Table of Contents

Issue No. 799

The Right Jet for These Times

JetBlue Debuts the Airbus A220, an Aircraft Airlines Say Is Well-Suited to These Times

Pushing Back: Inside This Issue

JetBlue introduced its first new aircraft type in years, the Airbus A220. As airlines the world over park and retire widebodies, the A220 is emerging as the right-sized jet for these pandemic times, as we explore in this week's feature story.

Earnings season continues in the U.S., with United's fourth-quarter and full-year results. The Chicago-based carrier was slightly more pessimistic than Delta about when business travel might return, but management thinks its hubs and route network position the airline well for when travel starts to return.

Elsewhere in this issue, the U.S. has a new president, and therefore a mandate requiring masks and facial coverings on aircraft and in airports. Qatar is returning to the UAE now that the Saudi-led blockade has lifted.

Earnings continue next week, with Alaska, Hawaiian, Boeing, American, Southwest, and JetBlue.

Verbulence

"[The] inflection point… [is] the same day that you feel like you can go everywhere in the country and go to a restaurant and be at 100% capacity."

United CEO Scott Kirby

Weekly Skies

United Airlines cut hard and cut deep when the coronavirus pandemic hit a year ago. As the largest U.S. airline to China, it cut more flights earlier than any of its American competitors — something it continued as it became…

Routes and Networks

Qatar Airways plans to resume flights to Dubai this week and says it expects to return to Bahrain soon without specifying a date. Flights between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) halted abruptly in 2017 after a row broke…

Fleet

Transport Canada, the country's transportation ministry, lifted restrictions on the Boeing 737 Max last week clearing the way for the aircraft to fly again in Canadian airspace.

State of the Unions

President Joseph Biden signed an executive order mandating the use of facial coverings on all public transportation, including aircraft, for the next 100 days. This order is in stark contrast to the Trump administration's Transportation Department, which demurred on a…

Feature Story

If there is an aviation wunderkind to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic, it just might be the Airbus A220.