In route news, Hawaiian Airlines cancels plans for a major revival of continental routes by August 1; It is the end of an era for British Airways, as its 747s will no longer fly; United plans to add a trans-Pacific service from Los Angeles, and Alaska Airlines will introduce new domestic routes there; JetBlue and American Present East Coast Alliance and Code Sharing Partnership; Alaska to reopen some airport lounges next month; some airlines extend their empty-middle seating policies; American presents contactless check-in; and Delta posts a large quarterly loss.
Now that Hawaii has postponed its planned opening for August 1 Hawaiian Airlines has canceled plans to re-establish service on various routes on the mainland by date for out-of-state visitors taking a COVID-19 test before leaving home. Earlier this month, Hawaiian had announced that by August 1 it would supplement its existing limited hours by restoring service from Honolulu to San Jose, Oakland, Phoenix, Las Vegas, New York, and Boston, and would also use the A321neo plane to revive flights to Maui from San Francisco, Oakland, San José, Sacramento and Los Angeles; Kauai from LAX and San José; and Kona from LAX. But now, according to the latest data from Routesonline.com, Hawaii’s August program for the mainland will include just six routes: daily flights from HNL to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego and Seattle.
British Airways announced on Friday “with great sadness” that the Boeing 747, which has been a mainstay of its intercontinental fleet for 50 years, made its last flight for the airline. “The airline’s remaining fleet of 31,747-400 aircraft will be withdrawn with immediate effect as a result of the devastating impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on the airline and the aviation sector, which is not expected to regain levels of 2019 through 2023/24, “BA said. The airline had been in the process of phasing out the 747s, which are being replaced by new long-haul aircraft that include six Airbus A350s and 32 Boeing 787s.
Following American Airlines’ recent decision to cut its international operations Los Angeles International, United Airlines plans to expand long distance service there. While United had recently suspended all LAX widebody services as part of its coronavirus cutbacks, the company informed pilots last week that it plans to start flying 787s there again in September. The airline’s initial plans include service to Sydney and Tokyo Haneda. The LAX-Sydney route will reportedly launch on September 8 with three flights a week, but the 252-seat 787-9 it deploys will be limited to carrying a maximum of 50 passengers.
In other United route news, The carrier’s previously announced plan to start service to Santa Maria, California from San Francisco, Los Angeles and Denver this summer has been delayed again. Previously United had delayed it until October this year, but now Santa Maria airport officials say they were told United will not start flying there before March 2021 at the earliest.
American Long Distance Retirement from LAX It is related to its burgeoning partnership with Alaska Airlines, which will focus AA’s west coast international expansion into central Alaska in Seattle. And for its part, Alaska will develop its own operations at LAX in support of the AA association. An Alaska official told Routesonline.com this week that in the coming months, the airline plans to add several new LAX routes, including Ft. Myers and Tampa, Florida; Kona and Lihue (Kauai), Hawaii; Bozeman and Missoula, Mont .; Eugene and Medford, Ore .; and Spokane, Washington. Alaska Airlines is expected to become a full member of American’s Oneworld alliance in the next six to eight months. Also in Alaska plans: New service to Ft. Lauderdale from San Diego and Portland, and from Seattle to Ft. Myers. All new routes will be phased in from October to December. See the schedule here.
And American now also has a new partner on the east coast: JetBlue. The two airlines announced this week that their new partnership “includes an alliance agreement proposing codeshare and loyalty benefits that will enhance each airline’s offerings in New York and Boston, providing strategic growth and momentum for customers and team members from both airlines. ” American said it will add more international services from JetBlue’s New York JFK hub next year, including summer season flights to Tel Aviv and Athens and winter season service to Rio de Janeiro. Once the pandemic ends, AA said: “The new partnership will surely make it easier for Americans to add new long-distance markets in Europe, Africa, India and South America.”
JetBlue, which recently unveiled plans for route expansion at Newark Liberty International (including new Mint transcon flights to San Francisco and Los Angeles starting next week), said it will also grow in JFK and Boston to maximize connections to the American network. “From New York and Boston, JetBlue plans to improve service to strategic markets, including the East Coast, West Coast and Southeast markets,” the operators said. Its new code share agreement will put JetBlue code on 60 AA routes and the US code on 130 JetBlue-operated routes.
American and JetBlue are creating a new code share and alliance in the Northeast US.
Jim GlabAmerican He also said he plans to operate more two-class regional jets starting in 2021, “providing the premium experience preferred by customers in the Northeast.” What about JetBlue’s previously announced intentions to start flying across the Atlantic? “JetBlue will not join Oneworld or the AA / IAG Atlantic Joint Trade Agreement (ie, American’s partnership with British Airways and Iberia) and will continue plans to independently launch and operate transatlantic flights to London in 2021,” airlines said. (My forecast: all three airlines will combine when we get out of this pandemic, probably under the American brand …)
Carriers were less than specific about their plans to extend reciprocal frequent flyer privileges: “JetBlue and American loyalty members will also enjoy new benefits while exploring additional premium experiences for customers,” they said. And what about the major transcontinental routes like JFK-SFO / LAX where they currently compete? The two airlines did not say if that would be part of the new code share, but only commented that “JetBlue and American will offer customers more options in the transportation service from New York to the west coast. American’s popular three-class service on the Airbus A321T will join JetBlue with its premium Mint experience and thoughtful center seats. ”
The latest news about airport lounges reopening comes from Alaska Airlines. Currently, the only Alaska lounge open to passengers is located at the D Concourse at Seattle-Tacoma International. But the airline said that, starting August 1, it plans to reopen its airport lounges in Anchorage, Los Angeles International, Portland and the Seattle North Satellite. Salons will feature a number of new virus prevention features (eg, replacing newspapers with free online access to digital media), and capacity will be limited by local restrictions, “which in most cases is currently underway. 50 percent, “Alaska said. Nothing is known yet about the fate of the Alaska Lounge at SFO, or when American’s new Admirals Club will open there.
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Recently it has been debated whether or not to keep the central seat Vacuum is an effective way to protect passengers from capturing COVID-19 in flight. As previously reported, United and American no longer guarantee empty middle seats, while Delta, Southwest, Alaska, and JetBlue still do. Delta CEO Ed Bastian said this week that customer surveys have shown that the empty seat guarantee in the middle of their airline is the main reason travelers choose Delta, and announced that the airline now plans to extend that policy beyond September 30, although it did not. I don’t say for how long. Southwest’s policy is also in effect until September 30, and JetBlue said this week that it now plans to keep the intermediate seats empty until at least September 8. The Alaska website notes that “As of September 30, 2020, we are limiting the number of guests on our flights and seats are blocked,” although it did not specify how many center seats would be blocked.
Meanwhile, Delta is also cracking down. in your flight mask requirement. Starting next week, anyone who doesn’t want to mask himself on a Delta flight can’t just say he can’t do it for medical reasons – he will have to prove it. How? Delta will require that they undergo a “virtual consultation” with a medical professional at the airport before they are allowed to board.
In other developments of “fight against COVID”, American Airlines has just announced that it has introduced contactless check-in at 230 airports, so that passengers can get to the door without touching a kiosk screen, even if they check a bag. People with luggage to check in on a domestic flight can indicate the number of bags in the application or the airline’s website. “When the customer arrives at the check-in kiosk, they can scan the boarding pass on their personal mobile device or one they printed at home. After scanning the boarding pass, the kiosk automatically prints the labels on the bag, all without the customer having to touch the kiosk, ”AA said.
The latest financial news from the depressing airline came from Delta this week as it reported a second quarter adjusted pre-tax loss of $ 3.9 billion. “Given the combined effects of the pandemic and the associated financial impact on the global economy, we continue to believe that it will be more than two years before we see a sustainable recovery,” said CEO Ed Bastian. While the airline will continue to add capacity during August, it now plans to increase operations by 500 daily flights instead of the previously scheduled 1,000. In an interview on CNBC, Bastian said that when it comes to corporate travel, he doesn’t expect that “we will ever get completely back to where we were in 2019 in the volume of commercial traffic.” I think there is a lot of inefficiency, which we can all appreciate on business trips. The international trips we’ve all been on, where we flew to Europe for a two-hour meeting and came back, that does nothing but beat you up, and you will certainly be much better accommodated in a video call. “Ugh be sure to check out our post on how this will affect hotels in our post on Monday.
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Chris McGinnis is SFGATE’s senior travel correspondent. You can reach him by email or follow him on Twitter or Facebook. Don’t miss a shred of important travel news by subscribing to their FREE weekly email updates!
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