Aviation Industry Updates: November 16, 2021

Frontier Airlines Orders Additional Aircraft | Tripling Size by 2029

• “These additional A321neo aircraft will enable us to triple the size of the airline by 2029,” said Barry Biffle, president and CEO, Frontier Airlines. “We are already America’s Greenest Airline with an existing fleet that is 43 percent more fuel efficient, on average per seat, than other U.S. carriers. The A321neo is expected to deliver nearly 120 ASMs per gallon, further advancing our industry-leading environmental efforts while debunking the myth that being green is an expensive investment only achievable in the future.”

• The new aircraft are scheduled for delivery between 2023 and 2029. They are in addition to Frontier’s existing orderbook of 143 aircraft to be delivered between 2022 and 2028, bringing the airline’s total aircraft on order to 234. By the end of 2029, Frontier’s total fleet size is expected to include 272 aircraft.

Read The Full Release Here

American Airlines Cuts 27 Routes | Slashes New York Network

KEY POINTS:

• New York is the big loser in American Airlines’ latest network adjustment.

• The Fort Worth-based carrier filed 27 route cuts over the weekend, 18 of which touch either New York’s JFK or LaGuardia airports.

• The nine remaining cuts include a big reduction in Canada service, along with some tweaks to the airline’s regional network from Boston, Charlotte, Chicago and Philadelphia. The adjustments were first seen in Cirium schedules and later confirmed to TPG by an American Airlines spokesperson.

• Despite American’s promise to grow in New York thanks to the tie-up with JetBlue, the airline is walking away from some of its expansion in this week’s massive schedule update.

• JetBlue is already operating (or planning to fly) 10 of the 18 routes that American is cutting, according to Cirium schedules. That leaves just eight cities losing New York service entirely from either American or JetBlue, including cities like Traverse City, Michigan, and Pensacola, Florida — two destinations that fared particularly well during the pandemic from leisure travelers.

• Of American’s 27 route cuts, five of them include service to Canada. The headline is that American is completely pulling out of Ottawa.

• Many of the remaining route cuts include regional service across American’s domestic network.

• American will end another one of its Northeast corridor routes, from Philadelphia to Baltimore, along with service from Charlotte to Champaign/Urbana, Illinois, and Toledo, Ohio. The airline will also stop flying between Chicago and Charlottesville, Virginia, and between Philadelphia and Charleston, West Virginia.

The Points Guy

Airbus Jet Delivery Forecast Hardly Dented By Pandemic

KEY POINTS:

• Airbus shaved its forecast for airplane demand by 0.5 percent compared with pre-pandemic projections on Saturday, offset by a brighter outlook for freighters as the world’s largest jetmakers fight for inaugural sales of large new cargo planes.

• Airbus issued new long-term demand forecasts on the eve of the Dubai Airshow, where a battered aviation industry is reeling from the loss of two years’ growth to Covid-19, while striving to defend its environmental plans amid growing climate pressure.

• Airbus said it expected a market total of 39,020 jetliner deliveries in the next 20 years, fractionally lower than the 39,213 it predicted two years ago in its last rolling forecast.

• “The fastest traffic growth will be in Asia with domestic China becoming the largest market,” Airbus said, indicating a permanent shift after China briefly grabbed the top spot in domestic air traffic from the United States during COVID.

• Airbus raised its 20-year delivery forecast for new freighters by 2.9 percent to 880 units. It is in talks to find a first buyer for a proposed A350 freighter with airlines including Singapore Airlines, industry sources said.

Skift

New Push For Vaccine And Testing Requirements For Domestic Air Travel

KEY POINTS

• Less than a week ago, the United States reopened to international travel with a requirement that foreign travelers entering the country show proof of vaccination and proof of a negative Covid-19 test. Now dozens of U.S. lawmakers are asking President Joe Biden to do the same for domestic air travel.

• Along with concerns that the holiday travel season may lead to a spike in Covid-19 cases, as it did last year, the legislators argue that tightening restrictions on domestic air travelers would be ultimately good for the economy.

• “Implementing such a requirement can also be a valuable tool to support the recovery of the tourism and hospitality industries,” continues the letter, noting that domestic business spending this year is just 57% of pre-pandemic levels and experts project that it will take at least four years for the travel and tourism sectors to be restored to their pre-pandemic levels.

• Throughout much of the pandemic, U.S. airline executives and airline union leaders argued that any additional Covid-19 restrictions for domestic flyers would be bad for business, resulting in fewer people willing to fly, and ultimately putting jobs at risk.

Forbes

Weekly TSA Numbers

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