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This week on The Air Show, we zoom out. What is oil doing to airlines in other parts of the world? It’s not good, but Brian Sumers spoke with a couple of carriers as he reports back.

United Adds New Premium Fares, Basically

United Airlines announced on Friday it will begin adding tiered fares across all cabins, bringing basic premium tickets including basic Polaris to market this month.

The carrier will offer three fare options — basic, standard, and flexible — across its many offerings including long-haul international, transcon, and Hawai’i flights that currently feature its Polaris product. What will Basic Polaris fares look like? Well besides the shame of booking a basic fare, and a forced connection in Newark for basic customers as a means of punishment, they’ll also:

• receive only one checked bag for free (down from two)
• pay to select seats
• not receive United Polaris Lounge Access (but access to regular United Clubs still remains…for now)
• not be able to change or refund
• not be able to upgrade to the Polaris Studio

Of course United is selling this as offering customers more options when the reality is that the current price for a standard ticket will become the basic price, and a purchase with the traditional bundle will cost more because that’s how these things work.

Delta Looks to Amazon for Wi-Fi Upgrade

We’ve come a long way as passengers when it comes to in-flight internet access. Gone are the days of paying $19.99 for 30 minutes of slow email downloads from Gogo using air-to-ground technology. As the expectation bar continues to be raised, domestic U.S. passengers now expect free, fast Wi-Fi from gate-to-gate and anything else is unacceptable.

Delta Air Lines announced its plans to introduce Amazon Leo on a significant portion of its fleet beginning in 2028. We initially thought this was just CEO Ed Bastian paying another famous person to be his friend, but Leo is “low earth orbit” and not Leonardo diCaprio. The two companies will start with 500 aircraft, and the integration will include expanding seatback entertainment as well. The on-board experience comes five years after Delta debuted free connectivity for SkyMiles members in 2023.

Delta will begin with its narrowbody fleet that does the bulk of its domestic flying. Delta Chief Marketing and Product Officer Ranjan Goswami said there will be “commerce opportunities” as well. If we aren’t able to order something on Amazon Prime in the air and have it delivered to the arrival gate, then we riot. Maybe we’ll see a world where Prime Members receive expedited Biscoff delivery in-flight or receive first pick of meals.

This tie-up comes as United and Alaska/Hawaiian have recently began offering SpaceX’s Starlink on-board with Southwest joining the party soon. As American considers bringing back seatback entertainment to some of its aircraft, it is looking into also installing GTE Airfones to provide instant voice connectivity.

Air Canada CEO Bids Adios

Air Canada President and CEO Michael Rousseau will retire by the end of September following two decades at the airline after he committed the sin of addressing the public following a deadly incident last month in English only and not both English and French.

Following the fatal collision at New York/LGA involving an Air Canada plane and an emergency vehicle on the ground that left two pilots dead and dozens of passengers injured, Rousseau and the airline released a four minute video in which he acknowleged what a somber day it was for both Air Canada and all Canadians. He also offered condolences to airline staff and families of the victims. The video was in English, with subtitles in both English and French. Canadian prime minster Mark Carney said the video showed a “lack of compassion,” while Québec-based politicians demanded Rousseau’s resignation.

The French-lovers went as far as accusing Rousseau of showing a “gross lack of respect” to the Quebecois family of one of the deceased pilots, Antoine Forest. While it’s not the place of non-Canadians to comment on or judge the countries bilingual policies, this does feel like a step too far for a seemingly competent CEO who’s biggest flaw is his lack of French language skills. Regardless, the position is open, and while it may not say it directly, you might want to have something beyond 8th grade French proficiency if interested.

Summer in the Citi…AAdmirals Clubs Add BrAAnding

Later this month, American will add Citi branding at the entrance of Admirals Clubs because it’s a “testament to the depth of our partnership as both American and Citi look for ways to enhance every aspect of the travel journey for our customers,” which is Scott Long, American’s SVP of AAdvantage using coded language to say “Citi has paid, is paying, and will pay us a buttload of money whether we operate flights on-time or not; they say jump, we say how high.”

What this really does is open up the possibility to expand corporate sponsorships across the travel journey much like libraries, hospitals, and other public venue offer naming rights in exchange for donations. “This tower of Salty Death Mix was provided by Proctor & Gamble.” “Pratt Whitney is proud to bring AA customers these cookies which were set out before opening this morning and are yet to be touched.”

Keep in mind that AA recently dropped Barclays and entered into an exclusive credit card agreement with Citi, giving each of the big four airlines in the U.S. a credit card overlord (Delta: Amex, Southwest and United: Chase).

The branding will debut at Chicago/ORD, Dallas/DFW, Los Angeles, and Miami with it expanding to other Admirals Clubs in the system throughout the year.

Willie Walsh is Back, Goes to IndiGo

Can you be back if you never really left? Longtime British Airways CEO and current Director General of IATA is returning to run an airline, as he will become the CEO of Indian LCC IndiGo beginning on August 3. Walsh’s first crack at running an airline came at Aer Lingus in 2001, before moving on to BA in ’05. During his time at British Airways, Walsh oversaw the carrier’s merger with Iberia in 2011 to create IAG, and brought in a new era where premium class passengers would pay for their seat assignments and like it.

After retiring from BA in the midst of the pandemic in 2020, Walsh took office as the IATA Director General in April 2021. He’s been in the role for five years now. No one has quite yet figured out what the Director General of the IATA does, and Walsh won’t be the one to solve the mystery as he moves on from the role this summer.

IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers resigned last month amidst intense scrutiny after significant disruptions and cancellations due to new pilot roster rules left passengers stranded across India late last year. IndiGo controls about two-thirds of the domestic market in India and Walsh will be stepping into a job on day one where he will need to regain confidence of domestic customers. He was hired in-part because he said he could do just that, though when asked about his plan for domestic travelers, he responded “what’s domestic?”

• Abra Group finally released its 2025 earnings.
• Air France-KLM made a non-binding offer for a minority stake in TAP.
• Alaska unveiled its international business class suites.
• American‘s coordination with Qantas on fares, schedules, and inventory will continue on an interim basis.
• Asiana is expected to see its remaining 36% acquired by Korean this summer.
• Delta‘s A330-300 N813NW, which was operating as DL104 on Sunday is under investigation after fire and flames came from its left-side PW4000 turbofan just after takeoff.
• Finnair continues to lease E190s and ATRs for Norra.
• Fiji Airways cut its state-backed debt to $162 million.
• IAG is reducing its share capital by about $13 million.
• Icelandair entered into an LOI to purchase a 49% share of Fly Play Europe.
• ITA officially joined Star Alliance. When asked to comment Star Alliance officials were seen holding their noses and had no comment.
• JetBlue is raising baggage fees, and everyone else will follow if they haven’t already.
• Korean is retiring the KAL brand.
• Magnifica Air is seeking three magnificent A321neos for a dry lease.
• t’way Air rebranded as Trinity Airways, marking the end of an e’ra around these parts.
• Vietnam Airlines is cutting some domestic service.

Why did the ram go off the cliff?

He didn’t see the ewe turn.