Airlines

Asiana Airlines Faces Accounting Questions

Kyungji Cho, Bloomberg

Airline financing is a complex business and Asiana understandably is trying to play down the impact of an auditor's assessment. Still, the decision may have repercussions.

Jet Airways Chairman Quits as Creditors Assert Control

Anurag Kotoky, Bloomberg

Jet Airways is now firmly in the hands of its creditors but will they be able to find someone else to take it over?

Boeing Intends to Share Plans for 737 Max Fixes With Airlines, Regulators This Week

Kyunghee Park, Bloomberg

With airlines grounding 737 Max flights, and orders being at stake, Boeing is at pains to work closely with airline customers and regulators on software and training updates for the aircraft, which has crashed twice in less than five months.

Skift Global Forum Recap: How Airlines Can Maximize the Results of Ancillary Merchandising

Airlines have reaped huge rewards in recent years from sales of ancillary products. But as we discovered during this Skift Global Forum panel, their future success is by no means assured. Airlines will need to learn to think more like retailers, using what they know about customers to deliver the right products and services that meet passengers’ constantly changing needs.

The Delicate Balance of Discount Tickets and 8 Other Aviation Trends this Week

Isaac Carey, Skift

This week in aviation, Alaska and United negotiate how many last-minute seats they're willing to leave open, the CEO of British Airways opens up about the airline's troubles, and Emirates' investment in entertainment technology makes its customer experience top-notch.

JetBlue’s Founder Prepares To Take Portugal’s National Airline Public

Henrique Almeida, Bloomberg

Super-entrepreneur David Neeleman saved Portugal's national airline and deserves credit for it. But like the United States, Europe is dominated by a few mega carriers. TAP doesn't have the scale to compete everywhere, so it will be interesting to see how the airline evolves.

Understanding Boeing’s Relationship With the FAA’s Safety Regulators

Peter Robison and Margaret Newkirk, Bloomberg

Even defenders of the special relationship note that the FAA's inspection team is under-staffed and underfunded. Let's start there.

Wow Air Moves On After Frontier Owner Bails on Talks

Patrick Whyte, Skift

If Indigo Partners isn't willing to invest, we're betting that things don't look pretty at Wow Air. Will the struggling carrier survive?

United Becomes First Airline to Add Gender Identifications for Non-Binary Flyers

Sean O'Neill, Skift

United is the first U.S. airline to let its passengers pick a gender option other than male or female when booking tickets. Delta and other carriers said last month that they plan to make similar moves shortly. We’re with they/them.

Indonesia’s Garuda Wants to Cancel $4.8 Billion Boeing Order

Fathiya Dahrul and Harry Suhartono, Bloomberg

With the Max aircraft currently grounded across the world, we should probably expect more carriers try to get out of their orders over the coming months.

American Airlines and China Southern Launch Frequent Flyer Partnership

Grant Martin, Skift

American's loyalty members may no longer have to worry about the mixed messages coming from China Southern and its plans to join the Oneworld Alliance. With a new partnership, frequent flyers on both carriers will now be able to reap benefits — with or without China Southern playing a role in Oneworld.

China’s Comac May Sell Its First Aircraft to an Overseas Carrier Soon

Bruce Einhorn and Moses Mozart Dzawu, Bloomberg

Ghana’s AWA (Africa World Airlines) may order Comac's regional jets this month. The carrier would be among the first overseas customers for Comac's commercial aircraft. But the airline is partly owned by China’s HNA Group, which makes it less of a coup than it first appears. Boeing, Airbus, and Embraer may still have some years yet until they compete in jet sales with Comac.