AW Daily

Startup Breeze Airways Defends Plans to Hire College Kids Against Discrimination Claims

June 17, 2021

Breeze Airways fired back against unions and defended its controversial flight attendant hiring plans in the latest salvo of a war of words waged in the dockets between the startup airline and organized labor. In a filing this week, Breeze...

Lufthansa Hopes New Subsidiary Eurowings Discover Will Gain Long-Haul Traction

June 16, 2021

The Lufthansa Group has long wanted to get into the long-haul leisure game. Efforts have ranged from flying high-density Airbus widebodies at Lufthansa Cityline and Eurowings, with neither generating hoped-for returns before both came to an end with the coronavirus...

JetBlue Prunes New Pandemic Routes as Recovery Accelerates

June 15, 2021

JetBlue Airways bucked convention when it began unveiling dozens of new routes early on in the coronavirus pandemic. The additions were widely seen as a play to fly where the few travelers out there were going but also some strategic...

Shipping Bottlenecks Are Giving Air Canada a Big Cargo Boost

June 14, 2021

Air Canada, particularly hurt by stringent travel restrictions in its home country, continues to get a lift from its cargo business, aided by frustrations about bottlenecks and shipping delays for cargo on ships. Air Canada's story is yet another sign...

Are U.S. Airline CEOs Too Optimistic About the Business Travel Recovery? Maybe Not

June 11, 2021

If you listen to United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby or American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, you'd think their rhetoric is a willful wish that business travel's recovery is imminent, starting in the post-family vacation period after Labor Day. But are...

Canada’s Transat Walks Away From Hotels to Refocus on Airline

June 10, 2021

Canada's Transat is abandoning its vertically integrated travel company model to refocus on its core airline business, with plans to retool its network to ferry passengers from all over Canada to transborder and other international destinations through its hubs in...

Gol Takes Lead in Brazilian Consolidation with $6 Million Deal for Map Transportes Aéreos

June 9, 2021

Gol taking the first step in the expected wave of Brazilian airline consolidation with a reais 28 million ($5.6 million) deal for regional carrier Map Transportes Aéreos. The deal would strengthen Gol's presence at slot-constrained São Paulo Congonhas airport and...

Spirit Aims to Dominate South Florida With 30-Route Miami Expansion

June 8, 2021

Spirit Airlines plans what is one of its single-largest new city expansions ever with up to 31 flights a day to 30 destinations from Miami International Airport, beginning between October 6 and November 18, the airline said Tuesday. The expansion...

Southwest Airlines’ Boeing 737 Max Order Signals Growing Confidence in Travel Recovery

June 8, 2021

Southwest Airlines has gone back to Boeing for more 737 Max jets ahead of its capacity recovering to 2019 levels later this summer. The Dallas-based carrier has exercised 34 737-7 options with deliveries in 2022, Southwest disclosed in an investor...

Airlines Tout Economic Importance of UK-U.S. Travel Corridor Ahead of G7 Summit

June 7, 2021

Airlines flying between the UK and U.S. have re-upped their push for a travel corridor between the two countries ahead of the G7 Summit later this week, a move they see as potentially becoming the “poster child” for a greater global reopening of...

Fallout From Belarus Hijacking Continues as U.S. Moves to Suspend Air Rights

June 4, 2021

The U.S. State Department has suspended the 2019 U.S.-Belarus bilateral air services agreement in the aftermath of that country hijacking a Ryanair flight last month to detain a dissident journalist, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. But the speed...

Will Budget Airlines Like Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit Gain Share in the Recovery?

June 3, 2021

U.S. budget carriers accelerated years worth of market share growth into a single pandemic year. Their collective share of passengers jumped several percentage points in 2020 as the returning leisure travelers fit nicely with their strategy of taking vacationers directly...