Chinese airlines, as state entities, cannot furlough workers because that would admit failure of the Communist Party. And at the province level, declines in employment would reduce political prospects for local leaders.
So even though passenger demand remains around one-third of last year’s levels, airlines will begin operating 96% of domestic flights.
This weekend, both United Airlines and American Airlines updated their schedules for July, whereas Delta jumped ahead of the curve and loaded their July schedules 2 weeks ago. There are now many airports where Delta used to reign that American isn’t just bigger – but bigger than Delta and United combined.
Both American and Southwest are positioned to be far larger than their competitors, which will either position them to become more effective businesses going forward or turn out to be a gamble that burns through substantial cash.
On May 18 Etihad operated its first ever flight to Israel, flying an Airbus A330 full of cargo from Abu Dhabi to Tel Avvi carrying supplies including ventilators bound for the Palestinian territory. However the Palestinian authority rejected the shipment because the U.A.E. coordinated the shipment with Israel, rather than directly with them.
This week Etihad tried again. The first flight was operated by an Airbus A330 painted white. This time it was a Boeing 787-9 in Etihad colors, there was nothing hidden about the shipment.
Hawaii has extended its required 14 day quarantine for arriving visitors through the end of July. That means it’s effectively off-limits to tourism until at least August.
They can’t ban travelers from coming to the islands, but they can require quarantines once they land. So for Hawaii ‘re-opening’ means lifting of quarantine requirements. Here’s what the state plans to do before that happens.
American, which has a policy of expiring miles in accounts that have been inactive for 18 months, announced that they’d pause expiring miles through June 30. American confirms they’re prepared to start expiring miles again July 1.
I wouldn’t hesitate to spend time in the Maldives. And at present there’s very little confirmed spread of the virus in the country. My approach would be this: be prepared (and be prepared to fund) a longer stay if something went wrong. And if you’re in an especially vulnerable group, for instance over 60 with pre-existing conditions, consider staying home.
Airlines are requiring passengers to wear masks inflight, and this has led to a needed change to inflight safety briefings. Flight attendants are telling customers “face masks need to be removed prior to using oxygen.”
It makes no sense to ban travel from places where virus spread has slowed to a much lower pace than it’s already circulating here, especially when we’re not banning travel from some of the places in the world where the virus is spreading fastest.
The China travel ban failed because the CDC blew its implementation and the Europe travel ban came too late. Those were policies that might have helped if implemented at the right time and in the right way back in January and February. But they no longer make sense in June.
As properties re-open in Las Vegas it looks like there’s a new opportunity for a surprise ‘gotcha,’ a COVID-19 surcharge. When destinations around the world that have re-opened, or that are looking to, are practically paying you to come, we’re starting to see extra charges not listed on the menu show up on bills in Las Vegas.
And yes – it’s identified as a “COVID-19 crisis” surcharge.
The airline industry makes for strange bedfellows.
Delta is rushing to save a key American Airlines partner, because that keeps it from being on the hook to repay the loan they guaranteed. However if they fail they will take partial ownership in Gol’s frequent flyer program, a key American Airlines partnership.
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 »
