American Airlines is partnering with regional carrier Air Wisconsin Airlines to expand its network out of its Midwest hub in Chicago. “We’re taking another important step to strengthen our network by welcoming Air Wisconsin Airlines to the American Eagle portfolio of regional airline partners,” American CFO Derek Kerr writes in an internal memo on 22 August. “Air Wisconsin’s fleet of up to 60 Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft will start to enter service no later than March 2023, with most of the flying focused on connecting customers to our Chicago O’Hare hub,” he adds. According to a 19 August Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, American will pay Air Wisconsin “fixed daily revenue for each aircraft, a fixed payment for each departure and a fixed payment for each block hour flown”. “Air Wisconsin will also be eligible to receive incentive compensation, and will be required to pay rebates, upon the achievement of, or failure to achieve, certain pre-established performance criteria,” the company says in the filing. Future expansion of the agreement could expand beyond Chicago, the filing adds. The aircraft will begin service for American in March 2023, and more will join the fleet as they become available, through October 2023. Subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, Air Wisconsin can accelerate the implementation schedule, American says. The agreement is effective for five years. Air Wisconsin currently operates in the United Airlines network, as United Express. Its agreement with United is due to expire in the coming months, American says in the SEC filing. ”We will continue to operate for United until we transition our fleet to American in 2023,” Air Wisconsin adds. <br/>
oneworld
British Airways has announced another round of cancellations, axing 10,000 flights to and from Heathrow until the end of March next year as it adapts to the persistent staff shortages that have hit aviation. The carrier’s decision to shrink its short-haul timetable by 8% comes after the London airport extended the summer’s 100,000 daily cap on passenger numbers by another six weeks until the end of October and asked airlines to sell fewer flights. Heathrow’s plea came against the backdrop of an arduous post-Covid recovery in which it has struggled to find the staff to meet returning demand from business travellers and tourists, leading to chaos and long queues over Easter, spring half-term and into early summer. BA, the airport’s largest operator, has already cut tens of thousands of flights over the summer in an attempt to ease the pressure caused by the staffing problems faced by airports and the airline itself. It also suspended ticket sales on short-haul flights from Heathrow earlier this month as it recalibrated its expectations for the number of planes needed in light of Heathrow’s capacity cap. The carrier, which is owned by International Airlines Group, said on Monday that it needed to add more cancellations to its roster, continuing a trend that began in May and has been gathering pace as airlines and airports struggle with staff shortages, causing chaos at check-in and baggage services. BA said that more than 600 return flights to and from Heathrow would be cancelled to 29 October, while the winter schedule, which runs until the end of March, would be cut by 8%.<br/>