Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

September Will Be Worse Than June For Airlines

by Gary Leff

depressed businessman leaning his head below a bad stock market chart
Jul 31 2020

Summer is traditionally peak season when airlines are the busiest. It’s heavy leisure travel season, when people fly internationally to Europe and beyond. And that season ends around Labor Day. Yet air travel this summer has plateaued around 25% of last year’s passenger volumes.

Throughout June things were improving for domestic flying, at least, but the recovery in air travel largely ended after that. Covid-19 cases grew in the United States. Cities and states imposed quarantine requirements for arriving passengers that have kept people away. And we’re approaching the end of peak leisure travel without business travel coming back in behind it to make up some of the difference.

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Why United Is Planning A Second Round Of Furloughs – For Pilots Only

by Gary Leff

united plane
Jul 30 2020

United was first to publicly warn that a large number of its employees would be unneeded after CARES Act funding ends, because there’s less demand for travel so they’ll be running fewer flights. They were also first out with news of legally-required WARN Act notices for about 39% of employees, preparing to be able to furlough union workers once government subsidies end.

It turns out the airline isn’t done.

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Delta CEO Calls 17,000 Departing Employees “Heroes”

by Gary Leff

Jul 30 2020

Seventeen thousand Delta Air Lines employees, with an average of 25 years of service, have taken early departure packages according to a new internal memo from the carrier’s CEO Ed Bastian.

Even with this many people leaving the airline, Bastian says it helps them towards their goal of minimizing furloughs – it’s not, it seems, enough to eliminate layoffs.

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What Decisions Does An Airline Board Of Directors Make?

by Gary Leff

Jul 29 2020

Former Spirit Airlines CEO Ban Baldanza walks through what issues are decided solely by management at an airline (in his experience) and what questions rise to the level of discussion by the Board of Directors.

There are clearly things that fall under the board’s purview – mergers, hiring and firing the CEO – and things that clearly don’t like which aircraft to schedule on a given route. But where’s the line?

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The Worst Airline in America Has Been Acquired Out Of Bankruptcy With Plans To Start Anew

by Gary Leff

via air plane
Jul 29 2020

Via Air had an F-rating from the Better Business Bureau and 71% of TripAdvisor reviews that were poor or terrible (at the time even Allegiant was only 27% negative and Southwest Airlines 6%).

In May 2019 they didn’t show up for an inaugural flight at a new airport and no one knew why. They weren’t returning calls from customers or even the airport.

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