{"id":150527,"date":"2025-03-22T22:29:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T22:29:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/airline\/heathrow-closes-due-to-fire-faa-has-its-nominee-cranky-flier\/"},"modified":"2025-03-22T22:29:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T22:29:52","slug":"heathrow-closes-due-to-fire-faa-has-its-nominee-cranky-flier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=150527","title":{"rendered":"Heathrow Closes Due to Fire, FAA Has Its Nominee \u2013 Cranky Flier"},"content":{"rendered":"


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We\u2019re a day later than usual this week, but at some point today, the latest Air Show will be live with two, two, TWO topics instead of one. First, Brian and Jon talk through what Bryan Bedford being nominated to be FAA administrator means. Then Brian and I talk about the truth behind Spirit\u2019s bankruptcy. Spoiler alert: my post on Monday<\/a> was wrong, so if that interested you, you\u2019ll want to listen in.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Listen on Spotify<\/a>
Listen on Apple Podcasts<\/a>
Listen on Amazon<\/a>
Listen on Pocket Casts<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Night the Lights Went Out in\u2026London<\/h3>\n

London\/Heathrow was forced to close<\/a> Friday after a fire at a nearby electrical substation caused a power outage at the airport and around 16,000 homes in the surrounding area.<\/p>\n

UK energy minister Ed Miliband described the fire as catastrophic, saying that the flames also took out the airport\u2019s backup generator. The British government spent much of the morning trying to activate a backup to the backup to restore power to the airport \u2014 or at least the duty free shops \u2014 as quickly as possible.<\/p>\n

LHR will remain closed through Friday (7 p.m. ET), with all flights in and out of the airport canceled. Approximately 125 flights were in the air to Heathrow at the time of the incident and had to be diverted or return to their original airport. <\/p>\n

A total of 679 arrivals and 678 departures were canceled for the rest of the day. Most airlines declined comment on the incident, encouraging passengers to check their website or app for updated flight information, but one airline was willing to go on the record. \u201cAll of a sudden Stansted doesn\u2019t seem so far away from central London, does it,\u201d Ryanair CEO Michael O\u2019Leary was quoted as asking. \u201cOnce your plane returns to Budapest or Lisbon instead of getting to London, those \u2018alternate airports\u2019 that aren\u2019t on fire sure do look more appealing, don\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Bryan Bedford Nominated to Lead FAA<\/h3>\n

Republic Airways CEO Bryan Bedford is the president\u2019s pick to lead the FAA<\/a>, as the more than 30-year veteran of the industry awaits confirmation from the Senate to begin his new role. The role has been vacant since January when then-administrator Mike Whitaker resigned with almost four years remaining on his five-year term.<\/p>\n

Bedford has led Republic for more than 25 years, joining the carrier in July of 1999. Prior to that, he led two other carriers \u2014 Mesaba and Business Express. A devout Catholic, Bedford is hoping that prayer will fix the country\u2019s ailing air traffic control system\u2026 something that is significantly more likely to work than Congress actually doing anything about it.<\/p>\n

Both Bedford and Republic pushed for the FAA to make an exception to its 1,500 hours of flight time requirement back in 2022, arguing that pilots trained at its flight academy should be able to qualify with closer to 800 hours and would ease the shortage of pilots at the regional carrier level. The FAA denied the request \u2014 something which could be revisited should Bedford be confirmed into the role.<\/p>\n

When asked if the president nominated Bedford because he\u2019s spent the last 25 years at Republic Airways, and that the president mistakenly thought that mean he had been working for the Republican Party, the White House declined comment.<\/p>\n

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Frontier, American Poke at Southwest<\/h3>\n

Frontier<\/a> and American<\/a> both took aim at Southwest fliers this week, starting with Frontier announcing a promo where it offers its economy bundle \u2014 which includes a free carry-on, free seat selection, and free flight changes \u2014 for all bookings between March 18 and August 18. And for flights between May 28 and August 18 that are booked by March 24, it\u2019ll throw in a free bag. The date the promo begins is not a coincidence \u2014 as May 28 is also the date that Southwest\u2019s bag fees will go into effect.<\/p>\n

American followed suit on Thursday, announcing a status match \u2014 A-List members can match to AAdvantage Platinum and A-List Preferred can match to AAdvantage Platinum Pro. Both of these are one tier status higher than AA usually offers Southwest elites, and the status is awarded at the time of the match \u2014 for four months. It will also come with a status challenge that would award the loyalty level for the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

While AA and Frontier might be the first to take aim at disgruntled Southwest customers, they certainly won\u2019t be the last, with rumors in industry circles abounding that both Air Koryo and Conviasa are also planning at taking aim at WN customers with offers of open seating, free checked bags, and limitless possibilities. <\/p>\n

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Air France-KLM Considers Air Europa<\/h3>\n

Air France-KLM is in discussions to purchase<\/a> a portion of Spain\u2019s third largest carrier, Air Europa. The airline, which has its largest hub in Madrid has been a SkyTeam member since September of 2007.<\/p>\n

IAG \u2013 the BA-led airline group which includes Air Europa\u2019s Spanish rival in Iberia announced its intention to purchase the airline for just more than $1 billion late in 2019, just in time for the pandemic to scuttle those plans. The two sides ended their merger plans in November of 2021. IAG then agreed to buy the carrier again \u2014 this time in February of 2023 \u2014 for $400 million \u2014 before the European Commission\u2019s antitrust concerns led to the deal ending again.<\/p>\n

Air France says that while it\u2019s willing to begin with smaller stakes in potential merger partners, the eventual goal is to fully integrate these smaller carriers into the Air France-KLM family. <\/p>\n

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Allegiant Exits Five<\/h3>\n

Allegiant is ending service<\/a> to five airports where it had already suspended flying, making its exit permanent in Baltimore, El Paso, Grand Junction (CO), Gulfport, and San Antonio.<\/p>\n

The carrier had operated to Baltimore and El Paso since 2016, flying to random cities where it happened to find it had airplanes lying around, especially from Florida. The carrier operated to GJT as far back as 2012 with flights to Phoenix\/Mesa, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Orange County. <\/p>\n

Luckily for Allegiant fans everywhere, it continues to operate its Sunseeker resort in Florida, and will fly you from one mid-tier or below city to another two or three times a week, just not to or from Baltimore. <\/p>\n

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