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You’re on Guard! Weekly Recap: Frontier Believes in an Alternate Reality, Breeze Follows Avelo’s Lead, Allegiant is Extra
The Main Squawk: Frontier sees itself as “the last man standing” in the ULCC market Frontier CEO Barry Biffle made some radical comments during the Company’s Q2 earnings call last week. He said that although its industry peers are struggling, aircraft lessors see the Denver-based carrier as “the last man standing” in the ULCC market.…
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You’re on Guard! Weekly Recap: CrowdStrike and Microsoft Fight Back with Delta, Spirit Reports a Further Loss, and Southwest’s Exploding Soda Cans
The Main Squawk: CrowdStrike and Microsoft call Delta’s bluff Last week, we reviewed Delta’s operational meltdown after a CrowdStrike outage led to tens of thousands of flight cancellations across the globe. It took the Company five days to recover—three times longer than any other carrier—forcing CEO Ed Bastian to do what he does best and…
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You’re on Guard! Weekly Recap: Delta Refuses to Own-Up to Its Operational Meltdown, Southwest Gets With the Times
The Main Squawk: Delta has its worst operational meltdown ever Delta’s horrific recovery from the CrowdStrike outage that occurred on Fri, July 19, was by-far the worst operational failure the U.S. airline industry has seen since the Southwest holiday travel meltdown in 2022. While the faulty update CrowdStrike pushed to its security software was certainly…
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You’re on Guard! Weekly Recap: Delta Miscalculates Olympic Travel Plans, United Loses Another Tire, Alaska Expands Its Route Network
The Main Squawk: Delta settles for the Bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympics Delta has always been proud of itself for being the airline of choice for Team USA. Over the past year and a half, it prepared for this summer’s Olympics by increasing capacity, retrofitting part of its aging 756 fleet with luxurious cabins…
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You’re on Guard! Weekly Recap: Boeing Acquires Spirit Aerosystems and Admits Guilt in 737 MAX Crashes, Spirit’s Struggles, Southwest Plans to Take a Poison Pill
The Main Squawk: Boeing buys Spirit (Aerosystems) Boeing reached an agreement to get back together with Spirit Aerosystems. After nearly twenty years of separation, two 737 MAX crashes, and one door flying off the hinges, the two companies are now joined again at the hip. But why the separation in the first place? Back when…
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ANALYSIS: JetBlue/Spirit Merger Gets Struck Down, What It Means for JetBlue, Spirit, and AA
The Main Squawk: JetBlue will be OK; Spirit, not so much. Late last-night, Judge William Young of the U.S. District Court of Massachusetts, announced his ruling that the merge of JetBlue and Spirit would hurt consumers. Today, let’s break down the main points in his decision, and what it means for JetBlue and Spirit. The…
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You’re on Guard! Weekly Recap: Southwest Inks a New Contract and Simultaneously Pays the Price for Last Christmas’s Travel Debacle, Alaska Raises Bag Fees
The Main Squawk: Southwest gets a mighty big Christmas present After long drawn-out negotiations, there’s finally a tentative agreement on the table at Southwest, and it’s phenomenal. In addition to an immediate 29% pay increase, the deal secures higher pay for pilots on reserve, significant enhancements to the Company’s retirement packages, increased per diem, and…
