Swine flu: the dark side of international air travel

The outbreak and rapid spread of the H1N1 swine influenza virus in Mexico and now the United States puts policymakers and business leaders in a difficult position vis-a-vis air travel. Pandemics exploit all the virtues of the air travel boom of the past few decades — a system that transports people and goods for travel, [...]

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International airline alliances in the spotlight

I’ve done several off-blog items on the subject of international airline alliances lately. Here they are:

The Airplane Geeks podcast with Max and Court
A guest post on the Cranky Flier
An IAG podcast with Addison Schonland

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“There’s no part of our operation that government can’t find a way to improve.”

TEMPE — Echoing Doug Parker’s plea for the government to “do no harm” to the airline industry, C. A. Howlett, US Airways’ top government affairs officer, outlined the challenges the industry — and US Airways in particular — face in the policy environment. His primary focus was the pending FAA reauthorization bill. Put off since [...]

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US Airways’ Doug Parker on challenges for the airline industry

TEMPE — US Airways chairman and CEO Doug Parker opened the airline’s annual media day with remarks on the state of the airline industry, pointing out financial, political, and labor-related challenges in the year ahead and calling on airline managers to change the way they think about industry competition.
Parker has long been an apostle of [...]

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Continental’s Kellner (and US’s Parker) revisit reregulation

TEMPE — US Airways’ media day program is about to begin, but I wanted to share this non-US related interview by Loren Steffy from the Houston Chronicle:

Larry Kellner served me a cup of coffee with the aplomb of a veteran flight attendant, and then, a few moments later, served up a stunning comment about the [...]

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ATA conference call on airlines’ environmental performance

Since fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions correlate nearly exactly, U.S. airlines have a financial incentive to improve their environmental performance. According to officials at the Air Transport Association, the national trade group for commercial airlines, environmental performance continues to improve and other initiatives are on deck.
Speaking in a conference call with several aviation bloggers, [...]

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Obesity rule upheld in Canada

I don’t know why the blogosphere has erupted over this just now (I saw several posts on the subject in my non-aviation-related categories on Google Reader), but I’ll mention it: the Canadian Transport Agency’s January ruling on obese travelers was challenged by Air Canada and WestJet, upheld by a lower court, and appealed to Canada’s [...]

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Delta-Northwest is a go: Justice Department

The Justice Department announced today that its Antitrust Division has found that “the proposed merger between Delta and Northwest is likely to produce substantial and credible efficiencies that will benefit U.S. consumers and is not likely to substantially lessen competition.” This clears the way for Delta and Northwest to merge officially. It was not an [...]

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Listen to the Airplane Geeks podcast

Can’t get enough of the Aviation Policy Blog? Want to listen to me geek out and generally make a fool of myself for an hour? Then listen to this week’s Airplane Geeks Podcast! We talk a lot about the thirtieth anniversary of deregulation, but we touch on a number of other matters, too.
Thanks to Max [...]

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What’s wrong with commercial aviation?

My story in The American magazine is now up on its website. Here’s the lede: “Thirty years ago this October, the era of affordable mass air travel was unleashed. Why was this revolution stalled, and what can be done to finish it?”

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