Airline News

New fares in the pipeline only spell difficulty for tomorrow's consumers.

As Singapore Airlines celebrates getting one step closer to reentering the U.S. market with nonstop flights it isn't forgetting the markets that already demonstrate solid growth and demand. The Singapore Airlines Group is trying to appeal to every kind of flyer in Asia and it's betting on success in that region before expanding to the U.S. and elsewhere.

These are the aviation trends we were talking about this week.

We won't speculate about the prospects of the proxy fight at United in which the dissidents have enlisted the support of former Continental CEO Gordon Bethune and online travel veterans. The timing, though, would have been more beneficial had the board battle been started under United's Jeff Smisek regime.

It's hard to beat Ryanair's adaptability--getting lots of press without saying anything outrageous--now that they're being all nice.

It will be interesting to watch pro-airline interest groups roll out their rationale against reforming the onerous fees charged by air carriers for routine services. Meanwhile, consumers will flock to the cheapest tickets possible.

The other shoe has finally dropped and American and United will soon deprive the most-budget-conscious travelers of upgrades and other perks.

American Airlines Group CEO sounds as though he has turned into a labor activist. OK, not really, but he knows you can't have a successful company unless its corporate culture is healthy and its employees have a real stake in its well-being.

The legal scope of Ben Baldanza's non-compete agreement working for a foreign airline is unclear, but the competitive implications of this appointment for WOW in the North American market is massive, and it seems that Mogensen could be setting up to take his airline public in the U.S.

The Hanseatic City of Hamburg has become an example of the advancements possible when local government gets behind its aviation community by providing financial, promotional, and logistical support.