Alaska Airlines to be officially in oneworld by end of March

Seattle-based Alaska Airlines will officially join oneworld on March 31, 2021. A blog posted to the Seattle-based carrier’s website Oct. 12 described a “huge amount of complicated work being done behind-the-scenes” to ensure its systems are aligned with other oneworld member carriers in time for the “aggressive” late March deadline. “We are officially joining a […]

JetBlue Adds New Flight Routes to Popular Colorado Ski Destination

JetBlue announced on October 14 that it will be launching nonstop winter service to Telluride, Colorado from three new routes across the country, beginning on December 19, 2020. JetBlue will service Montrose Regional Airport (MTJ), a 90-minute drive to Telluride. The three new routes will be from Boston Logan International Airport (BOS), New York John […]

Volotea adds more domestic connections

Volotea is adding 10 routes across France, Italy and Spain over the Christmas 2020 holiday period and increasing the frequency of existing connections. Between Dec. 17 and Jan. 11, the leisure-focused LCC plans to fly 143 routes across all its markets, including 60 monopoly routes. More than 500,000 seats will be offered, an increase of […]

San Francisco joins Qatar Airways’ network

Three years after first announcing its intention to begin flights to San Francisco, Qatar Airways looks set to make good on its promise. The airline will launch 4X-weekly flights between Doha (DOH) and San Francisco (SFO) from Dec. 15. Service will be operated Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays using an Airbus A350-900 with 36 business-class […]

ACI World and IATA in Joint Push for Globally Consistent Approach to Testing

Airports Council International (ACI) World and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have today made a joint call for a globally-consistent approach to testing international passengers as an alternative to quarantine measures. The global shut down of air transport as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions has had a catastrophic impact on employment. Some 4.8 […]

Slot relief extension at congested US airports preserves routes

The FAA extended slot rule waivers at three congested US East Coast airports through the end of March, in an effort to relieve airlines hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The waivers exempt airlines at the country’s three IATA Level 3 slot-constrained airports—New York’s JFK (JFK) and LaGuardia (LGA) plus Ronald Reagan Washington National (DCA)—from […]

Looming Cash Crisis Threatens Airlines

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) warned that the airline industry will burn through $77 billion in cash during the second half of 2020 (almost $13 billion/month or $300,000 per minute), despite the restart of operations. The slow recovery in air travel will see the airline industry continuing to burn through cash at an average […]

Avianca resumes the Quito-Bogotá route

This Friday, the first flight of the Avianca airline flights arrived at the Quito International Airport from Bogotá, once the Government of Colombia lifted the restrictions on international passenger flights in that country. The Quito-Bogotá route is one of the most important in the region for both business and tourism flights and has historically been […]

Boeing to Consolidate 787 Production in South Carolina in 2021

As the airline industry continues to address the impact of COVID-19, The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] said today it will consolidate production of 787 jets at its facility in North Charleston, S.C., starting in mid-2021, according to the company’s best estimate. The decision comes as the company is strategically taking action to preserve liquidity and […]

McCarran Airport Traffic Increase a Good Barometer for the Industry

As the airlines slowly, incrementally begin to creep back toward filling their cabins, one good barometer is the traffic to major hubs. One such example is Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport, where leisure travel, especially, is always at a premium. Well, McCarran – like every other airport in the country – is still struggling because […]