Skift Airline Weekly

It’s that time of year again. Airline Weekly Editor Madhu Unnikrishnan and Senior Analyst Jay Shabat look back on the year that was. It was yet another tumultuous year in this industry we love: Storied names like Thomas Cook, among others, went out of business, and the B737 MAX — one of the world’s best-selling […]

As IATA discussed in detail last week, the world’s airline industry enters the 2020s with a 10-year profit streak. But as 2019 again reaffirmed, profits are increasingly concentrated among the sector’s largest intercontinental airlines, together with its strongest low-cost carriers. Left out is a long tail of smaller and less efficient carriers unable to cope […]

Skeptics might say the airport of the future has always been just around the corner, but maybe the “smart airport” really is a thing.  Skift Travel Tech Editor Sean O’Neill tells Airline Weekly Editor Madhu Unnikrishnan about how advances in technology are improving the passenger experience, baggage tracking, and security. Hear what some of the […]

Boeing’s MAX still isn’t flying. Airbus can’t get its NEOs delivered on time. But at least there’s still buoyant demand for narrowbody aircraft. Not so for widebodies. Last week, another widebody blow: United, in announcing a big order for narrowbody NEO XLRs, quietly added that it’s no longer interested in taking the twin-aisle A350s it […]

Volaris is not eyeing other airlines. It has set its sights on the bus. That’s where the Mexican ultra-low-cost carrier sees the most opportunity to grow: by poaching passengers from the country’s long-distance bus network. In this episode of the Airline Weekly Lounge, Editor Madhu Unnikrishnan talks to Skift Travel Editor-in-Chief Tom Lowry about Volaris’ […]

Allegiant is not an airline. No, says its management. Allegiant is a travel company. Whatever the appropriate label, Allegiant is phenomenally successful, sporting one of the airline industry’s most unique business models. Many aspects of that business model — direct distribution, heavy reliance on ancillary revenues, highly-variable flight scheduling by season and day-of-week — are […]

Mexico’s Volaris, an ultra-LCC owned by the Indigo Group, is growing. Fast. Next year, it plans to expand capacity by another 10%. But it’s not the market’s Aeromexicos or Interjets that Volaris sees as its main competitors. Instead, as Volaris Executive Vice President Holger Blankenstein explained to Skift Airline Weekly Editor Madhu Unnikrishnan in a […]

Will there be a deal or won’t there? The Indian government now says it wants to sell 100% of the state-owned carrier, but who will buy it? The airline is notoriously saddled with debt and has a restive labor force. Airline Weekly Senior Analyst Jay Shabat acknowledges Air India’s problems but notes that the beleaguered […]

Air India, a notoriously bloated state organ, is again up for sale by India’s government. In April, Jet Airways stopped flying, eliminating Air India’s only home-grown rival on intercontinental routes. The two airlines competed vigorously on shorthaul international routes as well, and domestic routes. Good news for Air India? Not really. Immediately after Jet’s collapse, […]

Skift Europe Editor Patrick Whyte joined Skift Airline Weekly Editor Madhu Unnikrishnan to share his insights into the latest in European airline news. First, of course, Whyte takes a look at why Air Europa’s parent company, Globalia, would want to sell one of its largest business units to IAG. Is there a future for vertically […]