Thousands of American Airlines employees face a difficult decision in the coming weeks. Federal payroll support funding is running out and some 17,000 employees must now decide if they’re willing to take a buy-out package from the company or risk being laid off.
Qantas
Beached Whale: A380’s future turns more bleak
The A380 is the biggest passenger aircraft in the skies, and it will continue to operate for some time to come. But it will not be as prevalent as it once was. And this week brought more tough news for the type.
Airport lounges shutter as airlines slash capacity
The lounges are closing. Not every airline and not every location, but for the trickle of passengers still flying opportunities to duck into a private space in the terminal for a bit are starting to disappear.
Gogo looks to ride out coronavirus-related dip in demand
The final few months of 2019 delivered strong numbers for inflight connectivity provider Gogo. The company saw revenues improve in the business aviation and global segments while the North American market held up pretty well. Things continued looking good into early 2020. But since the beginning of March, similar to airline demand, Gogo saw a “significant decline” in Asia followed by a “more pronounced decline” in recent days.
Qantas cuts international 25% through September facing coronavirus-induced demand drop
Qantas is the latest major carrier to announce significant changes to its schedule in the wake of the coronavirus demand drop. Not only with the company make significant reductions in its international operations, but it plans for those changes to last until mid-September 2020, the furthest out any airline has made changes yet. The carrier will swap types, reduce frequencies and suspend or delay some routes completely.
KuKa is coming…but where??
Satisfied customers that want to take their inflight connectivity experience further afield appear to be driving the Ku/Ka offering from Viasat. And it should be online sooner than not, according to President & COO Rick Baldridge.
An electrified experience: PaxEx Update – 13 Dec 2019
Electric aircraft are really real and the Embraer E2 family is complete. Plus a ton of good news for Airbus and an incremental eventual win for inflight connectivity.
Qantas selects A350-1000 for Project Sunrise
A slightlyy modified version of the Airbus A350-1000(ULR) is the aircraft of choice for Qantas as it inches closer to its “Project Sunrise” plans for nonstop flights between Sydney and London or New York City. But neither the business plan nor aircraft order are finalized yet. Negotiations with pilots over work rules are the sticking point now.
American Airlines adds a pair of New Zealand routes for next Winter
In October 2006 Air New Zealand dropped its service from Christchurch to Los Angeles, continuing to London, removing the only non-stop connection between New Zealand’s South Island and the USA. In October 2020 that link will be restored by American Airlines. Service between the US and New Zealand is booming.
Some Sunrise skepticism
Over the weekend Qantas brought another 787-9 home to its fleet in Sydney. But this was not a normal delivery flight. Project Sunrise is coming, and maybe it shouldn’t.