A year after announcing that it would no longer be an Aimia customer Air Canada (and its banking partners) now wants to buy the Aeroplan program off the loyalty operator. At a nice discount, of course. And it still is probably a smart move for everyone.
[PR] A new head for Thales InFlyt Experience
Thales InFlyt has a new boss. Philippe Carette takes over from Dominique Giannoni to run the IFE/C portion of the company effective immediately.
Best of Farnborough 2018: Airbus’ little, little(ish) win
An order for two aircraft is rarely big news. But for Uganda (National??) Airlines and Airbus it represents a significant deal on both sides. The carrier will CRJ900s to prove its operations and grow into the long-haul operation with the A330s arriving at the end of 2020. Assuming the airline is still solvent and the –800s really exist.
Alitalia is out, Virgin Atlantic is in: TATL JV changes proposed
Alitalia’s struggles continue. The carrier still needs a fresh infusion of cash to pay off the bridge loan from the Italian government and some sort of long-term plan. And, for the latter, Alitalia will soon find itself forced to be more independent than it is today. Ouch.
Best of Farnborough 2018: Embraer’s big win
Bigger is not always better. In the case of orders at Farnborough 2018 smaller airlines and orders are more likely to upset the industry (in a mostly good way). Embraer is party to one such order, with huge potential, even if it is not for 200 aircraft.
JetBlue cuts HQ staff in major organizational shake-up
More than 5% of the staff at JetBlue’s Long Island City, New York headquarters (“LSC”) are out of a job following a major shake up of the organizational structure. Reports suggest that 79 positions were eliminated on Friday with half taking a severance package and half being terminated outright. Here’s what CEO Robin Hayes has to say…
Major organizational changes coming to JetBlue
JetBlue is poised to announce major organizational changes. The move, coming on the heels of a months-long business review, aims to streamline the structure, remove roadblocks and reduce spending according to an internal company memo.
Finnair launches wifi on European fleet
Finnair joins the rapidly growing collection of European airlines offering inflight internet connectivity on its regional flights. Thanks to Viasat and Eutelsat passengers can now connect on some flights with more aircraft coming online over the coming year.
Loose ELT antenna impacts 2Ku deployments
Earlier this month EASA issued an Airworthiness Directive affecting certain of Gogo’s 2Ku inflight connectivity installations. Air vortices created by the 2Ku radome cause excessive vibration in the ELT antenna, potentially shaking it loose or causing structural issues in the fuselage. Fortunately the issue was discovered relatively quickly, the number of aircraft affected is low and a revised installation process is expected to be in place in the near future.
A route network to beat the airline startup challenges: Moxy begins to take shape
Where will those 60 new A220-300s fly for David Neeleman’s new “Moxy” airline? He’s looking further afield than most US startups typically consider, a potential boon for the operation. And the A220 is a (nearly) perfect plane with which to execute that plan.