Cathay Pacific has seen all its oxygen sucked out of the room by the hyper growth of the Chinese carriers. Is there anything to be done? Sometimes waiting is the best option. Australia has two major airlines with two very different stories to tell. While...

After losing $300m in 2016 as a result of some horrific exposure to terrorism and political tumult, things are looking up for Turkish Airlines. In its second quarter, the airline posted a 5% operating profit margin and with that likely will turn a profit...

United is still trailing its peers, but can it catch up? That’s the question we weigh first in this episode. In the second quarter, American Airlines bested United with a 16% operating margin versus United’s 14%. One thing that went right for AA: Latin A...

The airline is on such a roll that not even a grouchy demagogue can stop Delta. The Atlanta-based carrier posted a better second quarter than it did last year, and it leaves Delta with at least a slim shot of having its best year ever. Low fuel prices we...

Terror attacks… a blockade… Alitalia… The first half of 2017 has been interesting—even against the airline industry’s high standard in that department. In just a 30-minute episode we attempt to unpack the first half of 2017. Despite a lot of excitement, ...

So this is happening: A major international airline faces a blockade. We admit it—this is a new one for us, with little to no history as a guide. Nonetheless, Qatar Airways faces a travel and trade embargo from four nearby countries, which overnight wipe...

Ryanair was one of just three individual airlines in Europe to post an operating profit in the first quarter. The success came not only by way of the airline’s juggernaut of a business model, but also because Ryanair was one of the few to see a year-over...

Having just weathered a once-in-a-generation economic crisis, the airlines of South America just enjoyed a smooth first quarter. All the major South American airlines profited, and some even posted margins to brag about. But in Mexico, things were misera...

The earnings picture for U.S. carriers in the first quarter was much worse than last year’s Q1—but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good. It was indeed good—and good is good. Their success comes while wrestling with rising labor and fuel costs, and fickle dem...

Delta saw its operating profit margin slashed severely in the first quarter compared to last year’s Q1. Nonetheless there are plenty of reasons to smile—that’s how good things are at Delta right now—including beating rival United Airlines, which posted a...

The merger of Alaska Airlines and Virgin American is now well under way and begs the question: How is the integration taking shape? In a word: rosy. Of course, Alaska will be sacrificing the Virgin brand. But Alaska’s management says it’s finding more sy...

When is a $2 billion annual profit disappointing? Answer: When you’re a giant airline group like Lufthansa, and $2 billion amounts to a mere 5% operating margin—and that lackluster result comes despite fuel costs dropping 16% year over year. But there ar...

Once again we consider the ongoing demand problems in Turkey. The numbers are in, and they’re not pretty. Turkish Airlines posted a $300 million loss in 2016. Pegasus Airlines chipped another $50 million loss, a comparably bad number. But there are signs...

With its fourth quarter results and a standout 2016, IAG, the airline group that includes British Airways, Iberia, Aer Lingus and Vueling, continues to separate itself from the other two members of Europe’s Big Three airline groups. And leading the way w...

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...

Europe certainly has its share of struggling airlines, but Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air are not among them. And for Ryanair and Wizz, fourth quarter earnings simply topped off a triumphant 2016. (easyJet has yet to report on its fourth quarter.) In the ...

Japan Airlines is enjoying a charmed life right now. How good is it? In 2016, JAL was the most profitable of the large global airlines outside the U.S. All Nippon Airlines is also doing pretty well. ANA has narrowed the gap between it and JAL, which is s...

While the revenue story has improved for U.S. carriers, the cost story has become a headwind. Still, as American Airlines demonstrated in its fourth quarter results, costs are a headwind that can be overcome. With that, AA joined Delta and United in deli...

By just a tenth of a percent, United’s fourth quarter operating profit margin bested that of Delta—and likely that of American, which reports later—making United, for the quarter, No.1 among the Big Three U.S. carriers. So, has the natural order shifted ...

Rising labor costs at Delta dented its fourth quarter results significantly—but not enough to prevent the airline from posting a terrific profit for 2016. And the big story within the story is that revenues have stopped falling. All in all, Delta remains...

SAS has tried and tried to turn itself around, but to no avail—at least judging by its recent earnings report. In fact, on profits alone, the airline’s third quarter was a step backward. What’s going wrong, and can it be fixed? Meanwhile, Frontier Airlin...

Call it our year-in-preview show. In this first episode of 2017, we look at some of the more interesting stories that are ushering in the airline industry’s new year. Of course, 2017 doesn’t promise answers to all our questions. But we can hope, can’t we...

If anybody needed a reminder that the airline business is an interesting business, they got it last week as Air Berlin announced it will be handing over a big chunk of itself to arch competitor Lufthansa. Will Air Berlin be saved by shrinking itself? Not...

South African Airways finally published its fiscal year results for the 12 months ending March 2015. Yes, that’s 2015. And the result—a $442m net loss—wasn’t worth the wait. But with the Ebola scare and high oil prices now in the past, how is the airline...

Because Frontier Airlines is a non-publicly-traded carrier (which, for one thing, means it doesn’t have earnings calls), it’s all the more interesting to interview the airline's CEO Barry Biffle. Of course, we asked about a possible merger with Spirit or...