A CFM LEAP-1B engine on a 737 MAX (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Katie Zera)
The FAA is considering new takeoff instructions for pilots of Boeing 737 MAX jets to prevent smoke from entering the cabin or cockpit if a bird flies into the engine.
According to a Seattle Times report, pilots would be required to turn off the airflow that links the main engines to the aircraft’s interior if new instructions were approved. The report stated the temporary solution would be in effect until Boeing issues a permanent fix, and that could further delay the certification of Boeing’s already delayed MAX 7 and MAX 10 models.
Referred to as “bleed air,” airflow from an aircraft’s engines is usually moved into the cabin through air conditioning to control air pressure and temperature inside. The Seattle Times report stated that turning off this airflow from the engines will reduce cabin pressurization, though the auxiliary power unit in the aircraft’s tail will still keep some pressurization.
In March 2023, a bird flew into the engine of a Boeing 737 MAX 8 during takeoff from Havana to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Video of the incident showed smoke filling the cabin of the aircraft, which promptly made an emergency landing back in Havana.
Late last year, a similar incident occurred on another 737 MAX 8 flight traveling from New Orleans to Tampa, Florida. This flight also made an emergency landing back at the New Orleans airport.
On Friday, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) posted on X/Twitter that it had opened an investigation into the Southwest left engine bird strike that caused smoke to enter the cockpit near New Orleans.
Not an ‘Immediate’ Safety Issue
The FAA told AirlineGeeks in an emailed statement that the agency is addressing the CFM LEAP-1B engine issue through its standard continued operational safety process. This includes close collaboration with Boeing, CFM, and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
“We will convene a Corrective Action Review Board in the coming weeks to examine the data and develop a path forward,” the FAA said in its statement. “The FAA determined this is not an immediate flight-safety issue.”
The FAA review comes after two incidents forced the emergency landings of two 737 MAX jets flying for Southwest.
AirlineGeeks.com was founded in February 2013 as a one-person blog in Washington D.C. Since then, we’ve grown to have 25+ active team members scattered across the globe. We are all here for the same reason: we love deep-diving into the fascinating realm of the airline industry.
A JetBlue A320 in Marana, Arizona. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
JetBlue is planning to shake up its pilot workforce next year. On Friday, the airline’s vice president of flight operations Jeff Winter told crew members that it would be implementing captain downgrades and base displacements.
These moves come as the New York-based airline continues to moderate capacity after posting a loss of $60 million in the third quarter. During an October earnings call, company leadership said the airline also plans to ground more Airbus A220 and A321neo aircraft next year due to ongoing Pratt & Whitney engine troubles.
The airline expects the number of grounded aircraft to average in the mid-to-high teens in 2025.
During a Friday meeting with its pilots, Winter said the airline will cut 343 captain positions across its system late next year, according to a source familiar with the discussion. Among the most impacted will be its Los Angeles pilot base, which will see a reduction of 85 captains and 65 first officers.
Downgraded captains will presumably be placed into first officer positions.
Winter did add that the carrier is in talks with the Air Line Pilots Association — the union representing JetBlue’s pilots — to offer early retirements.
In January, JetBlue offered early buy-outs to several workgroups, not including pilots, flight attendants, or mechanics. At the time, the airline touted its “no-furlough commitment.”
A JetBlue spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.
Ryan founded AirlineGeeks.com back in February 2013 and has amassed considerable experience in the aviation sector. His work has been featured in several publications and news outlets, including CNN, WJLA, CNET, and Business Insider. During his time in the industry, he's worked in roles pertaining to airport/airline operations while holding a B.S. in Air Transportation Management from Arizona State University along with an MBA. Ryan has experience in several facets of the industry from behind the yoke of a Cessna 172 to interviewing airline industry executives. Ryan works for AirlineGeeks' owner FLYING Media, spearheading coverage in the commercial aviation space.
Aer Lingus is the largest carrier at Dublin Airport. (Photo: Dublin Airport)
Editor’s Note: AirlineGeeks is proud to present our ‘Livery of the Week’ series. Every Friday, a team member will share an airline livery, which can be from the past, present, or even a special scheme. Some airline liveries are works of art. The complexity associated with painting around critical flight components and the added weight requires outside-the-box thinking from designers. The average airliner can cost upwards of $200,000 to repaint, creating a separate aircraft repainting industry as a result.
Have an idea for a livery that we should highlight? Drop us a line.
Aer Lingus, Ireland’s flag carrier, has a rich history marked by several distinct liveries. One of its most iconic designs was the mostly-green scheme, a bold and distinctive look that adorned the airline’s fleet for many years.
Introduced in the 1970s, the green livery featured a deep shade of green that covered the top half of the aircraft. The airline’s logo, a stylized shamrock, was prominently displayed on the tail, further emphasizing its Irish heritage. This striking color scheme was a departure from the previous designs and quickly became synonymous with Aer Lingus.
In recent years, Aer Lingus has adopted a new livery that incorporates a nearly all-white fuselage.
An Aer Lingus Airbus A330-300 (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
Looking for a new airplane model? Head over to our friends at the Midwest Model Store for a wide selection of airlines and liveries.
Ryan founded AirlineGeeks.com back in February 2013 and has amassed considerable experience in the aviation sector. His work has been featured in several publications and news outlets, including CNN, WJLA, CNET, and Business Insider. During his time in the industry, he's worked in roles pertaining to airport/airline operations while holding a B.S. in Air Transportation Management from Arizona State University along with an MBA. Ryan has experience in several facets of the industry from behind the yoke of a Cessna 172 to interviewing airline industry executives. Ryan works for AirlineGeeks' owner FLYING Media, spearheading coverage in the commercial aviation space.
Now, the carrier is adding yet another new route. Beginning in 2025, the airline will start flying to Jacksonville, Florida. Flights will operate daily beginning on May 7, 2025.
Regional carrier SkyWest will operate the Austin-Jacksonville route on behalf of Delta with an Embraer E175 aircraft.
“We’re proud to launch nonstop service between Austin and Jacksonville, the sixth new market Delta will launch from the Texas capital by Summer 2025,” said David Hart, Delta’s managing director of network planning, in a news release. “This new route demonstrates our commitment to connecting Austin to more destinations, offering customers greater convenience and choice as the city continues to grow.”
According to Cirium Diio schedule data, the Austin to Jacksonville market was previously served by both American and Frontier. American dropped the route in January 2024 as part of a broad service reduction in Austin.
Delta is poised to become Austin’s second-biggest airline in 2025, just behind Southwest. This spot was previously held by American.
By July 2025, Delta plans to operate nearly 60 peak-day departures from Austin.
Ryan founded AirlineGeeks.com back in February 2013 and has amassed considerable experience in the aviation sector. His work has been featured in several publications and news outlets, including CNN, WJLA, CNET, and Business Insider. During his time in the industry, he's worked in roles pertaining to airport/airline operations while holding a B.S. in Air Transportation Management from Arizona State University along with an MBA. Ryan has experience in several facets of the industry from behind the yoke of a Cessna 172 to interviewing airline industry executives. Ryan works for AirlineGeeks' owner FLYING Media, spearheading coverage in the commercial aviation space.
The ensuing six months have only bolstered our confidence in this prediction.
On Nov. 18, Spirit announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The ultra-low-cost carrier previously stated its intention to furlough over 500 pilots and to defer all aircraft scheduled to be delivered from 2025-2026 for five years. These moves preceded Spirit’s plans to sell 23 Airbus jets from its fleet and to cut $80 million in costs in 2025 — savings that would be driven primarily by workforce reductions.
A Spirit Airbus A321 (Photo: Shutterstock | Ron Adar)
South for Southwest?
Spirit is not alone in struggling, however.
Attempting to establish a ceasefire with activist investment firm Elliot Management, Southwest recently unveiled its three-year transformation plan at its Investor Day event. While many of the headlines were devoted to this plan’s flashy changes to the airline’s open seating model, there was plenty of red meat under the hood.
Southwest is seeking to bring its capacity in balance with passenger demand. To increase utilization (and thus reduce unit costs), the carrier is rolling out redeye flights for the first time in its 58-year history. The airline is also aiming for a five-minute reduction in its already-low turn times.
The moves most relevant to our thesis, however, come from Southwest’s plans to trim its workforce and to tighten its capital expenditures on aircraft from $2.1 billion per year to $0.5 billion. Southwest had hoped to let its workforce shrink naturally via attrition, targeting a reduction of 2,000 employees in the final quarter of 2024.
Evidently, the carrier was not on track to hit this target, as it announced a “Voluntary Separation Program” in mid-November. This program, eligibility for which extends to agents in customer service, cargo handling, provisioning, and more, hopes to alleviate overstaffing at 18 airports. Crucially, this program does not yet extend to pilots.
Yet the Dallas-based airline is curtailing its presence at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, aiming to cut 140 pilots by April 2025. While it is expected that Southwest will offer the affected employees relocation to one of its other bases, not all pilots are guaranteed their desired location, which might cause further attrition.
Passengers Fill Seats, Not Coffers
Even though 2024 has been one of the busiest years on record for passenger travel, airlines across the industry continue to struggle with numbers that are not in their favor.
Between 2014 and 2023, the number of pilots relative to a carrier’s total number of aircraft rose at a compound annual growth rate of 7.08%. Over the same period, fleet size grew 5.26% and passenger volume ticked up only 2.39%.
Sources: Company filings, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, AirlineGeeks Insights. Changes since 2014 in industry pilot count, industry fleet size and U.S. annual airline passengers.
To be fair, the fact that airlines’ growth in fleet sizes has slowed in recent years is not entirely under their control. The beleaguered aircraft manufacturer Boeing has made a string of errors (many of which were unforced) of late. For example, after resolving a seven-week strike with its machinists’ union, Boeing announced in mid-November that it would lay off more than 2,500 U.S. workers before Christmas, part of its larger plan to trim its global workforce by 10%, or 17,000 positions.
While Spirit’s deferments open up slots for other airlines to receive deliveries faster from Airbus, not all airlines are positioned to take advantage of this opportunity. Southwest famously runs an all-Boeing fleet and has repeatedly denied that Boeing’s troubles will force the carrier to consider adding Airbus jets.
Still, it cannot be denied that Boeing’s inability to meet its deadlines provides a highly convenient scapegoat for an airline that wishes to slow its hiring growth without also spooking its investors.
If airlines expect continued growth in passenger volumes, a higher pilot-to-aircraft ratio might be justified — provided also that the margins support this decision. But the margins for flying passengers around are simply not worth it, with the profit for many carriers coming from alternative streams of revenue.
By subtracting the passenger revenue per available seat mile (or PRASM) from an airline’s cost per ASM (CASM), we can deduce the passenger margin per ASM: the inelegantly titled PMASM. Studying PMASM allows us to track an airline’s operational efficiency relative to demand.
In even the best of times, airlines are generating margins from passenger revenue alone worth only pennies per ASM. Of course, once airlines begin to provide billions of ASMs in a given quarter, these pennies quickly add up.
But such margins are found in the best of times. In the first three quarters of 2024, the industry’s average PMASM (weighted by airlines’ ASMs) has been negative.
Sources: Company filings, AirlineGeeks Insights. Passenger margin per available seat mile (passenger revenue per ASM minus cost per ASM), industry average weighted by ASM.
Q3 saw only two carriers post a positive PMASM: United and Alaska. The remaining carriers — except JetBlue, Hawaiian, and Allegiant — reported positive overall margins per ASM on the strength of their loyalty rewards programs and other revenue line items.
The goal for airlines now is to break even with passenger revenues and compensate with profits made elsewhere. But the cyclical nature of passenger travel, doubled by its sensitivity to overall economic conditions, makes it difficult to generate positive or even breakeven passenger margins on a regular basis.
So, in order to keep PMASM at least as close to zero as possible, airlines are forced to carry out cost-saving measures — such as implementing slowdowns in pilot hiring.
Cloudy With a Chance of Sun
Even though newly trained pilots are facing an uphill battle in the coming years, the forecast is not uniformly dismal.
On the other hand, FAPA data also portrays the struggle of certain airlines — neither American Airlines nor JetBlue have hired a single pilot from June to October. Certain carriers that are heavily reliant on Boeing have posted several months in 2024 where no pilots were hired, such as Southwest’s five (compared to one in 2019) and United’s two (compared to none in 2019).
Regardless, industry leaders are optimistic that 2025 will be a return to form in hiring. Delta, which has so far seen its hiring growth slow 50% on a yearly basis, predicts that the industry will see a “more normalized” tempo next year.
Delta President Glen Hauerstein voiced an especially bullish outlook for 2025, as he forecast that U.S. airlines will hire roughly 5,000 new pilots next year — a feat missed in 2019 by only 23 hires.
For the best insights on the pilot workforce, go to FindAPilot.com, where you can search hundreds of pilot jobs and tens of thousands of pilots for hire.
AirlineGeeks.com was founded in February 2013 as a one-person blog in Washington D.C. Since then, we’ve grown to have 25+ active team members scattered across the globe. We are all here for the same reason: we love deep-diving into the fascinating realm of the airline industry.
A federal jury ordered SkyWest Airlines to pay $300,000 to a former employee who was the target of continued sexual harassment in a verdict on Wednesday.
A SkyWest Airlines Bombardier CRJ-700 aircraft on final approach at O'Hare International Airport. (Photo: Shutterstock | Carlos Yudica)
A federal jury ordered SkyWest Airlines to pay $300,000 to a former employee who was the target of alleged sexual harassment in a verdict on Wednesday.
The case was litigated in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas by the Equal Employee Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC complaint, filed in August 2022, stated that the employee was sexually harassed by other employees during their time working as a parts clerk in 2019.
The sexual harassment included crude sexual comments, jokes, gestures, and mimed assaults directed at the employee, EEOC’s complaint stated. Among these were explicit comments about the employee’s body, speculation about what sexual positions they may enjoy and suggestions or requests to perform demeaning sex acts with the employee.
The complaint added that the maintenance supervisor openly suggested to the employee’s co-workers that they could sexually traffic the employee while on a work errand to pick up parts. This statement was made in front of the employee.
The employee took an unpaid medical leave of absence in 2019 due to the harm to their mental health caused by the pervasive atmosphere and harassment.
When the employee requested a change in schedule to part-time citing a “salacious environment,” their maintenance supervisor emailed a response stating they would need to either work their schedule or apply for leave – otherwise they would be fired.
In December 2019, the employee filed a report through SkyWest’s human resources web portal. The employee was then placed on administrative leave by the employee relations manager. After interviewing all employees involved, the employee relations manager recommended mandatory sexual harassment training for all employees.
Five months after being placed on leave, the employee remained on leave and had not been updated on the status of the investigation or a return-to-work plan. After the employee reached out to the employee relations manager, the manager told them they could not return to work until the completion of the sexual harassment training by all employees.
“[The employee] felt compelled to resign [their] employment May 30, 2020 because Defendant failed to return [them] to work and ceased to communicate with [them] about any reasonably specific date that [they] could expect to safely return,” the complaint stated.
After a seven-day trial starting on Nov. 12, 2024, the jury ordered SkyWest to pay $170,000 in compensatory damages and $130,000 in punitive damages, totaling $300,000 in damages. A Law360 report stated that the jury awarded $2 million in punitive damages, but they were capped at $300,000 due to limitations on what plaintiffs can seek in a federal employment discrimination suit.
In a statement to AirlineGeeks, a SkyWest spokesperson said it plans to appeal the decision, adding that it disagrees with the sexual harassment finding. “SkyWest does not tolerate any form of harassment in the workplace.” the spokesperson stated.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024 at 5:38 p.m. ET to include comments from a SkyWest spokesperson and clarify the allegations.
AirlineGeeks.com was founded in February 2013 as a one-person blog in Washington D.C. Since then, we’ve grown to have 25+ active team members scattered across the globe. We are all here for the same reason: we love deep-diving into the fascinating realm of the airline industry.
A United Boeing 777-300ER. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Katie Zera)
United is restoring Boeing 777-300ER service to Newark. The airline’s largest aircraft type will return to its Northeast hub next year with regularly-scheduled flights.
According to Ishrion Aviation on Twitter/X, the aircraft is set to be deployed on routes to Dubai, Frankfurt, and Rome. Currently, the jet is primarily used from United’s San Francisco and Washington Dulles hubs.
The carrier last operated scheduled 777-300ER flights from Newark in October 2023, per Cirium Diio schedule data.
The economy cabin on United’s 777-300ER (Photo: Alex Navitsky)
Starting on March 29, 2025, the aircraft will operate flights to Dubai and Frankfurt. Later, on May 22, it will be added to the Newark-Rome route.
These routes were previously slated to be operated by a mix of 777-200 and 787-10 aircraft.
Ryan founded AirlineGeeks.com back in February 2013 and has amassed considerable experience in the aviation sector. His work has been featured in several publications and news outlets, including CNN, WJLA, CNET, and Business Insider. During his time in the industry, he's worked in roles pertaining to airport/airline operations while holding a B.S. in Air Transportation Management from Arizona State University along with an MBA. Ryan has experience in several facets of the industry from behind the yoke of a Cessna 172 to interviewing airline industry executives. Ryan works for AirlineGeeks' owner FLYING Media, spearheading coverage in the commercial aviation space.
A Hawaiian Airlines A330-200 in Las Vegas. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
Hawaiian Airlines is ending a long-haul mainland route next year. Now integrated with Alaska Airlines, the carrier continues to shake up its network.
In 2025, Ishrion Aviation reports that the Honolulu-based airline will cut nonstop service to Austin, its only destination in Texas. The Honolulu-Austin route is slated to end on March 26.
Flights between the two cities currently operate three times per week on an Airbus A330-200. Frequencies will be reduced to twice weekly in January.
“As we begin the exciting work to integrate our combined networks to offer our guests more flights and connections to more cities, we are making some initial adjustments to a few routes. Effective March 27th, we will serve Honolulu-Austin via one-stop connections in San Diego, Seattle, and our other gateways, and discontinue our thrice-weekly nonstop service so we can redeploy aircraft elsewhere in our network,” the spokesperson said.
Next year, Hawaiian will increasingly synchronize its network with Alaska’s, adding a regularly scheduled second daily flight to Seattle. In June, the carrier will cancel its San Diego to Kahului route while Alaska adds a second daily flight.
Ryan founded AirlineGeeks.com back in February 2013 and has amassed considerable experience in the aviation sector. His work has been featured in several publications and news outlets, including CNN, WJLA, CNET, and Business Insider. During his time in the industry, he's worked in roles pertaining to airport/airline operations while holding a B.S. in Air Transportation Management from Arizona State University along with an MBA. Ryan has experience in several facets of the industry from behind the yoke of a Cessna 172 to interviewing airline industry executives. Ryan works for AirlineGeeks' owner FLYING Media, spearheading coverage in the commercial aviation space.
With an average age of 27 years old, some of Delta’s 757s are among the oldest aircraft still operating at major U.S. airlines. According to Cirium Fleet Analyzer data, the airline has retired just one 757-200 this year, registered as N671DN.
During a recent earnings call, Delta’s finance chief, Dan Janki, said the airline would begin retiring aircraft again in 2024, adding that it hadn’t removed any in 2022 or 2023. Janki initially indicated that Delta would retire around 20 jets from its entire fleet this year.
A Delta Air Lines Boeing 757 climbs out of Eagle County Airport. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
Flexibility Around Boeing
At Delta’s Investor Day event on Wednesday, airline executives noted that the 737 MAX 10s aren’t in its near-term fleet plan.
“We will have to continue to see where Boeing progresses related to the MAX,” Janki shared. “… We’ll see the progress that they’ve made. … [W]e have flexibility around that and how we could manage.”
Delta CEO Ed Bastian noted some contract flexibility with the beleaguered manufacturer “if the [MAX] 10 isn’t produced.” He added that the carrier could extend the life of its 757s and 737-800s as needed; many have been retrofitted with newer interiors in recent years.
Inside a Delta 757’s first class cabin (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
“You’re also going to see us potentially extend lives on whether it’s the 757s or [737-800s],” Bastian said. “We have the capability to do that, and we’ve been known to do that over time … . [T]hat could also be part of the mix here too.”
Ryan founded AirlineGeeks.com back in February 2013 and has amassed considerable experience in the aviation sector. His work has been featured in several publications and news outlets, including CNN, WJLA, CNET, and Business Insider. During his time in the industry, he's worked in roles pertaining to airport/airline operations while holding a B.S. in Air Transportation Management from Arizona State University along with an MBA. Ryan has experience in several facets of the industry from behind the yoke of a Cessna 172 to interviewing airline industry executives. Ryan works for AirlineGeeks' owner FLYING Media, spearheading coverage in the commercial aviation space.
JetBlue has unveiled a new livery for its growing Airbus A220 fleet. The first such aircraft to sport the updated look, named “Taming Of The Blue” (registered as N3241J), is expected to enter service later this month, an airline spokesperson said.
The new livery features a refreshed version of the so-called “Hops” pattern on the tailfin, specifically designed for the A220 aircraft. This updated design is described as “multidimensional, playful, and full of motion,” symbolizing JetBlue’s network.
JetBlue’s new A220 paint scheme. (Photo: JetBlue)
A notable feature of the livery is the introduction of a violet accent color, making its debut on the A220 fleet.
A refreshed livery on a JetBlue A220 (Photo: JetBlue)
In June 2023, the airline rolled out a new livery, which features an all-blue fuselage and new color patterns. The paint scheme was first unveiled on an Airbus A321. The mostly blue design, the airline says, “reflects its role as an industry disruptor.”
Ryan founded AirlineGeeks.com back in February 2013 and has amassed considerable experience in the aviation sector. His work has been featured in several publications and news outlets, including CNN, WJLA, CNET, and Business Insider. During his time in the industry, he's worked in roles pertaining to airport/airline operations while holding a B.S. in Air Transportation Management from Arizona State University along with an MBA. Ryan has experience in several facets of the industry from behind the yoke of a Cessna 172 to interviewing airline industry executives. Ryan works for AirlineGeeks' owner FLYING Media, spearheading coverage in the commercial aviation space.
