The Airline Weekly Lounge Podcast

Relatively Resilient Revenues: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 23
traceyintorcia

Delta kicked off earnings season with—yawn—another record-breaking fourth quarter highlighted by a pre-tax profit that starts with a “b” (and ends with an “illion.”) The success is coming from a lot of baskets including cheap oil, operational performance and the...

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Fast and Furious in India: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 22
traceyintorcia

Regardless of whether it’s up or down, India’s airline market tends to be one of thrills and spills. And right now, we’re seeing both—IndiGo is providing the thrills, Air India the spills. Meanwhile, Jet Airways and SpiceJet are holding their...

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Ultra Low-Cost Competition: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 21
traceyintorcia

Ultra-low-cost carriers like Frontier Airlines are facing in 2016 a whole different animal—a beast that we call “fare compression.” In fact, America in 2016 might see a first-time experiment in which the ultra-low-cost model goes up against the forces of...

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Mexico’s Low-Cost Renaissance: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 20
traceyintorcia

Mexico is finding joy in a low-cost carrier renaissance as Volaris, Interjet and VivaAerobus are all growing and profiting. But the profits aren’t being distributed equally. Why is one carrier performing so much better than another? Also, how long can...

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American Air CEO Interview: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 19
traceyintorcia

Shouldn’t Doug Parker be dancing in the end zone? He is, after all, the CEO of a mega-airline with mega-profits at a time of economic strength and falling fuel prices. But even this airline has challenges. In this week’s episode,...

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Korean Air’s Success Amid the Struggle: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 18
traceyintorcia

The number of challenges facing Korean Air could fill an A380. Nonetheless the airline remains quite profitable. Korean Air’s prime competitor, Asiana, has not been as fortunate, and we discuss the differences. Meanwhile, Aegean Airlines is doing just fine—more than...

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EasyJet Does It: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 17
traceyintorcia

Not so surprisingly, easyJet wrapped up a strong earnings season in Europe with some strong numbers of its own. We looked at what’s working for easyJet but also why it can’t quite top rivals Ryanair or Wizz Air. Then it’s...

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Spirit Air CEO Interview: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 16
traceyintorcia

More than anything, Spirit Airlines’ business model is built on low fares, which it uses to stimulate demand and fill its planes. But what happens when fuel prices drop, enabling airlines like JetBlue to drop fares too? In a wide-ranging...

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End of an Era at Emirates? Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 15
traceyintorcia

Is Emirates Airline running out of room to fulfill its jumbo-sized ambitions? The Gulf carrier’s combined second- and third-quarter earnings report went over with another “meh.” Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad and—to some degree—nearby Turkish Airlines are all facing big systemic...

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IAG Is A-OK: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 14
traceyintorcia

Whew! The busiest week of earnings season has us hustling. We kick off our around-the-world sprint with IAG, the airline group that is British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and more recently Aer Lingus. While IAG led Europe’s Big Three in profits,...

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Great American: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 13
traceyintorcia

Well that didn’t last long. American Airlines, the biggest carrier in the world, set a new quarterly profit record, with a $1.9b net profit in the third quarter. Of course, there are some technicalities at play here, but it broke...

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Delta’s Payday: Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 12
traceyintorcia

How did Delta achieve its record-breaking quarter? We touch on some of the root causes, including Delta’s push for cheap aircraft and near-perfect operations. Also, we discuss Delta’s plan for flat or zero capacity growth in the fourth quarter. And...

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