Aviation

There is a line buried in airline annual reports that tends to get overlooked in good times. Fuel costs are, the reports note, "extremely volatile and unpredictable, and even a small change in market fuel prices can significantly affect profitability." Southwest Airlines wrote that in its 2025 filing. Weeks later, it became the understatement of the year. When the US and Israel struck Iran on 28 February 2026, the airline industry's most intractable cost problem moved from ch

Washington's long-standing resistance to airline consolidation may be softening, and Sean Duffy wants you to know where the administration stands. The Transportation Secretary used a CNBC appearance Tuesday to signal that the White House is open to mergers among U.S. carriers — a marked departure from the aggressive anti-consolidation posture of the Biden years. "President Trump, he loves to see big deals happen," Duffy said. The comment, brief as it was, landed like a flare

On 26 March 2026, United Airlines and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) announced a tentative agreement covering approximately 30,000 cabin crew members. On paper, it is a landmark deal. The airline says it will make its flight attendants the best-paid in the American airline industry, with top hourly wages reaching $100 by the end of the contract's five-year term and immediate pay increases kicking in the moment ratification is confirmed. The total package is su

USTN sat down with Airlines for America (A4A) to get an industry-wide view on some of the most pressing economic issues facing the aviation industry. A4A is the trade association for the leading U.S. airlines, both passenger and cargo, with members including American Airlines, Delta, and United.    This is the second iteration of USTN’s ‘Ask the Expert’ interview series, and we encourage our readers to submit any query they have regarding airline financials for our next resid

Two Canadian pilots are dead and more than 40 people were hospitalised after an Air Canada Express regional jet collided with a Port Authority fire truck on a runway at LaGuardia Airport late Sunday night, in what is shaping up to be the most serious U.S. aviation incident in years. Air Canada Express Flight AC8646, a CRJ-900 operated by Jazz Aviation, was arriving from Montreal when it struck a Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting vehicle on Runway 4 at approximat

The framework for a safer American airspace exists on paper. The politics of building it remain, for now, one vote short. Sixty-seven people died when an American Airlines regional jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter collided over the Potomac River in January 2025. Fourteen months later, the legislation designed to prevent it happening again has stalled in the House, defeated not by opposition, but by a last-minute Pentagon withdrawal that cost supporters the two-thirds maj

Washington has a new instrument of culture war: the Operations Specification. On February 13, the Federal Aviation Administration issued OpSpec A134 — "Merit-Based Pilot Hiring" — a mandatory directive requiring every U.S. commercial carrier to formally certify that its pilots were hired purely on qualification, experience and technical aptitude. Airlines that fail to comply, the Department of Transportation warned, will face federal investigation. Transportation Secretary Se

A Leader Running Out of Road There is something almost theatrical about watching the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) President Sara Nelson lecture airline CEOs about how labor deals should be done given that United flight attendants have been working without a new contract since August 2021. Under her leadership, they have endured four years of stalled negotiations, stagnant wages, and false promises. The only output from AFA-CWA to date has been a tentative agreem

The State Department issued an urgent call this week for all American citizens across the Middle East to leave immediately, as U.S. combat operations against Iran — launched on February 28 — triggered a cascading series of airspace closures, flight cancellations, and diplomatic emergencies stretching from Bahrain to the UAE. The advisory, which now covers fifteen countries including Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and the UAE, represents one of the most sw

American airlines are scrambling to suspend flights and redraw route networks across the Middle East following the outbreak of conflict between the United States and Iran, delivering a fresh blow to an industry that had only recently returned to record profitability. Major carriers have halted passenger and freighter services across the region, mirroring moves by international operators including Emirates and Flydubai, which paused operations for nearly three days before caut

The CEO that 28,000 flight attendants want fired just got a public endorsement from the most powerful flight attendant in the world. Here's what's really going on. Less than two weeks after American Airlines' mainline flight attendant union issued the first vote of no confidence against a CEO in its nearly 50-year history, something remarkable happened: Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA) and widely regarded as the most influential labor l

Robert Isom became CEO of American Airlines in 2022 American Airlines is one of the world's largest carriers. It flies millions of passengers every year, generates tens of billions in revenue, and employs a workforce that spans the globe. So when its own employees publicly declare they have lost faith in the person running the show, it is worth paying attention. CEO Robert Isom, who took the helm nearly four years ago, is now facing what may be the most serious internal leade

Key Points Canadian travel to the U.S. remains at record lows under the Trump administration. Major Canadian airlines have all reduced their flights to smaller U.S. cities. One Canadian carrier is now phasing out its last flights to Florida by the summer of 2026. Amid President Donald Trump’s repeated targeting of the country with threats and insults, Canadian travel to the U.S. has remained at record low levels . This is despite early analyst predictions that the initial nos

International airlines are suspending flights to Cuba as the nation continues to face a worsening fuel shortage. As a result, Canada and the UK have both issued government advisories warning their citizens against unessential travel to the Caribbean island. The fuel crisis began after US authorities instituted a blockade against Venezuela's oil shipments to Cuba, cutting off a significant portion of the island's supply. The situation escalated on February 9, when Cuban aviat

American Airlines announced Thursday it has chosen CFM International to supply engines for its upcoming Airbus A321neo aircraft deliveries. The decision continues the airline's existing partnership with CFM for its current A321neo fleet, helping streamline operations and reduce costs. American Airlines announced Thursday that it has chosen CFM International to supply engines for its future fleet of Airbus A321neo aircraft. The major U.S. airline had ordered 260 new planes in

In an extremely competitive world of US commercial aviation, where mergers, bankruptcies, and rebrands have wiped out once solid brand names like Pan Am , Eastern, and TWA, a handful of carriers have quietly stood the test of time. These airlines began flying in aviation’s earliest commercial era and, remarkably, continue to operate today under recognizable original identities. Their centennial and near-centennial stories are about constant reinvention. They embody the turbul

Two A320neos barely four years old are being torn apart in an Arizona desert, making them the youngest next-generation airframes ever dismantled Two Airbus A320neo aircraft that were flying Spirit Airlines passengers just months ago are now being stripped for parts at a facility in Goodyear, Arizona. The jets are three-and-a-half and four years old respectively — making them the youngest A320neo airframes ever to be scrapped. It is a stark illustration of just how far the onc

American, Delta and United collectively generated over $170 billion in revenue in 2025. Yet for every dollar that comes in, airlines keep just four cents in profit. Understanding how the other 96 cents gets consumed explains why the airline business remains, as Warren Buffett put it, "the worst sort of business … one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money." Here is how a single dollar of airline revenue gets

The crisis engulfing American Airlines CEO Robert Isom deepened this week as the Allied Pilots Association declared it has "lost confidence in management's ability to correct course," adding to a growing revolt from the carrier's workforce over chronic underperformance. The APA, representing more than 16,000 pilots, wrote to the airline's board of directors on 6th February demanding that union president Captain Nick Silva be granted a direct audience with the board to present

American, Delta and United collectively generated over $170 billion in revenue in 2025. Yet for every dollar that comes in, airlines keep just four cents in profit. Understanding how the other 96 cents gets consumed explains why the airline business remains, as Warren Buffett put it, "the worst sort of business … one that grows rapidly, requires significant capital to engender the growth, and then earns little or no money." Here is how a single dollar of airline revenue gets