Gordon Smith

Gordon Smith is Airlines Editor at Skift and Editor at Airline Weekly. He’s been writing about the sector for more than a decade and enjoyed a front-row seat for some of the aviation industry’s biggest stories. Since joining Skift in January 2024, he has interviewed more than a dozen global airline CEOs, often helping make headlines along the way (special thanks to Michael O’Leary!). His informed insights have led to contributions for international media, including the London Evening Standard and Canada’s CBC Radio.

An illustration showing three planes and a podium.
North America

A Q1 Check-In on American, Alaska, and Southwest

Q1 earnings season started off pleasantly enough: Delta showed nice profits. United showed nice profits. Last week, by contrast, American, Southwest, and Alaska all revealed Q1 losses. As you’ll read below, the news wasn’t all bad. Premium demand, for example, seems still immune from the brewing economic storm. Fuel prices, meanwhile, are exactly where airlines want them to be: In the basement.
Gordon Smith and Jay Shabat |
An illustration showing a United Airlines plane
North America

Will United’s Loyal Customers Shield it From a Downturn?

Brand loyal. Brand loyal. Brand loyal. Say that 31 times. Then again? You don’t need to. United already did. No kidding. In its Q1 earnings call last week, United repeated the phrase over and over, keen to underscore one of its chief arguments: That it is winning with travelers who care about more than just price. In this week's feature story, we crunch through the commentary from Kirby and Co.
Gordon Smith and Jay Shabat |
An illustration showing a cockpit with a canary outside the window.
North America

The Scary Canary? Delta Speaks Up

The whole world was watching. On Wednesday, Delta became the first major U.S. travel company to report first quarter earnings. What would it say about the crisis in confidence unfolding throughout the U.S. economy? How much worse have things gotten in the past month, since Delta first warned about deteriorating demand trends?
Gordon Smith and Jay Shabat |
An illustration showing a Canadian ice hockey player
North America

Transborder Disorder: Big Trump Trouble for Canada’s Airlines

Alright, so here we go again. Something’s gone awry in the world, and airlines are among the first to feel it. Following last week’s U.S. plan to essentially dismantle the global trading system, uncertainty has reached a fever-pitch. In this week's feature story we deep-dive into one of the thorniest battles in this emerging economic conflict, and ask how (or perhaps, if) Canada's airlines can come out fighting.
Gordon Smith and Jay Shabat |
An illustration showing Breeze aircraft in the wind
North America

David’s New Goliath: Neeleman’s Breeze Gathering Scale

Is there ever a good time to start a new airline? Certainly not during a pandemic. Recurrent airline founder David Neeleman launched Breeze Airways in May 2021, a month in which U.S. airports handled just 50 million passengers. Last May, for perspective, they handled 80 million. In this week's feature story we examine the opportunities and the stubborn challenges of this plucky outlier that doesn't mind flying against the wind.
Gordon Smith and Jay Shabat |