Air France/KLM had some good news in 2016. For one thing, its Transavia unit broke even. Also, KLM made a decent profit. But the story is rather disappointing from there, with the group posting a mere 4% operating margin for the year. Could some positive revenue trends turn 2017 around? Air Canada and WestJet together […]
Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 49: Delta Does it Again
Delta Airlines gets a lot of play in this episode, but it’s not because we’re obsessed with Delta. (Though, we did write a book about it.) Rather, there are two practical reasons: First, Delta is the the earliest of the big airlines to report. Secondly, with Delta’s global reach, you can learn a lot about […]
Airline Weekly Lounge – Episode 27: Where profits are cool
Finnair, Norwegian and Icelandair all had rather forgettable off-peak fourth quarters, but not because of the chilly weather they are all enduring. Rather, each has a unique set of challenges and opportunities. Finnair’s challenges include exposure to Asia and transatlantic competition, but there’s hope in seat densification. Norwegian is painfully exposed to Norway’s struggling oil […]
Airline Weekly Lounge – Episode 13: Great American
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 Delta’s two-week old record. Maybe even more astonishing was United’s $1.7b figure. Has United finally […]
Airline Weekly Lounge – Episode 9: The New Frontier
Posting a $54m profit in its second quarter, Frontier Airlines has joined the ranks of America’s most profitable airlines. Frontier and America’s other ultra-low-cost carrier, Spirit, are both highly profitable and have big growth ambitions. As long as oil prices remain low, they should go far. Meanwhile, Norwegian is taking a stab at the low-cost […]