The residents of Airlineville have been living day by day for the last couple of years, and they’re sick of it. So, they’re doing something crazy. They’re going to start making plans for next summer. How bold!
According to Cirium, the Eskimo, the Widget, and the Globe have all thrown caution to the wind. Of course, they know they can always change their minds later, but they’re feeling pretty good that next summer will, in fact, exist.
On the other hand, both the Eagle and the Maple Leaf seem focused on the cold winter before they have time to think about summer. It’s hard to blame them.
All this and more this week. Like sands through the hourglass, so are the skeds of air lines.
Alaska Makes Massive Changes for Summer
Alaska made a slew of changes for next summer this week. Overall, capacity is mostly flat, but it moved flights around a LOT. Many routes see increases — with Anchorage – Seattle and its 6 additional daily leading the way — while others see decreases, but there are some that stand out completely.
Take Los Angeles, for example. It appears that Boston and Chicago will now join JFK in the dustbin for good from LAX. Beyond that there are several routes around the system that are pulled at least for next summer.
- Anchorage – Kahului, Kona
- Boise – Palm Springs
- Los Angeles – Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Paine Field, Tampa
- Portland – Cancun, Fort Lauderdale, Omaha, Tampa, Tucson
- San Diego – Cancun, Fort Lauderdale
- San Francisco – Fort Lauderdale, Tampa
- San Jose – Paine Field
- Seattle – Belize
American Brings Down the Holidays
American has finalized its holiday schedules… finally. It was the last to do so, but now travelers can know that holiday schedules are largely set across the board. This was mostly a frequency cut and surprisingly American’s domestic schedule now sits lower than the other big airlines vs 2019/2020. Interestingly, LaGuardia won’t have service to Bermuda, Bangor, Charleston (SC), Orlando, Philly, and Portland (ME) through the holidays.
Delta Looks Long
Delta is making big changes as well, but those are mostly deep into the summer season. Some big changes in Europe and Asia are in store. These routes are either taking longer breaks or going away for good.
- Atlanta – Stuttgart is gone for good
- Los Angeles – Shanghai is gone for good
- Paris/CDG – Cincinnati and Raleigh/Durham are out until August
- Portland (OR) – Amsterdam and Incheon are out through April
- Salt Lake City – London/Heathrow is gone for good
There is a whole lot more when it comes to frequency changes. What’s left in Beijing, assuming it can resume, will operate less than daily. Many other Asia routes will do the same along with some Europe routes too.
It’s not all bad news. Delta will fly from JFK to both Copenhagen and Prague next summer along with Detroit – Munich.
I also have to mention that additions of LA and Orlando to Panama City, Panama. Sound weird? Remember that last week, Copa added Atlanta flights from Panama City. Let the games begin.
Lufthansa Group Takes Down the Winter
Lufthansa and its other airlines have brought down capacity through March, largely mirroring the end of the 2021 schedule. Here’s what’s happening:
- Frankfurt – Atlanta (1x daily -> 3/4x weekly), Austin (5x weekly -> 3x weekly), Dallas/Fort Worth (1x daily -> 5x weekly) Denver (1x daily -> 5x weekly), Detroit (1x daily -> 5x weekly), New York/JFK (2x daily -> 1x daily), Philadelphia (1x daily -> 3x weekly), Seattle (1x daily -> 5x weekly)
- Geneva – New York/JFK (1x daily -> 3x weekly)
- Munich – Boston (1x daily -> 5x weekly), Charlotte (1x daily -> 3x weekly), Denver (1x daily -> 3x weekly), New York/JFK (1x daily -> 3x weekly), San Francisco (1x daily -> 3x weekly), Washington/Dulles (will not operate)
- Vienna – Newark (5x weekly -> 4x weekly), New York/JFK (4x weekly -> 3x weekly), Washington/Dulles (5x weekly -> 4x weekly)
- Zurich – Boston (1x daily -> 5x weekly), Los Angeles (1x daily -> 5x weekly), Miami (2x daily -> 1x daily), Newark (1x daily -> 5x weekly), New York/JFK (2x daily -> 10x weekly), San Francisco (1x daily -> 5x weekly)
United Files Its New Long-Haul Flights
United has filed all the new flights that we discussed on the blog last week. There were a few additional tweaks. For example, Athens and Naples to Newark start back up in April instead of May now. And Newark – Kahului will fly through the summer while Dulles – Honolulu will go daily instead of 1x weekly.
Also, Jackson Hole gets a big boost with summer flights to Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Newark, and San Francisco in addition to what was already filed.
Other Randomness
- Air Canada will serve Buenos Aires as a tag off the Sao Paulo flight instead of off the Santiago flight beginning in December.
- Air China won’t fly LA to Beijing through the winter, but it will fly to Shenzhen, just no more than 3 or 4 times a month.
- Air India will drop Newark – Mumbai through the winter.
- Avelo has officially pulled the plug on Burbank – Provo flights before they began. It has also now filed Fort Collins – Las Vegas as expected.
- British Airways is cutting frequencies in Nov from London to Dallas/Fort Worth, Las Vegas, Orlando, and Tampa.
- Cathay Pacific won’t resume Boston or Chicago in November.
- Cayman Airways is back in Denver and JFK starting in January. That joins Miami and Tampa which will see increases in frequency.
- China Airlines will keep LAX at 1x daily and Ontario at 1x weekly through the winter.
- Elite will fly 2x weekly from Newark to St Augustine in Florida through May.
- Japan Airlines has extended its pandemic schedule through January in US beach markets.
- LEVEL will fly JFK-Barcelona 4x weekly instead of 5x weekly next summer.
- Philippine will move 2x weekly flights from LA to Cebu from Manila.
- Singapore will not fly Singapore – Newark or Seattle through winter, but Seattle will be served via Vancouver.
- Spirit pulled another 2 percent of capacity in December. The only routes to disappear are Fort Lauderdale – Hartford, Minneapolis/St Paul, and Pensacola. Meanwhile, Orlando – Ponce will join the network in February.
- Sun Country is suspending all DFW service this winter which means no MSP or Cancun flights.
- Swoop will start Winnipeg – Orlando/Sanford flights in December.
That’s all for this week. Stay tuned for next week’s exciting episode of Skeds of air Lines.