Striking at Air Canada, a gloomy outlook for Spirit Airlines, record fines for Covid-layoffs for Qantas, and a new VP of Airport Lounges over at Qatar!

Air Canada staff striking seems like a massive own goal in the context of the current differences between them and their southern neighbours. Only winners in this will be the US majors, especially in the local markets, surely?

It’s all gloom at Spirit Airlines as the airline continues to find a way forward. No one likes to see an airline fail and capacity lost, but it begs the question: if they were to cease operations, would that be a market reset that would be beneficial to the wider US domestic market? Less capacity, similar demand, slightly higher fares, less air space congestion, etc, maybe?

Qatar Airways appoints a VP of Airport Lounges. They’ve always been hot on service levels, but this is an intriguing role, and quite how you put it on your CV will be interesting…. Good work if you can get it.

Qantas got hit with a record fine for its illegal layoffs during the pandemic, which was a truly shocking action. If you only read one book by the pool this yea,r then The Chairman's Lounge by Joe Aston is the book to read; some very interesting insights about what happened at Kangaroo Air both leading up to and through the pandemic. Gripping reading!

London Gatwick is confident of receiving approval for a second runway in the next few days. A positive development, but still some years from actually being operational, although the regular five o’clock wakes up in the last week would suggest it’s already very busy...