Top 10 Airline Developments in 2018
Skift Take
The year 2018 was a good one collectively for the world’s airline industry. It can thank, among other things, robust premium demand on long-haul routes.
Was 2018 a good year or a bad year? Speaking collectively, airlines can’t complain. As IATA pointed out last week, industry profits should hit about $32 billon this year, good for a 7 percent operating margin.
This 7 percent comfortably exceeds the sector’s cost of capital. But IATA isn’t throwing any parties. That might sound like a lot of money, but $32 billion will be down from $38 billion. And it’s the lowest figure since 2014. The industry’s operating margins will also have declined for the third straight year. The fact is, 2018 was filled with pressure, most importantly from fuel prices, and with no shortage of economic and geopolitical headwinds. There were, of course bright spots too, especially on the demand side.
Here, in no particular order, are Skift Airline Weekly’s 10 most noteworthy developments of 2018:
1. New aircraft technology forges ahead, but with production headaches: It wasn’t the first year for the latest generation of A320s and B737s. But
