Skift Take

This week in aviation, we look at Max fallout for Ryanair and Air Canada. Plus United cracks down on travelers who book tickets to cities they don't intend to visit in order to snag a cheaper fare.

Airline News Weekly Roundup

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.

United Airlines Confronts Ticketing Ploy That Nets Travelers Cheaper Fares: Airlines hate so-called hidden-city ticketing. They believe it flouts their fare rules and threatens how they do business. But are they being too aggressive as they try to thwart it?

Ryanair CEO Slams Boeing for Not Having Its (Expletive) Together on Max Issues: Ryanair’s CEO sounds like he is rapidly losing patience with Boeing over the Max delays. Airlines clearly want to start flying it as soon as possible but only when it is declared safe.

Air Canada Pays 737 Max Pilots to Not Fly as Grounding Drags On: Air Canada bet on the Boeing 737 Max to refresh its fleet and reduce its operating costs. But it has not worked out as planned.

Air France-KLM Hints at Further Fleet Changes After Sealing Union Deal: Under newish CEO Ben Smith, Air France-KLM has improved its relationship with its unions. This new agreement will make it much easier for its French unit in particular to compete with low-cost rivals.

British Airways Owner Rips Into Heathrow Airport Over ‘Outrageous’ Expansion Costs: It’s strange to see an airport and its biggest customer at loggerheads. IAG CEO Willie Walsh is rapidly losing his patience with the expansion project, and the UK government might decide to follow suit.

How Bad Will It Get When Overtourism Meets Climate Change? The effects of climate change and overtourism on global destinations will converge over the course of the coming decades. Leaders need to start planning now for a world defined by overcrowding and limited resources.

Lufthansa Ready at Home in Germany for Long Battle With Low-Cost Rivals: Lufthansa had it pretty easy in its home market for a long time, but sustained low-cost competition has come at a bad time. It will be hoping a revamped Eurowings is enough to see off EasyJet and Ryanair.

New Philippine Airlines President Will Battle Budget Carriers’ Agility: No doubt Philippine Airlines’ call centers will be more cost-efficient and friendly, given its new president’s extensive background on this. But it will take more than that to beat those agile low-cost carriers.

United Invests in Clear to Offer Frequent Flyers Easier Screening: Clear doesn’t let you skip security screening at U.S. airport checkpoints, but its promise is to make the effort take less than five minutes consistently. Clearly United has heard from its most frequent customers that they value that consistency.

Skift Global Forum Preview: Delta CEO on Responsibility to Manage Footprints We Leave Behind: At most airlines, the advertising tagline is just for marketing. But Delta seems to take its tagline — “Keep Climbing” — a little more seriously than its competitors.

The Highest Paid Travel CEOs in Europe in 2018: Amadeus’ Luis Maroto came out on top in 2018. His executive compensation is appropriate, given that the company is the most valuable European travel firm.

MakeMyTrip Grows Despite Turbulence in India’s Airline Sector: The past year has been a horror show for India’s aviation sector. So MakeMyTrip deserves kudos for continuing to grow its air ticketing and overall sales despite the upheaval. But executives deserve criticism for the company’s relentless unprofitability.

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Tags: aviation, Travel Trends, trends roundups

Photo credit: United and American Airlines jets are pictured at Los Angeles International Airport in 2017. United is cracking down on hidden-city ticketing. Tomás Del Coro / Flickr

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