Airline network planners kicked off the holiday season dreaming about warm-weather destinations.
20.11.2023 - 15:37 / travelweekly.com
Alaska Airlines gained a massive boost to its international partner portfolio when it joined the 13-airline Oneworld Alliance in 2021.
But Alaska is also bullish about its burgeoning partnership with small German carrier Condor.
"The amount of passengers we see every day both earning miles flying Condor as well as redeeming Alaska miles to fly on Condor are at record levels," said Nat Pieper, Alaska's senior vice president of fleet, finance and alliances. The numbers, he added, have doubled since 2022.
Last month, Condor began placing its code on more than 70 Alaska Airlines routes. The development followed the launch of the carriers' codeshare partnership in June, when Alaska began placing its code on Condor flights to its hub in Frankfurt from 12 U.S. gateways.
Codesharing represents a significant intensification of the relationship between Alaska and Condor, which had previously been interline partners. Alaska Mileage Plan members have also been able to earn and redeem miles on Condor flights since 2017.
One driver of Alaska's heightened interest is leisure-centric Condor's recent growth in the U.S. During the third quarter of this year, Condor flew 47% more seats and 31% more flights to the U.S. than it did during the July through September period of 2019. Next summer Condor will add San Antonio and Miami as U.S. destinations. (The carrier will, however, be dropping its weekly service to Fairbanks, Alaska.)
Business class seats on a Condor A330neo plane. Photo Credit: CondorBut the key motivator for Alaska is the improved cabin products Condor began offering as it introduced Airbus A330neos early this year. The A330neos, which are replacing Condor's older Boeing 767 planes, feature the carrier's first lie-flat seats. By next summer, all of Condor's transatlantic flying will be with the A330neo, each equipped with 30 business class seats and 65 premium economy seats.
Pieper said that he flew on one of new candy-striped Condor aircraft in June, turning him into the biggest fan of the airlines among Alaska's leadership. The product Condor is offering on the new planes, he said, is as good as any that he has experienced in the past three to five years.
"We love the partnership and a lot of places that Condor has historically flown to in the U.S., but the new aircraft, the business class and premium economy, it's just a completely different level," Pieper said.
Condor nevertheless remains just a small element of the connectivity Alaska is able to offer via partnerships across the Atlantic. The carrier's Oneworld membership gives customers access to far larger transatlantic players, including American, British Airways and Iberia, as well as to Finnair. Alaska also partners across the Atlantic with
Airline network planners kicked off the holiday season dreaming about warm-weather destinations.
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The top U.S. airlines and airports improved upon their Thanksgiving on-time performance this year compared to 2022.According to the latest analysis from leading global travel data provider OAG, the on-time performance of major U.S. airlines improved by one percentage point over last year's holiday, reaching 85.7 percent.OAG examined the on-time performance of all airports and airlines on Thanksgiving Eve (November 22), which is one of the busiest travel days of the year. In 2023, airlines and airports overcame not only crowds but weather disruptions to improve upon last year.According to OAG, nearly 18,400 flights arrived on time—within 15 minutes of the scheduled time—among the major U.S. carriers on November 22. Two airlines—Delta Air Lines (91.5 percent) and United Airlines (90.5 percent)—even achieved over 90 percent on-time performance across their domestic networks.Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines also saw improvements over last year, with on-time performance rates of 89.4 percent and 89.3 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, fifth-ranked Southwest Airlines reported a dip from 88.5 percent in 2022 to 86.9 percent in 2023.American Airlines (84.4 percent), Allegiant Air (84.2 percent), Frontier Airlines (76.2 percent) and Breeze Airways (62.3 percent) all improved upon last year while Sun Country Airlines (84.8 percent), JetBlue (64.8 percent), Spirit Airlines (61.7 percent) and Cape Air (33 percent) all lost ground compared to Thanksgiving Eve 2022.
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