Allegiant and Sun Country: ‘Til Death do They Part

Allegiant’s acquisition of Sun Country officially closed on Wednesday, attaching the two at the hip forever…or until the next industry consolidation.

For the front-facing consumer, nothing is changing yet. Sun Country customers going to or from Minneapolis/St. Paul will book their travel as usual, while Allegiant fans who want to travel between two random cities once or twice a week can continue to do so as much as they’d like. The two loyalty programs will remain as is for now, but rest assured that some consultants somewhere are working together to strip the best parts of each away to leave a watered-down version of both programs that no one really likes.

The biggest loser here will be Amazon customers. As Allegiant takes over Sun Country’s Prime Air cargo ops, delivery is expected to take longer now that orders will connect through Allentown, Flint, or St. Petersburg/Clearwater, and flights operate only once or twice a week.

All frontline employees are safe for now, while some corporate staff might see their roles reduced or eliminated as the two airlines synergize. With the airline combined, MSP becomes Allegiant’s largest operating base both by flights and seats, but to welcome Minnesotans into the fold, residents who will make the drive to Minot, ND to fly to Phoenix/Mesa or Las Vegas are entitled to one complimentary 8-ounce tube of 45 SPF sunblock upon arrival.

Want to hear more about Allegiant? We talked abotu the airline at length on this week’s episode of The Air Show.

United’s Flight Attendants Ratify New Contract

Good goes around, or leads the way, or, well both. And United’s flight attendants are cashing in on the airlines fiscal success giving themselves a raise for the first time since the pandemic.

United’s FAs voted down the last attempt at a new contract, but they ratified this one which includes raises that average out to 31% and more importantly, helpful work rule changes. The deal received an overwhelming 82% approval from the 90% of FAs that voted. The agreement comes with a 7-8% increase in compensation right away, $741 million in back pay, restrictions on red-eyes, and “sit pay” for waits of more than 2 1/2 hours. They didn’t get everything though — a request to not have to work any flights to Newark was denied, as was a request to move all required training courses to the airline’s hub on Guam.

The contract takes effect on May 31. One-time bonus payments will be paid out this fall. Average checks will be in the neighborhood of $50,000, with the amount reaching into six-figures for some long-time FAs. Boarding pay will be 50% of their usual rate, paid during boarding, re-boarding, and boarding for flights that are eventually canceled. No boarding pay is offered for ferry flights, deadheading, or or any flight where management can plausibly argue “the boarding process built character instead.”

Lufthansa Grows Stake in ITA

Apparently seeing how the sausage is made at ITA wasn’t enough to scare Lufthansa away as the carrier is electing to exercise its option to increase its stake in the Italian carrier from 41% to 90%. The sale will go through next month and will cost Lufthansa $382 million and some dignity to take full control of ITA. The full transaction is expected to be completed early next year after approval from both the EU and U.S.

Lufthansa says ITA is already firmly integrated as the fifth network airline in Lufthansa Group — which is kind of like being called the fifth Beatle — and that Rome will be a key hub for its routes to South America. If anyone knows about direct routes to from Europe to South America, it’s definitely the Germans and Italians.

Lufthansa has held a 41% stake in the carrier since last January, and perhaps not coincidentally ITA earned its first net profit since claiming it wasn’t Alitalia, finishing FY2025 €209 million in the black. The Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance will retain 10% ownership of the carrier, but Lufthansa will have the option to take that final bit as soon as 2028 after enduring passionate strikes and protests from all employee groups.

United Announces Sapporo

Several months after Star Alliance partner Air Canada announced it would begin flying to Sapporo, United announced the same this week, adding to its industry-leading service to Asia from the U.S.

This winter, United will fly 3x weekly service from San Francisco to Sapporo (CTS) operating between December 11 and March 26. It’ll fly the route with a B787-9 Dreamliner with 267 seats. It can fit 48 up front in Polaris, 21 in premium economy, and 188 roughing it in the back. This compares to Air Canada’s CTS service from Vancouver which will also be 3x weekly, also be operated by a Dreamliner, and have seasonality that will be about the same.

Sapporo, of course, is the top ski destination in Japan and the home to the Japanese Snow Festival every February. The UA flight will be the only non-stop to the U.S. from CTS and the second to North America joining Air Canada’s flight from Vancouver. The route is not United’s only growth into Japan as the carrier will also add new service from its Chicago hub to Tokyo/Narita on October 24 for those willing to brave a trip past Godzilla’s home, joining its current option from ORD to Tokyo/Haneda.

Korean Prepares to Finally Swallow Asiana

Six years after Korean and Asiana announced their intention to merge, the combined carrier is finally expected to debut on December 17. The boards of both standalone carriers approved the merger agreement on Wednesday, and it was formally executed on Thursday.

Korean’s acquisition of a nearly-64% stake in its former rival, comes with a merger ratio set at one share of KE to every 0.2736432 shares of OZ, which came out to $559 million to acquire 131 million shares. Korean will take over all of Asiana’s assets, liabilities, personnel, and operations. Meanwhile, Asiana staff will need to figure out the new Wi-Fi password for break rooms in Seoul, get the employee discount code for duty free shopping, and learn Korean employees’ secret handshake.

Asiana Club members will be allowed to continue to redeem their miles using 2024’s reward chart for up to 10 more years. They also have an option to move their miles into KE’s program at a 1:1 ratio. Meanwhile, Asiana will depart Star Alliance and the combined carrier with remain in SkyTeam, strengthening Delta and Air France-KLM’s alliance to Korea and beyond in east Asia. Asiana’s brand, livery, and marks will begin to become a memory once the combined airline merges this December.

• Alaska has dreamy new food options.
• Air Antilles is being liquidated.
• Air India is considering furloughs.
• Air Transat operated London/Gatwick’s first ever flight to Ottawa this morning.
• American has nearly 750,000 flights planned this summer and some of them don’t fly to or from Chicago/ORD.
• BRA is no longer going to be able to support unpaid emission charges.
• Breeze has a very nice new menu.
• Ethiopian is in the new market for new airplanes both big and small.
• Fiji Airways is the newest codeshare partner for WestJet reminding us that opposites can attract.
• LOT has begun retiring lots of its E175s.
• Lufthansa and Friends will return to Tel Aviv this year.
• Norse has a new plan called Project Falcon presumably created by someone named Bjørn.
• PAL is Alaska’s newest pal and everyone seems good with it.
• Qatar will begin flying to Bogotá and Caracas this July.
• TAP is tapping out on its ground handling unit.
• United, in a role reversal, is actually following American’s lead on something; this time on returning service to Venezuela.
• Uzbekistan Airlines is the benefit of a $604 million state-funded IPO.
• WestJet is adding former Delta president Glen Hauenstein to its board to help ensure he doesn’t get bored in retirement.
• Wizz Air expects to break even in ’26.
• ZIPAIR is the first Asian carrier to install Starlink.

My wife’s debit card was stolen last weekend.

So far the thief is spending less than she does, so I’m not saying anything.