The US DOT finalizes Havana route allocations

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) says it has now finalized its allocation of Havana Int'l, Cuba traffic rights to local US carriers. The announcement came shortly after jetBlue Airways on Wednesday, August 31, became the first US commercial carrier to operate a scheduled service to Cuba in over fifty years.

As per a July 7 tentative decision, the following airlines have been awarded the following Havana routes and frequencies by the DOT:

- Alaska Airlines: a 1x daily Los Angeles Int'l-Havana service using B737-900(ER) equipment;

- American Airlines: a 4x daily Miami Int'l-Havana service using B737-800 equipment and a 1x daily Charlotte-Havana service using A319-100 equipment;

- Delta Air Lines: a 1x daily New York JFK-Havana service using B757-200 equipment, a 1x daily Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson-Havana service using B757-200 equipment, and a 1x daily Miami Int'l-Havana service using B737-800 equipment;

- Frontier Airlines: a 1x daily Miami Int'l-Havana service using A320ceo and A320neo equipment;

- jetBlue Airways: a 2x daily Fort Lauderdale Int'l-Havana service (except Saturdays) using A320/321 equipment, a 1x daily New York JFK-Havana service using A320/321 equipment, and a 1x daily Orlando Int'l-Havana service using A320/321 equipment;

- Southwest Airlines: a 2x daily Fort Lauderdale Int'l-Havana service using B737-800 equipment and a 1x daily Tampa Int'l-Havana service using B737-800 equipment;

- Spirit Airlines: a 2x daily Fort Lauderdale Int'l-Havana service using A319 equipment; 

- United Airlines: a 1x daily Newark-Havana service using B737-800 equipment (with one additional Saturday-only flight) and a 1x weekly Houston Intc'l-Havana service (Saturdays only) using B737-800 equipment.

Under the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the US and Cuba in February this year, each country may operate up to twenty daily return flights between the US and Havana and up to ten daily return flights between the US and each of Cuba’s nine international airports - Camagüey, Cayo Coco, Cayo Largo del Sur, Cienfuegos, Holguin, Manzanillo Sierra Maestra, Santa Clara de Cuba, Santiago de Cuba, and Varadero - for a total of ninety daily return flights.

ch-aviation.com

Four major U.S airlines fined for giving inaccurate compensation information

Four of the nation’s largest airlines were fined by the Federal Aviation Administration for giving passengers inaccurate information about how much compensation they should get for being kicked off an overbooked flight or having their luggage lost or damaged.

Alaska Airlines was fined $40,000; American Airlines was fined $45,000; Southwest Airlines was fined $40,000; and United Airlines was fined $35,000. All four were ordered to stop such violations.

Under Department of Transportation rules, passengers who are involuntarily bumped off an overbooked domestic flight must be offered an alternative flight that arrives no later than an hour after the original flight.

If the airline puts a bumped passenger on a flight that arrives between one and two hours after the original flight’s scheduled landing, the carrier must compensate the passenger 200% of the cost of the original fare, up to $675.

If the airline puts the bumped traveler on a flight that arrives more than two hours after the original arrival time, the airline must pay 400% of the cost of the ticket, up to $1,350.

Those dollar amounts were increased slightly last year, but DOT investigators said the airlines still were handing out pamphlets to passengers showing lower compensation amounts. In some cases, the airlines couldn’t produce information telling passengers how much they were entitled to collect.

The top payout a carrier must give each passenger whose luggage has been lost or damaged was raised last year to $3,500 from $3,400, but DOT investigators said the carriers were giving passengers notices that said the payout was less than $3,500.

In consent agreement documents provided by the DOT, all four airlines said they take passenger compensation rules seriously but agreed to pay the fines to settle the allegations.

“We are committed to ensuring that air travelers know the rules and have accurate information about compensation when they are bumped from flights and for lost, damaged or delayed baggage,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement.

Los Angeles Times

Alaska Airlines announced 3 new routes from Newark

Alaska Airlines announced a “significant expansion to the New York City area” that will see it add four additional flights and three new routes at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The airline's new routes to Newark will be from its West Coast bases in Portland, Ore.; San Diego and San Jose, Calif.  Alaska Airlines also will add an additional daily flight from Newark to its main hub in Seattle, giving it three daily round-trip flights on that route.

Alaska Airlines is able to expand at Newark thanks to the Federal Aviation Administration’s recent decision to ease “slot” restrictions there. Previous capacity controls at the airport made it extremely difficult for airlines to add new flights at the airport, where United controlled the vast majority of the so-called takeoff and landing slots.

A number of new airlines have rushed in with new Newark service following the change by the FAA.

“Ultra low-cost” carrier Allegiant announced in June that it would expand to the airport, giving that company its first-ever flights to one of New York City’s three big airports. Icelandic discounter WOW Air followed suit just a day later, announcing flights to Iceland and Europe for as little as $99 one way. Southwest and JetBlue also have taken advantage of the relaxed restrictions to bolster their schedules at the airport.

Now, Alaska Airlines is the latest to join the rush for the newly available turf at Newark.
“We thank the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for their efforts to increase competition in the New York metro area,” John Kirby, Alaska Airlines’ VP of capacity planning, says in a statement.

Alaska Air’s Portland-Newark route will launch Nov. 10 while its San Diego-Newark route will debut Nov. 21. The carrier’s San Jose-Newark flights begin March 12. Alaska Air’s third daily round-trip to Seattle starts May 14. Tickets for the new flights will go on sale on Monday (July 25). Alaska Air will fly all of the new flights on Boeing 737 aircraft.

Alaska Air will be the only carrier offering nonstop service between San Jose and Newark. The airline will go head-to-head against United on the nonstop routes from Newark to San Diego and Portland.

Alaska Air’s new Newark service also comes as the carrier has been steadily increasing its presence on cross-country routes. Alaska Air has long been one of the largest carriers on routes between West Coast cities, but has added a number of high-profile coast-to-coast routes since mid-2013.

Those include: Baltimore-Seattle; Baltimore-Los Angeles; Boston-San Diego; Charleston, S.C.-Seattle; New York JFK-Seattle; Nashville-Seattle; Portland-Orlando; Raleigh/Durham-Seattle and Washington Dulles-Seattle.

Alaska Air also has launched several medium-length routes from its western bases to the central U.S., such as recent routes like Portland-Kansas City; Portland-St. Louis; Seattle-Dallas/Fort Worth and Seattle-Milwaukee.

As for the new Newark routes, they'll also help Alaska Air bolster its presence in Portland, San Diego and San Jose. Portland is the carrier’s No. 2 hub while San Diego and San Jose are significant focus cities for the airline.

“Since 2015, Alaska has launched 28 new routes from our West Coast hubs and focus cities," Kirby adds in Alaska Air's statement. "With our new expanded service to Newark, we continue to grow our West Coast footprint by offering our valued customers more nonstop flights to popular business and leisure destinations.”

Alaska Air stands to gain an even larger cross-country presence with its acquisition of Virgin America, which was announced in April.

Virgin America operates numerous cross-country routes from its hubs in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The acquisition – should it ultimately win approval – also would cement Alaska Airlines as a West Coast juggernaut, giving it a supersized presence on routes along the Pacific Coast.

USATODAY

Airlines with the best on-time performance in U.S

U.S. airlines posted a better on-time rate for May, and complaints dropped compared with the same month last year.

The Department of Transportation said Thursday that 83.4 percent of domestic flights arrived on time in May, up from 80.5 percent a year earlier although down from April. The figures cover flights on the 12 largest airlines.

Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines had the best on-time ratings, while Spirit Airlines and Virgin America had the worst.

Complaints are down 24 percent from a year earlier. Air travelers filed 1,134 complaints with the government in May.

1. Hawaiian Airlines, 92.1 percent

2. Alaska Airlines, 90.3 percent

3. Delta Air Lines, 88.6 percent

4. SkyWest, 85.1 percent

5. United Airlines, 83.7 percent

6. ExpressJet, 83.5 percent

7. Southwest Airlines, 81.2 percent

8. JetBlue Airways, 80.7 percent

9. American Airlines, 80.7 percent

10. Frontier Airlines, 80.2 percent

11. Virgin America, 76.7 percent

12. Spirit Airlines, 76.4 percent

Total for all reporting airlines: 83.4 percent

Alaska Airlines gets approval for daily nonstop service between Los Angeles and Havana

U.S. Department of Transportation awards Alaska flight to Havana from its focus city Los Angeles

The Department of Transportation announced today that it tentatively approved Alaska’s application for daily nonstop service between Los Angeles and Havana, Cuba. Alaska was the only carrier to propose daily nonstop service from Los Angeles to Havana.

“We applaud the DOT for making a fair and equitable decision given the high-level of interest and limited number of available departures,” said Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden. “We want to thank Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles World Airports Chief Executive Officer Deborah Flint, and other city, county and state leaders, as well as congressional supporters of our application. We look forward to offering this exciting destination to our customers.”

The Alaska Airlines flight will originate in Seattle with same plane service to Los Angeles and Havana. The route is among 20 slots in Havana that were available to U.S. carriers when the U.S. government signed an agreement with Cuba to restore commercial air travel between the two countries. Alaska will be one of the first U.S. carriers to fly scheduled commercial flights to Havana in more than five decades.

Together with Alaska Airlines’ global partner airlines, Alaska offers more than 110 nonstop destinations from Los Angeles International Airport. With nearly three decades of international service from Los Angeles, in addition to Havana, Alaska Airlines offers nonstop service to nine destinations in Latin America.

“Alaska looks forward to receiving a final order from the Department of Transportation and to starting service by the end of the year,” said Tilden.

The flight to and from Los Angeles and Cuba will be operated with a Boeing 737-900ER aircraft, which carries 181 passengers in a two-class configuration. Onboard, customers will enjoy more of what they love, including the airline’s popular streaming entertainment service, Alaska Beyond Entertainment, offering both free and pay-per-view titles direct to customer devices along with inflight entertainment tablets available for rent and power at every seat.

There are numerous logistical details involved in flying to a country that has not allowed scheduled commercial U.S. travel in more than five decades. The United States travel embargo currently does not allow Americans to visit Cuba strictly for tourism – U.S. citizens are permitted to travel to Cuba if they fall under 12 approved categories, such as family visits, education, journalism and humanitarian projects.

The U.S. Treasury Department allows travel for the following activities:

1. Family visits.

2. Official business of the U.S. government, foreign governments, and certain intergovernmental organizations.

3. Journalistic activity.

4. Professional research and professional meetings.

5. Educational activities.

6. Religious activities.

7. Public performances, clinics, workshops, athletic and other competitions, and exhibitions.

8. Support for the Cuban people.

9. Humanitarian projects.

10. Activities of private foundations or research or educational institutes.

11. Exportation, importation, or transmission of information or information materials.

12. Certain authorized export transactions.

Learn about travel to Cuba at www.alaskaair.com/cuba.

Travelprnews

DOT gives tentative agreement for Seattle/Los Angeles-Havana routes on Alaska Airlines – Aviation Gazette

The U.S. Department of Transportation today gave its tentative go-ahead for Alaska Airlines to fly between Los Angeles and Havana, the capital of Cuba, with extended service between L.A. and Seattle, the airline’s hometown.
Alaska said the Cuba-bound flights would be operated with a Boeing 737-900ER aircraft, capable of carrying 181 passengers. Each daily flight would begin in Seattle, then stop over in Los Angeles, with same-plane service continuing to Havana. The return flight would retrace that route.
The route is among 20 slots in Havana that were made available to U.S. carriers this year when the federal government signed an agreement with Cuba to restore regular commercial air travel between the two countries, after a gap of more than 50 years.
A dozen U.S. airlines applied for the slots, proposing a total of nearly 60 flights a day. Alaska was among eight airlines that were awarded the 20 available round-trip flights. Alaska said it was the only airline that proposed daily nonstop service from Los Angeles to Havana.
“Restoring regular air service holds tremendous potential to reunite Cuban-American families and foster education and opportunities for American businesses of all sizes,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement announcing the award. The Transportation Department suggested that the ability to serve Cuban-American populations was a factor in making the selections.
In a separate statement, Alaska Airlines CEO Brad Tilden praised the department “for making a fair and equitable decision, given the high level of interest and limited number of available departures.”
A final decision on the awards will be issued after officials review comments filed in response to the decisions announced today. Those comments are due by July 22.
“Alaska looks forward to receiving a final order from the Department of Transportation and to starting service by the end of the year,” Tilden said.
The other tentative awards for service to Havana include:
-American Airlines: Four daily round-trip flights from Miami, and one daily flight from Charlotte, N.C.
-Delta Air Lines: Daily flights from New York (JFK), Atlanta and Miami.
-Frontier Airlines: A daily round-trip flight from Miami.
-JetBlue Airways: Twice-daily flights from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., but only one flight on Saturday. Also, daily flights from New York (JFK) and Orlando, Fla.
-Southwest Airlines: Twice-daily flights from Fort Lauderdale, and a daily flight from Tampa, Fla.
-Spirit Airlines: Twice-daily flights from Fort Lauderdale.
-United Airlines: Daily flights from Newark, N.J., plus a weekly flight from Houston.
Last month, the Transportation Department gave six U.S. carriers tentative awards of routes to Cuban airports outside Havana. Those routes will connect five U.S. cities – Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Philadelphia – with nine Cuban cities.
The U.S. travel embargo currently does not allow Americans to visit Cuba strictly for tourism. U.S. citizens are permitted to travel to Cuba if they fall under 12 approved categories, such as family visits, education, journalism, professional meetings, humanitarian projects and the exportation and importation of information.

DOT gives tentative agreement for Seattle/Los Angeles-Havana routes on Alaska Airlines – Aviation Gazette

Alaska Airlines Considering to Keep Virgin America Brand Name After Merger

Alaska Airlines CEO, Brad Tilden, commented that there is still debate whether both brands, Alaska and Virgin America, should be kept separated. The Seattle Times reports.

The Seattle-based carrier recently announced plans to buy Virgin America, a deal which would transform the airline into a major powerhouse on the West Coast.

“We are looking at that because we do believe in the power of the Virgin America brand and we don’t want to lose all that loyalty and revenue that exists today,” Tilden said at the end of a speech at The Wings Club. As plans for the merger were announced last month, there were some concerns on what it might be lost from both carriers.

Although there is not a final decision made yet, Tilden remarked that there is a precedent for this and some European carriers. In the case of the mergers in the United States, especially from the last decade, the acquired company lost its brand.

According to The Seattle Times, Alaska enjoys a strong support in its hometown, while Virgin America is well positioned as well, particularly in Silicon Valley, “with its funky mood lighting, in-flight internet and individual TVs at each seat. Passengers can order meals or drinks from the screens and can even send a drink to another passenger.”

Report: Alaska Airlines Considering to Keep Virgin America Brand Name After Merger

Alaska B738 over Pacific on Jun 22nd 2016, brakes issue

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-800, registration N517AS performing flight AS-861 from Seattle,WA to Kahului,HI (USA), was enroute at FL360 over the Pacific Ocean about 250nm short of the destination when the crew changed their destination to Honolulu,HI advising they needed the longer runway due to a brakes issue, no assistance was needed. The aircraft diverted to Honolulu for a safe landing on runway 08L, the crew advised tower they'd just needed a bit longer than normal on the runway. The aircraft taxied to the apron.

A passenger reported the crew announced they needed to divert to Honolulu due to a brakes issue requiring a longer runway. A replacement aircraft was ready when they arrived and delivered them to Kahului with a delay of just 75 minutes.

A replacement Boeing 737-800 registration N569AS reached Kahului with a delay of 75 minutes.

The occurrence aircraft resumed service after about 2 hours on the ground.

Incident: Alaska B738 over Pacific on Jun 22nd 2016, brakes issue

Alaska Airlines to Introduce Premium Class

  



By Staff - Airwaysnews.com

Alaska Airlines will soon join United, American and Delta Air Lines in launching a premium economy class product, to be rolled out in late 2016. The announcement made last week at Alaska Airlines annual Investor Day will offer customers additional legroom (three to four inches), priority boarding, and plans to offer “additional amenities” to further enhance the Premium Class in-flight experience.

“Premium Class will provide an opportunity for all customers to get an enhanced flight experience,” said Andrew Harrison, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Alaska Airlines.

The upgrade price and the details on the additional amenities will be disclosed closer to the customer availability date, and it will be available to the carrier’s elite Mileage Plan members on a complimentary basis at booking or on the day of travel,  depending on a passenger’s status and fare purchased.

Alaska plans to retrofit up to 60 aircraft with the Premium Class section by the end of 2016 and the remainder of its Boeing 737 fleet one year later. New Premium Class section seats have at least 35″ of pitch, compared to 31″ to 32″ in the rest of the main cabin.

The introduction of a premium economy product in Alaska Airlines seems to be a move to level with other airlines, which already offer extra-legroom products, and particularly to compete with Delta Air Lines, as the Atlanta-based carrier is offering its Comfort+ Product, with perks similar to those announced by Alaska. According to Brett Snyder, from the Cranky Flier, “For Alaska, this makes a great deal of sense especially as it continues to expand into longer haul flying. In Seattle, Comfort+ was a big differentiator for Delta, and probably was enough to sway people away from Alaska. This will probably get them back.”

Alaska Air has also announced plans to increase the seat pitch in the First Class cabin from 36” to 41” and continue offering Preferred Plus seating for the bulkhead and exit rows in the Boeing 737-400s and -700s. Those seats will be priced by distance or are complimentary for certain elite Mileage Plan level members. The seats include early boarding, more legroom and a complimentary drink.

“We are listening to our customers and they have told us that more personal space and extra perks are a priority.” Harrison said.

Alaska Airlines to Introduce Premium Class