3 Links I Love: White House and State Dept Spar Over Open Skies, Allegiant Loses, Alitalia May Go It Alone
This week’s featured link:
Navarro clashes with State Department over UAE airline deal – Associated Press
Remember how I said there were differing views on the impact of the US agreement with the UAE? Well, that was quite the understatement. There are actually differing views between the State Department (which is correct) and the White House (which is not). This is pretty embarrassing, to say the least. I’ll have more on this next week when I talk about Delta’s decision to go back into Mumbai.
Two for the road:
An Allegiant Air Executive Popular With Wall Street Resigns – Skift
Lukas Johnson has left Allegiant to become CEO of Canada Jetlines, an ultra-low cost startup based in Vancouver. While Allegiant still has people who know how to run an airline, it’s not clear that any of the people left will have a seat at the table. Lukas was the last of the execs over there who really understood that part of the business, and with him gone, I hope someone can step in to keep it running. Otherwise the company will continue to get distracted by IT projects and building condos.
Italy’s 5-Star, League plan to halt Alitalia sale – Reuters
Sale? What sale? The new government seems to have an interest in re-nationalizing Alitalia to restore it to its former glory. Oh wait, what glory? I, for one, am glad to see this. It’ll provide fodder for me for years to come.
