Category Archives for Airlines.
If there’s a chance customers might choose another airline because they can be confident that airline’s employees have been vaccinated against Covid-19, American would be forced to do the same thing in order to stay competitive according to the carrier’s CEO.
A CDC official has said that the Biden Administration is actively considering requiring a negative Covid-19 test for domestic flights and not just for international flights to the U.S. which is now in place.
However American Airlines CEO Doug Parker made clear to employees that this ‘rumor’ has ‘no basis in reality.’
During American’s “State of the Airline” presentation and question and answer with employees, Managing Director of Flight Service Brady Byrnes explained that they’re working through what’s next for meals and are talking with the flight attendants union “about what is the right timing both from a customer and from a crewmember perspective.”
The purpose of American’s current Charlotte meals test is to “kind of understand when we do reintroduce full service, what products we should be offering, kind of streamlining the service for our flight attendants and really making sure that our customers enjoy it.” The return to service is going to be streamlined.
China’s HNA Group began with Hainan Airlines and then acquired brands like Radisson Hotels; airline caterer Gate Gourmet; 25% of Hilton; nearly 10% of Deutsche Bank; and 29% of NH Hotels. They acquired stakes in Red Lion Hotels; Virgin Australia; TAP Air Portugal: South Africa’s Comair; Azul Brazil and much more. The company’s corporate structure sometimes makes it difficult to discern what they own, what they’ve sold off, and what they’ve merely sold to themselves.
Before the pandemic they worked to reduce a debt load that exceeded $100 billion by selling off assets, but continued to face problems paying for fuel, problems paying employees, and problems paying investors. HNA even offered investors airline airline tickets in lieu of interest payments.
American Airlines started letting customers pre-select their meals online when they’re flying in premium cabins back in the fall of 2012. Delta didn’t roll out this feature until early 2019 and going into the pandemic United was still in testing.
The airline offered meals pre-ordered between 30 days and 24 hours before a flight, selecting from items that are offered on board anyway. Most meal service on domestic flights was scrapped, though, early in the pandemic.
Barry Michaels has been trying to start an airline for 30 years. The idea all along has been the same: fly Boeing 747s domestically with cheap fares. He used to call the idea “Family Airlines.” And he even went to prison for tax and securities fraud in connection with raising money for the venture.
It’s now called Avatar Airlines, and they’ve sent out a press release ‘planning’ a billion dollar valuation – without even flying!
American Airlines stock went on a speculative tear as investors guessed that the Reddit ‘Wall Street Bets’ forum might turn their attention to the heavily-shorted airline stock after the GameStop play ends, or even sooner.
But the GameStop play is unique, a short squeeze like nothing we’ve seen since Volkswagen in 2008. It isn’t something that happens every day, at the drop of a hat, because a collective hedge fund on Reddit decides a stock is the next meme.
I warned you this would happen, but you supported a federal mask mandate anyway. Airlines already required mask-wearing on planes. I told you that if the federal government got involved this would mean fewer options for travels, and less mask-wearing overall. Guess which one of us was right?
Late Friday night the CDC issued its rule for mask-wearing on public transportation and airlines following the President’s executive order asking them to do so….
In December Congress passed a $15 billion airline payroll bailout, requiring airlines to bring furloughed employees back to work and pay everyone December 1 through March 31, 2021. Per furloughed worker this was the most expensive jobs program in history (at over $1.1 million annualized per job) and American says it’s only spending 10% of the $3 billion it received on furloughed workers.
American’s flight attendants union says it was told to prepare for a new round of WARN Act notices, so we may be starting layoffs all over again – and they along with another union are asking the government for a third airline bailout. Maybe this time most of the money won’t go to shareholders and creditors instead of workers.
With the Biden administration considering a Covid-19 testing requirement not just for international arrivals but now even for domestic flights, new types of tests with the greatest accuracy take on a new urgency. In China scientists believe their new anal swab test may be most accurate.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
