Marisa Garcia

A new plane is only as cool as the ambitions it reveals about the airline, and TAM is certainly ambitious right now.

Self-service is the future, but not everyone is ready for that. Having systems that can switch back and forth between full-service and self-service is a very smart solution.

Looking back on a year’s worth of news in aviation paints a picture of an industry that is eager to innovate for the future. Now that airlines are more profitable, they can afford to be more ambitious with their passenger experience improvement programs. Let’s hope the industry continues rising, and moving closer to a better future of flight in 2016 and beyond.

The extra room in cargo could be used to fit more passenger luggage (airlines make a nice profit from that) but most already travel with enough baggage. New ways to structure the cabin, using lost space in the hold to improve the passenger experience, would be most welcome.

We are entering the era of tailor-made travel as airlines get smarter about how they gather and process data on their passengers’ preferences and common booking habits, and apply that knowledge to suggest products and experiences to their customers. This more intelligent digitalized up-selling will also do wonders for airlines’ bottom lines.

The point IATA makes is that airlines do benefit from and are interested in having happy customers. Schaaf says that proof of the pudding is in the airlines which pay good money to buy this report from the Association.

That IATA is as concerned about Brazil as it is about Venezuela and Argentina says quite a lot. Aviation's World-Cup woes in Brazil have carried over to the Olympics, and Brazil's troubles are reaching beyond its borders to drag down the entire Latin American aviation sector.

Let's hope that Tyler's future replacement--whoever she or he might be--will share views on gender diversity and add fostering gender diversity to the many industry agendas the Association supports.

Airlines are getting better at managing themselves as businesses, and the result is showing up on their bottom lines. But some of these gains come from consolidation, and are limited to the U.S.. On the whole, airlines are always vulvernable to reversals from changes in policy, fuel costs, or events they can't predict.

Vertical seat design (3D) offers a way to make more passengers happy than horizontal lay-out alone can accomplish. It’s unfamiliar. It’s odd-looking. That makes it a little bit scary, to some. But, after 100 years of flight, perhaps it’s time for a radical change in direction.