Category Archives for Airlines.
Lufthansa’s hypothetical thought experiment about a future world that differed from our own, in which they hadn’t cancelled the flight, might be ripe for a TV script – indeed, the writers are running out of ideas for the rest of 2020 – but carry no legal force.
United is instituting a new requirement for passengers to fly starting Tuesday, June 9. Everyone traveling on United will be required to complete a health screening as part of the check-in process, and confirm that they’re willing to wear a mask.
Under United’s new coronavirus rules I’m unlikely to ever be eligible to fly.
A key point for turning around an airline, or any business, is delivering a product customers will pay for. And when you’re not the low cost provider in the industry, you need to earn a revenue premium, and the details of the product therefore matter most.
Ten airlines combined to lose $4.65 billion on fuel hedging this year. Half of the losses belong to Lufthansa and to British Airways parent IAG. Germany bailed out a financial derivatives trading firm, as much as an airline.
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao isn’t ruling out another bailout and says it’s something to discuss and consider in the fall, if airlines need one.
However there was absolutely no reason to bail out the airlines and for the overall economy – and for workers who will lose their jobs anyway – the bailouts were actually destructive. Still, the President doesn’t want mass layoffs one month before the election.
American Airlines announced a huge leadership reorganization today, resulting from its effort to shed at least 30% of management staff. A number of Vice Presidents and Senior Vice Presidents are leaving – with voluntary exit packages more generous than what’s previously been disclosed publicly as part of this program – and that has meant reshuffling leadership roles.
Research shows us that the ban on travel from China by non-U.S. residents didn’t work. I had thought it came too late because the virus was already here, but looking at details of the virus itself it appears that wasn’t true. The virus cases that actually spread came after the ban. So the ban didn’t work.
A new investigation shows why the travel ban failed, and it isn’t the partisan reasons many people think.
While it makes tremendous sense for airlines to cut back their operations significantly in the face of reduced demand, if there was one airline that didn’t do this to nearly the same extent they could benefit in an outsized manner as travel began to return.
Since they’re still paying employees anyway, still making lease payments on planes (or own them), and fuel is cheap the variable costs of flights are fairly low. If one carrier could aggregate the bulk of demand it could be a better financial strategy than shrinking.
American Airlines is building is schedule back up domestically for July, re-opening Admirals Clubs, and improving its change fee waiver – while re-asserting one element of restrictions attached to its basic economy fares.
American Airlines is shrinking with a goal of at least 30% fewer management and support staff. That runs throughout the airline, including Vice Presidents and Senior Vice Presidents.
Over the past two days rumors have been swirling about which members of top leadership will depart, as the airline offers buy out packages. (At this level buy outs are richer than what’s been publicly reported for management staff.)
Very soon we’ll know which members of top management are leaving. I’ve heard whispers of top names all day.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
