Cranky Flier

APRIL 12, 2025

With Easter falling so late this year, my kids don’t have spring break until next week. So, I’m gonna grab a truckload of BuzzBallz and take them to Havasu to show them what a real spring break is like. Wait, that plan was so 5 minutes ago. I’m getting into the patriotic spirit by flip-flopping every few hours. The one thing I won’t be flip-flopping on, however, is that I’m taking the week off.

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Cranky Flier

APRIL 11, 2025

Delta Q1 Earnings Show Profit and a Cautious Outlook Delta was first up to release its Q1 earnings and the carrier posted a $569 million profit on $14 billion in gross revenue. Its total revenue finished up 3.3% over last year, right in line with its revised guidance it released several weeks ago. That is not a high bar to meet. It expects Q2 to fall anywhere between down 2% and up 2% with international and premium flying staying strong, while domestic main cabin bookings slow — this is in

Airline 130

Airline Airlines Airplanes 130

Cranky Flier

APRIL 10, 2025

The end of Mesa has finally arrived, and lucky for the airline, it was the rosier situation that prevailed. Instead of failing outright, Mesa has now been bought. No doubt many a United customer is now celebrating this turn of events. Republic is the winner, and that means that outside of wholly-owned regionals, there are really only two major regional carriers of note left: SkyWest and Republic.

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Airline Airlines Pilot 260

Cranky Flier

APRIL 8, 2025

It’s clear that we in the US have entered a self-inflicted economic downturn. While there is plenty that is not clear regarding how bad it will be and how quickly things will improve, every airline’s management team has to be sitting around right now thinking about how they are going to deal with this unfortunate development. Broader capacity cuts are likely coming at some point, but where that capacity comes from will, as always, be interesting.

Airline 147

Airline Airlines 147

Cranky Flier

APRIL 7, 2025

I received an invite to a United event at SFO, and my curiosity was piqued. It was advertised this way: “Join CEO Scott Kirby to hear about United’s growth plans at San Francisco International Airport.” Ok, and this was close enough to home that I could do an easy day trip. So I did… but in the end, nothing was announced at all.

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Runway Airplanes Airline Airlines 130

Cranky Flier

APRIL 5, 2025

The Cranky Network Awards may be over for 2025, but the articles continue to come in celebrating some of the wins. I love to see this. We want the network teams to be proud of the work they’ve done. This new Phoenix flight was just named the sexiest. Here’s why – Arizona Republic The local newspaper in Phoenix put together a story about the Phoenix – Paris route on Air France winning the award for Sexiest New Route – Long Haul.

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Cranky Flier

APRIL 4, 2025

Delta Adds Sun Flying Delta Air Lines announced new service to the Caribbean , along with Mexico and Central America today, including two new nonstops from its Atlanta hub: Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The winter flights will begin December 20 and operate through April 12, both operating daily. Also for DL, Detroit will add Saturday only-service to Grand Cayman while increasing frequencies to Nassau and Cancn.

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Cargo Airline Airlines Airplanes 165

Cranky Flier

APRIL 3, 2025

United this week announced four new flights over the Pacific as part of its winter 2025-2026 schedule plan, including three cities it hasn’t served in a long time… or ever (I’m looking at you Adelaide). The four new routes? Hong Kong – Bangkok 1x daily from October 26 on a B787-9 Hong Kong – Ho Chi Minh City 1x daily from October 26 on a B787-9 San Francisco – Manila adds a 2nd daily from October 25 on a B777-300ER San Francisco – Adelaide 3x weekly from

Airplanes 147

Airplanes 147

Cranky Flier

APRIL 1, 2025

In the post-pandemic world, airlines have been struggling to figure out how to deal with the massive variability in demand by day-of-week. Every airline has been forced to make adjustments, but now Spirit is going one step further. It will stop flying on off-peak days entirely. Just recently, Spirit began to transition to this plan. In June of 2024, off-peak days operated at 95 percent of the peak day departure numbers for the airline.

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Airplanes Airline Airlines 211

Cranky Flier

MARCH 31, 2025

I have never cared about elite status, not even a little bit. Would an upgrade be nice? Sure, but I don’t travel enough to have high enough status to think that I’d ever actually get one. And I’m not tall, so I really don’t care much about extra legroom either. Living in Southern California, there are different airlines that are better for different routes.

Airline 147

Airline Airlines 147

Cranky Flier

MARCH 29, 2025

Summer Perspectives: Is US Growth Slowing Down or Speeding Up? – OAG I joined OAG for a webinar looking at summer demand which you can watch in its entirety right here. OAG did put out that stat showing a massive dip in demand between Canada and the US, but it looks increasingly like that’s not right. Still, demand is down, and it is an issue.

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Cranky Flier

MARCH 28, 2025

Spirit Motors up to Detroit In a move that will surely be welcomed by Delta and not see that airline retaliate with lowering any prices or increasing any frequency to attempt to blow Spirit out of the water, Spirit is adding 15 routes to its operation in Detroit, some new, some returning. What’s new? Thanks for asking. Birmingham (Alabama, not England, if you were confused), Hartford, Louisville, Milwaukee, Norfolk, Punta Cana, Richmond, Salt Lake City, and St Louis.

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Airline Airlines 130

Cranky Flier

MARCH 27, 2025

I’ve long had an unhealthy fascination with airline schedule change policies. I think it’s because they tend to reflect the personality of the airline itself in funny ways. But ever since the Department of Transportation pushed through new rules on refunds, Delta’s policy has stood out for being the complete and total opposite of what people think when they fly Delta.

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Airline Airlines 130

Cranky Flier

MARCH 25, 2025

This is the second in a two-part series looking at airline credit card deals. See this post for part one which explains how the ecosystem works. The biggest US airlines are making billions of dollars every year thanks to their cobranded credit card deals with banks. Without those deals, the airlines are actually losing money which seems… bad. But could this whole setup possibly go away?

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Airline Airlines Airplanes 130

Cranky Flier

MARCH 24, 2025

This is a two-part series looking at airline credit cards. Today, we look at how it all works. Then tomorrow, we’ll ponder what happens if it all goes away. The airlines in the US have developed into a special kind of company… one that consistently loses money on its core business but makes up for it on financial services. This is thanks to the way banking laws work in the US.

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Airline Airlines Approach 162

Cranky Flier

MARCH 21, 2025

We’re a day later than usual this week, but at some point today, the latest Air Show will be live with two, two, TWO topics instead of one. First, Brian and Jon talk through what Bryan Bedford being nominated to be FAA administrator means. Then Brian and I talk about the truth behind Spirit’s bankruptcy. Spoiler alert: my post on Monday was wrong, so if that interested you, you’ll want to listen in.

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Air Traffic Control Airplanes Cargo Airline 130

Cranky Flier

MARCH 20, 2025

Had you told 2021 me that Norse Atlantic would still be flying in 2025, I’d have been surprised. And if you told me that it might actually make money that year, I’d have started laughing. But sure enough, Norse Atlantic is still around, and it thinks it can be profitable this very year. How is this even possible? To paraphrase the Beatles, they get by with a little help from their friends.

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Airplanes Air Traffic Control Airline Airlines 130

Cranky Flier

MARCH 18, 2025

Thanks to Southwest’s elimination of its differentiators, both United CEO Scott Kirby and Delta President Glen Hauenstein said last week that in competitive markets, Southwest’s customers are up for grabs. Scott took things further in his chat at the JP Morgan Industrials Conference as he explained what should happen next. I think the far bigger thing… it’s the slaying of a sacred cow.

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Airline Airlines 256

Cranky Flier

MARCH 17, 2025

In what seems like record time, Spirit has now exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The airline is now $795 million of debt lighter and $350 million richer thanks to additional equity investments. It has a mere seven directors on the board who split between finance and industry experience. One of those is CEO Ted Christie who remains at the controls flying the plane, free to pursue a life of religious fulfillment.

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Airline Airlines 236

Cranky Flier

MARCH 15, 2025

What Happened to Southwest Airlines? A Deep Dive Into Its Decline – Fodor’s Travel Former Southwest employee Scott Laird did his own deep dive into the decline of Southwest for his role writing for Fodor’s, and I chimed in with some of my thoughts as well. Southwest Will Begin Charging for Checked Bags, Ending a Popular Policy – The New York Times In its article on Southwest’s policy changes, The New York Times quoted this website.

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Airplanes Airline Airlines 130

Cranky Flier

MARCH 14, 2025

Southwest Sells Out There’s not much to say here that hasn’t been covered both here on the blog and all over the internet this week. Southwest Airlines announced this week it was getting rid of everything that differentiated it from every other airline in the U.S. market, finally caving and adding baggage fees, basic economy fares, and variable award redemption rates while adding expiration dates to ticket credits.

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Airplanes Descent Tail Airline 130

Cranky Flier

MARCH 13, 2025

Mesa has finally reached its end state as a regional carrier. It is now an airline that flies one type of aircraft (Embraer 175) for one major partner (United). Chances are, this is as good as it gets for the airline. It remains United’s decision whether Mesa lives or dies. The CRJ-900 fleet goes back more than 20 years to the America West days.

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Airplanes Pilot Airline Airlines 130

Cranky Flier

MARCH 11, 2025

When we look back in the distant future, I think we’ll remember today as the day that Southwest died. No, it is not going out of business, but its entire value proposition — everything that made it different — has disappeared faster than you can say “Elliott Investment Management.” For this, Southwest has earned the Cranky Jackass Award, but even that seems insufficient.

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Airline Airlines 358

Cranky Flier

MARCH 10, 2025

I recently had a conversation with someone at an airline outside the US who was lamenting how airports in the US just keep raising costs to unsustainable levels, and there aren’t enough checks to prevent it. The airlines have largely rolled over or even approved of the spending… but not all. Allegiant is apparently the hero we all need as it has now told LAX that it is shutting its crew base and scaling back flights since high fees make the operation unsustainable.

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Airline Airlines Airplanes 130

Cranky Flier

MARCH 8, 2025

Airline incidents and layoffs have made recent headlines. What does it mean for the industry? – KJZZ 91.5 I had a chat with KJZZ in Phoenix about all the different things going on in the airline industry during this very busy year. Appleton International Airport Director named Best Airport Partner by online airline news outlet – WFRV Green Bay It may not get coverage in the big cities, but when the head of air service in Appleton wins a Cranky Network Award as Best Airport Partner, i

Airline 147

Airline Airlines 147

Cranky Flier

MARCH 7, 2025

If at First (or Second) you Don’t Succeed…Ask the Courts to Reverse the Decision Apparently American’s dream of a Northeast Alliance with JetBlue isn’t totally dead yet. American Airlines is throwing a hail mary, petitioning the Supreme Court to hear the case. JetBlue decided to move on after the partnership was struck down in May of 2023, instead focusing on its failed takeover of Spirit, showing that there really are no winners in this alliance — except the lawyer

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Airplanes Airline Cargo Airlines 130

Cranky Flier

MARCH 6, 2025

As Spirit sails through Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and prepares to exit, fellow Florida-based airline Silver is not quite having the same luck. After a whole lot of drama, the airlines’s fleet is shrinking and it has cut back flights with no notice. Silver’s outlook is… cloudy… at best. After Silver stopped flying for Amazon’s Prime Air in 2023, the airline had 14 aircraft flying around Florida and the Caribbean.

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Airplanes Airline Airlines 147

Cranky Flier

MARCH 4, 2025

To say it has been a whirlwind month for those who live in Washington, DC would be an understatement. It has been an absolutely insane month, truth be told. Now, American is pulling back at its primary airport in the region, Washington/National, or DCA, and I’m guessing that these two things are directly related. Just think about everything that region has had to endure since inauguration day.

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Drag Airplanes Airline Airlines 179

Cranky Flier

MARCH 3, 2025

Was it just me, or does nobody else remember last week either? Once I arrived in Phoenix for the 5th annual Cranky Network Awards presented by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, it was a complete and total blur until it was all done. In the end, we had what I think was our best event yet, and I want to thank all ~170 of you who joined us. We started with the new Cranky Confab where we had an in-depth discussion with four aircraft manufacturers and another that focused on the US-Mexico mar

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Airline Airlines 165

Cranky Flier

FEBRUARY 25, 2025

It always seems to sneak up on us, but this week is the fifth annual Cranky Network Awards presented by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The nominees are ready, the trophies are engraved, and by the end of the night on Thursday, we will have some newly-minted winners. We will also have a completely exhausted Cranky. For that reason, I won’t be posting anything more this week.

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Airplanes Airline Airlines 130

Cranky Flier

FEBRUARY 24, 2025

Back in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, airlines were scrambling. There were so many pilots that took an early retirement that nobody was ready for the very quick rebound in demand that led to a rapid increase in flights. The big airlines just kept taking pilots from their regionals, and the regionals were left scrambling to find anyone who was qualified.

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Pilot Airplanes Flight Deck Airline 239

Cranky Flier

FEBRUARY 21, 2025

Southwest Announces Layoffs Southwest Airlines disclosed the first layoffs in its 53-year history with the carrier cutting about 1,750 corporate and leadership jobs, or roughly 15% of its non-union workforce. Southwest will save about $210 million this year with the cuts, and another $300 next year — but it will be hard to measure what this does to the morale and spirit for those left in the aftermath.

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Weather Cargo Airline Airlines 130

Cranky Flier

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

While Delta keeps humming along and United surges ahead, American remains in a funk. It is still trying to figure out what it wants to be after throwing previous Chief Commercial Officer Vasu Raja’s strategy out the window last year. Now it is reshuffling its ranks to try and create a commercial organization that is more focused on the premium experience that its competitors long-ago embraced.

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Stability Airline Airlines 245

Cranky Flier

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

Southwest does did not lay people off. In the nearly 54 years since the airline started flying, it never has laid anyone off, and that was a key part of the company lore. But late yesterday, on a holiday when they hoped nobody was looking, the airline announced that it is slashing 15 percent of its corporate workers, or 1,750 people. This is a terrible, terrible sign for the future of the airline.

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Airline Airlines Runway 246

Cranky Flier

FEBRUARY 15, 2025

How the Airbus A321XLR is changing the air map of the world – CNN This is the most common question when talking about the A321XLR… will it really open up new routes? My thought is that it might eventually, but that won’t be the first thing it does. Read Ned’s debut article for CNN for more. 18 Airlines Using Apple AirTag Data to Find Lost Luggage – CondNast Traveler AirTags are finally getting useful for lost luggage now that airlines are starting to work with Apple

Airplanes 130

Airplanes Airline Airlines 130

Cranky Flier

FEBRUARY 14, 2025

Frontier’s Pursuit of Spirit Losing Momentum Frontier just can’t quit Spirit as the carrier is taking the adage of “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” to heart as it made a third takeover bid of Spirit this week with Spirit respectfully telling Frontier where it could stick its proposal. This offer, just like the last one, offered $400 million in newly issued debt, a 19% stake in Froniter’s parent company, and the ability to swap the animal on the

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Runway Airplanes Tail Cargo 130

Cranky Flier

FEBRUARY 13, 2025

I wasn’t planning on doing a Baltimore/Washington (BWI) post originally, but after doing DCA on Monday and Dulles on Tuesday , well, let’s just finish out Washington Week with the other airport serving the metro area. This is actually a very interesting airport with what I would consider to be the least fixed future of the three in the region.

Airline 147

Airline Airlines 147