December 2018

Aviation continues to keep people and economies connected as more people fly each year. As the 125th anniversary of the Wright Brothers’ first flight’s was celebrated on Dec. 17, aviation enthusiasts and professionals had an opportunity to reflect on the progress the industry has made since the introduction of flight in 1903. Around the world, […]

Vinci Airports, the French conglomerate specialized in airport terminal management, has recently announced the acquisition of a 50.01 percent stake of London’s second-busiest airport, Gatwick. The total cost of the operation is estimated in $3.7 billion. Serving 46 million passengers per year, Gatwick is the eighth busiest airport in Europe and by far the busiest […]

Thai start-up carrier, Kom Airlines, signed a letter of intent Thursday to acquire six Superjet 100 jets (SSJ100s) from Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company as part of a Russia-Thailand economy panel. According to the agreement, Sukhoi will deliver the aircraft during the 2019-2020 period once the agreement is turned to a firm order in […]

U.K. independent consumer standards body Which? has released a report into disruptive airline passenger behavior. According to the results of a survey of airline passengers, 10 percent have said they have experienced ‘abuse, shouting or other obnoxiousness’ while traveling during 2018. In some cases, the behavior has been so disruptive that the flight has had […]

Germany’s Hannover Airport has been closed after reports that an individual drove a car through a gate near the main runway. The car, which is reported to have Polish license plates, breached the gate at around 3:40 p.m. local time, before the driver was ‘overwhelmed’ by police. Incoming and outgoing flights have been suspended until […]

I recently had the opportunity to spend a week in Germany – always a good destination during Christmas market season – and of course, one of the best parts about it was getting to spend some time on an aircraft again. While there were several options to fly me from Frankfurt to Toronto, I decided not […]

Japanese carrier ANA has announced that it will begin operating its new Airbus A380 aircraft in May of 2019. The carrier, which has an order of three A380s, has said that the aircraft will be used exclusively for its Tokyo to Honolulu routes, a popular route catering mainly to tourists. ANA received the A380 orders […]

Over the course of the past week, news has slowly emerged regarding the attempt of four airlines to hinder the striking growth of Ethiopian Airlines, which many around the continent see as a threat to the emergence of smaller carriers around Africa. As originally reported by Kenya’s East African, Air Mauritius, South African Airways, RwandAir and […]

With low-cost transatlantic carriers digging into the bottom lines of major airlines, the response by many has been to reduce services and increase revenue through ancillary fees. However, the International Airlines Group (IAG), the parent company of airlines such as British Airways, Iberia and Aer Lingus, had decided to take a different approach by starting […]

In the previous article, we discussed privatization through public share issuance, with the example being British Airways. The airline was run by the government and through the issuance of public stock, the company was privatized and put in the hands of private shareholders. Next, we’ll look at another type of privatization that airlines could go […]