Skift Airline Weekly

Chicago’s O’Hare airport has seven active runways. Hey, London Heathrow, are you jealous? Don’t be. Chicago might have lots of runways, but its airline market is barely growing. In fact, during 2019, while Heathrow managed a modest 1% y/y increase in passenger volumes, the Chicago market as a whole — O’Hare and Midway airports combined […]

A single year can result in dramatic change within the airline industry, so an entire decade could see it completely transformed. After 10 years of strong profits and relatively stable oil prices in the 2010s, what does the decade ahead hold in store for the U.S. airline industry? Editor Madhu Unnikrishnan (above left) and co-founder […]

One never knows what’s going to happen in the airline industry, one year from now let alone 10. Individual airline fortunes can turn fast, in response to changing economic conditions (i.e. a big recession), radical cost restructuring (like that which Delta undertook), new business tactics (like charging for bags and other ancillaries), government policies (i.e. […]

The 2010s, fortunately, were much better for airlines than the 2000s. Rather than lose $49b, they collectively earned more than $200b. The industry in fact earned profits every year of the decade. And things got better over time, not worse, with profits much higher in the second half (2015-2019) than during the first (2010-2014). The […]

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 […]