Friday Flyer – June 2nd, 2023

As shared in last week’s Flyer, the Memorial Day Weekend was expected to be a boom for airlines and surpass the 2019 passenger numbers.  That expectation became reality as the US TSA data showed that more people went through TSA checkpoints over that weekend than in 2019.  It’s an obvious sign of recovery.  The chart below illustrates the data from the past four years.  Here’s an accompanying article about the data.  One thing to remember when looking at this is that there is always nuance to what it means.  Many may use this to conclude “travel is back,” which could be the case.  However, this reflects just the US TSA throughput information and doesn’t tell the story of where the passengers are traveling, how fare they’re traveling, or what they’re paying for that travel.  Those are all important indicators when discussing travel being back, especially considering the importance of the business travelers the airlines value to bring more revenue.

(If you haven’t heard about Chartr and you’re interested in visualizing data, I’d suggest signing up for their email.  It’s a fun way to see interesting facts and figures visualized.  Hat tip to Michael Brownfield for introducing me to it.)

Links

  • I can always tell when a travel story piques the interest of the public.  I received this story in a few different articles from three people this week.  The story: Air New Zealand will be weighing passengers in the month of June.  On the surface, it sounds pretty strange and perhaps intrusive.  However, the weight of the flying public is a critical component to ensure safe flights, so Air New Zealand wants to make sure their data is as accurate as possible, so they are asking for volunteers to share their weight so they can use the most recent and accurate data. (h/t: Brent, Andrew, and Jana)
  • I managed to miss posting about this in either of the last two weeks, but it is important enough to still share.  The US Government informed Jetblue and American Airlines that it’s “Northeast Alliance” would need to be disbanded immediately.  As the article describes, the alliance was one where B6 and AA shared revenue and coordinated schedules and other aspects of operations for New York and Boston.  The claim was that it improved the experience and price for consumers.  The government felt otherwise and actually said it was an “assault on competition.”  
  • Do you want to be one of the first to take SaS’ inaugural electric-powered aircraft’s flights?  Great!  Sign-up for the flight coming soon in 2028.  Hope your plans don’t change before then. 
  • The two largest players in the full-sized jet space (non-regional jets) are the obvious Airbus and Boeing.  The Chinese manufacturer Commercial Aviation Corporation of China (Comac) is looking to make waves in that space.  Last week the airplane completed its first commercial flight for China Eastern Airways using the full-sized C919 aircraft.  It’s yet to be seen how this will compete with the two big players, but it is a step in that direction.
  • For the relatively new CEO of KLM, she stepped out into the front lines recently as she worked a transatlantic flight as a flight attendant.  Whether this was a publicity stunt or a real attempt to connect with employees and customers, the result is a positive story, which is great for the industry.  (h/t: Brent)
  • If you lock yourself out of your car, you might call a locksmith.  Airlines don’t have that luxury as a couple of pilots for Southwest Airlines learned this week.  Instead, their option was the crawl through the window of the cockpit when the door was inadvertently locked, causing the pilots to be unable to enter.  Their solution was creative, but hopefully not something needed on a regular basis. (h/t: Brent)

Interesting Aviation Fact

I mentioned in the first story shared about Air New Zealand weighing their passengers.  This relates to the concept of “weight and balance” on the airplane.  I thought this Q&A with a pilot was a good explanation of what that means and why it can be important.  

Cool Aviation Photo

Since the Comac C919 made its first commercial flight this week, I thought it was only fitting to share a picture of it in action.  For those close observers, you’ll notice the photo date was from December.  The aircraft was delivered in December, but did not make its first commercial flight until this week.