Capping Off Airline Earnings Season: The Push and Pull Between Higher Fares and Rising Prices

Tuesday, August 09, 2022 at 09:09 PM ET

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A Delta Air Lines A319 holds short as an American Airlines A321 departs Los Angeles. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | James Dinsdale)

The second quarter of 2022 brought with it all the murkiness and uncertainty that have become standard in the airline industry since March 2020. The three-month period from April to June was headlined by JetBlue Airways and Frontier Airlines staging a public battle to purchase Miramar, Fla.-based Spirit Airlines, which after months of higher bids and canceled shareholder votes, JetBlue finally won at the end of July.

Underlying the stress and excitement of the fight to become the fifth largest airline in the U.S., however, was an industry-wide struggle to overcome the turmoil the broader economy is leaving airlines and passengers to deal with.

Airlines including United Airlines and Frontier Airlines reported their first quarterly profits since the Covid-19 pandemic took hold of the industry in 2020, while others like Spirit and JetBlue posted losses as costs continued to outweigh increased revenues.

Even with a mixed bag of results, some clear trends have emerged, ones that will shape the industry into the third quarter and beyond.

Losses At the Hands of High Gas Prices

Spirit rounded out second-quarter earnings announcements for major U.S. airlines on Tuesday when the airline reported a net loss of $52.4 million on revenues that were 35% higher than the same period in 2019, a clear sign of the growth that has come to the airline as the industry emerges from the pandemic.

However, the airline’s bottom line took a hit as it saw expenses go up by 66%. That includes fuel expenses which more than doubled compared to the second quarter of 2019, despite only flying 9.9% more capacity on an available seat mile basis.

Breaking it down further, the airline paid an average of $4.30 per gallon of jet fuel during the three months ended June 30, a massive jump from the $2.16 the company paid in the same period three years ago.

That story is not a unique one. Looking just at the big three U.S. carriers in United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Air Lines, only Delta managed to pay below $4 per gallon of jet fuel during the quarter, but that was only as a result of the airline’s own refinery operations, which it said brought its adjusted fuel costs down by 31 cents per gallon.

A United Boeing 767-300 departing Berlin Tegel. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | James Dinsdale)

Airlines are looking to a sort of reprieve in the third quarter, as Spirit said it is expecting to face an average fuel cost of $3.55-$3.60 in the third quarter, approximately a 17% drop versus the prior quarter. (Those prices would represent an increase of more than 70% over the per-gallon costs the airline faced in 2019).

Other airlines are projecting similar decreases, but bottom lines across the industry are likely going to see the effects of higher fuel prices for quarters to come as carriers continue to put out schedules as robust as they can reliably operate.

Ex-Fuel Pressures

Analysts and industry insiders often look beyond fuel to understand how efficiently airlines are operating. By stripping out fuel prices, which are beholden to market-driven commodity price swings, it becomes easier to make comparisons with regard to how costs are changing from quarter to quarter and from year to year.

Though fuel has been a key player in the eye-popping cost figures airlines have posted in recent weeks, they have also shown they are succumbing to similar pressures elsewhere.

Delta’s troubles perhaps played out most publicly, as staffing shortages throughout the early summer months (which would then spill into July) forced the airline to invest heavily in rebooking passengers and shuffling bags to make up for accompanying operational struggles.

But even for airlines that saw the quarter go by without such flareups, the troubles were much the same. Even Southwest, which has long put intense focus on its operational efficiency, saw its cost per available seat mile excluding fuel (CASM ex-fuel) climb 13.1% compared to the second quarter of 2019 as a result of what CEO Bob Jordan called, “inflationary pressures and headwinds from operating at suboptimal productivity levels.”

A Southwest Airlines 737-700 pushing back at Pittsburgh. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)

Looking forward, carriers are not seeing much of a reprieve. American is projecting costs excluding fuel for the third quarter will be 12-14% above where they stood in late 2019, a result of shelling out money for labor, parts and nearly every other good the airline needs to operate on a daily basis.

In an airline with the Associated Press this week, American Airlines Chief Financial Officer Derek Kerr qualified that figure, saying it would be closer to a 2% increase if the airline was operating at full capacity, but he said low training capacity has prevented the airline from getting the pilots its needs ready to put together a full schedule for the coming months.

A Saving Grace in Higher Fares

Despite all the difficulties rising costs brought airlines in the second quarter, many carriers were able to produce a decent financial performance at the hands of their customers.

Throughout the period, customers seemed to deliver the message that they wanted to travel at nearly any cost, and airlines capitalized. Emblematic of that was Delta, which partially as a result of staffing shortages flew 18% less capacity than it did in the second quarter of 2019. But the airline still managed to bring in 10% more revenue than in the same period, a difference that is largely attributable to higher average fares paid by passengers in nearly every market the carrier served.

Those dynamics pushed Delta to a second-quarter profit, joined by competitors American and United on the backs of their customers, too. The Chicago-based behemoth said it saw its CASM ex-fuel jump by 17% over 2019, but it more than made up for that with unit revenue that rose by an even more massive 24%, enough to counter the additional costs brought on by fuel price increases.

The same has been true outside the sphere of full-service carriers. Even ultra-low-cost provider Spirit said its revenue per passenger increased 24% compared to 2019. That figure is inclusive of ticket prices as well as fees paid for ancillary services like baggage and seat selection but is emblematic of the same trend.

A Spirit A319 in Las Vegas (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)

Those dynamics may not be sticking around for the long term. Bloomberg reported in mid-July that average fares in the U.S. had fallen by $70 from their mid-May peak, relieving some of the pressure that had been put on consumers but also putting airlines on notice.

How those dynamics will interplay with lower fuel prices and similarly high costs for labor and other goods in the third quarter and beyond remains to be seen, but there will be an intense focus on whether airlines can continue to hold the same pricing power they have displayed this year.

All the while, carriers will need to continue to navigate self-imposed capacity constraints, limits airlines have put on themselves to avoid the over-scheduling issues that have plagued Delta, American, United and others in recent years.

Parker Davis

Parker joined AirlineGeeks as a writer and photographer in 2016, combining his longtime love for aviation with a newfound passion for journalism. Since then, he’s worked as a Senior Writer before becoming Editor-in-Chief of the site in 2020. Originally from Dallas and an American frequent flyer, he left behind the city’s rich aviation history to attend college in North Carolina, where he’s studying economics.

Boeing Looks to First Movers Coalition to Reduce Aviation Industry’s Carbon Footprint

Vincenzo Claudio Piscopo

Tuesday, August 09, 2022 at 08:00 AM ET

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Parker Davis

Boeing's 777X on display at the Dubai Airshow (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)

U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing, the world’s second-largest civil aircraft manufacturer, will take on a new role within the First Movers Coalition (FMC) to help reduce aviation emissions faster.

The FMC was created in November 2021 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050, seeking to bring to commercial scale within the next decade the right technologies to keep the planet’s temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius. To do this requires low-carbon technologies that are not yet competitive with current carbon-intensive solutions, but must reach commercial scale by 2030 to achieve net zero emissions globally by 2050.

The FMC is a global initiative that harnesses corporate buying power to decarbonize seven “hard-to-burn” industries that currently account for 30% of global emissions — aluminum, aviation, chemicals, concrete, shipping, steel and trucking — along with innovative carbon removal technologies.

Changing Aviation

Boeing will serve as a “champion” for the aviation sector. It will work to increase industry partnerships to expand sustainable supplies of aviation fuel while defining strategies for developing new solutions. Boeing’s “collaboration with the more than 50 member companies of the FMC (of which Boeing is a founding member) will help scale sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) and accelerating low-carbon technologies to decarbonize aviation,” said Brian Moran, Boeing’s vice president for global sustainability policies and partnerships.

To pursue these goals Boeing, hired one of the leading experts in the field of SAFs, Robert Boyd, an aviation decarbonization specialist who worked for nearly nine years at the International Air Transport Association as Assistant Director of Energy Transition and Policy, Environment and Sustainability. He served as a member of the United Nations’ International Civil Aviation Organization Alternative Fuels Task Force and sat on the advisory board of the Carbon War Room and Canada’s Biojet Supply Chain Initiative (CBSCI). Prior to joining IATA, Boyd was the Principal Economist for Virgin Australia Airlines and co-lead of the airline’s renewable jet fuel team.

Boeing had already shown its commitment to aviation decarbonization in 2018 with the ecoDemonstrator program (the world’s first commercial flight using 100% sustainable fuels with a 777 Freighter, in partnership with FedEx Express) and with its joint venture, Wisk, (soon first fully electric, self-flying aerotaxi in the U.S.).

It is worth mentioning that Boeing became a founding member of the MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium in February 2021, and in December of that year, it conducted a successful test with NASA and DARPA on a large, fully composite, linerless cryogenic fuel tank with the capacity to hold 16,000 gallons (over 60,500 liters) of liquid hydrogen.

Vincenzo Claudio Piscopo

Vincenzo graduated in 2019 in Mechanical Engineering with an aeronautical curriculum, focusing his thesis on Human Factors in aircraft maintenance. In 2022 he pursued his master's degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Palermo, Italy. He combines his journalistic activities with his work as a Reliability Engineer at Zetalab.

Air India Leases Six Boeing 777s To Bolster Fleet for Potential Expansion

Pete Ainsley

Monday, August 08, 2022 at 08:34 PM ET

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Parker Davis

An Air India 777-300ER departing from New York-JFK. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Ben Suskind)

Air India plans to bolster its fleet by leasing six Boeing 777 aircraft in the coming months, with the aircraft expected to be delivered by October and held by the airline for a period of two years.

According to local media, Air India needs the new aircraft to improve its service. In July, one of the airline’s flights between Delhi and Vancouver was delayed by 11 hours due to the “faulty seats,” a potentially recurring problem the airline is reportedly trying to get ahead of in the coming months.

“Taking into account the impact on the airline operations, it has been decided that the airline will lease six [777s] to operate its ultra-long-haul flights (lasting over 16 hours),” the airline said in a prepared statement.

The flag carrier insisted that the aircraft involved in the Vancouver flight debacles have no other issues, and the new aircraft will add to its fleet and not replace any current aircraft. The new aircraft could be paving the way for the airline to expand its route map after the pandemic.

In response to the popular demand, Air India will increase frequencies between Delhi and Vancouver from three flights per week to a daily service starting from Aug. 31. The route will be operated by Boeing 777 in a three-class configuration.

“We are pleased to mark this significant milestone, and the team at Air India is hard at work to enable more expansion in the near future,” said Campbell Wilson, the airline’s managing director and chief executive officer. Tata Group, the new parent company of Air India, announced Wilson’s appointment in May.

Earlier, Air India has tapped the Airbus A350-900 XWB as another fleet addition in the months ahead. It is expected that the new aircraft could be delivered by next year and used to expand the carrier’s North American route network. The carrier has requested its pilots begin preparing for training on A350-900.

Meanwhile, the airline is planning to sell its Boeing 777-200LRs, which were manufactured in 2009, to make way for the newer aircraft to enter the fleet. Air India owns three the type and currently owns a fleet of 128 aircraft, according to its website.

New Operational Targets

In the wake of the expansion in the near future, the airline has decided to extend its retirement age for pilots from 58 to 65. India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) allows pilots to operate aircraft until the age of 65, so this move will bring the airline in line with the country’s maximum.

“Allowing pilots to fly till the age of 65 is a practice followed by most airlines in the industry. The contract would be issued for a period of five years extendable up to 65 years [of age],” the airline said in a statement.

In the meantime, Wilson is determined to improve the airline’s on-time performance. Air India recorded 75-80% total on-time performance in the most recent quarter, a figure that lagged behind that of other Indian airlines during the same period. Outside the country but in the surrounding region, AirAsia has ranked first in the performance for the last three months.

Pete Ainsley

European Commission Supports ICAO Condemnation of Russia’s Aviation Law Violations

Vanni Gibertini

Monday, August 08, 2022 at 03:00 PM ET

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Benjamin Pham

An Aeroflot 777-300ER landing at Paine Field after a test flight. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Katie Bailey)

Since the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine, commercial aviation has been one of the sectors that have been impacted the most by the hostilities. The Ukrainian airspace is closed to commercial traffic, and both the European Union and Russia have imposed economic sanctions on each other. As a result, the airspace above Russia is not accessible to registered aircraft from the west, making trips between Europe and the Far East much longer than they used to be prior to the conflict.

However, the illegal re-registration of aircraft owned by western leasing companies onto the Russian aeronautic registry, so that Russian airlines can operate them, has created the greatest economic impact on commercial aviation.

A number of close to 600 Western-built aircraft with an original market value of approximately $13 billion are currently operated in Russia, research group Russell Group reported. Last March, approximately one month after the start of the war, the Russian government passed a law “allowing the country’s airlines to place airplanes that were leased from foreign companies onto the country’s aircraft register,” according to Reuters.

This situation — which has caused Western lessors to write off hundreds of millions of dollars due to their inability to access their assets — is in blatant violation of Article 18 of the Chicago Convention, ICAO stated last June. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is a United Nations agency that helps 193 countries to cooperate together and share their skies for their mutual benefit.

Last week, the European Commission welcomed the decision by ICAO to condemn the practice to re-register aircraft onto the Russian registry, as well as the continuous Ukrainian airspace violations in the context of Russia’s war of aggression.

Adina Vălean, Commissioner responsible for Transport, said: “[…] Russia continues to disrespect the fundamental rules of international aviation and to instruct its airlines to work against these rules. I welcome the ICAO Council’s clear condemnation, which reflects the gravity of the actions undertaken by Russia.”

The Chicago Convention

According to Article 18 of the Chicago Convention, the treaty governing international civil aviation since 1944, states that “an aircraft cannot be validly registered in more than one State, although its registration may be changed from one state to another. Once a State has registered an aircraft, a number of safety-related obligations fall upon it by virtue of the Chicago Convention and its Annexes.”

The dual registration causes a number of concerns, first and foremost about its safety, since these aircraft are operating without a valid Certificate of Airworthiness, according to the European Commission.

ICAO is going to bring Russia’s violation of these basic principles of international aviation law to the attention of its 193 Members States during its General Assembly. This meeting is scheduled to take place in Montreal between Sept. 27 and Oct. 7.

Vanni Gibertini

Vanni fell in love with commercial aviation during his undergraduate studies in Statistics at the University of Bologna, when he prepared his thesis on the effects of deregulation on the U.S. and European aviation markets. Then he pursued his passion further by obtaining a Master’s Degree in Air Transport Management at Cranfield University in the U.K. followed by holding several management positions at various start-up carriers in Europe (Jet2, SkyEurope, Silverjet). After moving to Canada, he was Business Development Manager for IATA for nine years before turning to his other passion: sports writing.

Saudia Set to Operate Year-Round Barcelona Flights

Ryan Ewing

Sunday, August 07, 2022 at 09:51 PM ET

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Ryan Ewing

Saudia's first 787-10 (Photo: Mike Cassidy)

Saudia for this northern winter season will have available flights between Jeddah (JED) and Barcelona (BCN); with this the company will offer non-stop services to the Catalan capital throughout the year, this connection will complement its service to Madrid (MAD).

This route is subsidized by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Tourism under its Air Connectivity Program with the aim of increasing and boosting the country’s connectivity. Spain recently received the first batch of 100,000 Saudi students enrolled in the Tourism Pioneers Program arrived at les Roches International School of Hotel Management in Marbella, Spain.

“The training programs directly contribute to honing the skills of the beneficiaries, providing them with knowledge and tools for professional development and enhancing the job seekers’ chances of obtaining job opportunities that match their skills to contribute to the achievement of the Kingdom’s vision goals,” said Eng. Anas Al-Shae, Director General of the General Administration to Support Innovators and Entrepreneurs at the Ministry of Tourism.

During this summer Saudia is offering services from Jeddah (JED) and Riyadh (RUH) to Madrid (MAD), Barcelona (BCN) and Malaga (AGP), the latter will only be operated seasonally, Spain is positioned as one of the destinations with the largest supply of seats and routes of the company.

Saudia’s flight schedule at El Prat Airport (BCN)

Data obtained by Aviacionline through Cirium indicate that the Saudi flag carrier will offer 2,384 seats per week in eight operations to the Catalan capital, the schedule is as follows:

Jeddah (JED)

Flight SV 229 JED 10:20 – BCN 14:50 Tuesday and Saturday.
Flight SV 228 BCN 16:10 – JED 22:35 Tuesday and Saturday.

Riyadh (RUH)

Flight SV 229 RUH 08:55 – BCN 13:55 Monday and Thursday.
Flight SV 229 BCN 15:35 – RUH 22:00 Monday and Friday.

All services are operated on Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft with a capacity of 298 seats in two classes (24 Business Class/274 Economy).

According to Aena Statistics indicate that in 2019 between Spain and Saudi Arabia 76,594 passengers and 3,559.95 tons of cargo were mobilized in 599 air operations.

This story was originally published by Rainer Nieves Dolande on Aviacionline in syndication with AirlineGeeks.

Ryan Ewing

Ryan founded AirlineGeeks.com in February 2013 and has spent more than a decade covering the airline business. His work has been featured by CNN, WJLA, CNET, and Business Insider. His aviation experience spans airport operations, Part 135 regulatory compliance, and airline crew workforce planning, along with time behind the yoke of a Cessna 172 and interviews with airline executives. Ryan now serves as Group President of Firecrown Media’s Aviation Group. He holds a B.S. in Air Transportation Management and an MBA from Arizona State University and teaches Airline Management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Emirates Seeks First Officers for its A350, 787 and 777X Jets

Ryan Ewing

Saturday, August 06, 2022 at 08:57 PM ET

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Ryan Ewing

An Emirates A350-900 mock-up (Photo: Airbus)

This week, Emirates Airline confirmed that it will hire new first officers «who meet the airline’s standards in safety, technical prowess and customer experience», it said in a statement.

The new pilots will be based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the airline’s main hub. Emirates stressed that the new first officers will be able to aspire to operate the fleet of new wide-body aircraft that the company will incorporate in the coming years.

The Middle East’s largest airline has firm orders for Airbus A350-900, Boeing 787-8, 787-9 (scheduled for delivery from 2023) and 777X (scheduled for delivery from 2025) aircraft.

Shortlisted applicants will complete their training and qualification programs at the company’s facilities. Currently, Emirates has ten Full Motion Flight Simulators (FFS) to provide training on the two aircraft types that make up its fleet, the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 777.

Candidates must have experience as a first officer on multi-engine aircraft, hold a valid airline transport pilot license and have at least 2.000 hours of flight experience on aircraft with a maximum take-off weight (MTOW) of more than 20 tonnes or 3.000 hours on aircraft with an MTOW of between 10 to 20 tonnes.

In addition, they must have flown a minimum of 150 hours during the twelve months prior to joining the company in aircraft with an MTOW of more than 10 tonnes and must hold an ICAO Level 4 English language proficiency or higher. Those wishing to apply can find more information on the Emirates careers portal.

This month, the company will hold three information session days in the United Kingdom on the recruitment process and working conditions.

This story was originally published by Agustin MIguens of Aviacionline in syndication with AirlineGeeks.

Ryan Ewing

International Passenger Demand Triples in June – IATA

John Flett

Friday, August 05, 2022 at 03:45 AM ET

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Jack Dawin

A Virgin Atlantic 787-9 departing London Heathrow. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)

The International Air Transportation Association (IATA) has released the passenger data for June showing an unsurprising rise in passenger demand. Using the industry metric of Revenue Passenger Kilometres (RPKs) to indicate total passenger traffic IATA’s figures indicate a 76.2% increase over 2021. As a comparison passenger traffic was at approximately 71% of pre-pandemic levels.

With domestic markets holding strong with an increase of 5% over June 2021 levels international travel soared with a rise of 229.5%. IATA’s Director General Willie Walsh said: “Demand for air travel remains strong. After two years of lockdowns and border restrictions people are taking advantage of the freedom to travel wherever they can.”

From a regional perspective, the ‘Within Europe’ market saw levels of passenger traffic exceed pre-pandemic levels by 7 percent. International RPKs for airlines based in Europe increased 234.4 percent year on year and sit around 80 percent of 2019 levels. However, this trend may be under threat from the recent issues affecting European airports and airlines in July.

Within the data release, Mr. Walsh commented on the recent capping of passenger numbers at London Heathrow and other airports. “By capping passenger numbers, airports are preventing airlines from benefitting from the strong demand. Heathrow Airport has tried to blame airlines for the disruption. However, Service Level Performance data for the first six months of this year show that they have failed miserably to provide basic services and missed their Passenger Security service target by a massive 14.3 points. Data for June has not yet been published but is expected to show the lowest level of service by the airport since records began.”

In North America airlines experienced the highest load factor of any region with an increase of 24.1 percentage points to 87.7 percent. Asia-Pacific airlines benefitted from the easing of travel restrictions in some countries with a 492 percent rise in traffic. Matching the surge in RPKs the load factor of airlines in the region increased significantly by 45.8 percentage points to 76.7. By comparison, African airlines are operating at close to 2019 capacity levels the region experienced the lowest load factor of 74.2 percent.

Mr. Walsh indicated that further challenges remain for the airline industry even with the increases in passenger demand, particularly in the Northern Hemisphere. He said it would be “premature” if the European Commission followed through on the intent to return to the 80-20 slot use rule which IATA states ‘requires airlines to operate at least 80% of every planned slot sequence.’

Calling for the continuation of flexibility in regard to the slot rules Mr. Walsh stated: “Just look at the issues that airlines and their passengers at some hub airports are being confronted with. These airports are unable to support their declared capacity even with the current 64% slot threshold and have extended recent passenger caps until the end of October. Flexibility is still essential in support of a successful recovery.”

John Flett

John has always had a passion for aviation and through a career with Air New Zealand has gained a strong understanding of aviation operations and the strategic nature of the industry. During his career with the airline, John held multiple leadership roles and was involved in projects such as the introduction of both the 777-200 and -300 type aircraft and the development of the IFE for the 777-300. He was also part of a small team who created and published the internal communications magazines for Air New Zealand’s pilots, cabin crew and ground staff balancing a mix of corporate and social content. John is educated to postgraduate level achieving a masters degree with Distinction in Airline and Airport Management. John has held the positions of course director of an undergraduate commercial pilot training programme at a leading London university. In addition he is contracted as an external instructor for IATA (International Air Transport Association) and has been a member of the Heathrow Community Fund’s ‘Communities for Tomorrow’ panel.

Airbus Cancels Remainder of Qatar A350 Order as Dispute Continues

Ezra Gollan

Thursday, August 04, 2022 at 09:58 PM ET

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Ryan Ewing

A Qatar Airways A350-1000 at the gate at Houston Bush Intercontinental Airport. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Mateen Kontoravdis)

French aircraft manufacturer Airbus has canceled the remainder of Qatar Airways A350 orders following a dispute over what Qatari regulators claim is premature surface damage.

Qatari regulators grounded nearly half of Qatar’s A350 fleet consisting of both the -900 and -1000 variants. The airline was the first to fly the type in 2015 and the first to fly the -1000 variant in 2018. Airbus and Qatar Airways seemingly had a strong relationship with the carrier operating nearly every Airbus type on the market and committing large amounts towards further orders.

Airbus has continued to say that the aircraft are safe though other A350 operators have reported issues like Qatar Airways leaving many wondering the cause. Qatar Airways is suing Airbus for a minimum $1.4 billion which is no small number and likely accounts for maintenance and lost revenue due to the type’s grounding.

Airbus seems to have little interest in dealing with the airline and has instead opted to flat out cancel the rest of the scheduled deliveries. Airbus also canceled an order Qatar had for 50 A321neo aircraft earlier in the year opting to resell the airplanes to other interested carriers which bothered Qatar Airways as they made an effort to stop Airbus from doing so.

This isn’t a confined issue

Airbus has acknowledged issues with production quality on the A350 though they don’t buy Qatar’s claims that the premature surface damage was caused by Airbus. Qatar isn’t the only carrier to have raised concerns with the A350. Reuters reported in November of 2021 that quite a few other airlines had seen issues in the exterior of the aircraft.

Finnair as far back as 2016 reported paint damage. Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa Air Caraibes and French Bee all reported paint deterioration as well. Cathay Pacific said there was no threat posed to the safety of the aircraft. No other airline had grounded the type over safety concerns until Qatar.

Airbus has investigated the issue and their choice to cancel the remainder of the order hints at the manufacturer having little interest in facing continued paint issues that it says have no effect on the aircraft’s performance or safety. Some similarities have been found on Boeing’s 787 aircraft as well and it should be noted that the 787 is also composed of carbon fiber.

Capacity is in demand

Airbus, by canceling the order themselves, are also making it clear that they have plenty of options when it comes to finding new homes for these aircraft. It is no secret that airlines are in dire need of capacity at the moment and many airlines are looking for any chance to expand.

Ezra Gollan

Ezra Gollan is a student, photographer and aviation enthusiast based in New York, New York. He has spent over half a decade around New York City’s airports as a photographer.

Flair Airlines Grows Presence in Mexico

Chase Hagl

Thursday, August 04, 2022 at 09:48 PM ET

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Ryan Ewing

The new Flair Airlines livery seen on one of the airline's 737-400s. (Photo: Flair Airlines)

On Wednesday, Canadian low-cost carrier, Flair Airlines announced a new non-stop service to Cancun from Toronto, further strengthening its presence in Mexico.

Flair will initially operate the route twice-weekly, with service beginning November 3. Airfare for the particular route starts at $109 CAD.

“We’re delighted to add an additional route to our network in Mexico. We know that Canadians will be looking to beat the winter blues by escaping to the Sandy beaches of Cancun, and we’ve added additional service to the airport to allow people to chase the sun affordably,” stated Stephen Jones, Flair Airlines Chief Executive Officer in a press release. “As we continue our growth in the Mexican market, we look forward to increasing frequencies on our routes and adding new destinations.”

Accompanied by the Mexico announcement, Flair revealed plans to change the airport served on their California routes. Previously serving the Hollywood-Burbank, CA airport (BUR), the carrier will now fly into Los Angeles’ LAX airport. The company will have nonstop flights from Canada’s Edmonton and Vancouver airports.

Edmonton to Los Angeles will begin October 31 with three weekly flights, and Vancouver to Los Angeles begins the following day, November 1. LAX to Vancouver will operate four times weekly.

From both Vancouver and Edmonton, fares will begin at $99 CAD.

The airline has found success serving the Mexican market, as Toronto to Cancun becomes the carrier’s eighth route between the two countries. The route joins the already served Cancun to Kitchener-Waterloo and Cancun to Ottawa.

Flair customers can also fly direct from Abbotsford, Edmonton, and Vancouver to the popular Los Cabos destination. Currently served twice-weekly, the low-cost carrier will up this service to three times weekly.

Additionally, the newly served Puerto Vallarta to Edmonton and Vancouver will increase service to 4x weekly, up from the previous 1x per week.

The aircraft serving these routes are the Boeing 737 -800 and the 737 MAX 8 in a 189 3×3 seat configuration. The seat offers passengers 30 inches of pitch, 17 inches of width, and 2 inches of recline.

The ULCC is the subsidiary of 777 Partners and offers both scheduled passenger and charter services.

Within the United States, Flair operates to destinations covering all corners of the continent including Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Nashville, New York, Orlando, Palm Springs, Tucson, Phoenix, and San Francisco with plans to add more in the near future.

Chase Hagl

Chase Hagl grew up in Twin Falls, Idaho. His love and passion for Aviation landed him in Orem, Utah where he obtained a B.S. in Aviation Management with a minor in Business Management from Utah Valley University. Chase currently works as a flight attendant in Charleston, SC and is also the primary Inflight ASAP ERC representative for startup airline, Breeze Airways. His experience in the aviation industry spans back four years, working in areas including agriculture application, customer service, maintenance, and flight ops. In his free time, Chase enjoys road biking, astronomy, and flying.

United Announces New Nonstop Flights to South Africa

Victor Shalton

Wednesday, August 03, 2022 at 08:00 AM ET

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Benjamin Pham

A United Airlines Boeing 787 at San Francisco. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)

Earlier this week, United announced new direct flights between Washington, DC’s Dulles Airport and Cape Town, South Africa —becoming the first airline to provide nonstop round-trip service from the United States’ capital to one of South Africa’s main gateways.

The U.S. Department of Transportation granted the airline three weekly direct flights,, which will commence on November 17, 2022 (subject to approval by the South Africa Government). Tickets are currently available for sale.

United started seasonal service from Newark, NJ to Cape Town, South Africa in 2019 and expanded to year-round service this year. The carrier has more flights to South Africa than any other North American airline.

Patrick Quayle, United’s Senior Vice President of Global Network Planning and Alliances said, “We are thrilled to further expand our Africa offering with this first-ever direct link between Washington DC and Cape Town,”

With this addition, United will offer a total of 19 weekly flights to Africa. In addition to these new flights to Cape Town, the airline launched nonstop flights from Newark, NJ to Johannesburg and Washington, D.C. to Accra, Ghana and Lagos, Nigeria in 2021.

“These new flights build upon our existing year-round New York/Newark to Cape Town service – together they’ll provide a near-daily pattern from the U.S. to Cape Town along with connectivity to the broader region through our Airlink partnership,” he added.

United’s new flights also connect Cape Town to 55 U.S. cities, representing more than 92% of the U.S. travel demand. The new flights will also allow customers to connect in Cape Town to other points in South Africa, and other countries in the southern region of the African continent with United’s South African-based partner Airlink and their Cape Town hub.

United Airlines will utilise Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft on this new route, which features 48 lie-flat, United Polaris® business class seats, 21 United Premium Plus® seats and 188 economy seats.

A United Airlines 787-8 departing Washington Dulles (Photo: AirlineGeeks | Joey Gerardi)

Battle for Cape Town Market

Over recent years, the US – Africa Atlantic corridor, including flights between the United States and South Africa have been subject to the attention and rivalry of two US airlines – Delta and United.

The two carriers have battled it out throwing legal blows to oppose the other from gaining the upper hand with more frequencies from their US hubs to SA’s Johannesburg and Cape Town.

According to a bilateral agreement between the United States and South Africa, US airlines are limited to 21 air service frequencies to South Africa per week.

before the pandemic, Delta held a larger market share of routes to South Africa, for the good part of two decades. Its only competition was South African Airways. United on the other hand had only launched its inaugural flight to Cape Town in 2019.

However, United’s flights to Cape Town gained traction and momentum. In August 2022, United is projected to have a 58% seat share between the US and South Africa, compared with Delta’s share of approximately 42%, according to a data report from CAPA and OAG.

Before United received approval from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for its three weekly services from Washington to Cape Town, the frequency share between US Airlines for services to South Africa was split as follows:

United Airlines offers a total of 10 weekly flights from Newark, NJ to Cape Town, South Africa and Johannesburg.

Meanwhile, Delta Airline offers 7 weekly flights from Atlanta to Johannesburg.

In February and March 2022, Delta and United applied to the DOT for rights to operate three weekly services to Cape Town from their hubs in Atlanta and Washington-Dulles respectively.

For United, this would provide a near-daily pattern to Cape Town. However, only four frequencies of the 21 allowed frequencies remained. Hence, Delta was vying to deny United from gaining a majority of the seat market share on flights to South Africa.

Victor Shalton

Victor Shalton's love for aviation can be traced to when he was 11-years-old. As a seasoned aviation writer, he takes pride in providing the best aviation coverage around the globe and is passionate about advancing his skills in the aviation space. In addition, he loves travelling, writing, arts and while his speaking engagements have taken him around the world, he is proud to call Nairobi home.