We’re in airline earnings season, and we’ve seen the first few airlines post what most newspapers are reporting as giant losses. But look beyond those headlines of billions of dollars of red ink and you’ll see that most of those losses are one-time non-cash charges, and that Delta actually posted a nice little $137 million [...]
Read the Rest of the Story: Hm…Maybe Delta Knows What It’s DoingA quick link to a fun little article about what the airlines have removed from their planes to save weight. My favorite? Alaska Airlines took 5 magazines off each plane and saved $10k.
Read the Rest of the Story: What Have Airlines Removed from Aircraft to Save Weight?It’s horrible over at Midwest: In conjunction with their previously announced plans to eliminate the MD-80 from their fleet, they said today that they will need to lay off 40% of their workforce. The airline, which once had a great little niche providing near-business-class service at coach prices, isn’t long for this world and will [...]
Read the Rest of the Story: Midwest to Lay off 40% of Workforce(Thanks to reader Doug for the heads up)
The 12 major US carriers sent out an email (copied at the bottom of this post) blaming oil market speculation as the reason for the increase in the price of fuel (they say up to $60 of the cost of a barrel of fuel is due to this [...]
For those of you who were looking forward to seeing Stuart Little 7: Another Mouse in the House (or whatever), you’re out of luck: US Airways is removing entertainment systems from its domestic flights beginning in November. The move will save about $10 million a year in fuel.
On a positive note, they will not charge [...]
Northwest became the latest airline to introduce new fees: Just as with other airlines, it’ll cost you $15 to check your first bag. More annoyingly, they’ve introduced a “fuel-surcharge” for frequent flyer tickets (details here) - basically $25 for US flights, $50 for trans-Atlantic, and $100 for trans-Pacific. Oh, and they’ve upped their telephone ticketing [...]
Read the Rest of the Story: Northwest Introduces Baggage Fees, Frequent Flyer Redemption Fees(Thanks View from the Wing)
Spirit Airlines has a deal with Planet Hollywood Casino in Vegas to offer 1,250 square foot suites for $177/night mid-week in July and August (details in the link). It’s a steal!
United delayed a Denver to Des Moines flight by 6 hours after a passenger reported seeing a tick on the plane (3 ticks were later found). You’ll see this story elsewhere if you want to know the details.
Read the Rest of the Story: Yes, Yes, Fine, Ticks on a Plane.In a move that will surprise no one, ExpressJet will cancel its commercial flights as of September 2. Don’t worry, you probably weren’t flying them anyway. (As I noted when they launched last year, it was going to be an ugly ride for them. And it was.)
Read the Rest of the Story: ExpressJet to Suspend Commercial FlyingAn odd one:
Passengers waiting for their American Airlines flight crew to arrive for their flight to New York from Miami apparently became hostile and began to boo the crew when they arrived at the gate an hour and fifteen minutes after departure time. The crew became increasingly upset at the passengers and decided they wouldn’t [...]
