Pontifications: National policy, national security

June 15, 2015, c. Leeham Co. The battle between the the Big Three US carriers, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, vs the Big Three Middle Eastern carriers, Emirates Airline, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, was… Read More

IATA: Lufthansa welcomes US carriers to Mid-East dispute

June 7, 2015: The chief executive officer of Lutfhansa Airlines said he welcomes the Big Three US airliners to the dispute over whether the Big Three Middle Eastern carriers are unfairly competing against legacy airlines. Carsten Spohr, CEO… Read More

IATA AGM opens against mixed signals from industry

Miami Beach (FL), June 7, 2015: The International Air Transport Assn. (IATA) Annual General Meeting (AGM) opens against a backdrop of conflicting signals from the industry, including from the organization itself. On the one hand, IATA said last… Read More

Pontifications: Qatar Air adds US service, US airlines ramp up whining

May 11, 2015: Qatar Airways is going to add service to three more US cities and the US airlines don’t like it. That’s too bad. We’ve heard this story before. First, it was the proposed deregulation of the… Read More

Pontifications: the A380, Airbus and Boeing

May 4, 2015, c. Leeham Co. Of all the things we write about, nothing stirs responses and readership than news–of any kind–about the Airbus A380. Last week I wrote about Malaysia Airlines putting a large number of its… Read More

United Airlines revises fleet plan

April 23, 2015: United Airlines announced its 1Q2015 earnings today (which will eventually be posted with commentary on SkyWriterAviation.aero). What caught our eye in the press release was the following. United will: Complete the removal of more than… Read More

Pontifications: Alaska Air vs Sea-Tac Airport

Alaska Air vs Sea-Tac Airport: As if Alaska Airlines doesn’t have enough to do fending off Delta Air Lines, the Port of Seattle, owner of the Sea-Tac International Airport, wants to build a new International Arrival Facility (IAF)… Read More

Pontifications: USA to the World: “We want to fly everywhere. Period.”

Two of the Big 3 Middle Eastern carriers launched a PR counter offensive in Washington DC today. Below are my thoughts. I haven’t weighed in on the current battle between the Big 3 US airlines and the Big… Read More

787-3, “737-10” no replacement for 757

Feb. 25, 2015. c. Leeham Co. When Boeing CEO Jim McNerney last year suggested that a replacement for the 757 could be based on the 787 or the 737 MAX, the statement conjured up visions of resurrecting the… Read More

Odds and Ends: WTO and 777X tax breaks; US airlines vs Middle East; Goldman and Boeing; ExIm Bank

WTO to examine 777X tax breaks: Well, we predicted this in November 2013 when Washington State extended the Boeing 787 tax breaks to the 777X. And it’s happened. The World Trade Organization is going to take a look… Read More