Skift Airline Weekly

For a while, it looked like Norwegian wouldn’t make it. Now, following release of its second-quarter financial results, those fears are easing if not extinguished. Last year, Norwegian suffered a $356m operating loss, which alone makes clear just how precarious things had become. In January, not for the first time, the airline had to raise […]

The first half of 2019 featured quieter forms of aircraft-related disruptions, some engine-related and others tied to delivery delays. Just as frustrating were inordinate operational disruptions from increasingly volatile weather and increasingly unreliable air traffic control, the latter affecting Europe most disruptively. Overlay these concerns with a raging trade war that’s already torpedoing air cargo […]

In an all-day event with investment analysts last week, Lufthansa trumpeted the overall success of its 2014 business plan—with justification: The company doubled its operating margin from 4% in 2014 to 8% in 2018. But one important aspect of the plan was an unequivocal failure. Eurowings, born in 2015, was supposed to be Lufthansa’s low-cost […]

The latest edition of the Skift Airline Weekly Lounge contains an exclusive interview with Aireen Omar, AirAsia’s deputy CEO. There was no backtracking from AirAsia in its plan to branch out into selling other airlines on its platform, financial services, and more experiences. Asked at Skift Forum Asia in Singapore in May 2019 if becoming […]

Notre Dame cathedral, Paris promises, will be rebuilt. And so will, Boeing promised in Paris, the reputation and reliability of the B737 MAX. Airbus meanwhile, had something new to offer in Paris: a revamped version of its already-successful A321 NEO. The MAX, to be clear, is in less trouble than all the media hype suggests. […]

In an interview, JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes remains a staunch supporter of the open-skies regulatory regime as it stands and says the U.S. Big Three are “pulling the drawbridge of competition up” behind them on transatlantic routes. In particular, Hayes thinks Delta, United, and American are wrong in claiming that Air Italy, in which Qatar […]

Here’s a bit of trivia: When was the last time a U.S. airline lost money for a full year? The answer: All the way back in 2011, when American lost more than $1b. American would file for bankruptcy later that year, and merge with US Airways two years later. By 2014, the new American was […]

This year’s first quarter was one all European airlines—no exceptions—would rather forget. From January through March, there wasn’t a single publicly traded U.S. airline that lost money. In stark contrast, every European airline except IAG (among the vast majority that have reported so far) suffered Q1 losses. And even within IAG, only British Airways avoided […]

Dear Skift Airline Weekly Readers, In observance of Memorial Day in the U.S. on Monday, May 27, the next edition of Skift Airline Weekly will be released on Tuesday, May 28. In the meantime, please download this week’s issue, featuring an analysis of the rapidly changing Canadian airline market. Best regards, Madhu Unnikrishnan Editor, Skift […]

Air Canada, in its boldest strategic move yet, strikes a deal to buy Air Transat India just lost an airline. Brazil just lost an airline. Europe is losing airlines. Hong Kong is set to lose one of its airlines through consolidation. Now, it’s Canada’s turn. Early last week, WestJet stunned the market by announcing a […]