November dispatches
Shutdown flight reductions, Swiss refresh, SAS and Alaska-Hawaiian's imminent cutover.
Notes from the runway
One thing I love about visiting Switzerland is the easy access to nature. On a recent 36-hour trip to Zurich, I stayed a short run from a hilltop forest reserve in Kloten. On a post-transatlantic flight jog — I swear that exercise is the best way to beat jetlag — through the wood I stumbled upon the the Hardwald observation tower, an twisting, wooden structure entirely sourced from the surrounding wood designed by Luna Productions. The views from the top, some 41.5 meters (136 feet) up, were stunning. Stumbling upon hidden surprises, like Hardwald, is one of the joys of running. Lace up a pair of running shoes and the discoveries are endless.
Words
The biggest aviation story of November, at least in the U.S., was the FAA’s government shutdown-related flight reductions at 40 key airports. While a Congressional deal stopped them from full implementation, the disruptions rippled across the country. I spoke to American Airlines on how they turned the initial chaos into something near order. (Fast Company)
Swiss International Air Lines, at long last, debuted its take on Lufthansa’s Allegris cabin. The nose-to-tail overhaul of the carrier’s long-haul onboard product was much needed. It’s a fine example of refinement in the sky — even if the seats aren’t necessarily the latest and greatest, it is five years late after all. (The Points Guy)
One of the most risky parts of any airline merger is the reservations cutover when any hiccup could disrupt the travel of tens-of-thousands of fliers. Alaska Airlines is working to ensure this is “a non-event” in its merger with Hawaiian. And there’s good reason to believe they can pull it off. (Fast Company)
Ask SAS Scandinavian Airlines CEO Anko van der Werff about network and he answers with a quip about how, from the North Pole, everything is south. The same can be said for SAS. Van der Werff recently chatted with me on everything from network (Copenhagen is its sole “global hub”) to joint ventures (he wants SAS to join the Air France, Delta, KLM and Virgin Atlantic confab soon) and fleet (new generation widebodies are in short supply). (The Points Guy)
Plus, Pittsburgh opened its new terminal. Bankrupt Spirit continues to shrink to, maybe, profits. Delta will be the first U.S. airline to Riyadh since TWA. Air Canada and Porter’s face off at Toronto Billy Bishop. And LOT will fly to San Francisco. (The Points Guy)
Reads
I spoke to The Washington Post about Dulles’s mobile lounges: “The [AeroTrain] is great; it’s efficient. But you don’t have that joy.”
Columbus, Ind., broke ground on its new Marlon Blackwell Architects-designed control tower, the latest addition to the city’s modern architecture scene.
The FAA signed off on a proposed new 19-gate terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport north of the current terminal complex. Work on the project could begin by the early 2030s.
Loyalty is sticky. That’s why I was disappointed to learn that the new United-JetBlue pact does not earn MileagePlus members premier qualifying points.
I’m all for airports growing or updating to meet the needs of modern travel but this project at Los Angeles International Airport is a headscratcher. The airport will add nearly six-miles of new approach roads — dubbed the “LAX-pressway” by Alissa Walker of Torched LA — at the same time that it wraps up a multi-billion dollar investment in a new people mover and Metro station under the auspices of reducing car trips into the airport’s terminal horseshoe. Never have I ever heard anyone ask for more or better airport roads. As one friend told me: “Welcome to LA.” (And, surprising no one, the LAX board approved the $1.5 billion roadway project).
Disturbing news out of the UK. Architect’s Journal and the Twentieth Century Society report that the government has rejected requests by Historic England to list Norman Foster’s iconic Stansted Airport terminal. “Twentieth century architecture has proved particularly unpopular among successive ministers, despite being as eligible for listing as any other period of architecture.”
This is disturbing (though also unsurprising): Global Entry revocations are up. The worst thing is, Customs and Border Protection is not telling people what they did to lose GE.
“Penn Station is a layer cake of inadequacy.” Few truer words have been written. The New York Times took a look at what’s keeping Penn Station terrible. Let’s just say I’m not optimistic anything will happen anytime soon.
It is a tragedy that so many people have died around Brightline tracks in Florida. But the rail line is also the result of a political system (elected by voters) that prioritizes private, low-cost solutions to transport. If we want better — and we should want better — transit, we need to elect leaders willing to invest in it and not look for the lowest cost solution.
Virgin Trains will challenge Eurostar with some needed competition on high-spreed rail services through the Channel Tunnel between London and Paris beginning around 2030.
Electrification has slashed trip times and been a boon to ridership at Caltrain. The same could be true for Metrolink, aka “Electrolink,” in Southern California if local leaders pursue electrification and level boarding, wrote
.E-bike dads is my tribe.
I’m forever impressed by Parkrun’s ability to get people running. As this Economist piece notes, on any given Saturday some 200,000 people across Britain alone toe the line for one of Parkrun’s “run, not a race.”
Listens
The moving walkway in the 1950s found its “perfect use case in an up and coming institution: the airport.” From Dallas Love Field to the LAX “Astroway” and United’s color tunnel at O’Hare, the rise and fall of the moving walkway.
Did you know that Washington, DC’s most infamous address, the Watergate, is more than just its namesake scandal? For one, it was the city’s first fully “planned urban development” designed to lure people back into the city from the suburbs.
