Oldest

United Airlines

Fall is here for airlines and business travelers aren’t

Courtney Miller·September 2, 2020

As fall arrives, U.S. air traffic is still down 65%. Summer’s leisure travelers are receding at their anticipated seasonal pace, shifting the weight to fall business travel which has shown minimal recovery. This TAC Analysis expands our predictive sentiment model into the fall, illuminating the looming challenges for airlines in the coming months.

Scarce quality data on 787 skins as FAA peels back onion on Boeing

Jon Ostrower·September 8, 2020

On the evening of August 24, an 18-month old United Airlines Boeing 787-10 touched down at Newark Airport after a...

Six months into the pandemic, it’s even worse for airlines than we thought

Courtney Miller·September 15, 2020

Log-in here if you’re already a subscriber Release DateSeptember 15, 2020Six months into the pandemic, it’s even worse for airlines...

Furloughs, aircraft retirements put a ceiling on airline recovery

Courtney Miller·October 14, 2020

Airlines can’t get back to 2019 levels if they furlough staff and retire portions of their fleets. The expiration of the airline provisions in the U.S.’s CARES Act puts the industry’s recovery at risk as airlines decide whether to keep staff in the face of mounting losses.

Three Points: American to lead 737 Max return, Embraer’s hybrid STOUT, Apple and green aviation

Jon Ostrower·November 16, 2020

The FAA is poised to order the Boeing 737 Max ungrounded this week. American Airlines will lead the jet's return after the 20-month grounding. Embraer's conceptual hybrid-electric STOUT for the Brazilian Air Force breaks cover and looks even more interesting than its E3 turboprop study. Apple's path to developing its new ultra-efficient M1 chip is an instructive guide for the strategic future of green aviation.

Lessons of DC-10 grounding pave way for 737 Max return

Jon Ostrower·November 18, 2020

To try to make sense of what comes next for Boeing and the 737 Max, and what to avoid, we need to look backward again at McDonnell Douglas and its DC-10.

This United Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 was ticketed for delivery by the FAA on Nov. 30, 2020.

FAA grants Boeing first post-grounding 737 Max airworthiness certificates

Jon Ostrower·December 1, 2020

The Federal Aviation Administration on Monday granted its first post-grounding airworthiness certificate to a 737 Max, clearing the way for Boeing to resume deliveries, the U.S. aviation regulator confirmed.

On Dec. 22 Boeing and Alaska Airlines announced a restructured deal for 68 firm 737 Max aircraft.

Alaska maps its 2020s with Boeing and leaves Virgin strategy behind

Jon Ostrower·January 14, 2021

Log-in here if you’re already a subscriber Release DateJanuary 14, 2021Alaska maps its 2020s with Boeing and leaves Virgin strategy...

Fresh 737 Max scars spur quick FAA moves on P&W 777s

Jon Ostrower·February 25, 2021

The heavy impact of aviation's most acute contemporary crisis is only just beginning to be felt on regulatory relations.

Three Points: Boeing’s CFO retires, Martian Kitty Hawk, COVID in India

Jon Ostrower·April 20, 2021

Boeing's CFO, Greg Smith, is retiring. He had amassed a slate of responsibilities that had effectively made him as close to being CEO without actually getting the title. Aviation is now multi-planetary. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's helicopter, Ingenuity, successfully took flight on Mars. A new COVID-19 variant is ravaging India. The country had more cases on Monday than were found in the next 11 countries combined. The air travel link to and inside the planet's second most populous nation is at extreme risk.

The global aircraft fleet recovery is a tale of trifurcation

Courtney Miller·April 21, 2021

The global airline fleet is not recovering evenly. With global scheduled capacity up over 92% from April 2020, that metric serves better to illustrate just how terrible last April was than how good we find it in 2021. Compared to 2019, the global fleet is producing 53% fewer seat-miles. We’re a long way from where we were before the pandemic.

Three Points: Airbus supplier reintegration, 737 Max grounding grounding, a swift U.S. refleeting

Jon Ostrower·April 27, 2021

Airbus is bringing its biggest aerostructures suppliers home as part of a far-reaching strategy to deeply integrate both its design and supply chain architecture together for future aircraft. A batch of more than 100 recently-delivered Boeing 737 Max aircraft remain grounded following a design change that inadvertently interrupted safe electrical discharge inside areas of the flight deck. And since the start of the pandemic the U.S. has led new aircraft ordering globally by a large margin.