This week’s featured link
The Case for Shutting Down U.S. Airlines Now – Skift
It should be shut down, but it’s not just the threat of spreading the disease. It’s also the economic carnage of continuing to operate nearly-empty airplanes. I say bring back the CAB, divvy up the routes … Read the post
I was going to write today about the details of United’s big schedule change, but I’m pushing that off. Instead, I’ve decided that there’s more to write around United’s bad schedule change policy revision that I covered yesterday. Originally, I decided that it wasn’t egregious enough to earn the Cranky … Read the post
American continues to make its way around the globe looking for ways to fill its geographical needs. After Gol helped fill in some blank spots in Brazil, the improved Alaska partnership shored up the West Coast. Now, American is looking toward Africa, India, and Southeast Asia by renewing ties with … Read the post
Inflight Movies: Does Anyone Really Want to Watch Them on a Phone? – The Wall Street Journal ($Subscription Required$)
It’s the age-old question about inflight entertainment. Does a seatback screen matter or not? Barbara Peterson at the WSJ took a look.
Remember that whole thing about American stagnating? The message reached a deafening roar when Delta took LATAM away. It looks like someone over there got the message. This morning, American is announcing that it and Alaska are planning to renew the codeshare that was set to all-but-end next month… Read the post
It has been six years since American and US Airways merged, and there is now finally a joint contract on the table for the new American’s mechanics and fleet service agents. Those are the groups represented by the joint TWU-IAM Association, and they’ve been locked in a heated battle with … Read the post
Ever since the US Airways days, the current American management team has been completely and totally focused on building service in hubs and only in hubs. That has frustrated many, especially those in logical spokes that could benefit from more service. This is finally starting to change, if ever-so-slightly. Today, … Read the post
My apologies, but I somehow mixed up the A14 numbers for Southwest, Frontier, and United. This has been corrected, and I have updated the post to reflect the correct data.
Ah, October. Fall has arrived, thunderstorms have diminished, and the weather is about as … Read the post
United had its first global media day (at least, first that I can remember) on Friday, and it was an event well done. That being said, I didn’t expect there would be homework…. Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Nocella was up on stage when a question was asked about American’s claims … Read the post
As LATAM prepares to consciously uncouple from American, the discussion has centered around what American can do to shore up its already-solid Latin American network. In the vision I laid out recently, the least controversial piece was that American should use Gol (an airline that was unconsciously uncoupled … Read the post
Sorry for the delayed post, but this news was under embargo until now, and I thought it worth waiting instead of posting next week. Rumors about changes in American’s management have reached a fever pitch recently, and now a change is officially being made. The problem is… it’s more of … Read the post
Last week I wrote about how American’s loss of LATAM as a partner wasn’t necessarily a problem from a commercial point-of-view but rather from a strategic and management point-of-view. Today, I’m going to dive deeper into the network to show exactly what I meant. It’s story time, but instead of … Read the post
