Etihad in Atlanta, Interesting Partnerships, Southwest Worries People, and Other Airline News This Week

Another week has gone by, and it’s been an interesting one in the aviation industry. Each week, we round up news that didn’t get its own story over the past 7 days, and this week features Qantas getting the first A321XLR plane in the region, a new airline serving Atlanta, interesting new partnerships, and an airline potentially coming back from the dead.

There are also interesting bits about loyalty programs, with potential positive and negative effects. Here’s what you may have missed this week.

Etihad Arrives in Atlanta

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways announced several route expansions in late 2024, including plans to fly to Atlanta (ATL). That route is now active, as Etihad arrived in Atlanta on July 2, 2025, for the first time.

Etihad is operating the route with its Airbus A350-1000 aircraft, featuring 44 business-class suites with privacy doors and 327 seats in economy. The route is operating 4 times a week at present, but it will increase to daily service in November.

EVA Air Increases Frequency on Not-Yet-Started Dallas Route

Taiwan-based EVA Air will start a new route to Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) in October. The route was set to operate 3 times weekly on a Boeing 777.

The route hasn’t even started, but it must be popular. The carrier is swapping to a 3-class Boeing 787-9 plane and service will move to 5 times weekly on November 18 and then daily service on December 15, 2025 — just 2 1/2 months after the first flight, as first noticed by Aeroroutes.

Flying Blue Elites Get More Saver-Level Award Access

Flying Blue appears to offer more award seats at the cheapest, saver-level pricing if you have elite status. One Mile at a Time shared interesting screenshots and data points comparing award flight availability and pricing across 2 accounts, 1 with elite status and another without.

There’s no official word from Flying Blue about this, and it could be a test — or even a fluke. However, it would make sense to offer more inventory at the cheapest prices to elite members. United MileagePlus does something similar for its elite members and those with its credit cards, for example.

If this holds true, it could become a valuable benefit that makes Flying Blue elite status more worthwhile.

Qantas Gets Its First Airbus A321XLR

Australia-based Qantas is the first carrier in the Asia-Pacific region to get the Airbus A321XLR — with “XLR” meaning “extra-long range.” This plane model is increasingly popular for its combination of small size with a long range, letting airlines fly long routes without needing to fill a huge plane to justify the cost of the route.

Airbus says Qantas has ordered 40 A321XLRs, which feature 20 business and 177 economy seats. The range of the A321XLR means Qantas can fly it on routes like Sydney-Hong Kong or Brisbane-Tokyo — routes not possible with the Boeing 737.

Final Nail in the Coffin for JetBlue-American Airlines Partnership

Hopefully, we can finally put the former Northeast Alliance between American and JetBlue to rest. That partnership ended on July 21, 2023, after the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit saying the alliance was anticompetitive.

The U.S. Supreme Court won’t take up the lawsuit now because it’s not worth the effort now that the partnership ended, according to USA Today. American Airlines had appealed the ruling, which is what led to the Supreme Court getting involved.

However, JetBlue has clearly moved on, as it’s been announced the Blue Sky partnership with United Airlines. Will this partnership meet the same anticompetitive scrutiny? Only time will tell.

Could Silver Airways Make a Comeback?

On June 11, 2025, Silver Airways ceased all operations — effective immediately, without notice, and leaving some passengers stranded. This came on the heels of the airline’s bankruptcy proceedings, which started in late 2024.

Yet it seems the airline could start flying again. Silver’s 8 planes and other assets were purchased by Argentum Acquisition Company in bankruptcy court in June, and now it’s applied to take over Silver’s operating certificates after a $5.7 million transaction.

Interestingly, Argentum’s filing indicated that it didn’t expect Silver to stop flying and intends to resume service. Will that service be Silver’s former routes in Florida and the Caribbean or something new? Argentum Acquisition is owned by Via Acquisitions, which also owns Sterling Aviation. If that name isn’t familiar, it operates flights in Alaska under the name of Aleutian Airways, as noted by ATX Jetsetter, so there could be a mixed-use plan for Silver’s former planes.

Oneworld CEO Hints Alaska-Hawaiian Joint Loyalty Program Could Be a New Creation

The Oneworld alliance has been on a roll, and its most recent addition was Oman Air on June 30, 2025. Hawaiian Airlines is on track to join the alliance in 2026, coming as a product of the Hawaiian Airlines-Alaska Airlines merger.

As the airlines merge, we’ve heard numerous references to them maintaining separate identities in some ways while sharing a single, unified loyalty program. Many people believed that would be Alaska Airlines’ Mileage Plan program.

During a media event for Oman Air joining Oneworld, Executive Traveller asked Oneworld’s CEO, Nat Pieper, about the progress with Hawaiian joining the alliance. Pieper said they don’t know a specific date for when it will join yet and highlighted the numerous elements required before it gets finalized. However, he indicated that the alliance and the 2 airlines “are reimagining what an airline loyalty program can be,” hinting that it may be something entirely new, not just a refreshed version of HawaiianMiles or Mileage Plan.

Wizz Air Named World’s Most Emissions-Efficient Airline

After examining carbon dioxide emissions per available seat kilometer, or ASK, the Cirium Flight Emissions Review has named Hungary-based Wizz Air the most efficient in terms of emissions, with an average of 53.9 grams of carbon dioxide per ASK. The low-cost carrier was followed by Frontier Airlines (54.4 grams) and Türkiye-based Pegagus (57.1 grams).

Other airlines featuring in the top 10 rankings include Volaris, IndiGo, Jetstar, Spirit Airlines, Scoot, SunExpress, and Air India Express, in that order.

Airlines Forming New Partnerships

Canada’s WestJet isn’t in an airline alliance but has added interesting partnerships lately, including SAS and a strengthened partnership with Air France-KLM. Now the carrier has formed an interline partnership with Saudia to allow for 1 check-in with checked luggage connecting to the final destination on WestJet-Saudia joint itineraries.

Given WestJet’s recent partnerships, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the carrier join the SkyTeam alliance in the near future.

This week also brought an interesting partnership with another Middle Eastern airline. Qatar Airways and Kenya Airways signed a memorandum of understanding for plans to launch a codeshare agreement.

Qatar Airways will launch a third daily service between Doha (DOH) and Nairobi (NBO) with a Kenya Airways codeshare. These flights will go on sale soon. Moreover, Kenya Airways will launch a Mombasa (MBA)-Doha route for the upcoming winter season, and Qatar Airways will jointly market the flight.

Other flights, as well as loyalty rewards and logistics, will join the codeshare agreement in the future, though with unknown dates.

Could Southwest Airlines Devalue the Companion Pass?

Airlines, credit card issuers, and rewards programs routinely survey their members about their feelings about potential changes. We saw Bilt conduct a survey like this back in February, and none of the potential changes in that survey have become a reality, so it bears repeating that this is just a survey and nothing official.

However, a new survey from Southwest Airlines is gauging members’ opinions on big changes. Reactions in the Companion Pass to the MAX Facebook group to some of these proposals were largely negative. Ideas included the Rapid Rewards program having 4 or 5 elite tiers (instead of just the 2 that currently exist) and limits on the Companion Pass.

While we’ll have to wait to see which changes, if any, the airline announces, the survey discussed limiting the Companion Pass to only those in the top elite status tier, providing only limited uses of the Companion Pass to those in lower tiers, and making the Companion Pass more difficult to earn.

Considering that Southwest has changed nearly everything about itself lately, it wouldn’t be particularly surprising to see additional changes.

Final Thoughts

This was a busy week. Qantas got the coolest new airplane, Flying Blue elites may have an unadvertised perk, and several interesting new partnerships were announced in the aviation industry.

Moreover, an airline partnership was finally put to rest, while another airline might be resurrecting itself. There are also questions swirling about yet more changes at Southwest Airlines.