Finnair is part of a renewable sustainable aviation fuel
production pilot by Liquid Sun, with electrical engineering company ABB, Nordic
energy company Fortum and Finnish airport company Finavia as additional
partners, the carrier announced Wednesday.
Liquid Sun will produce the eSAF using an innovation based
on low-temperature electrolysis technology that converts CO2 emissions and
renewable hydrogen into eSAF. In Finland, biogenic CO2 emissions are generated,
for example, by the forest industry and biogas plants, according to Finnair.
The production unit will be based in Espoo and is expected
to be fully operational in fall 2025, Finnair said.
At the beginning of 2025, the European
Union aviation blending mandate started, requiring the gradual increase of
renewable fuel use in aviation through 2050, according to Finnair. From 2030,
the mandate will expand to include fully synthetic fuels made from CO2. By
2050, the blending requirement will increase to 70 percent, of which half must
be eSAF.
The mandate applies to airports with at least 800,000
passengers or 100,000 tons of cargo annually. In Finland, this includes
Helsinki-Vantaa and Rovaniemi airports, according to the carrier.
British Airways will add or increase flights to six U.S.
destinations for the summer 2026 season, the carrier announced Thursday.
The airline plans to reintroduce daily service between
London Heathrow and Dallas-Fort Worth. It also will reintroduce its
double-daily service between Heathrow and Miami International Airport.
In addition, BA will increase flights from Heathrow to Las
Vegas to 13 per week from 10. It also is “upgrading” its services to
San Diego, Calif., and Austin, Texas, flying to each destination 14 times per
week.
BA operations to New York’s John F. Kennedy International
Airport also will operate exclusively from London Heathrow, “improving
connectivity for travelers with optimal onward connection times to Europe, the
U.S. and further afield,” according to the carrier.
Additional Global Route Changes
British Airways also plans to make its London
Gatwick-Bangkok flights year-round as opposed to the winter-only schedule.
Starting summer 2026, flights will operate three times weekly, and six times
weekly during the winter season.
The carrier plans to add an additional weekly service to
Kingston, Jamaica, from London Gatwick and will operate the route four times
weekly for the summer 2026 season.
In the Middle East, BA will offer daily service between
Heathrow and Bahrain, more than doubling the number of times it flies there per
week. The carrier also will increase its Jeddah, Saudia Arabia, flights to five
per week, its Riyadh, Saudia Arabia, flights to 14 times per week, and its
Doha, Qatar, flights to 14 per week.
Cathay Pacific has named Cindy Lam SVP of the Americas,
effective Sep. 1, the carrier has announced. She will succeed Chris Vanden
Hooven, who will be retiring.
Lam has spent 24 years at Cathay, most recently as general
manager of customer care since July 2021, based in Hong Kong, where she led
customer service strategy and operations across the carrier’s global network.
She also previously served as head of strategic planning and projects in the
flight operations department from 2017 to 2021, according to Cathay.
After the year-over-year decline in the number of trips booked
via corporate agencies leveled off in June, the drop widened again in July,
despite total U.S.-based air ticket sales for the month exceeding $8.1 billion,
a 2.3 percent increase year over year, Airlines Reporting Corp. announced
Wednesday in its latest monthly report.
The number of trips in July sold by corporate agencies,
those with at least 70 percent self-reported corporate and government business
and settled by ARC, declined nearly 3 percent year over year, after dropping
just 0.38 percent in June. It is the seventh month in a row with a
year-over-year drop in the number of trips booked through corporate agencies.
The July total number of passenger trips reached 24.9
million, an increase of 3.3 percent year over year. Domestic trips were up 3.9
percent compared with July 2024 to more than 16 million, while international
trips increased nearly 2.3 percent to about 8.9 million.
“July’s results show continued demand for air travel,
with ARC-accredited agency sales and passenger trips higher year over year for
the second straight month,” ARC chief commercial officer Steve Solomon
said in a statement. “Travel agencies are starting the second half of the
year with positive momentum as ticketing trends have normalized after some
volatility earlier in the year.”
New Distribution Capability transactions in July accounted
for 21.5 percent of the total ARC-settled transactions for the month, up from
the 19.7 percent reported in July 2024. A total of 1,039 travel agencies
reported NDC transactions in July 2025.
The July average price for a U.S. domestic roundtrip ticket
was $528, up from the $523 a year prior, but down from the $536 reported in
June 2025.
The average price in July of an economy-class ticket increased
about 1 percent year over year to $482. The average price for a premium-class
ticket increased 4 percent for the same period to $1,262.
Alaska Airlines has launched its new loyalty program that
combines its former Mileage Plan and Hawaiian Airlines’ HawaiianMiles program
into a single platform, the carrier announced Wednesday. Alaska
acquired Hawaiian in September 2024.
Dubbed Atmos Rewards, the new program takes effect for
Mileage Plan members today. Those members retain their existing account numbers
with no interruption to their benefits, according to Alaska. A former Mileage
Plan mile now equals one Atmos Rewards point. The value of the points does not
change, and points do not expire. Members can continue to redeem for travel on
Alaska, Hawaiian and on global partner carriers.
HawaiianMiles members and their miles will transition into
Atmos Rewards on Oct. 1, also at the rate of one mile equals one Atmos Rewards
point. Sept. 25 will be the last day to redeem HawaiianMiles, link a
HawaiianMiles account to Atmos Rewards, and to transfer miles to points.
Members beginning Sept. 26 will not be able to log into HawaiianMiles as the
company migrates accounts. Members will receive a new account number if they
have not previously linked their account to a Mileage Plan account, according to
Alaska.
Status requirements for 2025 aren’t changing, but starting
in 2026, members will need more status points to qualify for Atmos Platinum and
Atmos Titanium, the latter of which also will include “enhanced global
benefits and new worldwide upgrade options,” according to Alaska.
Starting in 2026, Platnum status will require 80,000 status
points, up from 75,000 elite-qualifying miles, while Titanium status will
require 135,000 status points, up from
100,000 elite-qualifying miles. Those who earn status based on 2025 activity
will receive a bonus for 2026 of 5,000 status points or 20,000 status points
for Platinum and Titanium members, respectively.
Starting later in 2026, Atmos Rewards members will be able
to choose how they earn points: by distance traveled, where members earn one
point for every mile flown; price paid, in which members earn five points for
every $1 spent when purchasing a flight; or segments flown, with 500 points
earned for each flight segment flown, according to Alaska.
In addition, Alaska and Hawaiian will add Starlink in-flight
Wi-Fi to more planes, with installation on Alaska’s fleet to begin in 2026 and
be completed in 2027. Alaska has partnered with T-Mobile to make this new Wi-Fi
service free for Atmos Rewards members.
The Transportation Security Administration has partnered with
Clear to pilot new electronic gates at TSA security checkpoints “to help
expedite identity verification in select airports,” the agency announced
Tuesday.
The eGates allow TSA to automatically compare traveler
biometrics with their identity document and boarding pass without the need for
a human operator, according to the agency. “Clear eGates are one example
of a family of eGate systems TSA and its partners will introduce as part of
ongoing modernization efforts.”
Clear eGates currently are available at Hartsfield-Jackson
Atlanta International Airport, and later this month are planned to debut at
Reagan Washington National Airport and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport,
according to TSA.
Delta Air Lines’ division for corporate and travel agency
customers, Delta Business, today previewed during a customer event what will be
a revamped business platform coming to corporate customers later in 2025, and
travel agencies in 2026 with additional features “tailored to their
workflows.”
The new platform will replace Delta Professional and simply will
be called the “Delta Business site” and will offer “intuitive
navigation designed around real world workflows, a smart search to surface key
details in one place for faster access to the information you need, and
finally, a streamlined wallet solution that enables companies to deploy
resources on demand,” Delta managing director of sales and distribution
innovation Sara Reid said.
For navigation, instead of going into specific applications
for certain actions, the new site will offer key information centralized on the
dashboard, including account manager details and contact information, Reid said.
There also will be “quick access” to real-time support via chat with
a global sales solutions specialist.
The new “smart search” is designed to
“understand what you’re looking for and bringing the right information
together in one place quickly and intuitively,” Reid said. That includes the
ability to ask a question or perform specific searches, such as passenger name
record, she added. This function will launch in beta, so it will continue to
evolve as Delta receives feedback on it.
The third highlight of the new site is the wallet, which
will include three key items: loyalty tokens, which can be used for
complimentary Medallion status—whether awarding a high-tier status for a top
traveler, or distributing Silver status across a team, Reid said; amenity
points, for use when purchasing a new ticket, changing an existing one, or
upgrading a traveler’s experience; and service points, which can be used to
waive unused ticket transfer fees.
Customers will be able to see the value of their wallets at
the top of the new dashboard, Reid said, and travelers will receive
confirmation of any new status they receive in their SkyMiles account within 24
hours.
The new site also will provide updates on how a company is
performing based on their contract with Delta—and all contract documents will
be available in one place. A travel manager will be able to adjust the time
range to view performance over a specific period, and all metrics will update
based on that identified time range, Reid said. They’ll also be able to see how
travelers are engaging with Delta, including how many are booking with their
SkyMiles number, using the Fly Delta app or holding a Delta SkyMiles American
Express card.
NDC Update
Reid also provided an update on Delta’s progress with New
Distribution Capability.
“We’re enhancing our internal systems to support
omnichannel shopping and servicing, connecting direct and indirect channels
seamlessly,” Reid said. “And we’re focused on our foundational NDC
capabilities: shop, price, order, pay, settle and cancel. And we’re working
with our [global distribution systems] to begin integrating these capabilities
so you can begin testing alongside us. We’re going to invite partners to begin
testing soon.”
Air Canada will gradually restart its operations today after
it reached a mediated settlement with the Canadian Union of Public Employees
through a process that was overseen by a “mutually agreed-to
mediator,” the carrier announced Tuesday morning.
CUPE members began a strike on Aug. 16, shutting down Air
Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights. Air Canada Express flights continued to
operate as normal. Air Canada on Aug. 13 issued
a lockout in advance of the strike and began shutting down flights Aug. 14.
The airline had readied to restart flights on Sunday after
the Canadian Industrial Relations Board acted on a directive of the Canada
Labour Code to end the strike, but CUPE
defied that order and continued its walkout.
The two sides, however, began mediation discussions on
Monday on the basis that the union commit to have the airline’s 10,000 flight
attendants immediately return to work, according to Air Canada.
Flights are scheduled to resume the evening of Aug. 19, but
it may take seven to 10 days to return to full service as aircraft and crew are
out of position, according to Air Canada. Only customers with confirmed
bookings whose flights are shown as operating should go to the airport, the
airline advised.
Air Canada said it would not comment further on the
agreement until the ratification process is complete. CUPE members will need to
vote on the agreement to make it permanent. During any ratification or under
the binding arbitration process a strike or lockout is not possible, according
to the carrier.
“Unpaid work is over,” CUPE spokesman Hugh Pouliot
said in a Tuesday statement, according to
CNN. “We have reclaimed our voice and our power.”
The union was fighting for better wages for flight
attendants, which would include pay for duties that are performed while planes
are on the ground, such as boarding passengers. Air Canada attendants had been
paid only for duties performed during flight times.
CUPE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Qatar Airways in 2026 will move its operations at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport to the new Terminal 1 from Terminal 8, the carrier announced Monday.
It also will open its first dedicated U.S. lounge at the new terminal. The 15,000-sq.-ft. space will have direct access to the airline’s boarding gate and will include “premium” food and beverage options, VIP check-in services, relaxation zones, prayer rooms and duty-free shopping for Qatar Airways business-class passengers, according to the carrier.
The new Terminal 1 is part of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s $19 billion investment at JFK, which will include “two new terminals, the modernization and expansion of two existing terminals, a new ground transportation center and a new, simplified roadway network,” according to Qatar Airways.
The airline’s current network in the U.S. includes 11 destinations with 18 weekly flights.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which
represents 10,000 of Air Canada’s cabin crew has defied government orders
to end its labor strike, which has grounded Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge flights
since Saturday—after forcing the carriers to wind down flights on Aug. 14 and 15.
Air Canada planned to resume flights on Sunday after the Canadian
Industrial Relations Board acted on a directive of the Canada Labour Code from
the federal minister of jobs and families that ordered the end to the strike by
CUPE. The carrier has since issued a statement that the union “illegally directed its
flight attendant members to defy a direction from the Canadian
Industrial Relations Board.”
The CIRB directed employees to return to work and flights to
resume by 2 p.m. EDT Aug. 17. The Board further ordered that the term of the
collective agreement between Air Canada and CUPE that expired on March 31,
2025, be extended to include the period beginning April 1 and ending on the day
on which the new collective agreement between the parties comes into effect,
according to Air Canada. The CIRB also imposed final binding arbitration to
resolve the outstanding terms of the collective agreement.
CUPE said the Canadian government had caved to
“corporate pressure” and done “incalculable damage” to
workers’ rights by siding with Air Canada.
“This is absolutely shameful and a blatant
betrayal,” CUPE national secretary-treasurer Candace Rennick said in a
statement. “The government’s decision to intervene on behalf of an already
wildly profitable employer, while a predominantly female workforce fights tooth
and nail for a path out of poverty, is not just unjust, it’s a disgraceful
misuse of power that reeks of systemic bias and corporate favoritism.”
CUPE later the same day refused to end the strike. According to the Associated Press, CUPE national president Mark Hancock tore up a copy of the back-to-work order while standing outside Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. “Our members are not going back to work. We are saying no,” he announced. He also said flight attendants will not return Tuesday.
The group is fighting for better wages for flight attendants, which
would include wages for duties that are performed while planes are on
the ground, such as boarding passengers. Currently, Air Canada
attendants are paid only for duties performed during
flight times.
Air Canada issued
a lockout and began to cancel flights on Aug. 14, with operations ceasing
by Saturday after CUPE filed a strike notice on Aug. 13 when negotiations
between the union and carrier came to a standstill.
Because of the full shutdown, aircraft and crews are
“out of position vis-à-vis the schedule,” Air Canada said in a
statement prior to CUPE’s refusal to follow the government directive. The carrier warned it could take seven to 10 days to stabilize once flights resume and passengers should expect cancellations during that time.
Air Canada released information on Sunday that it will offer passengers with cancelled flights options, including obtaining a full refund or receiving
a credit for future travel. The carrier will also offer to rebook customers on
other carriers, although capacity is currently limited.
Air Canada Express flights
operated by Jazz or PAL continue to operate as normal.
Southwest Airlines is set to add Knoxville, Tenn., to its network and plans to expand service in San Diego, the carrier announced Thursday.
The airline on March 5, 2026, will begin service at Knoxville’s McGhee Tyson Airport with twice-daily flights between Knoxville and Nashville, and daily roundtrip service between Knoxville and each Baltimore, Dallas and Orlando, Fla.
In addition, Southwest on March 5 plans to begin daily year-round service between San Diego and each Eugene and Portland in Oregon; Maui, Hawaii; Seattle; and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The new Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport is scheduled to open next month, according to the carrier.
Korean Air has completed the first phase of its lounge renovation project at Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, the carrier announced Thursday.
The new Prestige Garden Lounge East and Prestige Garden Lounge West have opened on the far ends of the airport’s Terminal 2, following the airport’s recent expansion, according to Korean Air. The eastern lounge overlooks a Korean-style outdoor garden, while the western lounge overlooks a modern Western-style garden. Each offer food and beverages.
The carrier on Aug. 18 will open its redesigned Prestige East Left Lounge, which is designed for business travelers, according to a Korean Air spokesperson. It will feature open kitchens, a wellness area with massage chairs and a meeting room with a conference screen, according to the carrier. There also will be shower facilities.
Remaining renovations, scheduled to be completed in 2026, include the First Class Lounge and the Prestige East West Lounge, which is a designated area for families with children.
Upon completion, Korean Air’s total lounge space at Seoul Incheon will increase to 12,270 square meters from 5,105, with seat capacity of 1,566, up from 898, according to the carrier.
Hawaiian Airlines in November will suspend flights between Honolulu and three destinations due to “underperformance,” the carrier announced this week.
The carrier’s service between Honolulu and each Boston and Fukuoka, Japan, will end on Nov. 19. The routes have been operating four and three times weekly, respectively. The five-times-weekly flights between Honolulu and Seoul Incheon will end Nov. 21.
Affected guests will be offered to be reaccommodated on other flights or receive a refund, according to Hawaiian.
Customers still will be able to fly between Hawaii and Seoul Incheon or Fukuoka via one-stop itineraries through the carrier’s other Japan destinations, including twice-daily Honolulu-Tokyo Haneda and daily Osaka services, according to the airline. Boston customers can connect daily on Hawaiian parent Alaska Airlines’ flights via Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and San Diego. Customers also can book on the carrier’s partners and Oneworld alliance airlines, Hawaiian said.
The U.S. Department of Justice has sided with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s July 19 “tentative decision” to withdraw approval of the joint venture and antitrust immunity between Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico, according to an Aug. 8 government filing.
DOT by statute must allow DOJ to weigh in on any change to or cancellation of airline antitrust immunity, though authority to remove immunity remains with DOT. DOJ in the filing said DOT “conducted an analytically rigorous evaluation of the competitive effects of the Joint Venture consistent with its statutory authority and its public interest mandate to consider competitive market forces and the impact of actual and potential competition” in its tentative decision to withdraw immunity.
In response, Delta and Aeromexico on Aug. 12 jointly filed an objection to DOT’s decision, outlining benefits of the joint venture to travelers and the economy. In it, the carriers also requested that should the partnership be dissolved, that “in light of the progress the U.S. Government has been making in its recent trade negotiations with the [government of Mexico], … at a minimum, the Department extend the proposed termination date” from Oct. 25, 2025, to March 28, 2026, which is the end of the 2025 International Air Transport Association winter season.
“This additional time would allow the trade negotiations to potentially resolve the Open Skies issues and/or facilitate a more orderly transition for the JCA Partners,” according to the filing.
DOT has argued that Mexico has “significantly altered the playing field for airlines in ways that reduce competition and allow predominant competitors to gain an unfair advantage in the U.S.-Mexico market,” according to its July 19 filing, citing Mexico’s decision in 2022 to seize slots from carriers at Benito Juarez International Airport to allow for construction and alleviate congestion, but that has yet to materialize three years later. Mexico also required cargo operations move out of that airport to another facility outside of Mexico City.
Turkish Airlines has added New Distribution Capability-native distribution platform AirBooking as a partner to its TKConnect distribution channel, AirBooking announced.
As a partner, AirBooking is able to display Turkish Airlines’ NDC content alongside global distribution system content, and users can manage bookings and ancillaries on a single platform while avoiding Turkish Airline’s $24 surcharge on EDIFACT bookings. That surcharge began last October, when Turkish Airlines launched the TKConnect platform.
AirRetailer Travel Technology launched the AirBooking platform, which serves travel management companies, corporate booking tools and corporate clients, earlier this year. Besides Turkish Airlines, listed airline partners include British Airways, American Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways and United Airlines, along with Sabre and Amadeus as GDS partners.
Delta Air Lines has added international remote baggage screenings to select flights arriving in Atlanta from London Heathrow and Seoul Incheon airports, the carrier announced Wednesday.
Delta and Korean Air customers flying from Seoul Incheon to Atlanta and Delta customers flying from London Heathrow to Atlanta and onward to connecting Delta flights no longer need to collect and recheck their bags at U.S. customs due to a new program and collaboration between U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the South Korean and U.K. governments. The benefit also applies to passengers flying from South Korea who start their travel in other cities and connect via Seoul Incheon, according to Korean Air.
Delta estimates the new process could save customers up to 25 minutes.
In addition, Delta customers connecting in Atlanta from London Heathrow on select flights will be able to bypass additional Transportation Security Administration screenings and proceed to their connecting gate, saving what the carrier said was up to 45 minutes. This offering will roll out to all flights from Heathrow to Atlanta flights in the coming weeks, according to Delta. This benefit has been available since February for customers traveling from Atlanta and connecting in Heathrow.
To qualify for the bypassed screening, Delta customers must be enrolled in Global Entry or use the Mobile Passport Control app.
Delta Air Lines beginning Dec. 2 will launch nonstop service between New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Lagos, Nigeria, the carrier announced Thursday. The service will run through March 28, 2025, with daily flights until Feb. 28, then three times weekly through March, according to Delta.
After Air Canada’s corporate segment gained during the second quarter, momentum slowed during the third, EVP of revenue and network planning Mark Galardo said during a Friday earnings call.
Corporate demand “was improving,” Galardo said, without providing any data. “Unfortunately, we ran into a bit of a situation about some labor uncertainty that kind of slowed us down in the fall, but it’s definitely encouraging signals going forward. In particular, [there is] more strength on the U.S. network than on Canada.”
Galardo was referring to the negotiation period with the carrier’s pilots leading up to and into September. The carrier and the pilots union reached a last-minute deal, which prevented a strike, but prior to that, Air Canada had announced contingency plans to begin shutting down in the event of a strike.
“The proactive goodwill policies we put in place to mitigate our customers’ travel disruptions during the pilot contract negotiations was the right thing to do,” Galardo said. “During that time, we saw multiple weeks of softer booking volumes as some customers postponed or canceled their itineraries while others chose to fly with other carriers. This had an impact in Q3, particularly in September and continued to a lesser extent in the first half of October.”
Air Canada Q3 Metrics
Air Canada reported third-quarter revenue of C$6.1 billion (US$4.5 billion), a 3.8 percent year-over-year decrease. Passenger revenue was C$5.6 billion, down about C$260 million. Net income was C$2 billion, up from C$1.25 billion a year prior.
Capacity increased 3 percent year over year for the quarter, and the average fuel cost was C$0.982 per liter, according to Air Canada. The carrier projects a full-year 2024 capacity increase of 5 percent year over year.
The carrier this week also announced on Jan. 15, 2025, it would resume Vancouver-Beijing daily service, and on Dec. 7, 2024, would increase its Vancouver-Shanghai service to daily, up from four times weekly.
United Airlines next year will increase its qualification levels for 2026 elite status, the airline announced Tuesday.
The new status levels are:
PQP: premier qualifying points PQF: premier qualifying flights
Customers have between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 2025, to reach premier status for 2026.
In mid-2025, Premier Platinum and 1K members also will have the ability to redeem PlusPoints for new perks such as PQP and PQF, TravelBank cash, bonus miles or gifting premier status to other MileagePlus members, according to United.
In addition, all members who achieve 2025 premier status as of Dec. 31, 2024, will receive a PQP deposit in early 2025 to get a head start on their status goals for 2026. Those bonuses are 300 PQP for Silver status, 600 PQP for Gold status, 900 PQP for Platinum status and 1,400 PQP for 1K status, according to the carrier. MileagePlus member also will earn an additional 20 PlusPoints for every 3,000 PQP earned beyond 22,000 PQP.
There may be no weather pattern more iconically associated with Los Angeles than the Santa Ana winds.
One of the earliest written descriptions of the Santa Anas comes from the diary of Commodore Robert Stockton on the night of Jan. 6, 1847; the next day his forces captured Los Angeles on behalf of the United States.
And as the city has grown to assume a prominent place in American pop culture, it has given global renown to this local phenomenon, name-dropped by Raymond Chandler, Nancy Meyers and the Beach Boys.
The Santa Ana winds are notorious for being hot, dry, and dusty — traits that have earned them the nickname “devil winds” — but the quality that really defines them is their direction.
Unlike the prevailing winds in Southern California, which flow generally from west to east, carrying temperate air from the Pacific, the Santa Anas flow from northeast to southwest out of the Mojave Desert. What causes this reversal, and why does it produce such a diabolical result?
Aggressive and impactful reporting on climate change, the environment, health and science.
To form the Santa Ana winds, the typical first ingredient is a chilled autumn day in the high desert of southern Nevada.
The chill creates cold, dense air, which is squeezed from aloft by a high pressure system. Normally the surface air would be contained within the Great Basin formed by the Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains, but the second ingredient is a low pressure system off the California coast, which creates enough gravitational potential to force the air out of the basin and pull it west toward the Pacific.
As it flows downhill, the air is compressed due to the higher weight of the atmospheric column above it. The ideal gas law (PV=nRT, if high school chemistry is just a hazy memory) tells us that when the pressure on a gas increases, its temperature does too. The result is that the descending air heats up by almost 30 degrees Fahrenheit for every vertical mile it sinks.
The dry desert air, warmed by its descent, rushes toward the coast. But the Transverse Ranges stand in the way, so the air seeks the path of least resistance through the Cajon and San Gorgonio passes. Like water spraying through a narrow nozzle, the winds are accelerated as they enter the canyons, often reaching gale-force strength by the time they exit into Los Angeles and San Bernardino.
A mild Santa Ana wind can be irritating, giving people nosebleeds and blowing sand in their eyes, but the more severe events can have deadly consequences. The most obvious risk is the high winds — during a particularly forceful episode in December 2011, gusts in excess of 50 mph toppled trees, damaged hundreds of buildings and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people.
The atypical wind direction can pose a specific risk for boats and maritime infrastructure, as harbors that are usually well protected on the leeward side of the Channel Islands are suddenly exposed to forceful gusts and waves.
Strong offshore Santa Ana winds blast incoming waves at Huntington Beach in October 2018.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
An even greater danger comes from the increased potential for wildfires. Hot, dry air can rapidly extract moisture from vegetation, especially when that air is being continuously replenished by strong desert winds. The Santa Anas often bring triple-digit temperatures and a relative humidity below 10%, leading to drier fuel that can ignite more easily. Moreover, strong winds cause fires to grow and spread more quickly, since the winds provide a steady supply of oxygen, carry sparks and even bend the flames closer to the unburned material ahead of the fire.
In the last few decades, Santa Ana winds have been associated with several large wildfire clusters, including the 2007 Witch Creek fire, the 2008 Sayre fire and the 2017 Thomas fire, which was the largest wildfire in state history at the time.
A firefighter battles the Silverado fire amid heavy Santa Ana winds in Irvine in October 2020.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Until recently, the Santa Ana winds were thought to be one of the few bright spots in climate change; a paper from 2019 predicted a future decrease in the frequency of Santa Ana winds, particularly in September and October. The authors suggested that this is due to a projected northward migration of the “Great Basin high” that tends to form over Nevada.
However, recent analysis published two years later by the same authors suggested that the decreasing trend was mostly confined to a distinct “flavor” of Santa Ana winds that, while they originate from the same location, are caused by a different mechanism and bring intense cold to Southern California instead of heat.
Although these “cold Santa Anas” can still cause wind damage, they are not typically associated with wildfire activity, and a decrease in frequency would have little effect on fire risk. Unfortunately, it seems those hot, dry days when the wind stings your eyes and sparks fly are here to stay.
Ned Kleiner is a scientist and catastrophe modeler at Verisk. He has a doctorate in atmospheric science from Harvard University.
