American May Reject Boeing 737 MAXs Due To Inability To Find Financing

by Gary Leff

Jul 10 2020

The question I have is what covenants were agreed to – aside from usual cancellation penalties or costs to defer deliveries – when American entered into a settlement at the beginning of the year with Boeing over the MAX?

At the time the value of the settlement was estimated at around $600 million although the form and timing of payments weren’t clear. If the settlement included conditions including acceptance of future deliveries, that could explain the airline’s willingness to do so, and could mean rejecting deliveries now would be even more costly than usual.

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It Was Illegal For This American Airlines Pilot To Fly, But Refusing To Let Him Fly Was Illegal Too

by Gary Leff

cockpit with pilot
Jul 10 2020

Companies are frequently faced with a dilemma where they have to choose between acting ethically and acting legally. But it’s shocking to find a situation where a company is faced with a binary choice, and either option they choose is illegal.

That’s apparently the situation American Airlines found itself in when pilot Major General Thomas Harwood III ended his tour of duty with the U.S. Air Force Reserve and sought to return to active status with the airline.

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U.S. Airlines Say They Can’t Do Airport Temperature Checks – But They Now Do Them For Canada Flights

by Gary Leff

Jul 10 2020

U.S. airlines tell the U.S. government they cannot do temperature checks themselves (Frontier notwithstanding), but at the same time U.S. airlines are already doing temperature screening on their flights to Canada.

An internal American Airlines memo details how customers will be handled if they show a 100.4 degree temperature or above.

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152 Arriving Passengers Deported From Italy Because Entry Restrictions Changed While They Were Inflight

by Gary Leff

Jul 09 2020

It’s the regime uncertainty as much as restrictions themselves that are damaging to travel at the moment. It’s tough to buy a ticket when travel restrictions may change after you make your purchase. And it’s tough to fly when you may be forced to quarantine for two weeks at your additional expense after potential exposure to someone with the virus.

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4 Reasons Why A TSA Mask Mandate Would Be Illegal

by Gary Leff

Jul 09 2020

House Homeland Security Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) wrote to the TSA Administrator this week demanding the agency require people wear masks when going through security checkpoints.

The letter concludes that “a mask requirement is extremely important,” and it’s hard to disagree. The appropriate measure for members of Congress to take then is to pass such a requirement – there are four reasons why the TSA doing it on their own today would be illegal.

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Metropark Hotel Has Been Converted to China’s State Security Headquarters In Hong Kong

by Gary Leff

Jul 09 2020

The Metropark Causeway Bay hotel, with its rooftop pool overlooking Victoria Harbor, has been one of Booking.com’s “top picks in Hong Kong.” Now in the words of one pro-democratic member of Hong Kong’s legislature, it’s “a visual and physical reminder that big brother is watching.”

Not since the conversion of the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh into a Saudi torture site has a hotel’s transformation from home away from home to instrument of the state so quickly. The Causeway Bay Metropark is now the Office for Safeguarding National Security – transformed in a day.

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New York Governor Wants Customs-Like Check-in For Domestic Flights

by Gary Leff

Jul 08 2020

Airlines will be handing out quarantine forms for passengers to fill out when entering New York. Governor Cuomo also wants “a customs-like check-in at the airport” for domestic flights.

The forms will be used to enforce New York’s quarantine of arriving domestic passengers from states with “a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.”

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