Airline News

This week in aviation, we were mired in back-end tech issues, wondering how airlines can change the way they distribute inventory and accept payments.

The big three Gulf carriers are still very important, but because of a variety of reasons, they're no longer as scary as they were a few years ago. Still, this is good news for U.S. airlines.

Care to buy a plane ticket without needing a credit card? Soon a few airlines will test enabling air travelers to pay for their tickets by taking payments directly from consumer accounts. Three cheers for testing innovations.

We'd love to say we're surprised by this report. But we're not. Flight attendants have rough jobs, and passengers can be abusive.

Poor Gogo. Its stock is getting pummeled in public markets, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of hope among investors. How will the company respond?

It's hard to know what to make of this. There could be something there, or the inspector general's office could just be changing the scope of its audit of the FAA to placate several members of Congress.

Investors sometimes ask why Southwest Airlines has avoided straying too far from its roots. They wonder if it should assign seats, or add a business class cabin, or sell meals on board. But Southwest almost always prefers simplicity. Given how much WestJet — once a Southwest clone — has struggled as it has evolved, we now understand why Southwest is so conservative.

There hasn't been a new major airport built in the United States since 1995. Why? Well, politics can be tricky, as we're seeing in Mexico City. Its new airport is slated to begin accepting flights in 2020. But will it? The answer is probably yes, despite recent rumblings. But who knows.

This week in aviation, Southwest is still struggling to regain the favor of nervous customers, and the carrier expands in Hawaii.

How much of a future does Gogo have as an independent public company? We'll see. But it sounds like the new CEO is open to pursuing alternatives.