Is Northern Pacific The Scammiest U.S. Airline About To Launch?

by Gary Leff

May 28 2022

After announcing a revenue-based frequent flyer program that they’re calling a cryptocurrency they’re trying to raise money direct from the public in the form of an investment kickstarter, with the promise of free travel, elite benefits and… free booze for investors?

There are many reasons be be skeptical of the effort even if they didn’t seem to be incorporating the worst elements of businesses like Avatar Airlines which take a sixteen year old’s dream carrier off of airliners.net and marry it with an SEC criminal complaint waiting to happen.

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Senators Lean On American And Delta For Flights To Indiana. Here’s What They Don’t Understand.

by Gary Leff

May 28 2022

Congress, at the behest of pilots unions and under the guise of safety after the Colgan Air accident, created significant barriers to becoming a pilot that were completely unrelated to the cause of that incident. Congress can fix this if they want air service to the smallest cities, precisely what gets cut as pilots are allocated to the most valuable trips, they should fix this.

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American Airlines Pilot Chatter: New Heathrow Flights, Giving Up On LAX – And Growth

by Gary Leff

May 27 2022

Last week I flew Austin – Washington Dulles and a flight attendant told me American was planning to start flying Austin – Washington National. She was sure of it! I explained the perimeter rule to her and how American cannot fly Austin – Washington National without the Department of Transportation assigning ‘beyond perimeter’ slots that are created in law. It turns out she’d heard this news from… a passenger.

That said sometimes there are real tidbits of news, or at least interesting opinions. So I thought I’d pass along these ‘pilot tidbits’ shared to twitter by serial airline newsbreaker JonNYC along with context for what they mean.

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American Airlines Launching New Service To New Zealand, Dropping Israel And India Routes

by Gary Leff

May 27 2022

American Airlines is launching a new long haul Pacific route, Dallas to Auckland, complementing Qantas Dallas – Sydney service. They won’t restart Los Angeles – Auckland, though, and they’re dropping the idea of Dallas – Tel Aviv. The long-expect Seattle – Bangalore flight, which was supposed to be American’s first return to India, won’t happen until (at least) summer 2023 if it comes to fruition.

There are several more route changes as American adjusts its international strategy as well.

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Aeroflot Forced To Forfeit London Heathrow Slots Permanently

by Gary Leff

May 26 2022

One week ago the British government announced sanctions against three Russian airlines: Aeroflot, Ural Airlines and Rossiya Airlines. This kept them from selling or leasing takeoff and landing slots at U.K. airports. Russian airlines already couldn’t enter U.K. airspace.

We now know what this means in practice for their London Heathrow slots: Russian airlines don’t just lose the ability to profit from their slots, they actually lose the slots.

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A Loss Of Reliability Has Far-Reaching Implications For Delta – And American Express

by Gary Leff

May 26 2022

Delta Air Lines used to have a reputation for almost never cancelling a mainline flight. Their unique selling proposition was their reliability. They accomplished this with a fleet of generally older aircraft, and built a maintenance capability so effective that it became a profit center.

Reliability isn’t a new problem for Delta, in fact Delta was first to begin having operational meltdowns in the Covid world. But as the halo wears off the wheels could begin to fall off of the SkyMiles program and have implications far beyond Delta too.

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