Good News For Boeing: ANA Orders 15 B787s

Boeing can use some good news this year. After all, its MAXs are still grounded. Its B777-Xs aren’t selling. It’s at a loss for ways to address the middle market segment that Airbus is winning with XLRs. Critical Chinese orders...

United: Demand for China Routes Near Zero

It has the most Asian exposure of any U.S. airline. So naturally, United is feeling some effects from the current Covid-19 scare. It said last week that near-term demand for China routes is virtually zero, while near-term demand for routes...

Despite ‘Challenging Year,’ IAG Astounds

Put aside the Covid-19 shock and Heathrow expansion drama for just a moment, to properly recognize the astoundingly strong performance that British Airways achieved last year. Its 14% operating margin even bested Delta by a few fractions. And during just...

Air France/KLM’s Turnaround Gathers Steam

Air France/KLM’s latest business plan, presented to investors in November, is now in full swing. The goal: To earn profit margins that look more like its European rival IAG. From 2011 to 2014, the Franco-Dutch carrier amassed net losses excluding...

Covid-19 Crisis Could Cost Airlines $28b

IATA’s economics team in Geneva produced estimates of how much revenue Asia’s airlines will lose as a result of the raging Covid-19 crisis. Its best guess for all of 2020 is about $28b, most of it incurred by Chinese carriers....

IndiGo Says ‘No’ to Widebodies

Looks like IndiGo won’t be flying widebodies after all. An Economic Times report states the carrier will instead fly to London and Tokyo with narrowbody A321 XLRs, even if that means waiting a few years before they’re delivered. IndiGo, aside...

Green Africa Leases A220s, and the ‘New Light Twin’

Green Africa doesn’t want to wait for its new A220-300s to arrive from the Airbus factory next year. So it’s leasing three of them, enabling the startup to launch before the end of this year. Green Africa will try to...

Airports Worry About Covid-19

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said 2019 passenger traffic at Dulles (IAD) and Reagan National (DCA) grew by 3% to 49m passengers, compared with 2018. Much of the growth was fueled by IAD, which served 25m passengers last year, up...

Qantas Trims Capacity

With demand conditions weakening amid the Covid-19 shock, Qantas is proactively removing capacity from across its network. Naturally, Asia is the focus of its cuts, with mainline international flying (in ASK terms) reduced by 16% until at least the end...

Gulf Growth 2.0

Some said it couldn’t last. It didn’t. By around 2015, Gulf carrier hyper-expansion was on the wane. No more voracious plane buying. No more hyperactive network expansion. No more billions spent on infrastructure. One of the global airline industry’s most...

February 24, 2020

What’s the Biggest Surprise of the Alaska-American News?

It’s the biggest surprise from the surprising new American-Alaska alliance: American will launch Seattle flights to Bangalore this fall and London Heathrow next spring. Knowing it couldn’t possibly build a Seattle hub on its own — Delta already made that...