Podcast

Korean Competitive Crunch: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 53

Korean carriers Asiana and Korean Air are being squeezed between rapid growth from Chinese carriers and new capacity coming out of Japan. But nonetheless, the two Korean carriers posted some of the most improved earnings among widebody carriers worldwide. Japan...

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Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 52: Don’t Dismiss Swiss Airlines

One of the bright spots in the Lufthansa Group’s second quarter earnings report was its Swiss unit, which bested Lufthansa mainline, the Austrian unit and even the healthy maintenance unit. Meanwhile, Eurowings was the worst performing airline of the group,...

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Podcast

Air France Is Missing Out: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 51

The second quarter year-over-year profit margin improved at Air France/KLM, but only because of a huge windfall from fuel. In fact, the real story is that the airline group is largely missing out on profits that normally would come from...

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Have U.S. Airlines Peaked? Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 50

Earnings season is in full swing and really there’s too much to talk about within the average commute or treadmill run. So we’ll talk fast. And in this episode, our fast talk starts with American Airlines’ billion-dollar quarter and, naturally,...

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Podcast

Delta Does it Again: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 49

Delta Airlines gets a lot of play in this episode, but it’s not because we’re obsessed with Delta. Rather, there are two practical reasons: First, Delta is the the earliest of the big airlines to report. Secondly, with Delta’s global...

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Azul’s Ambitions: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 48

Brazil’s Azul is no doubt an innovative airline. But has it become too clever by half with its low-cost longhaul venture? A couple years into the experiment, we discuss it in this episode. Meanwhile, its competitor Gol is asking for...

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Turkish Troubles: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 47

Turkish Airlines and its cross-town rival Pegasus were seeing trouble in their business before the attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport. In this episode we try to assess—or at least speculate—how the attack will further hurt the two airlines’ prospects....

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Podcast

Left Behind by Brexit? Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 46

In the wake of Brexit, will the U.K. be able to remain in the European Common Aviation Area? We don’t know. But we do know that if the U.K. is relegated to some other status, it would obviously impact airlines...

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Podcast

Six Degrees of Singapore Airlines: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 45

Wherever you go in the airline industry, you’re never too far from Singapore Airlines, a carrier that played a primary role in—count ‘em— four of the bigger storylines last week. Singapore is pulling out of Brazil. In India, Singapore will...

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Struggling SAS: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 44

Scandinavia’s SAS posted a pretty rough quarter despite huge tailwinds from its healthy home economy and cheap fuel. Fierce competition, labor concerns and operational problems all share the blame. Is SAS’s long-haul strategy the answer? Or will it take a...

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Podcast

United Tries to Put You to Sleep: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 43

United last week revealed its new premium experience named Polaris, which includes its business class cabin. Ironically, the big design features in the cabin are all about missing the experience, because United wants its passengers to sleep right through it....

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Ryanair’s Runaway Success: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 42

Ryanair is like a runaway train, in that nothing seems to be able to stop it. Despite unfavorable hedges, terrorism, air traffic control strikes and plenty of economic weakness, the airline still managed to turn a profit during the historically...

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