When it comes to low-cost airlines, American fliers usually praise JetBlue, and despise Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines. But if you took to the sky in 2021, JetBlue might have let you down — with large numbers of brutal, hours-long delays and frustrating cancellations, according to a new study. The airline recently dropped to the lowest spot on The Wall Street Journal’s annual ranking of US airlines, falling behind both Spirit and Frontier. American Airlines almost incurred a similar fate, tying with Frontier for third-to-last. Delta claimed the top spot on the list, followed by Alaska and Southwest. The list, released on Jan. 28, ranked the nine largest U.S. airlines based on their performance in 2021 across seven categories: on-time arrivals, cancelled flights, extreme delays, tarmac waits longer than two hours, mishandled baggage, passengers being involuntary bumped from flights and customer complaints. It relies on data from the US Department and Transportation and aviation analysis software firm masFlight. Here are the overall rankings: 1. Delta Air Lines; 2. Alaska Airlines; 3. Southwest Airlines; 4. United Airlines; 5. Allegiant Air (and more). The analysis found that JetBlue had the highest rate of extreme delays and incidents where passengers had to wait on the tarmac for at least two hours. JetBlue also had the second-fewest on-time arrivals, behind only Allegiant Air, and the second-most customer complaints behind Spirit, according to the ranking.<br/>
general
Stakeholders from the airline, airport and aerospace industries have welcomed the so-called ‘Toulouse Declaration’ on sustainability that was signed during a meeting of EU transport ministers today. In an initiative launched by the French presidency of the EU, the declaration recognises the need for public-private partnerships in achieving a sustainable and decarbonised aviation sector. It was signed by more than 35 European countries and 146 industry stakeholder groups in Toulouse. Stakeholders described the public-private nature of the declaration as an important breakthrough that better positions the region to make progress on the issue. “For the first time, we are seeing the emergence of a common base, which unites and commits both public authorities and representatives of the entire aviation ecosystem towards a common vision,” says European transport commissioner Adina Valean. The declaration is ultimately intended to align public and private stakeholders on the broad principles and actions needed for aviation to reach net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050. With that goal in mind, signatories have acknowledged “the essential role of aviation in ensuring and improving connectivity”, alongside a “need for immediate action to support and incentivise decarbonisation of aviation”.<br/>
Greece will allow tourists with a European vaccination certificate to enter the country without having to show a negative test for COVID-19 from Feb. 7, the tourism and health ministries said on Friday. The Mediterranean country, which relies heavily on tourism, has been gradually easing travel restrictions initially imposed to combat the spread of COVID-19. Under the rules now in force, air passengers, including children above the age of five, have to show a rapid antigen test taken 24 hours before arrival or a PCR test no more than 72 hours old to enter Greece. But a valid digital European Union vaccination certificate will suffice from Feb. 7, Tourism Minister Vassilis Kikilias said, adding that the country expects summer tourists to start arriving from March 1, earlier than in past years. "Greece has shown remarkable resilience sending a message of safety to our country's visitors in the past two years. It will do the same this year," said Kikilias. Random tests are conducted at airports and if the test result is positive, travellers must quarantine for five days.<br/>
France's Vinci expects net income this year to exceed its pre-pandemic level in 2019, helped by a recovery in its airports arm that should bring those earnings close to breakeven. Although earnings in 2021 were more than double those in 2020, the infrastructure group's annual net income last year was still about 20% below 2019 levels at E2.60b ($2.98b). The majority owner of London's Gatwick airport said it expected passenger numbers at its airports to recover in 2022 to around 60% of their 2019 levels, bringing the unit's net income close to breakeven, unless the COVID-19 health crisis worsens again. CE Xavier Huillard said that passenger numbers had progressively improved from summer in the northern hemisphere, and that the business had benefited from the initial impact of drastic cost-cutting measures it had previously introduced. Global travel has remained far below its pre-pandemic levels even with widespread vaccinations, as countries imposed new entry restrictions over the northern hemisphere winter to curb the spread of the highly-transmissable Omicron variant. Vinci's airport traffic climbed 12% last year from 2020 lows but remained at just a third of their pre-pandemic levels.<br/>
Airport ground services and air cargo operator Swissport has been hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted some operations, it said on Friday. On Thursday 22 flights were delayed by up to 20 minutes at Zurich Airport, a spokesperson said, adding that the group could not yet provide figures on the impact of flights on Friday. The attack began early on Thursday and affected a limited part of Swissport’s IT infrastructure, it said in a statement, adding that security teams had detected the attack promptly so that the impact was “largely mitigated”. Most critical systems and applications were not hit, but several servers were affected, which knocked out some systems temporarily. “The attack has been contained and measures are in place to prevent the further spread. We are now in the process of restoring the affected systems and mitigating the impact on our operation,” it said. <br/>
The government’s plan to overhaul the air passenger compensation scheme has been described as a step backwards for consumers, leading to “small amounts of compensation that often won’t be worth claiming”. Earlier this week the Department for Transport (DfT) announced it is consulting on proposals to overhaul the air passengers’ rights rules – but only for flights within the UK. The move, described by the government as “another Brexit win”, will lead to a two-tier system, with the UK scheme operating alongside the original EC 261 rules that were adopted before Britain left the EU, and still apply to international flights in and out of UK airports. The DfT is limited in its ability to change rules around foreign flights because of the international conventions on air travel. Currently, someone on an internal flight from Edinburgh to London is entitled to claim GBP220 once their flight has been delayed three hours, unless the cause was extraordinary circumstances such as bad weather. The compensation payable is fixed and is not linked to the price paid by the passenger. Long-haul travellers on a flight from Japan to the UK are entitled to £520 if delayed four hours or more, alongside other beneficial terms such as rerouting had the flight been cancelled. Story has details.<br/>
Kuwait Airways is resuming commercial flights to Iraq's Najaf city starting from Saturday, Kuwaiti state news agency KUNA reported. The Gulf state's flag carrier suspended its flights to Iraq last month after several rockets landed in Iraq's Baghdad International Airport compound, damaging at least one disused civilian airplane.<br/>
Japan will unveil relaxed border control measures as soon as next week, broadcaster TBS reported, an indication it’s ready to roll back some of the strictest restrictions in the developed world after they failed to contain the spread of the omicron variant. The Friday report didn’t elaborate on how or when measures would be relaxed. A handful of travel-related stocks from JAL to West Japan Railway traded higher in Tokyo’s afternoon session after the news from TBS. PM Fumio Kishida implemented the controls, which effectively ban all new foreigners from entering the country, when the omicron variant was discovered late last year and the move was initially applauded by voters. The controls are due to stay in place at least until the end of this month, with their prolonged implementation irking executives. This has included the head of Japan’s largest business lobby, who has urged the government to reconsider the restrictions he sees as unrealistic. Asked by a lawmaker about relaxing the measures Friday, Daishiro Yamagiwa, minister in charge of the coronavirus response, said the government would be “flexible” and wants to eventually open up the country to “essential” foreigners. The prevalence of Covid makes the rules less relevant, he indicated. “We took on some of the strictest border measures among the G-7 when much about omicron was unknown,” Yamagiwa said. “But if we aren’t going to see a change in case numbers in Japan and overseas, the border controls themselves become more irrelevant so we have to keep that in mind.”<br/>
Auckland Airport has warned that international airlines will not be willing to restore flights to New Zealand unless there is a “clear plan” in place for when self-isolation on arrival will end. A day after the New Zealand government announced a five-step plan to reopen its borders, Auckland Airport interim chief Mary-Liz Tuck says feedback from airlines “has been consistent”. “Our airline customers have also been very clear that they need to know now when self-isolation will end before they can plan to resume flying here. While the requirements are in place, airlines say their customers will not want to fly long-haul to New Zealand for the trip of a lifetime or on business, only to spend their first week sitting in a hotel,” says Tuck. On 3 February, Wellington announced its border reopening plans, which will kick off from 28 February with fully-vaccinated New Zealanders and other eligible travellers from Australia able to enter the country. In place of serving quarantine at designated facilities, arriving travellers will be required to test on arrival and self-isolate for 10 days. Wellington has said it would adjust the number of days required for self-isolation as the plan rolls out across the year, but did not commit to a firm timeline. Following the announcement, Auckland Airport says it spoke to 10 international airlines to get their feedback on the plan. “Without clear guidance around the trigger points or a date for self-isolation ending, they would not be able to attract meaningful traveller volumes needed to sustain long-haul flights to and from New Zealand,” the airport operator states. Adds Tuck: “Airlines are looking to deploy their fleets where they can get consistent, stable passenger volumes, and they are focusing on overseas markets that have communicated a clear path out of border restrictions, following a surge of Omicron in the community.”<br/>
Airbus and Quebec on Friday said they have agreed to a $1.2b investment deal that would allow the Canadian province to remain in the loss-making A220 jet program until the venture is likely to turn profitable. Airbus would invest $900m, while Quebec would put $300m into the program, according to a statement from the province's government. The investment would help the A220 program globally to support an increase in production, Benoit Schultz, CE of Airbus' Canadian unit, told a press briefing. The A220 is built both at an Airbus plant in the Montreal area and at the Mobile facility in Alabama. The A220, previously known as the CSeries, is a 110- to 130-seater aircraft, a little smaller than Airbus’s mainstay A320 jet. Reuters reported on the deal earlier, citing sources. The province has faced criticism for repeated investments in the program. Airbus CE Guillaume Faury said the program should be profitable by the middle of the decade. Faury told reporters that COVID-19 weighed on cost-cutting efforts because it impeded production increases. "We need volume to have these savings," he said. Quebec Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon said the A220 program has promise to turn the corner and generates key jobs for the province, Canada's aerospace hub. The deal would help maintain the equivalent of 2,500 jobs. The deal would defer by four years the period when Airbus buys out Quebec's 25% stake in the small jetliner from 2026 to 2030, and Fitzgibbon said that could be advantageous. "At that time we're going to have a fair market value assessment and I'm very hopeful we're going to make money and recuperate the original investment," he said.<br/>