✈ Hurricane cancellations, JetBlue lands in Amsterdam, and AA hit with record fine ✈

August 30, 2023

Storms, inaugurals and fines

by Ben Mutzabaugh, Managing Editor for Aviation

Hello TPG readers!

Major hurricanes. European inaugural flights. A record Department of Transportation fine for long tarmac delays.

We may have a holiday weekend on tap, but there are several big aviation stories percolating as we get ready for the unofficial end to summer.

Let’s start with Hurricane Idalia, which made landfall in Florida this morning as a dangerous Category 3 storm. Idalia’s effects will be felt across the region — and by air travelers. Airlines are waiving change fees and flights have been halted at several airports in the storm’s path.

Elsewhere, JetBlue notched another major milestone today in its ambitious European expansion effort, completing its maiden flight to Amsterdam. The Dutch metropolis becomes JetBlue’s third destination in Europe — London and Paris are the others — and now has us wondering what city will become its fourth.

Back in the U.S., the DOT hit American Airlines with a $4.1 million fine for violating federal rules on long tarmac delays.

Getting stuck on a plane on the tarmac during a rolling delay can be maddening, but thankfully, it’s relatively rare. TPG’s David Slotnick notes that American Airlines’ 43 noncompliant flights that drew the fine represented less than 0.001% of American’s flight schedule during that three-year period. Still, the DOT has been taking an increasingly aggressive stance in trying to enshrine protections for travelers.

Now, we’ll close out with some of the interesting new airline routes unveiled during the past two weeks.

American headlined the moves with three new destinations in Europe next summer. And Delta Air Lines announced a new route between Minneapolis and Dublin — one that it perhaps made in retaliation against Irish carrier Aer Lingus, which announced its own new route from Delta’s Minnesota hub.

Here are some other route-map changes we’ve learned about during the past two weeks:

That’s all for this week. Wishing everyone in the U.S. a terrific Labor Day holiday, and I’ll see you again in September.

Ben

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Photo Credit: BEN MUTZABAUGH/THE POINTS GUY.

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