Duffy’s Xbox Controllers
How the FAA's gaming pitch drew a record 12,350 applications in a single hiring window The United States Federal Aviation Administration has spent the better part of a decade wrestling with a chronic shortage of air traffic controllers. This month, it tried something unorthodox: it asked video gamers to step up. The response was overwhelming. On 17 April 2026, the FAA opened its annual hiring window for trainee air traffic controllers with a recruitment campaign built around
Fuelling the Crisis: Aviation’s most dangerous vulnerability exposed
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
United Airlines and Its Flight Attendants Have a Tentative Agreement. We Have Been Here Before.
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
A4A Spokesperson: “Safety is and will always be our top priority”
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
U.S. AVIATION SAFETY LEGISLATION: ONE VOTE SHORT
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
Turbulence at the Top: American Airlines Faces a Leadership Crisis
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
