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Hello and welcome to London Air Travel’s Atlantic Update providing a weekly bulletin on developments on transatlantic travel between Europe and North America. The Atlantic Update is published every Wednesday morning at 06:00 GMT.
Norwegian Gains Breathing Space
On Monday Norwegian’s bondholders agreed to the extension of two bonds from 11 December 2019 and 7 August 2020 to November 2021 and February 2022 respectively.
This does give Norwegian significantly more financial headroom to get through the winter season. However, its financial health still faces considerable scrutiny, not least given the current volatility of Brent crude which increased by 19.5% on Monday following a drone strike on Saudi Arabia’s largest oil processing centre.
BA Transatlantic Cancellations
BA has cancelled a number of transatlantic return flights in early October for “operational reasons”.
Tuesday 1 October 2019
Flights BA227/226 London Heathrow – Atlanta
Flights BA103/102 London Heathrow – Calgary
Flights BA207/206 London Heathrow – Miami
Flights BA223/222 London Heathrow – Nashville
Wednesday 2 October 2019
Flights BA193/192 London Heathrow – Dallas Fort Worth
Flights BA281/280 London Heathrow – Los Angeles
Flights BA225/224 London Heathrow – New Orleans
Flights BA289/288 London Heathrow – Phoenix
This appears to be unrelated to the current dispute between BA and BALPA and the rebooking guidelines for strike affected passengers are not available for these cancellations. Affected passengers will be re-acommodated on alternative American Airlines and BA flights. As these were announced on successive days just before 14 days, more cancellations may be forthcoming.
Metropolitan Transportation Authority Unveils Capital Plan
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has unveiled its Capital Plan for 2020 to 2024 which includes a substantial investment for the New York Subway.
The Subway has long been subject to political wrangling between New York City which owns the Subway, and the State of New York which controls the MTA. Whilst there have been improvements to the Subway’s performance, there is still a long list of outstanding repairs.
The $51.5bn Capital Plan includes a $37.3bn for the New York Subway and Staten Island Railway. The proposals include upgrades to signalling, new subway cars, track modernisation, station improvements including improved accessibility.
Whilst the plan has been given a cautious welcome, the difficult part is securing city, state and federal funding for it.
Also of note this week:
American Airlines marks 30 years of its Miami hub. (American Airlines)
Uber and Lyft may come to Vancouver. (CityLab)
Post publication updates
[Reserved for updates during the day.]
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