Spirit Airlines is accusing JetBlue Airways and American Airlines of coordinating flights and routes outside of the scope of their new Northeast US alliance. The Miramar, Florida-based ultra-low-cost carrier claims in a filing to the DOT on 1 April that the two airlines are conspiring to reduce competition on routes between the Northeast USA and Florida, as well as between North and South America. In mid-March, New York-headquartered JetBlue applied to shift a daily seasonal Fort Lauderdale-Quito, Ecuador route to originate at New York’s John F Kennedy International airport. That would give JetBlue two daily flights between those two cities. Shortly prior to that, American, based in Fort Worth, had filed an application to move all its US-to-Ecuador flights to originate in Miami. American now has departures to Quito and Guayaquil from Dallas and Miami, Spirit says. In their justifications to the DOT, both airlines said the proposed shifts were “to match current demand for these services”. ”JetBlue reduces its South Florida-Quito service by 50% as American expands Quito service there, both moves explained as to better match demand,” Spirit writes. “At the same time, by doubling service from New York to Guayaquil, JetBlue will dominate that market.” <br/>
oneworld
Fiji Airways is set to be the first Asia-Pacific carrier to return the Boeing 737 Max into service, after Fijian civil aviation authorities lifted the grounding of the narrowbody. The Nadi-based carrier did not disclose a timeline for the type’s service re-entry, except to say that it is continuing to work with regulators “to bring the Max aircraft into service, albeit for the limited number of freight and repatriation flights we currently operate”. The Civil Aviation Authority of Fiji’s move to lift the flight ban on the 737 Max follows similar moves by its counterparts in Australia and New Zealand. In late February, Australia was the first country in the region to lift the flight ban on the 737 Max. Days later, New Zealand authorities said they supported the lifting of the type’s grounding, but stopped short of issuing a blanket approval for the 737 Max. The aircraft remains grounded in most parts of the region, following two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people.<br/>