Qantas Wants a 20-Hour Nonstop Flight and 6 Other Aviation Trends This Week

Throughout the week we post dozens of original stories, connecting the dots across the travel industry, and every weekend we sum it all up. This weekend roundup examines aviation.

For all of our weekend roundups, go here.

>>If this works at scale, it’ll be appreciated by travelers in hub airports, where there’s often not enough time to grab food between flights. But reliably delivering food to passengers waiting at gates is logistically difficult, if not impossible. We’ll see if these new services can pull it off: New Apps for the Airport Promise to Feed Time-Crunched Travelers Fast

>>Air Berlin’s potential absorption into Lufthansa may foreshadow fewer clean connections for American Airlines travelers heading to continental Europe, while United customers may see a benefit: Business of Loyalty: Oneworld Alliance Has a New Hole in Its European Network

>>Clear’s user experience has evolved significantly since its launch, and the service bears a look from supertravelers — and potentially beyond: Clear Strives to Become an Airport Security Alternative for Supertravelers

>>Do airline passengers want to resolve issues by using one of five video kiosks in an airport terminal? Perhaps some do, but we’re betting many will find their phones just as useful. This seems like it would have a been a novel announcement in 2009: Delta Air Lines Will Take Some Customer Service Calls via Video Chat

>>We know it takes a long time to retrofit airplanes. And we know airlines hate to remove planes from service. But we wish Alaska could work faster to add speedy Wi-Fi. Three years is a long time to wait: Alaska Airlines Will Finally Add Speedy Wi-Fi on All of Its Big Jets

>>KLM is a little less reliant on Chinese customers than other major airlines, but it’s good to see the Dutch carrier taking the chance on a new way of accepting payments. We’re betting it’ll work out well for KLM. And we suspect other airlines will follow: KLM Becomes First Non-Chinese Airline to Accept WeChat Pay

>>There have been so many advances in aviation in the past couple of decades that there are almost no routes between major world cities a modern airliner cannot fly. Sydney to New York and London are two of those routes. But perhaps not for long: Qantas Wants to Fly Nonstop From Sydney to London and New York by 2022