Airline News

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.

It's a tough time to be a small, full-service airline in Europe. But SAS CEO Rickard Gustafson is trying to ensure his airline can compete both with low cost airlines, like Norwegian, and massive legacy airlines like Lufthansa Group and Air France-KLM.

This week in aviation, we thought about customer desires. Flyers want low-cost options, comfortable cabins, and probably flight attendants who aren't getting sick from their uniforms.

Although Gatwick is strategically important for Norwegian, its multiple subsidiaries' model means that it should be largely immune, and might even benefit, if the pound continues to struggle.

Most passengers would love it if British Airways could keep flying a full schedule even while many of its flight attendants are on strike. But will regulators let British Airways wet-lease nine planes registered in Qatar?

American has defended its uniforms, but it received a lot of bad press for months. It finally decided to try to change the narrative by switching uniform providers. That was probably the right decision.

Is this a game-changer? No. But let's give Airbus some credit for making short-haul travel a little more pleasant. Too bad passengers must wait until 2020 to see the new cabins.

Does the UK have the resources to set up an aviation safety framework on its own or will it seek to stay in the European Aviation Safety Agency? The former would be unwise and the latter is seemingly at odds with the desire of Leave campaigners.

The move for Virgin's most loyal customers will be a hard one. But in return they get an airline that will take them so many more places.

This is probably a good business decision. Economy class fares from Asia to the United States and Europe are already low, because there's so much competition. The market probably doesn't need another entrant — at least for now. And who knows? Air Asia X might change its strategy at some point.