Skift Airline Weekly

All B737 MAX jets worldwide remain grounded—and might for some time—following the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines MAX 8, which killed all 157 people aboard. The crash, it seemed, was similar enough to a Lion Air MAX 8 crash last year to warrant the grounding. In that case, a system called MCAS—designed partly to prevent […]

Of America’s 30 busiest airports, just one—only one shows double digit growth in year over year seat capacity next quarter. Oddly enough, it’s home to America’s slowest growing airline. Dallas-Fort Worth, the home hub of American Airlines, is more tortoise than hare when it comes to traffic growth. Last year, passenger volumes increased just 3%, […]

In the time since Airline Weekly launched 15 years ago, the airline industry has undergone remarkable change, to an industry almost unrecognizable when we put out our first issue. Airlines have consolidated. Low-cost carriers started in regions that hadn’t seen them before. The rise of the ultra-low-cost carrier. Low-cost long-haul. Oil prices spiked to record […]

It was as good a time as any to announce new Boeing orders. President Trump was in town for a meeting with his North Korean counterpart last week. So VietJet, Vietnam’s largest low-cost carrier, used the occasion to finalize a deal for 100 B737-MAXs first placed at last summer’s Farnborough Airshow (where it incidentally ordered 50 […]

We’ve made some minor changes at Skift Airline Weekly over the past few months that we believe have improved your experience. But before we do anything else, we’d like to get some feedback from subscribers about what they value and what we could do better. Below is a short survey that should not take more […]

What is Air Europa? As part of a privately-held Spanish tour operator, it doesn’t get much attention outside its home country. But its relative anonymity belies a quietly influential role in Europe’s evolving and consolidating airline industry. The industry was certainly paying attention in the spring of 2017, when Ryanair, of all carriers, breaking with […]

It’s not Beijing. No, China’s largest airline market is Shanghai, a city with not one but two of the world’s top 50 airports by traffic. Sure enough, Beijing’s main airport stands out as the world’s second busiest behind Atlanta. Add about 6m passengers from the city’s smallish Nanyuan airport, and China’s capital is now part […]

We’re taking a short break to retool the Airline Weekly Lounge podcast. When we return, you’ll get the same exclusive insights and great conversation along with new guests and a new host. Expect insightful conversations and deeper analysis of that week’s aviation news and developments. Thanks for listening Click here to subscribe to the podcast.

A sharp drop in fuel prices midway through the fourth quarter was welcome. But it didn’t prevent U.S. airlines from paying 24% more for their fuel this Q4 versus last. So once again, industry margins declined. But not much. The country’s nine largest scheduled airlines that have reported (Frontier hasn’t yet done so) collectively earned […]

Who said Canadians are so nice? Its airlines aren’t being nice to each other, that’s for sure. Right now, Canada’s airline industry looks something like a hockey fight. On January 24, high in the mountains of British Columbia, Canada’s two leading airlines shared their latest observations. The venue: a CIBC investor conference in Whistler, where […]