Brian Sumers

It's funny. Fifth Freedom flights — those are routes where an airline flies from a place other than its home country — account for roughly 1 percent of Emirates' capacity, according to the airline's president. And Emirates has only two such routes to the United States. But it's a hot topic among airline insiders, and it doesn't sound like that will change.

In the airline industry, bigger is almost always better. But Hawaiian Airlines is betting its unique niche will help it as more competitors add capacity in its markets. Still, the airline could someday be a takeover target for another airline that wants to grow.

You have to give Qantas some credit for its public relations strategy. It will be at least four years before the airline launches "hub-busting" flights to New York or London from Sydney but the airline already has almost everyone in the airline industry talking about its plans.

KLM CEO Pieter Elbers is honest. He knows some of his employees question why KLM, which is thriving, needs its long-term marriage to Air France. But Elbers knows that in airlines, the biggest carrier usually wins. Plus, he knows there's no other way forward. For better or worse, Air France and KLM are probably together forever.

Travelers board an airplane and expect the Wi-Fi, which is often expensive, to work as it does at home. But it's not as good as at home, and it may never be. Should airlines do a better job of communicating that to customers?

European and U.S. airlines years ago underestimated the threat posed by short-haul discount airlines. Since then legacy carriers have treated transatlantic low-cost airlines as serious competitors. But there's reason to believe the low-cost model may not be as appropriate for longer routes. Legacy carriers might be OK this time.

Nothing refocuses airline executives like rising fuel prices. If they continue to creep up, expect airlines to cancel more marginal routes.

Does the average traveler care whether a U.S. airline CEO made $7 million or $13 million last year? It's highly doubtful. Passengers want to fly a well-run, on-time airline with friendly customer service. How much money the CEO makes is probably immaterial to most customers.

You probably can't blame airlines for delivering a poor in-flight Wi-Fi experience. As United's chief digital officer Linda Jojo says, it's likely impossible for any provider to give passengers a consistent ground-like experience. People forget sometimes they're traveling more than 500 miles at hour, at more than 30,000 feet.

The State Department just closed the books on the last long-running airline-related diplomatic saga in Washington — Open Skies agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Now, apparently, the government is turning its attention to a feud with Russia about so-called overflight rights.