Gordon Smith

Japan Airlines is back in the lead, at least for now. After losing its profit crown to All Nippon in the early post-Covid years, JAL outperformed its rival again in 2025. More importantly, both carriers are thriving despite a complex landscape of shrinking Chinese traffic, U.S. tariffs, and stiff competition. In this week’s feature story, we explain how Japan’s two airline giants are staying ahead.

Milano Cortina 2026 is testing whether modern mega-events can function without a single dominant transport hub.

Big widebody orders grab the headlines, but relatively modest deals such as this one can still have an outsized impact on regional markets.

This is the latest example of Qantas pulling back from its overseas minority investments to focus on its core Australian brands. 

“Steady as she goes.” That’s Michael O’Leary’s latest assessment of Ryanair’s business – a phrase that feels almost understated coming from one of aviation’s most outspoken CEOs. But beneath the familiar bluster, the numbers tell a quietly impressive tale. In this week’s feature story, we look past the theatrics to examine why Europe’s largest low-cost carrier remains one of the industry’s steadiest performers.

Wizz Air’s U.S. filing looked like the opening whistle on a transatlantic push, but management says it was just a paperwork technicality. However, World Cup charters could still come off the bench.

We’ve seen Star Wars, Pokémon, and Hello Kitty jets, but a fully gold widebody takes the concept to its gleaming extreme.

Following a very public clash with Elon Musk, Michael O’Leary acknowledges that onboard Wi-Fi will soon be ubiquitous, but Ryanair won’t absorb the cost until the tech aligns with the economics.

United Airlines is feeling good. After another strong earnings report last week, CEO Scott Kirby took aim at rivals with unmistakable confidence. United, he insists, now belongs in an exclusive club at the very top of the U.S. airline industry. But how durable is that swagger? In this week’s feature story, we dig into United’s success and discover how it’s closing the margin gap with Delta despite clear structural disadvantages.

Europe’s legacy business class meal may no longer reflect how passengers eat – or how airlines want to operate.