Editor’s Note: I’m back, wedding ring in hand! I know at least some of you missed me. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to be sharing my thoughts on a few stories that piqued my interest while I was away, including the latest contract at Boeing and what it means for aircraft deliveries, Spirit’s bankruptcy, Southwest’s reduction in Hawaii flying, and of course, some commentary on some of the recent “Airline Investor Days.” Stay tuned!
The Main Squawk: Thanksgiving 2024 travel season goes off without a hitch
As forecast, the busy 2024 Thanksgiving air travel season came true, and more importantly, without incident. Delays and disruptions were minimal, no major stories made the news, and airlines cancelled less than 125 flights in the aggregate.
The TSA handled over 3 million passengers on Sunday, marking December 1 the busiest travel day on record by agency metrics. This breaks the record set earlier this year on July 7 by about 70,000 passengers.
Meanwhile, on other modes of transportation, travelers driving along I-90 in parts of Pennsylvania were met with road closures due to lake effect snow. The snow was part of an arctic cold front that traversed the Great Lakes region, which sure made flying from one end of the storm to the other look pretty good at the time.
Spirit posted an (expected) net loss of $308 million for Q3 2024 last week. If this announcement feels later than usual, that’s because it is. Last month, the Miramar-based airline formally notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it was unable to file its quarterly report by the filing deadline due to ongoing negotiations with its bondholders.
We’ve been covering the discussions Spirit executives have been having with its bondholders since early-October, and as of last month, the Company made some headway.
According to the Airline’s delayed quarterly report, it entered into an agreement with certain shareholders that were surprisingly optimistic about the Company’s future. The agreement will convert nearly $800 million of the Airline’s debt into equity and will produce $350 million in cash.
The plan ensures Spirit will be able to maintain operations as usual while protecting its creditors. Paired with the $300 million line of credit it received from Citigroup in October, it’s beginning to look like the ULCC has the tools it needs to plug the holes in its leaky ship. What it needs, however, is a plan to return to profitability. (Or to keep with the analogy, what remains to be seen is how it will plot its course for calmer seas.)
Etihad is launching service from Abu Dhabi to Atlanta as early as July 2025 in its biggest expansion ever. The route will operate weekly on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays starting July 2, and will depart Atlanta at 10:00 PM. It will be served by the Airline’s Airbus A350 fleet.
The United Arab Emirates flag carrier currently serves four U.S. markets, including Boston, Chicago, New York-JFK, and Washington-IAD.
Delta is continuing to add to its Regional network in New York-LGA with the addition of two routes in May 2025. Service will resume between New York-LGA and Lexington, Kentucky, and commence between the Big Apple and Huntsville, Alabama. Daily service is scheduled to be operated by Delta’s wholly-owned subsidiary Endeavor Air.
The Atlanta-based carrier previously announced on its Q3 2024 earnings call that it hoped to restore Regional flying to pre-pandemic levels by the start of the Summer 2025 travel season.
Hourly service between New York and Washington-DCA is set to return in May 2025. United will begin service on its CRJ-550 aircraft operated by GoJet from Newark just in time for the start of the summer travel season, because why not take up more airspace between New York and D.C. during the busiest time of year?
What used to be an around-the-clock flight provided by either American or Delta went away in 2023 when the FAA started offering slot waivers related to ATC staffing. The corridor between the two cities is one of the busiest in the country and has long been plagued with poor ATC staffing, triggering miserable delays, and plenty of missed connections.
Air Canada is cancelling five routes to U.S. cities in May 2025, including Montreal to New Orleans, and Toronto to Baltimore, Hartford, Kansas City, and Portland-PDX. With these cancellations, the Canadian flag carrier will exit the Baltimore, Hartford, and Kansas City markets entirely.
American is adding three Regional routes and is cutting one Mainline route in February 2025. The Airline’s Regional network will gain service from Chicago to Bismarck and Boise, and from Phoenix to Appleton, Wisconsin. The Airline’s Mainline operation will lose service from Charlotte to Tulum, Mexico.
Emirates received delivery of its first Airbus A350-900 after months and months of delays. The Airline plans to receive sixty-four additional Airbus A350-900 aircraft through the end of the decade.
EVA Air is launching service from Taipei to Dallas-Fort Worth in November 2025.
Hawaiian is ending service between Honolulu and Austin in late-March 2025.
JetBlue is still choosing to spend money on repainting its planes, despite cutting costs in other areas. The Airline will force more than 340 Captains to downgrade in 2025.
Southwest is set to change the timeline of its in-flight service on Wednesday. Food and drink services will start later and end earlier on hopes of fewer on-the-job injury (OJI) reports from flight attendants. Spoiler alert: no one will notice.
United had fun comparing its Economy Plus seating to a Lexus.
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