The Main Squawk: U.S. government shutdown is poised to cook up turbulence
Last week marked the start of yet another government shutdown, proving once again that a smooth travel experience is contingent on Washington doing its job (a concept about as reliable as finding an empty middle seat on a commute out of Orlando). Even in the aftermath of the disaster over the Potomac earlier this year, politicians in the Nation’s capital seem perfectly happy treating the National Airspace System (NAS) like a political football.
Among the heros who continue to provide “essential but unpaid” services to the traveling public are air traffic controllers and TSA agents. While they have always been made whole in the form of a large back pay check when the government re-opens, there’s no telling when that may be. The next paycheck for Federal employees is scheduled to be cut on Friday, but without a budget, that check won’t make it into people’s bank accounts.
Expect to see some creative routing as our colleagues on the other side of the radio—who are already running on coffee, sheer will, and maybe four hours of sleep—decide that their mortgage is slightly more “essential” than guiding a red-eye into Atlanta. This is, of course, a polite way of saying: prepare for the inevitable “sickout” as seen in previous shutdowns.
Endeavor had a little fender-bender at LaGuardia last week when two of its Bombardier CRJ-900s clipped each other at night. The right wingtip of an outbound aircraft made contact with the nose of an inbound aircraft at the intersection of Taxiways A and M. Between the two aircraft, a total of 100 people were on board the airplanes, with one non-life threatening injury reported.
For any airline, this might be a minor, albeit embarrassing, headline. But for Endeavor, this incident adds to an already long list of operational blunders in 2025. Earlier this year, the airline flipped one of its jets upside-down in Toronto after the jet’s nose gear collapsed following a hard landing.
While we can all appreciate their enthusiasm for diversifying their aircraft damage—moving from flips in Canada to slow-motion wing-bumping in New York—the Delta Connection experience is quickly becoming exactly that: an experience. The FAA and NTSB are investigating, but given Endeavor’s history, cut to the solution and replace the taxiway lights with bowling lane bumpers and call it day.
Boeing is starting to plan a successor to its embattled 737 MAX jet according to an exclusive published in The Wall Street Journal. It’s a move that has the aviation world both excited and considerably anxious. While the aircraft manufacturer is currently fixing its existing quality control problems (a job that involves checking that the doors are, you know, actually attached), early discussions are now underway for an all-new single-aisle aircraft.
The proposed aircraft, previously referred to as a “New Midsize Airplane” (NMA), is intended to take on Airbus’s dominance in the mid-size market. Recent talks reportedly focused on what technologies the plane will use, including next-generation engine designs and composite materials to provide a significant leap in fuel efficiency. The jet’s entry into service is slated to be somewhere around 2035, but we all know that for Boeing, that’s remarkably optimistic.
It is, however, a good sign that Boeing is planning a “clean-sheet design” for its next aircraft, rather than to try (and fail at) stretching an outdated model. The Company insists that its primary focus remains on fixing the quality control issues that have long plagued the MAX and delayed Dreamliner deliveries for years.
Lufthansa is cutting 4,000 admin jobs and six aircraft types as part of an organizational overhaul. The parent company of the namesake carrier announced last week at its Capital Markets Day that the cuts are necessary to boost efficiency and reassure investors that its management actually knows what it’s doing. Jobs will be phased out over the next five years, and should account for roughly a 20% reduction in the size of the Group’s current administrative workforce.
In addition, the Company is planning an aggressive fleet simplification designed to reduce operating complexity and fuel costs. The Group plans to retire six long-haul aircraft types, moving from a whopping thirteen widebody types down to nine by the end of the decade. This includes the accelerated retirement of its namesake’s older, four-engine aircraft like the Boeing 747-400 and the very dead Airbus A340 by 2027. The Company says it will be focusing on modern, more efficient jets such as the Boeing 787s, Airbus A350s, and Boeing 777-9s (if that program ever gets off the ground).
Source: Lufthansa Group’s Capital Markets Day 2025
While the comprehensive move comes after the Group faced criticism for its cost structure, the Company employs almost 7% more people than it did in 2019, even though it’s operating fewer flights and planes. By cutting administrative overhead and rationalizing its fleet, Lufthansa’s goal is to improve its margins and ensure it can continue investing in new aircraft and products for the long term. Comments from the Company’s recent Investor Day Capital Markets Day suggest the Group will handle job reductions by offering voluntary packages, natural selection, and an advanced allowance of buddy passes for the following decade.
Aeroitalia is being re-branded as Air Italy. (Apparently, it was too similar to the now-defunct Alitalia name.)
Alaska is expanding its codeshare with JAL.
American maintenance technicians found a stowaway on one of its Boeing 777s when it arrived in Charlotte.
Braathens International Airways (a Swedish carrier) filed for bankruptcy last week because no one knew about them.
British Airways will being service between London Heathrow and St. Louis in April 2026.
Delta is bringing back service between Atlanta and Belize City in January 2026.
Philadelphia and its Department of Health shut down its United Club for sanitary reasons. Gross.
PLAY (the Icelandic carrier) cancelled all flights last week when it announced it would be closing indefinitely.
Ryanair Flight 8718 from Milan to London Stansted diverted to Paris Beauvais last week when one passenger ate his passports and another flushed theirs down the toilet. (How this hasn’t made it onto a late-night TV show yet, I have no idea.)
Southwest is getting ready to flip the switch on free in-flight Wi-Fi for Rapid Rewards members. (Spoiler alert: T-Mobile isn’t ready for it.)
TAP Air Portugal completed a one-time-departure-only between Lisbon and London Gatwick last week. Because let’s face it: you really only need to go to Gatwick once.
United is trying out a bag-transfer initiative for travelers starting their trip in Sydney who are connecting in San Francisco.
Virgin Atlantic is adding more seats between London Heathrow (LHR) and Toronto by up-gauging the route from its Boeing 787-9 fleet to its Airbus A350-1000 fleet.
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