Airline News

Anyone who thought the three new online travel agency leaders — Jane Sun, Glenn Fogel, and Mark Okerstrom — intended to be mere caretakers of their predecessors’ policies and legacies would have been mistaken. To a large degree, they are stepping out into new territory.

One might be surprised to find Phoenix Sky Harbor at the top of any analyst's airport ranking, but based on accessibility, amenities, and on-time performance, it appears to deliver the best package in the country.

These are the aviation trends we were talking about this week.

Giant legacy companies the size of Air France-KLM have trouble innovating regardless of the industry. We can give it some credit for trying, but it's not clear the strategies outlined this week will markedly change the company's fortunes.

Since 2009, Air Canada has reinvented itself, taking delivery of new Boeing 787s, improving passenger cabins, and adding international routes to Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The airline's management, including Benjamin Smith, deserves credit for making Air Canada relevant again.

Delta just went public with the design of its premium economy product, which isn't too dissimilar from competitors' features. Expect to see Delta's in service in late 2017 with the A350.

If Virgin America was not expected to merge with Alaska Airlines, analysts likely would fret about Virgin America's falling unit revenue. But since Virgin America is now in limbo, waiting to see if it can close its merger, it's not clear how much the unit revenue decrease matters.

Lufthansa Group is about a decade late in realizing the European low cost carriers are a massive threat. But it's good to see the company trying to do something about it and expanding its Eurowings operation.

Airbnb seems increasingly focused on forming loyalty links with airlines, especially as the company prepares to branch out into other sectors of travel beyond just accommodations. Could an Airbnb loyalty program be far off?

Booking.com displaced Southwest's long-time hotel partner, Orbitz, on Southwest.com. Booking.com's pay-at-the-hotel system meshes much better with Southwest's flexible fare structure than did Orbitz's preponderous hotel bookings requiring prepayment. Booking.com's integration of its Rocketmiles acquisition on Southwest now makes total sense.