Route Network Update for United Airlines

Southwest Airlines to restart B737 MAX ops in late 1Q21

04.02.2021 – 16:12 UTC

Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field) has announced that it will resume scheduled B737-8 operations on March 11, 2021, following an extensive internal retraining programme and a series of validation flights without passengers.

The low-cost carrier said that it would initially operate the B737 MAX 8s on a fixed set of routes, separate from its pool of B737NGs.

“We’ll be starting out in a very small and focused manner for the first month with just ten lines of flying. They’ll be isolated to all-MAX lines. We will not co-mingle the NG and the MAX fleet for that first month of service. After that, we’ll have roughly sixty-five MAX aircraft available for service, and we expect to be in normal operational mode by mid-April,” Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven said during the carrier’s annual earnings call.

Southwest Airlines has yet to file schedules or publicly disclose the ten routes where its B737 MAX 8s will be deployed.

According to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module, the LCC currently has forty-five B737…

Air Wisconsin to lay off 140 first officers

04.02.2021 – 01:11 UTC

Air Wisconsin (ZW, Appleton) has notified the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development that it will lay off 140 unionised first officers effective April 1, 2021, due to diminished operations for United Airlines (UA, Chicago O’Hare).

“At this point in time, this is a temporary layoff. The layoff time period is unknown, as it will be dependent on the increase in travel demands and United Airlines’ need for Air Wisconsin’s flying services,” the regional capacity provider said in the notice.

Air Wisconsin operates sixty-four CRJ200s exclusively on behalf of United Airlines, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows. Although its headquarters are in Appleton, WI, it does not maintain any crew bases in its home state. According to the ch-aviation schedules module, Air Wisconsin operates United regional services out of Washington Dulles and Chicago O’Hare, focussing on serving the East Coast and the Midwest. In Wisconsin, the airline serves Appleton, Wausau Mosinee, Milwaukee General Mitchell, and Green Bay, connecting each of the cities with United’s hub…

Bank uses new financing system for SkyWest-Embraer deal

29.01.2021 – 18:11 UTC

The Brazilian Development Bank (BNDES) revealed on January 25 that it had approved a loan of BRL450 million reais (USD83 million) using a new type of guarantee to finance an acquisition of jets produced by Embraer (EMB, Sao Jose dos Campos). The loan will finance a transaction for the delivery of four E175s to United States carrier SkyWest Airlines (OO, Salt Lake City).

The bank provided the loan through its BNDES Exim Post-Shipment credit line, backed by credit insurance from the Aircraft Finance Insurance Consortium (AFIC), the development bank said in a statement.

The loan is the first to be provided through the credit line and also the first operation of its kind guaranteed by credit insurance called Aircraft Non-Payment Insurance (ANPI), the bank explained.

In this type of financing, BNDES funds are disbursed in reais to the exporting company, in this case Embraer, funds which are then paid back to the bank in dollars by the purchasing company, in this case SkyWest.

The transaction, completed in December 2020,…

Tel Aviv, Israel temporarily closed because of COVID-19

27.01.2021 – 02:14 UTC

Israel’s Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport has closed to foreign-registered aircraft from January 26 until January 31, 2021, except for cargo flights, medical emergency evacuations, and firefighting flights.

This follows restrictions on the operations of airports and flights effective from 0001L (2201Z) on January 26 until 2359L (2159Z) on January 31, 2021, an airport statement…