USA: Alaska Airlines Goes To El Paso

Alaska Airlines launched operations from El Paso (ELP) on 19 February, with the carrier commencing flights to the airport from San Diego (SAN) and Seattle-Tacoma (SEA).

The airline will operate both routes daily using its fleet of E175s. There is no direct competition on the 2,198-kilometre sector from Seattle-Tacoma, however Southwest Airlines already offers eight weekly flights on the 1,109-kilometre link between San Diego and El Paso.

According to airport data, El Paso handled just over 3.26 million passengers in 2018, with this representing an 11% increase versus the 2.93 million that were handled during the previous year.

Alaska Airlines becomes the airport’s seventh scheduled airline, joining Southwest Airlines (46% market share of passengers in 2018), American Airlines (31%), United Airlines (13%), Delta Air Lines (6.9%), Frontier Airlines (1.9%) and Allegiant Air (1.5%).

Alaska Airlines is a major United States airline headquartered in SeaTac, Washington, within the Seattle metropolitan area of the state of Washington.

It is the fifth-largest airline in the United States when measured by fleet size, scheduled passengers carried, and number of destinations served.

Alaska, together with its regional partners, operates a large domestic route network, primarily focused on connecting cities on the West Coast of the United States to over one hundred destinations in the contiguous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, Costa Rica, and Mexico.

Alaska Airlines is not a member of any of the three major airline alliances. However, it has codeshare agreements with 17 airlines, including member airlines of oneworld, SkyTeam, Star Alliance, and unaffiliated airlines.

Regional service is operated by sister airline Horizon Air and independent carrier SkyWest Airlines.

The airline operates its largest hub at Seattle–Tacoma International Airport, and it also operates hubs in Anchorage, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco and focus cities at San Diego and San Jose.

As of 2018, the airline employs over 21,000 people and been ranked by J. D. Power and Associates as having the highest customer satisfaction of the traditional airlines for eleven consecutive years.

Through the airline's parent company, Alaska Air Group, it is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the symbol ALK and is part of the Dow Jones Transportation Average and the S&P 500 Index.

For the fiscal year 2017, Alaska Airlines reported earnings of US$1.028 billion, with an annual revenue of US$7.933 billion, an increase of 33.8% over the previous fiscal cycle. Alaska Airlines shares traded at over $63 per share, and its market capitalization was valued at US$7.5 billion in October 2018.

Alaska Airlines has 23,400 employees. Alaska's pilot group is represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International and its over 5,872 flight attendants are represented by the Association of Flight Attendants.

Since May 2005, the airline's baggage-handling operations have been outsourced to Menzies Aviation. This was in response to rejection of a contract between IAM the union which represented the baggage handlers, and Alaska Airlines.

It also allowed the airline to save an estimated $13 million a year. In late 2016, Alaska Airlines created a wholly owned subsidiary McGee Air Services which would compete with Menzies Aviation for ground handling contracts in select Alaska cities.


Tourism Observer

USA: SkyWest To Continue Flying Large Number Of 50-seat Regional Jets

SkyWest Inc. plans to maintain up to 50% of its fleet as 50-seat regional jets (RJs), projecting sustained demand in markets that cannot support larger aircraft, CEO Chip Childs said.

We see a tremendous opportunity long-term to have that aircraft serve small communities, Childs told the International Aviation Forecast Conference in Denver Aug. 20.

We have not parked our smallest RJs, and we likely will not.

Utah-based SkyWest Inc., which operates SkyWest Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines, both regional feeders for mainline carriers—had a 583-aircraft fleet as of June 30. More than half—298—were either Bombardier CRJ200s or Embraer ERJ135/145s.

It plans to end the year with 585 aircraft, continuing a trend of right-sizing its fleet so it is large enough to capitalize on opportunities, but small enough to be somewhat isolated from demand fluctuations.

Since ending 2014 with 717 aircraft, SkyWest steadily has reduced its fleet, ending each year with fewer aircraft than it had at the start.

It also has adjusted its ratio of smaller aircraft to dual-class models from a 70/30 split in 2014—including some turboprops—to the 51/49 split projected for year-end 2018.

We were just too big, Childs said. Bigger is not always better, but better is better.

SkyWest plans to take delivery of 39 Embraer E175s in 2018, including 20 in the second half of the year. Thirty will fly for Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, while the rest will support Alaska Airlines’ network.

Childs noted the company is on pace to hire a record number of pilots in 2018—part of the increased role the regional airline industry is playing as a cockpit crewmember pipeline for mainline carriers.

SkyWest, which does not release specific hiring numbers, also is screening out more pilots than ever, he said.

While these trends may suggest a strong pilot candidate pool, Childs added he remains concerned about longer-term trends that point to a shortage, especially among smaller commercial operators.


Tourism Observer

USA: Alaska Airlines And Virgin America Expand To Dallas Love Field,Turkish Introduces New Product

Virgin America and Alaska Airlines are expanding service to Dallas Love Field from four West Coast airports. With new routes between Love Field and Seattle; San Diego; Portland, Oregon; and San Jose, California, the combined airline will serve eight destinations from Love Field with 18 daily peak season departures, up 40 percent.

Four months into its merger with Virgin America, Alaska Airlines has announced unprecedented growth from the West Coast, adding a record 37 new markets to date.

The new Love Field expansion builds on Alaska's successful service to Texas, which began 12 years ago. After today's announcement, Alaska Airlines and Virgin America will offer guests 59 peak season flights a day to/from five Texas airports, including Austin, Dallas Fort Worth, Dallas Love Field, Houston and San Antonio.

The four new routes will be flown using three-class jets. The Embraer 175 jet, operated by SkyWest Airlines, will fly daily to Portland, San Diego, San Jose and Seattle.

One of the two daily flights to Seattle will be operated by Virgin America using an A320 family aircraft. All guests flying the new routes will enjoy Free Chat, free movies, premium food and beverages, Wi-Fi and advance seat selection.

Starting this summer, Virgin America jets will be replaced with a 76-seat E175 jet in two Love Field markets – New York's LaGuardia Airport and Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport. On Aug. 27, three-times daily service to New York's LaGuardia Airport will operate using an E175 and increase to four daily flights on Oct. 28.

Starting Feb. 18, twice-daily service to Reagan National Airport will also be replaced with an E175. The third daily Love Field-Washington Reagan National daily trip will continue to be operated by Virgin America until March 11, when SkyWest will take over the evening flight. As part of these schedule changes, Virgin America will permanently exit Love Field-Las Vegas on Aug. 26.

The fleet changes will free up Virgin America planes used in Love Field, to fly new, previously announced long-haul San Francisco flights to Philadelphia, New Orleans, Nashville, Indianapolis, Raleigh-Durham and Kona, as well as new flights between Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

Virgin America will continue to operate three daily flights between Love Field and Los Angeles and three daily flights between Love Field and San Francisco. Additionally, all Virgin America employees in Dallas and LaGuardia are keeping their jobs. There is no change in employment status for any teammates as a result of this announcement.

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines takes in-flight experience even further. Having the passenger’ satisfaction as the airline’s priority, wide on-board selection of the carrier continues to be broadened in order to reach the widest range of passengers’ requests.

Yet another innovation developed by Turkish Airlines to enable its business class passengers to enjoy the best Turkish hospitality within the concept of privileged travel.

Living garden concept including new cosmetics consisting of hand lotion, hand soap and room odor branded with Molton Brown –a brand identified with refreshment, naturalness and luxury-, are presented on specially designed wooden stands with live plants in business class lavatories.

The flowers and green plants placed in the lavatories within the scope of the project make passengers feel like in a flower garden above the sky.

Drunk Delta Pilot Arrested

A SkyWest pilot scheduled to fly a Delta Connection flight out of South Dakota's Rapid City Regional Airport was arrested Wednesday morning on charges that he was intoxicated, the Rapid City Police Department says.

The local Argus Leader newspaper reports that Rapid City Police were notified that a pilot smelled of alcohol shortly after 8 a.m. local time Wednesday, according to public information officer Brendyn Medina.

Rapid City Police Chief Karl Jegeris said via Twitter at 12:55 p.m. ET that police had arrested a Skywest Airlines pilot for “operation of an aircraft while intoxicated.” To be arrested for operating an aircraft while intoxicated, the blood alcohol level has to be above .04, according to the Argus Leader. The pilot taken into custody is 38 years old, the newspaper reports.

SkyWest flies regional aircraft on feeder routes for major airlines Delta, American and Alaska Airlines.

SkyWest told Today in the Sky the pilot had been removed from flying duty while the company investigates the charges.

“SkyWest holds its employees to the highest standards of professionalism and the safety and security of our customers and people are our top priority,” SkyWest said in the statement. “We apologize to our passengers for the delay of SkyWest flight #4574, operating as Delta Connection from Rapid City to Salt Lake City, due to a crewmember issue. The crewmember has been placed on administrative leave and removed from flying duties as we investigate this situation. We are cooperating fully with law enforcement’s investigation into this matter."

From Rapid City, SkyWest flies under the Delta Connection brand to Delta’s hubs in Atlanta, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Salt Lake City. The flight in Wednesday’s incident was Delta Connection Flight 4574 to Salt Lake City. The flight -- a Canadair CRJ200 regional jet, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware -- had been scheduled to depart Rapid City at 8:30 a.m. local time. Delta’s website shows the flight departed late at 10:38 a.m. local time.

"The system worked the way it is designed to ensure passengers' safety was not compromised," Jegeris, the Rapid City Police Chief, said in a tweet.

USA: Government's Rankings Of Leading Airlines

Here are the government's rankings of the leading airlines and their on-time performance for December. The federal government counts a flight as on time if it arrives within 14 minutes of schedule.

1. Hawaiian Airlines, 93.0 per cent

2. Alaska Airlines, 85.3 per cent

3. Delta Air Lines, 83.6 per cent

4. Envoy Air, 80.4 per cent

5. American Airlines, 79.2 per cent

6. United Airlines, 77.9 per cent

7. ExpressJet, 77.3 per cent

8. Southwest Airlines, 76.1 per cent

9. Frontier Airlines, 75.0 per cent

10. SkyWest Airlines, 72.9 per cent

11. Virgin America, 71.1 per cent

12. JetBlue Airways, 70.1 per cent

13. Spirit Airlines, 68.7 per cent

Total, 77.8 per cent

JAPAN: Japanese MRJ Regional Jet First Test Flight In Late October

Japanese twin-engine MRJ will conduct its first test flight in Japan in late October, announced Monday the aircraft manufacturer Mitsubishi Aircraft, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Group (MHI).

After four postponements, the maiden flight is now expected in the second half of October at a date to be precisely defined. The commissioning of the first Japanese aircraft line is still scheduled in 2017. It will be available in two versions: the MRJ-70 with 78 seats as standard single-class layout and MRJ-90 with 86 to 96 seats. Two Pratt & Whitney PW1200G turbofan, whose certification is expected soon, will equip the unit.

The MRJ has so far registered 407 orders including 223 farms, says Mitsubishi Aircraft. The launch customer All Nippon Airways (ANA) bought 15 RJ-90 (plus 10 options). Btw this is the MRJ-90 model which recorded the entire firm orders, including 100 units for the US partner SkyWest Airlines or 32 for Japan, while the little brother the MRJ-70 does not always account . The Japanese regional aircraft will compete with short and medium haul of brézilien Embraer and Bombardier of Canada.