Skift Take

This week in aviation, flyers might be able to get ahead of summer storms by understanding how airlines rearrange their schedules. Plus Ryanair named its forthcoming CEO for the main airline, Spirit upgraded its seats, and United miles will no longer expire.

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.

U.S. Airlines Prioritize Some Flights Over Others When Summer Storms Hit: Want to keep your summer storm delays to a minimum? Try to fly between the largest cities and book flights on the biggest aircraft. It’s not a foolproof plan, but it helps. Airlines prioritize certain flights, and it helps to know what they are.

Spirit Airlines Will Offer Comfier Seats — For Free: Spirit Airlines is taking delivery of new aircraft, so this is an easy time for the airline to add more comfortable seats. The big question is will the airline pay to retrofit older jets to new standards? That’s an expensive proposition, but it would show the airline is paying attention to passenger desires.

U.S. Discount Carrier Sun Country Airlines Prepares for IPO: Frontier Airlines planned to IPO recently but pulled it back for unexplained reasons. Sun Country’s owners may see the market differently. Will it be the next U.S. airline to go public?

AirAsia Chief Tony Fernandes Takes On Added Role as CEO of Airline’s Website: AirAsia’s head honcho can’t wait to transform the airline — he’s in the driver’s seat for AirAsia.com and pulling in the best of his troop on the journey. Second-quarter results, just out, show a rather promising platform.

Ryanair Names Company Veteran as CEO of Main Airline: Given that Michael O’Leary is sticking around, you’ve got to wonder how much control the new Ryanair airline CEO will really have.

United Airlines Removes Expiration Dates From Frequent Flyer Miles: United’s decision to remove the expiration date from MileagePlus accounts is a small gesture toward improving the lives of its loyalty program members — and could eventually be key to its growth.

Thomas Cook Closes In on $1.1 Billion Rescue Deal: Thomas Cook’s chances of escaping its current financial mess still rest in the hands of Fosun and its creditors. While Wednesday’s announcement is good news for travelers and the company’s employees, there are still a number of hurdles to clear.

Skift Global Forum Preview: American Airlines Is No Longer in Survival Mode: American Airlines’ reputation has taken a hit recently among its best customers. The airline’s president recently even said scores on a key customer satisfaction metric have fallen. Can American get its mojo back?

How Avianca Brasil’s Exit From Star Alliance Will Affect South America: Avianca Brasil, the smaller regional cousin of Avianca Colombia, will leave the alliance on September 1. While some regional passengers may notice the lapse in service deeper in Brazil, most international travelers to the country won’t notice the vacuum.

TravelSky’s Performance Offers a View of China’s Slowing Air Travel Market: New data from China’s travel tech giant TravelSky shows that the country’s pace of air travel growth slowed in the first half of the year. But the country remained the fastest-growing region in the world in terms of aviation and traveling.

Scandinavian Airlines CEO Warns Airlines to Get Real Over Environment: Businesses invariably hate regulation, but sometimes it takes threats and fines to help change things for the better. Would airlines really be pushing their green credentials if consumers, governments, and the media weren’t asking difficult questions?

Airlines and Astronomers Grapple to Share Africa’s Skies: There’s a dark irony in the fact that, when planning the world’s largest radio telescope, nobody thought to look up. Now, astronomers and airlines in South Africa are battling to find a way to keep the skies quiet and air traffic flowing smoothly.

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Tags: aviation, Travel Trends, trends roundups

Photo credit: When summer storms hit, airlines have to make judgment calls about which flights to reschedule and how. American Airlines

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