unaligned

In a message to Alaska Airlines employees Thursday evening, CEO Ben Minicucci said the high level of flight cancellations since April will continue through this month but added that stability should return to the schedule in June. “Of the 1,200 flights that we operate every day, we’ve been canceling about 50 of them, roughly 4%. This is coming at a time when flights are already full, so rebooking options are limited and many of our guests have experienced extraordinarily long hold times,” Minicucci wrote. “We will continue to see these cancels through June 1st. We are working to manage these to reduce the impact as much as possible.” The chaos has been damaging for Seattle’s hometown airline. Passengers whose travel plans have been severely disrupted found little help from the airline in finding alternative ways to their destination, with customer service phone lines citing hold times of up to 10 hours. In a follow-up video message for the traveling public that was posted on YouTube Friday morning and sent via email to Alaska’s mileage plan members, Minicucci offered an apology.<br/>

Frontier Airlines is ending its service to and from the New Castle Airport, the airline confirmed Friday. After Frontier completes its final flight on June 6, Delaware will once again be the only state without commercial airline service. "Sufficient demand did not materialize to support the service," Frontier spokesperson Jennifer de la Cruz said. "We are continually evaluating our routes and (the New Castle Airport) will certainly remain in the consideration set for potential service in the future." Delaware River and Bay Authority spokesperson Jim Salmon in a statement said DRBA, which operates the airport, is "disappointed" with Frontier's decision but continues to believe commercial air service "can and will succeed" at the airport. This is the second time Frontier has left Delaware. After two years of service, Frontier quietly ended its commercial flights from the New Castle Airport in 2015. The move left some customers with tickets to flights that no longer existed. In January 2020, Frontier announced plans to return to Delaware with flights from the New Castle Airport to Orlando scheduled to begin the following May. At the time, Frontier executive Daniel Shurz said, "I'm telling you we're here to stay."<br/>

Mesa Air Group CEO Jonathan Ornstein told a US Senate panel on Friday that the airline lost nearly 5% of its pilots in April to larger carriers, underscoring a staffing shortage the industry is grappling with as travel demand surges. "The pilot shortage is the single greatest threat to the industry I have witnessed since 9/11," Ornstein told the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee at a hearing in Arizona Friday. He said Mesa Airlines "lost almost 5% of our pilot workforce in one month as major airlines and operators of larger jets hired our pilots." Pilot shortages have dogged carriers for years. Despite $54b in US government COVID-19 airline payroll funding, many airlines paused hiring and offered buyouts and retirement packages to thousands of aviators. A snap back in travel demand, however, has left them scrambling to ramp up staffing. Delta and United are looking to hire 200 pilots each a month. Staffing woes have marred operations in recent weeks at carriers such as Alaska Air Group and JetBlue Airways, resulting in mass flight cancellations. To prevent further disruption, airlines have cut summer schedules. Shortages are even more acute at regional airlines, which are facing a soaring attrition rate because of poaching by higher-paying national carriers. In March, SkyWest said it planned to end service to 29 communities under the government's subsidy program to provide air service to smaller communities, blaming insufficient pilots. Mesa noted regional airlines provide service to 65% of the nation's commercially served airports.<br/>

Dubai’s Emirates Airline narrowed its losses to $1.1b in the year to March, even as soaring jet fuel costs threaten to overshadow a recovery in travel demand. The world’s largest long haul carrier said revenue jumped 91% to $16.1b dollars, as travel lockdowns eased and the airline added capacity. Emirates posted a $5.5b loss in the previous year. “2021-22 was largely about recovery, after the toughest year in our Group’s history,” Emirates Group Chairman and ChE Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said Friday. “We expect the Group to return to profitability in 2022-23, and are working hard to hit our targets, while keeping a close watch on headwinds such as high fuel prices, inflation, new COVID-19 variants, and political and economic uncertainty.” The airline had resumed flights to 140 destinations by the end of March, but the surge in fuel prices — up more than 50% so far this year — continues to challenge the pandemic-battered aviation sector. Emirates said its fuel bill more than doubled to $3.8b dollars as the price of oil and jet fuel soared in recent quarters. “It’s very difficult to establish where that price will stop, or how far it might go down,” Sheikh Ahmed said Tuesday when asked about the price of fuel. “That’s really affecting the airline business in a big way,” he added, saying geopolitics and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was having a significant impact on fuel prices. Emirates said fuel accounted for 23% of operating costs over the year, compared to just 14% in 2020-21. “The relatively recent reopening of important markets in Asia is key to Emirates’ recovery,” Alex Macheras, an independent aviation analyst, told CNBC. “Challenges will remain with China’s lockdowns continuing, fleet concerns amid Boeing 777 delays, and a cost-of-living-crisis globally that will be more visible [in terms of impacts] to airlines this winter.”<br/>

T'way Air said Monday it will open a Incheon-Singapore route later this month, becoming the first Korean low-cost carrier that will serve the route. T'way will use an A330-300 on the Singapore route and provide two flights a week beginning May 28, the company said. Inbound passengers are exempt from COVID-19 tests when they enter Singapore. And those who are fully vaccinated, as well as unvaccinated children under age 12, can travel to the Southeast Asian country without a quarantine period, it said. T'way Air has suspended most of its international routes since March 2020, as countries strengthened their entry restrictions over the pandemic. For the whole of 2021, its net losses deepened to 156.2b won ($122m) from 137.8b won. Sales fell to 214.4b won last year from 269.2b won a year ago. T'way Air plans to operate 20 large planes, as well as 30 midsized and small ones, by 2027 to achieve 3t won in sales.<br/>