LATAM Airlines: Past, Present, and Future
In this special episode, Gordon Smith and Jay Shabat discuss the key takeaways from LATAM's investor day event in New York. The pair explore how the company's turbulent history has…
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.
A New Chapter for AirAsia
A defining characteristic of the AirAsia empire has always been its corporate complexity. Now it stands to simplify by bringing AirAsia and AirAsia X together as one, while leaving aside…
United Closes the Gap on Delta
In this week's episode Gordon Smith and Jay Shabat provide an early status update on Q3 earnings season. With Delta on the back foot after the CrowdStrike chaos and Olympic…
For Delta, No Glee in Q3. But Happy Times Ahead?
It wasn’t Delta’s greatest summer. Enough went wrong (the CrowdStrike disruption, lost business during the Olympics) to spoil all that went right (strong demand, cheaper fuel). Fortunately, almost everything’s coming up roses this fall, including heavy capacity cuts by domestic rivals. Will United finally beat Delta in the margin fight? We’ll find out later this week, when Scott Kirby and company report for Q3.
Setting the Scene for Earnings Season
In this week's show, Gordon Smith and Jay Shabat explain the key elements to watch as third-quarter earnings season begins. The pair discuss all-important factors including aircraft supply shortages, oversupply…
Diamonds in the Sky: Will the Transatlantic Boom Continue?
Welcome to the final quarter of 2024. Believe it or not, airlines will begin reporting their third quarter results this week, beginning as usual with Delta on Thursday (October 10).…
Turn Baby Turn: Jordan’s Plan To Revitalize Southwest
What’s the right tool to fix Southwest? A scalpel or a sledgehammer? As a Wall Street dissident leans toward the latter, calling for wholesale change in the airline’s executive ranks, the executives themselves are championing a less radical approach. What the company needs, argued CEO Bob Jordan last week, is not a new leadership team but a network and inflight product adapted to meet new post-Covid trends.
El Al Comes Out on Top
In this week's episode, Gordon Smith and Jay Shabat discuss the final results from Airline Weekly's Earnings Scoreboard for Q2 2024. From household names to niche regional players, we examine…
The Q2 2024 Earnings Scoreboard
Cost pressures. Cooling demand. Geopolitical turbulence. Despite all of this, the second quarter of 2024 was a good one for the global passenger airline industry. Collectively, major airlines that disclose their quarterly financial results (most of them do) earned an 8% Q2 operating margin adjusted for special items. Airline Weekly crunches the big numbers for our flagship quarterly review.
Skift Global Forum: The Airline Storylines
In this special episode, Gordon Smith and Jay Shabat are in New York City for the Skift Global Forum. Recorded just minutes after stepping off stage, the pair debrief following…