The Biggest Airline Innovation of This Century
Skift Take
Airlines have innovated a lot since Skift Airline Weekly's launch in June 2004, but there's one innovation that we think radically changed the industry.
When Skift Airline Weekly started publishing in 2004, it was a vastly different world. Think of it—YouTube launched that year in a world without smartphones, and the internet was something we accessed from desktop computers. In the airline world, B747s plied between the big hubs that still dominated networks. There have been many innovations in the airline world: Ancillary revenues, online booking, apps, and other tech and business-model innovations — but there’s one we think stands out.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Let’s look at why. In 2004, neither the B787 nor the A380 had yet taken to the skies, although the A380 would make its debut shortly after we began publishing. And what a debut it was. Airbus, after planning for a double-deck aircraft since the 1990s, finally had one that could challenge Boei
