Brian Sumers, Skift
KLM CEO Pieter Elbers is one of the most respected airline managers in the world. But KLM is not an independent airline and ultimately he should be accountable to group CEO Ben Smith.
5 days ago
Brian Sumers, Skift
Southwest lags behind some of its competitors in credit card revenue. But it is working on fixing that.
5 days ago
Brian Sumers, Skift
Aeromexico blamed its fourth quarter operating loss on one-off items. To a large extent that's true. But the airline still has some looming problems, which is probably why it won't grow at all this year.
6 days ago
Brian Sumers, Skift
Customers like low-cost airlines, but no carriers so far have perfected the model for long-haul flights. It’s not clear they ever will.
1 week ago
Brian Sumers, Skift
New customers who apply for the Southwest credit card by Monday, February 11, and meet minimum spending requirements will earn one of the airline's companion passes for the rest of the year. The deal sounds too good to be true. But Southwest knows what it's doing. This is probably smart business.
2 weeks ago
Brian Sumers, Skift
We're often told that travel brands will soon know what we want to buy before we do. But few airlines are anywhere near that level.
2 weeks ago
Brian Sumers, Skift
Almost everything is improving at Spirit Airlines. Its on-time performance is getting better, and customer satisfaction is rising, according to the airline. More importantly for investors, ancillary revenue is up. Can the good times last?
2 weeks ago
Brian Sumers, Skift
U.S. regional airline Mesa Air Group has a relentless focus on costs. But with major carriers trying to increase their customer satisfaction scores, Mesa will need to raise its reliability to win and retain business.
2 weeks ago
Brian Sumers, Skift
Many airline executives believe the most important driver of customer satisfaction is reliability. American Airlines hasn't been pleased with its customer satisfaction scores, so it is trying to improve the basics of its operation. That's probably the right move. But does it also need to improve its product or brand image?
3 weeks ago
Brian Sumers, Skift
Let's say the aviation industry hadn't been affected by the government shutdown. Would President Trump have moved to reopen the government this week? Probably not. But aviation is important, and no one wanted to see more delays and cancellations.
4 weeks ago
Brian Sumers, Skift
It can take some airlines as long as a decade after a merger before they truly operate as one entity. But Alaska Airlines is working much faster to gobble up Virgin America. Part of that is because both carriers were relatively small. But by any standard, Alaska is moving quickly.
4 weeks ago
Brian Sumers, Skift
American Airlines President Robert Isom said customer satisfaction may be declining because the airline has not been as reliable as it should be. Is that the entire problem?
4 weeks ago
