It is still, by total company revenues, the largest airline group in the world—even if now (following the American-US Airways merger) by “only” a billion dollars or so annually. And because a majority of the Lufthansa Group’s business comes from...
Read MoreAnd you thought you’ve got problems? Just be thankful you’re not Chokchai Panyayong. The new acting president of Thai Airways, whose predecessor resigned Dec. 20, starts his job with a list of challenges that even the chiefs of Air India...
Read MoreOverall, 2013 was the global airline industry’s best year since 2010. There was modest economic growth. Passenger traffic grew strongly. Fuel prices were relatively stable. And cost discipline prevailed. But that’s oversimplifying. In reality, much of the overall success came...
Read MoreIn the state capitol building of Texas, on the floor directly under the rotunda (which stands taller than the U.S. capitol), are the seals of six nations whose flags have flown over Texas at various times. The U.S. seal is...
Read MoreCurrency, cargo, and capacity woes are hammering Asia’s airlines. And slowing economies and incursions by both Gulf carriers and LCCs alike don’t help. But China, on the other hand, is different. Or is it? The mainland Chinese market is indeed...
Read MoreEuropean airlines watched with horror last week as Gulf carriers ordered another 400 widebody aircraft, auguring huge competitive capacity increases. Worse yet, all this demand for new planes is pushing up aircraft ownership costs for airlines everywhere—even Ryanair, which normally...
Read MoreFootball fans know that history is replete with teams that looked on paper to be among the greatest ever assembled but then failed miserably to live up to expectations. Airline fans can likewise rattle off a litany of past mergers...
Read MoreFor one airline after another—in geographies as diverse as Brazil and Australia, India and Hawaii, Japan and Europe—a silent killer is on the loose. This time it’s not fuel, the global market for which is actually softening. It’s not a...
Read MoreTen years ago, in the fall of 2003, the U.S. airline industry was in crisis. The fallout from the 9/11 attacks hadn’t fully dissipated. The U.S. economy was just emerging from recession. War in Iraq was sapping demand for international...
Read MoreOne sign an airline market matters: it has service from each of the Gulf’s Big Three. Sure enough, Vietnam got its third of the three, Etihad, earlier this month, punctuating a remarkable five-year run for a country that was long...
Read MoreRyanair wields perhaps the harshest stick in the entire global airline industry. But the carrot can be just as dramatic. Last week the ultra-low-cost carrier announced that beginning in April, it will bring more than a million new passengers through...
Read MoreTouting two new markets last week, United released a statement that, well, sounded like any other: “We look forward to giving travelers in Atlanta convenient access to this country’s best and broadest trans-Pacific network at United’s San Francisco hub, and...
Read More