal Italian community jumped for joy at the announcement… until it realized it was a flight to Milan and not to to “real Italy.” Rumors are they will fill the Sumner and Callahan tunnels in Boston’s North End with cannoli to protest.

Both flights will be operated by JetBlue’s A321LR aircraft which come equipped with 24 Minty fresh seats up front including two studios. This will give JetBlue nine transatlantic destinations from Boston, six of which are seasonal and three that operate year-round, complementing the five destinations (three seasonal and two year-round) it flies from New York/JFK.

Allegiant Adds Four Airports, 30 Routes

Allegiant is back at it, as the carrier added 30 nonstop routes this week, selecting routes again by seemingly throwing darts against a map of the U.S. and choosing wherever they land to add service. Gulf Shores (AL) added a whopping five new destinations, giving the airline 14 destinations from the NW almost-Florida airport, which is 14 more than every other airline combined. Those seeking to visit the luxurious Flora-Bama coast can now do so from Louisville, Oklahoma City, Springfield (MO), Omaha, and the rare intra-Alabama flight, from Huntsville.

The airline is also moving into four new airports — Columbia (MO), La Crosse (WI), Philadelphia, and Trenton. Trenton is a return for Allegiant, resuming service for the first time since the pandemic while the other three are brand-new options. From PHL, it’ll serve Des Moines, Grand Rapids, and Knoxville, because, why not? From COU, it’ll be Orlando/Sanford and Destin/Fort Walton Beach which sound about right, while Trenton will also see Florida-only service but to three destinations: Fort Lauderdale, Punta Gorda, and Sarasota. Lastly, La Crosse will see flights to Orlando/Sanford and Phoenix/Mesa.

Besides Gulf Shores, Orange County is the other big winner, with five new destinations served. Allegiant customers can now fly nonstop from SNA to Appleton, Cincinnati, Grand Rapids, Pasco, and Phoenix/Mesa. Allegiant’s release does not say the frequency of any of these new routes, but if history is any guide, they’ll all operate 2x weekly for several months and Allegiant will keep the ones that perform and cut loose the ones that don’t. So if it’s always been your dream to fly nonstop from Myrtle Beach to Elmira, NY, your time is now.

Frontier Adds Four Frontiers

Frontier didn’t want Allegiant to get all the pub for launching new service this week, so the carrier released its plan to add four routes to seven airports, not a single one of which was Gulf Shores, which seems like a grave miscalculation.

Orlando adds two, with Newark (3x weekly) and Pensacola (2x weekly) starting. The EWR-MCO service is expected to be especially robust considering flights from the NYC area to Orlando are definitely something our travel ecosystem is missing. Frontier will connect Chicago/O’Hare and Miami with 3x weekly flights beginning on February 13, another desperately needed flight for the traveling public, as American and United only fly between the two airports 11 times per day.

Lastly, Salt Lake City – Tucson will operate 2x weekly beginning January 22. That one seems fine.

Spirit Reveals it Had a Worse September Than You Did

Spirit Airlines descent into fiscal irrelvancy continues, as the carrier filed an 8-K with the SEC this week which disclosed that the airline lost $125 million on just $257 in gross revenue. And that, folks, is hard to do.

September is generally a rough month for leisure carriers as school has started and fall foliage isn’t quite in its glorious peak yet. But Spirit set a new bar for the month, with a -52% operating margin, while ending the month with $90 million less in cash than it started with, dwindling its cash on-hand to just $250 million — which isn’t even enough to win a pennant in Major League Baseball anymore.

Spirit is cutting costs, and hopefully its monthly filings will have less carnage as the end of the year approaches, but there’s no denying this September was one to forget.

For more on Spirit’s September to Not Remember, please visit Thursday’s post on crankyflier.com.

Rouge Means Still Sorta Fancy

Air Canada Rouge’s transition to an all B737 MAX fleet will include a premium option in the pointy end of the plane. The carrier will swap one row up front for two in the back, giving the plane a layout of 12 premium seats and 165 in coach. The total of 177 is nine more than its A319s, 23 less than its A321s, and most-shockingly… 5 more than American stuffs on the same airplane.

The entire Rouge fleet will also keep its seatback entertainment and recline — which, believe it or not, is a perk in the Canadian leisure market. Wi-Fi will remain available giving passengers the ability to find the best poutine spots at their destination along with the closest Tim Horton’s to the airport as well as the closest chiropractor to fix the damage done to your body during the flight. The airline did not comment on whether or not the maple syrup troughs would remain in lieu of restrooms.

The A319 and A321s currently flying for Rouge will eventually transfer to Air Canada’s mainline brand, flying to cities across Canada that it claims are real but no one can actually confirm. AC will open a new Rouge base in Vancouver to support the fleet transition.

• Air Astana is adding 25 A320s with the option for 25 more.
• Air Canada will remain the best of friends with Emirates.
• Air Namibia was officially liquidated.
• Arajet completed its inaugural flights to Chicago/O’Hare, marking its 5th U.S. destination and first that puts an abominable bunch of goop on a hot dog. Although they’re right about the no ketchup thing.
• Copa saw its profit jump 19%.
• easyJet added 16 routes from eight UK airports.
• Emirates announced an order for 65 B777-9s with a list price of a cool $38 billion.
• Ethiopian will purchase 11 B737 MAX aircraft.
• flydubai went on a shopping spree this week as it confirmed it will be putting engines in its B787 fleet, buying 150 A321neos, and throwing in an impulse buy for 75 B737 MAX aircraft when it saw them in the check-out line.
• Gulf Air is buying at least 12 Dreamliners.
• ITA is back at London/Heathrow.
• Norwegian is adding to its summer schedule.
• Royal Jordanian is leasing two A321neos. Carry on with your day.
• Ryanair is feuding with another government. This time it’s the Azores.
• Turkish is selling its stake in Air Albania.
• WestJet is hopeful it’ll receive its first B737-10 MAX by the end of next year. And we’re hoping gumdrops will fall from the sky and there will be world peace by then, all of which seem entirely plausible.

Job interviewer: “It says here you went to Harvard University.”

Me: “That’s correct. For my cousin’s graduation.”