NEW AIRLINE - US's Northern Pacific Airways rebrands

Northern Pacific Airways (7H, Anchorage Ted Stevens) has announced it has rebranded to New Pacific Airlines in response to pending trademark litigation, but its operations will proceed uninterrupted.

"It is the right strategic move for our business, customers, the communities we serve, and most importantly, the more than 400 employees of our company," CEO Rob McKinney said in a statement. The rebranding would be effective upon approval of federal regulators.

McKinney declined further comment when approached by ch-aviation, citing "ongoing litigation".

One Mile at a Time news site reports that Texas-based rail operator BNSF Railway Company filed a lawsuit against Northern Pacific Airways in October 2022, claiming ownership of the Northern Pacific brand name. BNSF Railway Company's historical use of the Northern Pacific name dates back to 1893, despite its subsequent rebranding due to a merger. The railway company maintains rights to the Northern Pacific name, prompting the need for Northern Pacific Airways to change its branding.

The rebranding is already reflected on the airline's LinkedIn page, while its old branding has been removed from its website.

Several setbacks have hit the airline since its inception. COVID and the Ukraine war and resulting ETOPS limitations scuppered its initial plans to turn Anchorage Ted Stevens, Alaska, into a connecting hub between the continental US and Asia. Following several delays and strategising, the carrier eventually made its debut on July 14 with US domestic flights exclusively serving Ontario International in California and Las Vegas Harry Reid with one of its four B757-200s. It also planned charters in partnership with air charter broker Air Planning.

Last month, the airline defied critics by announcing the extension of its autumn schedule through October 2023, the introduction of two more B757-200s in December and March, and plans for a winter service to Mexico.

 

ROUTES - Northern Pacific Airways plans late 2Q23 domestic debut

Northern Pacific Airways (7H, Anchorage Ted Stevens) plans to debut domestically between Ontario, California, and Las Vegas Harry Reid, Nevada, this summer, Chief Executive Officer Rob McKinney has confirmed to ch-aviation.

Schedules filed by the Alaskan start-up reveal it plans a June 4 start, operating weekly flights until July 30 between its maintenance base in Ontario, east of Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, using one of its four B757-200s. "Yes, we are going to operate flights from ONT to LAS this summer," McKinney confirmed.

"Asia is still coming, but with everything going on in the world, international flying is substantially more complicated. To get planes in the air, we are beginning with a domestic strategy," he explained.

"This announcement represents the achievement of a major milestone for Northern Pacific Airways,” said McKinney. "The airline now has a live flight schedule, purchasable tickets, and refurbished aircraft ready to go, and I can’t wait for passengers to meet our team onboard and fly with us."

As reported, Northern Pacific Airways late last year shelved interim plans to fly between the US and Mexico.

At the time, it was refocusing on its original plan of connecting the US with Northeast Asia via its home base in Anchorage Ted Stevens, Alaska. The goal was to connect San Francisco, CA, Ontario (California), and New York via Anchorage with South Korea and Japan. However, with Russian airspace closed due to the war in Ukraine, Northern Pacific Airways needs ETOPS [extended-range twin-engine operations performance standards] to fly to Asia. It was talking to Icelandair (FI, Reykjavik Keflavik) about wet-leasing aircraft for the initial intercontinental flights.

McKinney last year explained to ch-aviation that the airline was facing a conundrum where it could not apply for ETOPS until it started flying, and it couldn't start the regulatory process with Asian countries until it received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authority.

Northern Pacific Airways has a fleet of four in-house B757-200s, according to ch-aviation fleets advanced data.

CH Aviation / Photos: Northern Pacifi

 

US's Northern Pacific Airways faces trademark lawsuit

Northern Pacific Airways (7H, Anchorage Ted Stevens) is facing legal action from the BNSF Railway Company (BNSF) which claims to own the rights to the Northern Pacific brand name and marks. BNSF launched the suit on October 21 in the US District Court (Northern District of Texas).

BNSF operates a railway network that takes in 32,500 route miles in 28 US states and three Canadian provinces and operates over 1,200 freight trains a day. In their sights is Float Alaska IP, LLC, the parent company behind Northern Pacific Airways, a startup airline with ambitions to link the US with North Asia via Anchorage.

In BNSF's complaint, viewed by ch-aviation, the railroad company says its predecessors have been providing railway transportation services in association with the Northern Pacific brand since 1893. In 1970, Northern Pacific Railways merged with other railways to form the Burlington Northern Railroad. That entity and Santa Fe merged in 1995 to become the Burlington and Santa Fe Railway, which rebranded in 2005 to the BNSF Railway Company. BNSF retains title to three Northern-Pacific brand registrations (US registration numbers 3,421,163; 3,421,164; and 5,007,556).

Referring to the Northern Pacific Airways website, the complaint says "the website makes prominent use of its claimed Northern Pacific mark in association with its planned offering of airline transportation services. This use is the exact same mark that BNSF and its predecessors have used for over 120 years."

Represented in court by the Fort Worth law firm, Whitaker Chalk Swindle & Schwartz, BNSF is asking the court to confirm a federal trademark infringement in violation of Lanham Act § 32 (15 U.S.C. § 1114(1)); confirm that the airline has engaged in unfair competition, false designation of origin, and false descriptions in violation of the Lanham Act § 43(a) (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)); find Northern Pacific Airway's mark applications are invalid because of fraudulent procurement; and rule that the carrier is engaging in unfair competition under Texas common law.

The railroad company wants a permanent injunction issued preventing Northern Pacific Airways from using the Northern Pacific brand and marks, all online and physical materials bearing the brand names and marks destroyed, and other relief as the court sees fit.

In response to a BNSF application, US District Court Judge Mark Pittman issued a summons to Float Alaska. The company has 21 days to respond. ch-aviation has approached North Pacific Airways for comment.

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Northern Pacific Airways reveals Mexican plans

Northern Pacific Airways (Anchorage Ted Stevens) plans to start scheduled service between the United States and Mexico with its B757-200s later this year, according to a regulatory filing with the US Department of Transportation( DOT).

Chief Executive Officer Rob McKinney explained to ch-aviation that nothing had changed on the original business plan to make Anchorage Ted Stevens a hub connecting North America with Asia (Japan and South Korea), initially using ACMI capacity, and subsequently with its own B757-200s and crews.

However, the startup was "running into some regulatory hurdles in Asia that is slowing the timeline", he explained. "We believe that it is important to keep the momentum we have to launch operations. Mexico from Ontario should be a faster process to get operational. Nothing has changed on the original business plan other than timing," he said.

Pressed on the nature of the regulatory hurdles regarding the Asia plans, he explained: "We cannot start on ETOPS certification until we are flying planes in commercial service. The hurdles are that we cannot submit applications to those countries until all permissions to operate are granted by the FAA."

The nascent airline already holds a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity for Interstate Air Transportation, granted in November 2021. "We have an AOC. We are only adding ops specs for B757s and international flying. That is still on track to be completed in October," McKinney explained.

The Anchorage-based startup has applied for Exemption and a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity authorising it to engage in scheduled cargo and passenger flights to the full extent provided in the US–Mexico Air Transport Agreement.

This allows for flights from:

• Dallas/Fort Worth and San Antonio Int'l to México City Int'l, Toluca, and Acapulco, and to points in Panamá City Tocumen Int'l and beyond;

• New York, Washington DC, Baltimore Thurgood Marshall, Los Angeles Int'l, and Houston Intc'l, to Mexico City and Toluca, and beyond to point/s in Central and/or South America;

• from any point/s in the US, via an intermediate point/s, to a destination/s in Mexico, and beyond; and

• from point/s in Mexico to any other point.

As reported, the airline has acquired four ex-American Airlines B757-200s, which are in the process of being re-certified for ETOPS operations, including N201UU (msn 27810) and N202UW (msn 27811), while N200UU (msn 27809) and N206UW (msn 27808) are currently in maintenance at Fort Worth Alliance and San Bernardino respectively, according to the ch-aviation fleets advanced module. In April 2022, the company signed a letter of intent (LOI) for eight more former United Airlines B757-200s currently stored at Roswell in the desert. According to the fleet plan, three wet-leased B757-200s will be deployed in November 2022, with a fourth in May 2023.

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Northern Pacific adds B757s, touts stopover model

Northern Pacific Airways (Anchorage Ted Stevens) will focus a business model of using B757 equipment to ferry passengers between North America and Asia with an optional stay in the state of Alaska, an idea the startup has admitted is “wholesale ripping off Icelandair.”

It has secured two B757-200s that were previously in American Airlines’ fleet, its chief executive Rob McKinney told Airline Weekly, and is in talks to acquire six ex-United Airlines B757s and three formerly operated by Icelandair. Bloomberg News claimed that the airline was “using an Icelandair subsidiary, Loftleidir Icelandic, to operate three 757s for its initial Asia service.”

A fleet of 11 aircraft is necessary to account for the ageing jets’ maintenance needs and provide enough spares, McKinney said, to enable the startup to offer daily frequencies on its planned network linking the rest of the United States with North Asia - initially Japan and South Korea - via Anchorage Ted Stevens starting from the third or the fourth quarter of 2022, depending on when Department of Transportation approvals arrive.

However, Árni Hermannsson, CEO of charter carrier Loftleidir, told the Icelandic financial newspaper Viðskiptablaðið that although the two companies had been in talks there had been no agreements nor a declaration of intent.

Northern Pacific Airways revealed last September that it was in talks with Icelandair on possible future cooperation as it was looking to replicate how Icelandair had turned Reykjavik Keflavik into a connecting hub for transatlantic traffic.

The Alaskan carrier plans to offer fares that are 10%-20% lower than on direct flights on the same routes and is talking to Airbus and Boeing about acquiring next-generation aircraft such as the A321-200NX(XLR) or the B737 MAX series to replace the B757s after several years.

Despite travel restrictions still in place across northern Asia, Northern Pacific Airways aims to initially connect Tokyo Narita, Nagoya Chubu, Osaka Kansai, and Seoul Incheon with leisure traffic via Anchorage to New York Newark, Los Angeles Int'l, Las Vegas Harry Reid, Orlando Int'l, and San Francisco, CA, McKinney told Airline Weekly.

“I unashamedly will admit I am wholesale ripping off Icelandair,” he said, adding that like the Icelandic carrier Northern Pacific plans to promote stopover vacations and is working with the tourism bureaus in both Anchorage and Alaska. “Icelandair has charted the course for us. We will try to incentivise people to stop in Alaska for a few days on the way to Asia, and we have a regional fleet as an advantage.”

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Start-up Northern Pacific Airways plans 2022 launch

 

Northern Pacific Airways is a new Alaska-based airline, backed by the owner of Ravn Air. The airline is planning to be a low-cost airline with the goal to connect North American with Asia via Anchorage (AK), mirroring similar business models like Copa Airlines and Icelandair.

NPA plans to fly the B757-200 and is in the process of acquiring its first aircraft. It plans to have up to 12 B757s in operation by 2023. Initially, the airline has set its eyes on flying from Las Vegas (NV), Los Angeles (CA), New York (NY), Orlando (FL) and San Francisco (CA) to Seoul and Tokyo, with the stop-over in Achorage. Later, the airline wants to expand to other destinations on Asia with larger aircraft as the B757s lacks the range to open these.

Although travellers will be encouraged to also visit Alaska, the scheduled flights will be planned with short connection times for those who just want to fly quickly to their final destination.

Northern Pacific Airways has now started the process for obtaining the needed approvals and licenses and hopes to be launching its first flight in the summer season of 2022.
Scramble
Illustration by Northern Pacific Airways.