Past Issues

Issue No. 890

Slot Machine

Last week ended with West Texas Intermediate oil prices roughly at the $80 mark, a reasonably comfortable level for airlines. If the reason for cheaper oil, of course, is a slowing global economy, then the gains could be erased on...

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Issue No. 889

Dutch Dilemma

What do airlines and Taylor Swift have in common? Their tickets are exceedingly expensive right now.   High-priced tickets are good news for the airline industry, currently underpinned by strong demand and tight supply, even beyond the current holiday season....

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Issue No. 888

Frontier Confidence

Let’s describe current airline industry conditions in just four words: Demand great, supply constrained. Or perhaps you prefer: Revenues strong, costs rising. The point is, airlines around the world are filling their planes and collecting handsome fares. But they’re also...

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Issue No. 887

Turkey’s Rising Star

It’s Turkey time. Not the bird, the country. Turkish Airlines and its low-cost rival Pegasus are giving thanks for an astounding set of summertime financial and operational achievements, earning monstrously large profit margins while growing capacity by double digits from...

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Issue No. 886

Latin Mergers

Is the ultra-low-cost business model dead? Underwhelming earnings at Allegiant and Wizz Air lent firepower to the thesis, argued most prominently by United’s chief Scott Kirby. Both carriers beg to differ, blaming their summertime setbacks on operational woes and other...

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Issue No. 885

Aloha Crunch

The airline earnings reports are flying in fast and furious. Europe’s Big Three all reported last week, revealing robust profits all around. Some things seem to never change, like IAG’s superior performance relative to Air France-KLM and Lufthansa. It's Air...

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Issue No. 884

From One Crisis to Another?

Third quarter earnings season continues, with a long parade of airlines set to report this week. Lufthansa, Air Canada, and Southwest are just a few of note. Last week, American and United were center stage, each describing the changing nature...

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Issue No. 883

Winter Heat

Third quarter earnings season is underway, with Delta as usual batting leadoff. For the second straight quarter, its earnings were strong, underscored by another double-digit operating margin. That’s thanks to record revenues, fueled by extraordinarily robust demand — for leisure...

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Issue No. 882

Dutch Down

Amid the quiet before earnings season, airlines looked on with unease as oil prices marched upward again. The pronouncement of an OPEC supply cut has Brent crude flirting with the $100 per barrel mark, never a good sign for the...

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Issue No. 881

Fabulous 5

A mammoth hurricane in Florida. A financial hurricane in the UK. Russia still at war. A global economy showing signs of distress. Even as worldwide demand for air travel stays strong, airlines face a challenging backdrop of economic, geopolitical, and...

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Issue No. 880

Orlando Magic

The third quarter is nearing its end, with demand still humming in most markets, excluding China and Japan. Better yet, fuel costs continue their downward march, albeit from extremely high levels this summer. West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices dropped...

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Issue No. 879

An India Comeback Story

United and Emirates working together? The once unthinkable is now true, though the partnership of the two unveiled last week is limited in scope, at least for now. More significant for United is the sustained strength in travel demand right...

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