Pontifications: An old pro thinks long-haul LCC model is about who loses the most money

March 26, 2018, © Leeham News: Long-haul, low-cost carriers are likely here to stay but the impact will be limited. This is the conclusion of Robert L. Crandall, former CEO of American Airlines, who faced the USA’s first… Read More

It’s time to unwind, get healthy, eat right and avoid jet lag, says Airbus’ Leahy

John Leahy has been with Airbus 33 years, holding his current position as COO-Customers for more than 20 of these. He retires this month. Jan. 15’s 2017 year-end Orders and Deliveries press conference will be his last. LNC… Read More

Pontifications: Boeing view of market conditions today

Sept. 14, 2015, © Leeham Co.: Randy Tinseth, Boeing’s VP Marketing, spoke with Bernstein Research last week on a variety of topics. In a note issued after the conversation, analyst Douglas Harned reported: “Boeing views the 140 orders to… 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

New American Airlines now a reality; big challenges ahead

December 6 passed without fanfare, but the New American Airlines is a reality. The first day of stock trading, under the symbol AAL, begins today. The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram–the hometown paper of the Ft. Worth-based AA–has this story,… Read More

Odds and Ends: Slowing sales; Airbus in Japan; MRJ delay; Crandall on merger

Slowing Jet Sales: Within a few days, Bloomberg, Reuters and The Seattle Times each had stories about slowing jet sales. Here is the Bloomberg story, focusing on cargo sales. Here is the Reuters story. Here is The Seattle… Read More

Replacing the 747-400

Replacing the venerable Boeing 747-400s remaining in passenger service is a prime objective of Boeing and of Airbus. The business case for their respective 747-8Is and A380s rests in large part on this approach, though for Airbus the… Read More

DOJ lawsuit vs AA-US reads like political document

Note: Some articles of interest: Robert Crandall, former CEO of American, has this op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal (via Google News, so it should be accessible to Readers). With the concentration of airline service that the… Read More

APA speaks about potential American-US Airways merger

From the Allied Pilots Association leadership to its membership: Fellow pilots, The APA Board of Directors reconvened today at 9 a.m. at union headquarters as part of the ongoing four-party negotiations between American Airlines and US Airways management,… Read More

Odds and Ends: E-190 v Superjet v BBD in Russia; China’s aviation; WestJet’s speed dating; Crandall speaks

E-190 v Superjet v Bombardier: With the finding that the pilot of the demo flight of the Sukhoi SSJ 100 Superjet simply flew into a mountain in Indonesia, rather than there being a problem with the airplane, the… Read More