With another two stories today about in-flight component failures (Southwest, Sichuan), we are being reminded that airplanes are vulnerable. There is nothing quite like an airline/airplane scary story to catch people’s attention. The industry safety statistics are too good to…
Today it emerged that Qatar Airways has bought another stake in an airline. This time it spent $662m on a near 10% stake in Cathay Pacific. The move by the airline follows a pattern as the table illustrates. We can…
We undertook a review of A320neo flight operations. There were 71 A320neo aircraft in operation at the end of February. An analysis of the 28,105 flights scheduled provides some interesting insights. With recent news reports suggesting difficulties with engines, we…
Delta Air Lines seems to be ending three routes to Tokyo’s Narita. Since Tokyo is a major market, the changes must be really noteworthy. Delta’s Japanese hub was created by Northwest Airlines. Recent changes to the US-Japan bilateral herald important…
China is the coming air travel market. In sympathy, the rest of the supply chain is growing – from COMAC to the leasing firms. The top three Chinese aircraft lessors are heading for Hong Kong IPOs. Not to be left…
There is much debate about market need for VLAs (defined as an airplane with >400 seats). The argument goes back to the time when Airbus decided on the A380 and bet on the need for the VLA (demand for hub…