Aviation

The certification that Boeing chased for the better part of a decade arrived on Monday. The strange part is how little of the market was waiting for it. The FAA granted Boeing an amended type certificate for the 737 MAX 7 on 3 August, clearing the smallest member of the MAX family for commercial service. The approval closes one of the longest-running certification programmes in modern aviation. Boeing first targeted 2019. It arrives roughly seven years late, having been groun

United Airlines' decision to reportedly fire a number of senior flight attendants accused of selling trips to their colleagues shines a spotlight on a much larger issue at the heart of airline labour negotiations: whether seniority-based systems, fiercely protected by unions, are still the fairest way to allocate work. According to reports, experienced flight attendants allegedly secured highly desirable international destinations like Paris or Rome through United's seniority

The busiest travel weeks of the year are being decided not in boardrooms but by the weather over New York, and the system is buckling. Over 10,000 flights were delayed within, into or out of the United States on Sunday, with heavy rain and thunderstorms across the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest the primary cause. The FAA issued ground stops at seven major airports and warned that stoppages would continue into Monday. More than 1,450 flights were cancelled nationwide by S

The controller pipeline ran dry. Jet fuel doubled in five weeks. And the regulator began capping traffic at major airports because the airspace could no longer safely absorb it. Between them, those three explain this summer far better than any story about a single carrier's failings. The shortage of controllers As of June 2026, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was running roughly 3,000 certified air traffic controllers short of its own staffing target, around 10,800

The US carriers spent July raising fares into the strongest travel demand in years. Then the fuel market moved, and the maths came undone in real time. American Airlines was ready to lift its 2026 profit forecast at the start of the month. Thirteen days later, with its projected fuel bill for the rest of the year up by nearly $1.6bn, it cut the outlook instead. Shares fell 8 per cent on the 23rd. Chief financial officer Devon May told Reuters margins would likely be down acro

American Airlines posted the biggest quarterly revenue in its history this month. Investors sold the stock anyway. The carrier reported record second-quarter revenue of $16.7 billion, up 16.3% year over year, and adjusted earnings of 15 cents a share against a consensus estimate of three cents. Shares fell 7.8% to $13.64 as Wall Street looked past the top line to the fuel bill. Fuel expense rose by more than $2.2 billion, or 83%, in a single quarter; American clawed back near

Airline guidance used to have a shelf life of a quarter. This month it has been closer to a fortnight. American Airlines was preparing to raise its 2026 forecast in early July. Thirteen days later, with its projected fuel bill for the rest of the year up by almost $1.6 billion, it cut instead. The stock fell 8% on Thursday, even though second-quarter adjusted earnings of 15 cents a share tripled Wall Street's expectation and revenue rose more than 16% to $16.74 billion. The c

The great fuel reckoning arrived this week, and it landed unevenly. American Airlines cut its full-year forecast on Thursday for the second time, telling investors it now expects anywhere from a 65-cent adjusted loss per share to a 65-cent gain. Shares fell roughly 8% in early trading. Revenue for the quarter climbed 16% to $16.74 billion and unit revenues rose 10%, but higher fares were not enough to swallow this year's fuel spike. Adjusted earnings came in at 15 cents a sha

United Airlines opened the airline earnings calendar this week with a paradox investors are still digesting: strong demand, record unit revenue, and a nearly $6 billion fuel bill hanging over the rest of the year. The Chicago carrier reported second-quarter results on July 15 that topped Wall Street estimates, with revenue up 16% year on year to $17.67 billion and adjusted earnings of $1.99 a share against expectations near $1.85. Total unit revenue rose 12.1%, the fastest pa

United Airlines opened the sector's second-quarter reporting cycle this week with a result that captured the industry's central tension: robust travel demand running headlong into a fuel bill nobody saw coming. The Chicago carrier beat Wall Street on both lines. Revenue climbed 16 per cent year on year to $17.67 billion, with unit revenue up 12.1 per cent, the strongest showing since early 2023. Premium, corporate and basic economy all delivered, and cargo revenue surged 23 p

Delta Air Lines walked into the summer's first earnings print carrying the largest quarterly fuel bill in its history. It walked out having reaffirmed its full-year guidance, lifted its dividend and dragged the entire sector up with it. The Atlanta carrier reported $19.8 billion in GAAP operating revenue for the June quarter and $2.44 in earnings per share, with $1.56 adjusted — ahead of the $1.51 analysts had penciled in. Full-year adjusted EPS guidance held at $6.50 to $7.5

The U.S. airline industry is flying its busiest-ever summer straight into a fuel wall, and Wall Street blinked first. Airline shares sold off sharply this week as American Airlines dropped 5 percent, United fell 4 percent, and Delta and JetBlue slipped 3 percent, while the U.S. Global Jets ETF fell 3 percent, confirming a sector-wide event rather than a single-name stumble. The trigger was another jump in crude, driven by renewed Middle East supply fears as fresh U.S.-Iran mi

Two stories are defining the American airline industry this week, and both trace back to the same brutal truth: the budget model is being remade in real time, and the system underneath it is straining. The first is opportunistic. Starting July 5 and 6, Frontier Airlines began flying eight former Spirit routes, adding 16 new one-way options across popular U.S. markets. The launches include daily Boston-Orlando, Dallas-New Orleans and Detroit-Fort Lauderdale service, with intro

The last day of a fiscal quarter is sacred at Boeing. It is when the planemaker rushes finished jets out the factory door to book the revenue that keeps Wall Street patient. This June 30, the door jammed. A widespread IT outage swept Boeing facilities from Washington State to Florida on Tuesday, significantly disrupting both commercial and military production on the single most financially consequential day of the quarter. The company completed some handovers, but final comme

US carriers are flying into the busiest summer in aviation history — and quietly bracing for it to break. Airlines for America projects 271 million passengers worldwide between June 1 and August 31, a 6.3% jump over last summer and the highest figure ever recorded. American Airlines alone is preparing to move 75 million customers across roughly 750,000 flights, the busiest summer in its history. This is not, executives insist, a soft demand environment. July international boo

Seven weeks after Spirit Airlines went dark, the carrier that defined American budget travel is back in the headlines — this time as a name on an auction block, and a cautionary tale shaping a suddenly buoyant industry. Texas-based Mooney International has submitted a bid to acquire the Spirit brand and related assets out of bankruptcy liquidation, court filings show. Mooney said its proposal would combine operations involving Spirit Airlines, Mooney International and SEAir u

In a procurement decision that doubles as a statement of intent, the Federal Aviation Administration this week awarded a 12-year, $875m contract to Air Space Intelligence, a Boston startup, to build the artificial intelligence system that will reshape how America manages its skies. The deal, announced Monday by Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, covers a platform known as SMART, short for Strategic Management of Airspace, Routes, and Traj

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), which represents 28,000 cabin crew at American Airlines, has raised concerns about the length of training modules that crew members are required to finish. The union argues that the modules have been extended over time to pack in as much content as possible. This has caused unrest as American Airline flight attendants argue it is not possible to complete the training within the 8-hour window they are paid for. By way o

For nearly a decade, American Airlines watched from the sidelines while its two biggest rivals quietly stockpiled long-haul jets. That changed this week. At the carrier's annual shareholders meeting on 10 June, chief executive Robert Isom confirmed that American has issued a request for proposals to both Airbus and Boeing for a new generation of widebody aircraft, its first such order since committing to the Boeing 787 in 2018. Isom framed the move as routine long-term planni

A skydiving flight that crashed moments after takeoff in rural western Missouri on Sunday has killed all twelve people aboard, making it one of the deadliest US skydiving incidents in decades and handing federal investigators a fresh aviation disaster to unpick. The single-engine Pacific Aerospace 750XL went down at around 11:30 a.m. near Butler Memorial Airport, roughly 60 miles south of Kansas City, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol. Eleven skydivers and the pi