Airline News

With good management, this ultra low-cost airline strategy is profitable just about everywhere. The key? Airlines like Viva Aerobus must be fanatical about costs, and they must provide the cheapest fares, all the time. They also should treat their customers fairly.

This week in aviation news, airlines manage to hold onto their customers despite some unpopular actions, whether its devaluing miles or dragging someone off a plane.

Yes, airline frequent flyer programs probably were more lucrative a decade ago. But savvy travelers can still get a lot of value out of the programs and their affiliated credit cards.

Did customers book away from United Airlines after security officers called by the airline beat up a passenger in Chicago? Probably not, considering how well the airline performed financially in the second quarter.

Here's a prediction. The Trump administration may do little on the Open Skies debate. Yes, U.S. airlines probably suffer because of the agreements with Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. But plenty of other U.S. interests take advantage of the same agreements to make money.

No, these special airline VIP lobbies are not new. But all three full-service U.S. airlines are investing in them, with each trying to one-up the other. If you're a regular coach customer, you likely don't care. But if you have access to these lobbies, you're probably pleased.

Not every travel business needs to have a formal loyalty or rewards program to have loyal customers. But if you're going to go that route, you better know what you're getting into. And for some companies, it might be time to reconsider doing without.

It's 2017. According to SITA, 98 percent of airline passengers fly with at least one mobile device. It's amazing that so many passengers still prefer to the face-to-face experience at airports. It's a lot slower than self-service, and often less effective.

This week, airlines split the difference between profitability and customer satisfaction. SAS competes with both low-cost and legacy carriers, and Skift gets an inside look at designing a new coach seat.

Building a coach airline seat is not like creating home furniture. Building stuff for aircraft is remarkably complicated. We got an inside look recently at the production center for an aircraft seat maker. Here's some of what we learned.