AVIATION UPDATE | NO. 171 AUGUST 16, 2019

2

Cover Photo: XA-CAC, an AeroMexico Connect Embraer E190 is seen departing Los Angeles in February 2018. AeroMexico Connect operates a fleet of 47 E190s and another 10 of the shorter E170 variants.

Lufthansa (DLAF) will begin 5x

weekly service from Munich (MUC)

to Detroit (DTW) on May 4, 2020.

equipment. Lufthansa will also start

6x weekly flights from Munich to Seattle (SEA) on

June 1, 2020. Both routes will be flown by Airbus

A350-900 equipment. 1

American Airlines (AALA) will begin

3x weekly service from Dallas/Fort

Worth (DFW) to Tel Aviv (TLV) on

September 9, 2020.This route will

be flown by Boeing 787-9 equipment. 2

Delta Air Lines (DALA) will begin

daily service from Boston (BOS) to

London Gatwick (LGW) and

Manchester (MAN) on May 21,

2020. Both routes will be flown by Boeing 757-200

equipment.

Virgin Atlantic (VAWF) will begin

daily service from London Gatwick

to New York Kennedy (JFK) on May

21, 2020. This route will be flown

by Airbus A330-200 equipment. 3

Air Canada (ARNF) will begin daily

service from Montreal Trudeau

(YUL) to Seattle (SEA) as well as

daily flights from Toronto Pearson

(YYZ) to San Jose (SJC) on May 4, 2020. Both routes

will be flown by 137-seat Airbus A220-300

equipment. 4

Sun Country Airlines (SCNA) will

add 2x weekly service from

Portland, Oregon (PDX) to Los

Cabos (SJD) from December 18.

This route will be operated by Boeing 737-800

equipment. 5

Eurowings will add four U.S. long-

haul routes for the summer 2020

season: 2x weekly service from

Munich to Las Vegas (LAS) will

start on April 6 while 3x weekly service from Munich

to Orlando (MCO) gets underway on April 7. Also, 5x

weekly flights from Frankfurt (FRA) to Phoenix (PHX)

kick off on April 29 and 3x weekly service from

Frankfurt to Anchorage (ANC) start on June 1. All

routes will be operated by Airbus A330-200

equipment. 6

American will add three seasonal long-haul routes

next summer from Chicago O’Hare (ORD): 4x weekly

flights to Budapest (BUD) will start on May 7 and

conclude on October 24; 5x weekly flights to Krakow

(KRK) will also start on May 7 and end on October

23; 5x weekly flights to Prague (PRG) will start on

May 8 and operate through October 24. All three of

these routes will be flown by Boeing 787-8

eqiupment. Additionally, American will operate 3x

weekly service from Philadelphia (PHL) to

Casablanca (CMN) from June 4 through September

8. This route, American’s first foray into Africa, will

be flown by Boeing 757 equipment.

American will operate its summer seasonal route to

Reykjavik (KEF) to Philadelphia rather than

Dallas/Fort Worth next year. Daily service will start

on June 4, 2020 and be flown by Boeing 757-200

equipment. 7

All of American’s recently announced new routes.

AVIATION UPDATE | NO. 171 AUGUST 16, 2019

3

South African Airways (SOFF)

will end service on the

Johannesburg (JNB) – Dakar

(DKR) – Washington Dulles (IAD)

route on September 1. The carrier will increase from

5x to 7x weekly on the Johannesburg – Accra (ACC)

– Washington Dulles sector on September 5. 8

We first mentioned this in the last issue of the

Aviation Update, and now it has been officially

confirmed: Delta Air Lines will end daily service from

Tokyo Narita (NRT) to Manila (MNL) on March 30,

2020. This route is presently operated by Boeing

767-300/ER equipment. 9

Air China (CAAF) will end service

from Beijing (PEK) to Honolulu

(HNL) on August 27. This route is

currently flown by Airbus A330

equipment. 10

Norwegian Air International

(6NRF) will end all trans-Atlantic

flying from Ireland on September

14, citing the fiscal

unsustainability of the routes. 11 This will see flights

from Dublin (DUB) to Providence (PVD) and New

York Stewart (SWF) ending; previously these routes

had flown from Cork (ORK) and Shannon (SNN)

respectively, but had been transferred to Dublin

recently, as detailed in Aviation Update 168. The

New York Stewart route is presently operated by

wet-leased Wamos Air (Z9WF) Airbus A330

equipment.

American will not resume summer seasonal service

from Philadelphia to Bologna (BLQ) in 2020.

Swoop (5OOF) will delay its

planned new routes to San

Diego (SAN) from Abbotsford

(YXX) and Edmonton (YEG) that

were set to commence on October 4. Reservations

are now closed and no new start dates have been

mentioned. 12

Volaris (Z5XF) will end flights to

Milwaukee (MKE) as of November

13, with the carrier closing bookings

on its weekly flight to Guadalajara

(GDL) from that date forward. 13

TSA found 157 guns in carry-on

bags for the fortnight ending

August 4 14 and 77 for the

fortnight ending August 11. 15 TSA

has now found 2,604 guns in

carry-on bags for the year so far. Click here to see an

airport by airport count of guns found in 2019 – the

only such list that is maintained anywhere on the

internet.

A new study ranked the longest average wait-times

for passenger screening checkpoints in the U.S.,

with Newark, New Jersey (EWR) taking the top spot

with an average wait of 23.1 minutes. Houston

Intercontinental (IAH) was second at 19.8 minutes

while Miami (MIA) was third at 19.6 minutes. Salt

Lake City (SLC) had the shortest average wait at 9.1

minutes. 16

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) lifted

its travel advisory on Manila on August 10. The

advisory, issued on December 26, notified the public

that Manila did not adequately implement and

maintain effective international security practices.

Two recent audits have confirmed that measures

have been improved. 17

Four new airlines have joined TSA’s Pre-Check

program, bringing participation to 72 domestic and

foreign carriers. Austrian (AUXF), Swoop, PAL

Express, and VivaAerobus (V80F) are the latest

additions. 18

JetBlue (YENA) is now codesharing

with Emirates (ZCQF) on the Dubai

(DXB) to Kabul (KBL) route.19

AVIATION UPDATE | NO. 171 AUGUST 16, 2019

4

Volaris flew 2.004 million July passengers, a big 18.4

percent yoy increase. System-wide load factor for

the month reached a healthy 88.8 percent. 20

Acapulco (ACA) 84,490 21

Aguascalientes (AGU) 80,400 22

Amman (AMM) 959,560

Antalya, Turkey (AYT) 5,407,963

Athens (ATH) 2,980,072 23

Brussels (BRU) 2,735,470 24

Chihuahua (CUU) 175,814

Copenhagen (CPH) 3,109,498 25

Culiacan (CUL) 220,674

Des Moines (DSM) 268,961 26

Dublin (DUB) 3.5 million 27

Dubrovnik (DBV) 514,723 28

Durango (DGO) 62,573

Fortaleza, Brazil (FOR) 615,872

Frankfurt (FRA) 6,920,396 29

Guadalajara (GDL) 1,393,800

Hermosillo (HMO) 171,700

La Paz, Mexico (LAP) 107,000

Leon (BJX) 258,400

Lima (LIM) 2,093,602

London City (LCY) 490,819 30

London Heathrow (LHR) 7,754,139 31

Los Cabos (SJD) 533,400

Macao (MFM) 850,000 32

Manzanillo (ZLO) 11,400

Mazatlan (MZT) 90,249

Montego Bay (MBJ) 443,100

Monterrey (MTY) 1,105,638

Morelia (MLM) 82,900

Ottawa (YOW) 442,893 33

Paris DeGaulle (CDG) 7,428,308 34

Paris Orly (ORY) 3,107,051

Porto Alegre, Brazil (POA) 676,178

Puerto Vallarta (PVR) 399,500

Rhodes, Greece (RHO) 1,035,761

San Luis Potosi (SLP) 63,946

Santiago (SCL) 2,234,106

Sarasota, Florida (SRQ) 147,068 35

Sarajevo (SJJ) 180,929 36

Sault Ste Marie (YAM) 18,800 37

Sofia, Bulgaria (SOF) 663,738 38

St. Petersburg, Florida (PIE) 245,955 39

St. Petersburg, Russia (LED) 2,206,477

Stockholm (ARN) 2.493 million 40

Tampico (TAM) 70,134

Tijuana (TIJ) 830,600

Torreon (TRC) 65,696

Xi’an, China (XIY) 4,296,707

Zacatecas (ZCL) 48,669

Zagreb (ZAG) 366,242 41

Zihuatanejo (ZIH) 50,090

An August 3 United Airlines (CALA) flight from

Glasgow (GLA) to Newark, New Jersey was canceled

after both pilots were arrested for being under the

influence of alcohol. One of the pilots was later

released without charge while the other was charged

for being over the legal limit.

An Air Wisconsin (A6WA) flight attendant was

arrested upon arrival at South Bend, Indiana (SBN)

after she passed out and slept through the United

Express branded flight she was working from Chicago

O’Hare on August 2. The flight attendant was later

found to have a blood alcohol level of .204, five times

over the legal limit. The individual in question

admitted to knocking back two vodka shooters before

boarding, slurred through the safety briefing before

departure and passed out/fell asleep in the jump seat;

passengers had to buckler her seat belt. A new hire

still on her probationary period, she was promptly

fired.

United has now increased its “bottle to throttle” rule

for pilots from eight to 12 hours before a flight – no

drinking of alcohol in the 12 hours before operating a

flight.

AVIATION UPDATE | NO. 171 AUGUST 16, 2019

5

Hong Kong (HKG) was paralyzed for two days earlier

this week as thousands of protestors converged on

the airports, forcing most flights to cancel as

passengers and employees were unable to access

the terminal building. The protests are a response

to recent proposed changes in extradition policy by

the Chinese government. 42

Grupo AeroMexico flew 1.917

million passengers in July on

AeroMexico (ASMF) and

AeroMexico Connect (LVQF)

flights, an 8.1 percent year-on-year (yoy) decrease.

System-wide load factor for the month was 88.1

percent. 43

U.S. airlines bumped 6,589 passengers from April 1

through June 30, a rate three times higher than one

year ago. The increased bumping of passengers

comes as U.S. carriers canceled nearly 15,000 flights

in June alone, a 19 percent higher amount than June

2018. 44 One of the leading culprits for the increase

is the continued grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX,

which has caused headaches for American and

Southwest Airlines (SWAA) in particular.

An accident with a tug took the life of a Delta ramp

agent on August 15 at New York Kennedy., a sad

reminder that the ramp is indeed a very dangerous

place. 45

Air Tahiti Nui (N3UF) will operate

its final Airbus A340-300 revenue

flight on Setpember 24. 46 The

carrier at one point operated five

of the type, primarily plying the route from Tahiti to

Los Angeles and on to Paris. Boeing 787-9s have

replaced the A343 in the fleet.

Air Tahiti Nui Airbus A340-313 (F-OLOV) at Los Angeles, March

2011.

China Airlines Cargo (SAJF) looks to

have re-activated B-18705, a

Boeing 747-409/F that was stored

at Victorville, California (VCV). The

frame was flown to Taipei (TPE) on August 5.

178,652 tons of freight and mail traveled through

Frankfurt in July.

An Omni Air International Boeing

767-33A/ER (N378AX) was forced to

evacuate after the brakes

overheated and caught fire after a

rejected takeoff (RTO) at Shannon, Ireland on

August 15. The rejected takeoff was caused due to

an open cockpit window. The airport was

temporarily shut down while emergency crews

tended to the aircraft. 47 Our correspondent in

Shannon, Martin Smith, has the photos:

A S7 Airlines Boeing 737-8ZS (VQ-

BKV) nearly ran out of runway

during an August 8 takeoff from

Moscow Domodedovo (DME),

smashing several runway lights as the aircraft finally

got airborne. It remains unknown how the pilots

could not get a Boeing 737 to takeoff with room to

spare on an 11,500-foot runway; initial speculation

AVIATION UPDATE | NO. 171 AUGUST 16, 2019

6

has it that the crew entered the takeoff weight

erroneously into the aircraft computer.

In an incident reminiscent of the US

Airways “Miracle on the Hudson”

several years ago, a Ural Airlines

Airbus A321-211 (VQ-BOZ) lost

both engines after bird strikes during the initial

climb (750 feet) after departure from Moscow

Zhukovsky (ZIA) on August 15. The aircraft was

forced to land in a nearby corn field, with all 226

passengers and seven crew surviving; the only

injuries came during the evacuation on the slides. 48

Exceptional airmanship by the pilots. As it is 2019,

we of course have video, as passengers were filming

the takeoff and subsequent landing.

Uber and Lyft paid a combined total of $44.3 million

in pick-up and drop-off fees to Los Angeles

International Airport (LAX) in Fiscal Year 2017. 49

N419QX and N420QX, both Dash 8s formerly with

Horizon Air (QXEA), have found new life, joining the

fleet of Nepal’s Shree Airlines as 9N-ANE and 9N-

ANF.

N947DN, a McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 with

Delta, was withdrawn from use (wfu) and ferried on

August 7 to San Bernardino, California (SBD) for

part-out and scrap.

N904DL, a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 with Delta,

was wfu and ferried on August 13 to Blytheville,

Arkansas (BYH) for part-out and scrap.

N363FE, a McDonnell Douglas

DC-10-10/F with FedEx (FDEA),

was wfu and ferried on August 10

to Victorville for part-out and

scrap.

N363FE at Fort Worth Alliance, February 2005.

D-ALCE, a McDonnell Douglas

MD-11/F with Lufthansa Cargo

(LU7F), was wfu and ferried on

August 8 to Victorville. This frame

will be re-registered as N646FE and used by FedEx

as a spare parts donor.

AVIATION UPDATE | NO. 171 AUGUST 16, 2019

7

The Aviation Update is compiled by Greg Gayden from open source material gathered across the internet, and features news regarding international operations

to/from the United States and the commercial aviation industry in general. To subscribe, simply send a request. The Update is published multiple times each month as news warrants. Back issues are available here. Unless otherwise noted, IATA codes used for airports & FAA designator codes for airlines.

The Fourth Edition of

Commercial Aviation 101, a

265-page book which explores

current security programs and

the basics of the aviation

industry, is now available on

Apple iBooks, Amazon and in

PDF format. Paperback copies

can be ordered here.

1 https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/285764/lufthansa-s20-long-haul-service-changes-as-of-07aug19/ 2 http://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2019/American-Airlines-Increases-International-Presence-Makes-First-Entrance-Into-Africa/default.aspx 3 https://news.delta.com/delta-virgin-atlantic-boost-summer-flying-between-us-and-uk-2020 4 https://aircanada.mediaroom.com/2019-08-14-Air-Canada-Announces-First-Two-New-Routes-To-Be-Operated-With-Game-Changing-Airbus-A220-300 5 https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/285907/sun-country-adds-portland-or-los-cabos-service-from-dec-2019/ 6 https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/285769/eurowings-adds-new-long-haul-routes-in-s20/ 7 https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/285806/american-airlines-s20-long-haul-changes-as-of-11aug19/ 8 https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/285779/south-african-airways-streamlines-washington-service-from-sep-2019/ 9 https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/285771/delta-closes-tokyo-manila-bookings-from-april-2020/ 10 https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/285748/air-china-cancels-honolulu-service-from-late-august-2019/ 11 https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/business/norwegian-ends-unsustainable-transatlantic-flights-from-ireland-943632.html 12 https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/285882/swoop-delays-planned-san-diego-oct-2019-launch/ 13 https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2019/07/23/volaris-no-longer-booking-flights-at-mitchell.html 14 https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2019/08/08/tsa-week-review-july-22-august-4 15 https://www.tsa.gov/blog/2019/08/15/tsa-week-review-august-5-11 16 https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2019/08/16/tsa-security-screening-the-us-airports-with-the-longest-waiting-time-infographic/#3d02901b176c 17 http://www.manilastandard.net/news/national/302001/us-lifts-security-notice-on-naia.html 18 https://www.travelpulse.com/news/airlines/five-more-airlines-join-tsa-pre-check.html 19 https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/285754/jetblue-adds-emirates-codeshare-to-afghanistan-from-july-2019/ 20 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/volaris-reports-july-2019-traffic-110000828.html 21 http://ir.oma.aero/static-files/13d9a224-caf9-46f1-8e3e-8c913a0fd12a 22 http://www.banderasnews.com/1908/to-gap-mexico-airport-traffic-july-2019.htm 23 https://news.gtp.gr/2019/08/06/passenger-traffic-athens-airport-up-july/ 24 https://www.aviation24.be/airports/brussels-airport-bru/more-than-2-7-million-passengers-passed-through-brussels-airport-in-july-2-7-a-month-marked-by-disruptions-to-the-baggage-handling-system/ 25 http://www.airport-world.com/news/general-news/7290-satisfaction-levels-rise-at-copenhagen-as-traffic-grows.html 26 https://businessrecord.com/Content/Iowa-News/Iowa-News/Article/Airport-traffic-up-7-6-in-July/197/1040/87623 27 https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2019/0809/1067863-july-was-the-busiest-month-ever-at-dublin-airport/ 28 https://www.thedubrovniktimes.com/news/dubrovnik/item/7159-dubrovnik-airport-breaking-records-in-2019-massive-increase-in-passenger-numbers 29 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fraport-traffic-figures--july-2019-passenger-traffic-rises-at-frankfurt-airport-300900229.html

AVIATION UPDATE | NO. 171 AUGUST 16, 2019

8

30 https://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/london-city-airport-breaks-passenger-records-in-july/ 31 https://www.heathrow.com/file_source/Company/Static/Excel/traffic_statistics-monthly-200501_to_201907.xlsx 32 http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-08/07/c_138291316.htm 33 https://obj.ca/article/declining-us-traffic-pulls-down-ottawa-airport-passenger-volumes-july 34 https://www.parisaeroport.fr/docs/default-source/groupe-fichiers/finance/relations-investisseurs/trafic/2019/adp-sa--july-2019-traffic-figures.pdf?sfvrsn=7284ffbd_2 35 https://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20190816/sarasota-bradenton-airport-sees-record-traffic-growth-for-july 36 http://www.sarajevotimes.com/150841-2/ 37 DATA PROVIDED TO THE AVIATION UPDATE BY A CANADIAN SOURCE 38 https://seenews.com/news/sofia-airport-passenger-traffic-increases-11-yy-in-july-664590 39 https://www.tbnweekly.com/pinellas_county/article_f676fd26-bde3-11e9-85dd-9f96a828e660.html 40 https://www.moodiedavittreport.com/stockholm-arlanda-sees-passenger-traffic-decline-4-year-on-year-in-july/ 41 https://seenews.com/news/zagreb-airport-7-mo-passenger-traffic-rises-27-yy-665484 42 https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/14/asia/hong-kong-airport-protests-intl-hnk/index.html 43 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aeromexico-reports-july-2019-traffic-results-300897955.html 44 https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/15/more-us-airline-passengers-are-facing-canceled-and-oversold-flights.html 45 https://abc7ny.com/delta-employee-at-jfk-airport-killed-on-the-job/5468454/ 46 https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/285849/air-tahiti-nui-moves-last-a340-service-to-late-sep-2019/ 47 http://avherald.com/h?article=4cb95d20&opt=0 48 http://www.avherald.com/h?article=4cb94927&opt=0 49 https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-08-12/uber-stop-serving-ontario-airport-lyft