Alaska, Korean Team Up While Delta Looks on

It’s rare that a simple codeshare agreement feels like a significant story, but this one does. Korean Air, Delta’s longtime JV partner, SkyTeam stalwart, and an airline that’s closing in on the integration of its main rival filed a request to launch a codeshare with Alaska. Yes, that Alaska — Delta’s former BFF turned rival. The two have been fighting to the death over Seattle for more than a decade now, to the point where Alaska ran deeper into the arms of American and oneworld after its breakup with Delta.

Airlines make strange bedfellows — always have, and always will, and this is another example of that. The two are exploring a codeshare that would put Alaska’s AS code on Korean flights from Seoul/ICN to Bangkok, Busan., Delhi, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Singapore. This would complement Alaska’s new service from Seattle to Seoul giving its customers options beyond ICN on one ticket.

This potential tie-up comes despite both Delta and Korean also flying SEA-ICN as part of a JV, directly competing with Alaska. What’s next? An AF/KL codeshare with United? Stay tuned.

Remember Spirit’s March Loss? April Looks Similar

We now know that Spirit did not go quietly into the night as April turned into May, with the carrier posting more stunning losses going into its final hours of operation.

The carrier had a net loss of $327 million for peak April, with actually operating an airline counting for a mere $89 million of that loss. In April, Spirit spent $112 million on fuel meaning that, unlike in March, it actually would have eked out a small operating profit if gas had been completely free. At the end of April the airline had just $72 million left in cash and cash equivalents, which means it didn’t even have the cash on hand to sign a decent starting pitcher for more than three years.

Its second highest expense was salaries, clocking in at $86 million, followed by “General and administrative” at $40 million — we think that’s where it codes its yellow paint purchases.

At the end of the day, what we learned from Spirit’s March and April financial statements is that $500 million from the government would not have saved the airline. It would have kept it operating for weeks — or days — longer, but this was the inevitable outcome. All the cash would have done was make JetBlue and Spirit weaker, especially in FLL for JetBlue — and given everyone a bigger mess to clean up.

Delta’s Latest Plan for LAX is World Domination

We’re starting to think Delta made a deal with the IOC in the ’80s or ’90s that any future U.S. based Olympics must be in a Delta hub. We’ve seen Olympics in Atlanta, Salt Lake City and Los Angeles. What’s going to be next? Detroit? MSP?

With the Olympics coming to LA in two years, Delta, as the official airline of Team USA, is planning a growth spurt at LAX, as it reportedly sees a chance to grow a stronger foothold in the always-competitive market. As it sits today, AA has reduced its presence at LAX, Southwest has lost interest, JetBlue has cut its presence by half, United has constrained facilities at LAX and a major hub just up PCH in San Francisco, and Spirit, well, you know.

Rumors abound that beyond a new HKG and MNL flights, Delta will grow flights to Shanghai to be daily, extend Auckland to be year-round, and begin flying to Seoul/ICN. Korean currently operates that flight up to 3x daily, so it remains to be seen if Delta’s eventual flight to ICN replaces on of KE’s frequencies or is in addition to it.

Lastly, LAX will be the site of its newest Delta One lounge. You might be thinking to yourself “Self, doesn’t LAX already have a Delta One lounge?” You’d be right. Before other Delta hubs (read: Atlanta) get one Delta One lounge, LAX is going to get a second one. This one will complement the OG Delta One lounge at LAX which opened in 2024 in between Terminals 2 and 3. This one will be open later this year as a temporary setup in Terminal 2 before being renovated into a full D1 lounge in-time for the Olympic Games.

BermudAir Asserts Fifth Freedom Rights

Three years after its launch, BermudAir is unveiling a broad expansion as it both grows its presence from both Bermuda and Anguilla to the U.S. and Canada, but will establish fifth freedom flights between Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos, Belize City, and Guatemala City to U.S. and Canadian destinations.

These new flights will operate weekly through the winter season and will position BermudAir as a sort of Allegiant copycat, but instead of flying from Minot and Sioux Falls, it’ll be Belize City and Providenciales.

So what’s new on BermudAir? We thought you’d never ask.

• From Anguilla: St. Petersburg/Clearwater
• From Belize City: Boston (2x weekly), Fort Lauderdale (3x weekly), Orlando/Sanford (2x weekly), Raleigh-Durham (2x weekly), St Petersburg/Clearwater (2x weekly)
• From Guatemala City: Boston (2x weekly)*
• From Turks and Caicos (PLS): Baltimore (1x weekly), Boston (1x weekly), Fort Lauderdale (2x weekly), Newark (2x weekly), Raleigh-Durham (2x weekly), St Petersburg/Clearwater (2x weekly)

*GUA-BOS is a direct flight, stopping in Belize with no plane change.

In addition to these, the carrier is adding through service to Grand Cayman on its Bermuda – Providenciales flight operating 2x weekly, and it added a far less exciting Bermuda – Orlando/Sanford route that is more traditional for the carrier. For more on BermudAir’s expansion, please visit Thursday’s post on crankyflier.com.

Newark is Great — Just ask United!

Good Leads the Way, says United, and apparently that includes Newark. Newark leads all major northeast airports in on-time performance, shouts UA’s release. Those two qualifiers — Major and Northeast — are doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. What does that include? The three NYC airports and Boston? Does PHL count? Nobody knows, but perhaps that’s the idea.

United says Newark achieved its best-ever on-time right in April and May with nearly 6 million passengers passing through the airport (some by choice, some not). The release goes on to credit Sean Duffy for the improvement, so it was able to check that box off, thankfully.

Scott Kirby, the humble, introverted CEO of United left his cushy Chicago office to venture into the concrete jungle that is Newark to give a special shoutout to Secretary Duffy, presumably for slashing flights at the airport which makes it a whole lot easier to run things on-time, and then added a footnote that his nearly 15,000 local employees might deserve a tiny sliver of credit too. He called the Newark the “crown jewel” of UA’s international network, marking the first time the airport has ever been named the crown jewel of anything.

• Air Botswana is cleaning up its balance sheet.
• Allegiant want to strengthen its credit card and loyalty programs. As of press time we have not gotten confirmation that its future plans are to only allow people to use their Allegiant branded credit card 2x per week.
• Arkia‘s potential future buyer wants it to stop flying on the Sabbath.
• Condor broke ground on its new maintenance facility in Frankfurt.
• Contour is connecting both Parkersburg (WV) and Altoona (PA) with Myrtle Beach.
• China Southern is injecting $665 million into Chongqing Airlines.
• Norse Atlantic seems to fancy AI a little too much.
• Norwegian Air Shuttle is adding a B737-800.
• Philippines Airlines is going to begin flying its A350-1000 on its flight to Toronto beginning today.
• Pyramids Airlines scheme to launch commercial ops is underway.
• Qantas hasn’t decided on where its going purchase its upcoming 20-airplane order.
• Qatar is returning to Philly.
• Riyadh Air is taking delivery of real life airplanes.
• Tailwind Airlines is facing headwinds to operate in Russia.
• TAP is selling its catering arm.
• WestJet president Diederik Pen penciled in his retirement for the first quarter of next year at the latest.

I’m opening a new restaurant and named it ‘Karma.” We won’t have menus. Everyone will get what they deserve.