Lufthansa Flexes its Muscles in Brussels
Buying an airline is like getting a pet. It sounds like a great idea. It can be a great idea. But sometimes, it winds up being a responsibility and burden…
Issues
Allegiant Is Diversifying and Wall Street Doesn’t Like It
In 2017, Allegiant was the world’s third most profitable airline by operating margin, behind only Ryanair and Hawaiian Airlines. The year before, it was No. 1. Allegiant’s 18% operating margin…
Airlines Seek Greater Riches From Their Loyalty Plans
Breaking news: Loyalty plans can be big money-makers for airlines!
Air China Is a Champion. But for How long?
Among America’s Big Three airlines, there’s a clear profit champion. It’s Delta. Among Europe’s Big Three, there’s a clear profit champion: It’s IAG. And among China’s Big Three? The champion…
The Emergence of Convergence: Europe’s airline sector approaching U.S.-like levels of profitability
Most of Europe’s publicly traded airlines have now reported their second-quarter results. A few like Aegean and SAS will report later this month. Others like Virgin Atlantic, Alitalia, TAP Air…
Boiled by Oil: For U.S. airlines, profits are falling even at a time of epic demand strength
It takes a long time to descend from a high mountain. But U.S. airline profitability is indeed descending, still strong relative to the global average but getting further away from…
Beaches, Theme Parks and Runways: Florida is now America’s third most populous state—and an airline supermarket
In 1980, just as the U.S. airline industry was deregulating, Florida was the country’s seventh most populous state, with about 10m people. Today, with 20m people, it ranks No. 3,…
Fading Memories: Air Berlin is gone. But airlines in Germany and elsewhere are quickly filling the vacuum.
Next month will mark one year since Air Berlin declared itself bankrupt. October will mark one year since the airline stopped flying. How much has its departure changed Europe’s competitive…
The Airline Weekly Halftime Show: A region-by-region look at developments that shaped the first six months of 2018
Reflecting on the first six months of 2018, two words quickly come to mind: “strong,” which describes the revenue environment, and “rising,” which describes the cost trajectory. Airlines around the…
Micro-AAggression: American is smaller in Asia than its rivals. And that’s okay.
Give it credit for honest self assessment. In American’s latest annual report, the airline admits: “Our presence in international markets, such as Asia, is not as extensive as that of…