Airlines

Category Archives for Airlines.

Norwegian Air Maneuvers to Avoid Collapse

by Gary Leff

plane on runway
Dec 24 2018

Several days ago there were questions about Norwegian Air’s ability to survive into the New Year. A report from a Danish bank suggested they could breach financing covenants which could have led to the unraveling of the low cost carrier that has been driving down transatlantic airfares and that is active in Europe.

The carrier though has announced several moves that they say should shore up their balance sheet. Whether these are enough depends on a variety of factors such as the cost of fuel and demand during the winter dip in travel.

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If You Got a Year-End Email From American Airlines I Hope You Didn’t Share It to Social Media

by Gary Leff

american airlines planes
Dec 21 2018

Yesterday American Airlines sent end of year review emails. I wrote about how few miles I earned from flying 100,000 miles and how scarce complimentary upgrades have become for someone like me. The airline encouraged members to share their activity via social media, embedding links to do so.

Members who took them up on this also posted their frequent flyer number and e-mail address. Oops. American is now telling members they need to delete those posts and monitor their accounts in case all their miles are stolen.

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Could Norwegian Air Be Days Away From Collapse?

by Gary Leff

plane on runway
Dec 21 2018

A report from Denmark’s Danske Bank says that Norwegian Air, the largest of the transatlantic discounters, could breach conditions of its debt if it doesn’t raise fresh capital by the end of the year.

Low cost transatlantic competitors Wow Air is teetering, and Primera has gone out of business. Norwegian operates both long haul and within Europe and is struggling through the most challenging time of year for a carrier in this hemisphere. How that will change the airline going forward remains to be seen.

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This Man Says He’ll Never Fly American Airlines Again. Of Course He Will!

by Gary Leff

Dec 21 2018

Ken Wimberly, who describes himself as Chief Visionary Officer for a commercial real estate firm in the Dallas area, says he’ll never fly American Airlines again.

He usually flies Southwest. He wanted first class tickets for his family of five, so he bought them from American. Then he needed to change the travel date for one member of the family.

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New Democrat House Transportation Chairman: Puppet of Big US Airlines

by Gary Leff

inside qatar plane
Dec 20 2018

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. With Republicans in control of the US House of Representatives they had Bill Shuster (R-Airlines for America) to do their bidding. He was dating a top lobbyist from the airline industry. His Chief of Staff was married to another top airline industry lobbyist. And he hired an airline industry lobbyist to run the Transportation Committee.

Now with Democrats regaining control of the House Pete DeFazio of Oregon isn’t missing a beat.

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