American AAdds Three from Chicago

Things may have cooled for a while in the Battle of Chicago between American and United, but AA is back this week adding three new routes from O’Hare including a return to Tokyo/Narita from the airport. Whether this supplements joint venture-partner JAL’s Narita service or replaces it remains to be seen.

Shockingly — or perhaps not — American has no flights from Chicago to Asia, but that will change when ORD-NRT debuts (or returns — it was last flown prior to the pandemic). The will join Dallas/Fort Worth as the two airports AA serves from NRT, along with DFW, JFK, and LAX from Tokyo/Haneda. AA will operate ORD-NRT using its fleet of B787-9 Dreamliners which include 30 business class seats in the front and 21 premium economy seats on the wrong side of the curtain. The flight will operate 1x daily, year-round.

And now, for the news you’ve really been waiting for… along with Tokyo, American will now fly from ORD to both Charlottesville (CHO) and Ontario. CHO service begins November 2 and will fly 2x daily on an E170 while Ontario will be 1x daily beginning in December on a B737. As for United? It already flies ORD to both CHO and ONT and surprise, surprise — it plans to launch ORD-NRT in October.

Avelo Goes Deep in the Heart of Texas

The Dallas metro region — or Metroplex for those in the know — is getting a third airport with scheduled service. We’ve known this was coming for a while, and we’ve also known Avelo planned to fly from it, but now the airline has actual plans, destinations, and airplanes to fly from McKinney National Airport (DTX).

The airport has been around since the ’80s for general aviation, but last summer it broke ground on a 46,000-square foot terminal to welcome airlines. The airport is supposed to be ready this fall, and with that in mind, Avelo announced five routes from DTX to inaugurate service with and it went pure leisure — Las Vegas and four destinations in Florida.

Service from McKinney on Avelo will look like this:

• Las Vegas (4x weekly begins Nov. 12)
• Fort Lauderdale (5x weekly begins Nov. 19)
• Fort Myers (2x weekly begins Nov. 11)
• Orlando (5x weekly begins Nov. 12)
• Tampa (4x weekly begins Nov. 19)

All five routes will be operating with Avelo’s fleet of B737-800s with 184 seats, although they’ll need to have room for more than 200 passengers because everything’s bigger in Texas. The question now becomes — who will follow Avelo into McKinney? Our bet is on Conviasa.

Delta’s Pilots Go on the Offensive

Delta’s pilots and their union – The Air Line Pilots Assoication — launched the curiously named website deltapilotscare.com to throw shade and innuendo at the airline on its recent operational liability (or lack thereof).

It’s a site that any political campaign would appreciate. It talks at length about how dedicated Delta pilots are to their jobs, and it suggests that any operational issues the carrier might have cannot be blamed on the flight crews. Three bullet points spell this out in detail from the page:

• Delta pilots will continue to prioritize safety – every day and on every flight.  
• We have been working on our days off in record numbers to help you get to your destination.  
• We empathize and share in your frustration over the delays, cancellations, and disrupted travel plans you experienced. We agree; it is unacceptable.  

The insinuation, of course, is that the frustration should be directed at the carrier. The site even goes on to remind customers how to complain to the DOT when things go tits up. Why now? Delta’s pilots contract becomes amendable at the end of the calendar year, and ALPA knows there’s no time like the present to ratchet things up ahead of potential negotiations.

DOT Considers Amending Fare Display Regulations

We’re about 15 years into the era where carriers are required to display an all-in price most prominently when advertising fares. That policy is potentially coming to an end as the Department of Transportation released a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in which it wants to permit airlines to show individual parts of the price (airfare, taxes, fees, etc.) equally in prominence.

The government says “these proposed changes would ensure greater flexibility in how air fare is displayed while ensuring information is presented clearly to consumers…” In addition, the Department is considering a full repeal of the policy, which would permit carriers to list the cheapest base fare only and leave us to fend for ourselves when it comes to finding the actual price.

The comment period for both proposals remains open until July 31, and we’re sure the federal government would appreciate whatever thoughts any Cranky readers might have.

Korean Completes Final Hurdle in Asiana Merger

As Asiana’s days as its own brand wind down, its new overlord Korean Air received approval from South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport to complete the merger.

The merger is scheduled to complete later this year on December 17. Asiana announced its exit from Star Alliance last week as part of the transition. The transaction was first announced nearly six years ago in late 2020 and will finally wrap up later this year. In order to go through, the two carriers sought — and received — regulatory approval from 13 worldwide competition authorities.

Korean accepted a 63.88% of Asiana in the deal as opposed to a 100% takeover to help quell the concerns of competition authorities around the world, though with majority control either way, we have no idea why that matters. The largest shareholder in Hanjin Group (Korean’s parent company) is (surprise, surprise) Delta. The combo of Delta plus both of South Korea’s major carriers merged into one give the airline as close to a monopoly on the U.S. – Korea market as would be allowable.

• Air Algérie will debut its B737-8 MAX fleet later this year.
• Air Congo took delivery of its first Dreamliner as a wet lease from Ethiopian.
• Air Peace added an E175.
• American is opening a grab-and-go lounge concept at New York/JFK.
• Avianca is back in the Venezuela business.
• BA is renovating its Newark lounge. Our advice: Put it in the Hamptons.
• Finnair is still on the hunt for additional A320s. If you’ve got any available, give them a call.
• Hawaiian unveiled a rendering of its A330 decked out in oneworld livery.
• Qantas will have scores of opportunties to fly to Japan and New Zealand during its summer.
• Philippine Airlines is adding frequencies to North America.
• Riyadh Air is adding service to Kuala Lumpur and Málaga.
• Royal Jordanian is considering flying its planes really far.
• SAS announced an order for as many widebodies as can reasonably fit in all Scandinavia.
• Thai operated its first flight to Amsterdam in 28 years this week.
• United is expanding in Colombia.
• Vietjet is seeking approval to begin a domestic LCC in Australia.
• Vietnam Airlines secured a nearly $3 billion loan to purchase 50 B737-8 MAXs.
• WestJet ran a good operation in May.

Fireworks are like my jokes: everyone pretends to enjoy them, but deep down they’re waiting for them to stop.