Airline News

From finding things to do, to making spontaneous bookings, and more, mobile has a role to play at each part of the in-destination journey. Travel brands that can add value to this mobile journey have a lot to gain.

This week in aviation, we're a little skeptical of JetBlue saying it's not worried about competing with its founder, who may be starting a new airline as soon as 2020.

The so-called soft product is often the first to get the knife as airlines undergo turnarounds. Thanks to patient, long-term investors and the desire to be customer-centric, Cathay is investing in its lounges and end-to-end experiences even in the middle of a business turnaround.

U.S. airlines can reach some Western European airports profitably with narrow-body aircraft. But even the best narrow-body aircraft have some range issues. If it wants to fly to Europe, JetBlue will need to decide whether it can do so with the A321LR, or whether it should wait for a longer-range aircraft.

Consumers are starting to realize that the negative effects of our increasing technology usage are very real. Airline industry leaders recently discussed what this means for the experiences they offer.

JetBlue's president and its CEO say they're not worried about competing with JetBlue's founder, David Neeleman, who may be starting a new U.S. airline as soon as 2020. Behind the scenes, we bet it's not their favorite idea. But we do believe they're not surprised Neeleman wants back in. Even since Neeleman was pushed out of JetBlue, insiders expected he would return someday.

Lufthansa Group's Airlinecheckins.com may not be the most amazing innovation ever, but considering it only took about 30,000 euros to build, the return on investment has been impressive. The platform allows customers to check in for flights on more than 200 airlines. And as the facilitator, Lufthansa gets a lot of data about passenger preferences.

This week in aviation, we weighed the pros and cons of something flyers take for granted: drinking on board. Carriers don't want drunk, belligerent passengers, but they also don't want to lose their reliable booze revenue, either.

Ryanair hasn't had the best year. Its reputation took a hit recently when it was forced to cancel thousands of flights because of pilot scheduling issues. But the customers have come back. Why? Cheap fares. It's the secret sauce.

Some people get drunk and cause a scene on airplanes. It's horrible, and it shouldn't happen. But are airlines at fault? No way.