United Airlines News

Give credit to United CEO Oscar Munoz for reaching new labor deals with many of United's employee groups. But buying labor peace is expensive. And now United's new executive team needs to come up with some creative ways to offset the increased costs.

United pushed the launch of its basic economy fares out a few months, giving business travelers a few more months to enjoy the full perks of budget tickets. Slowly, however, the axeman cometh.

Given how many changes United has made at the top recently, it makes sense that airline may want to delay this new fare class. The new executive team probably wants to get it right.

On short-haul flights, airlines have just about levied all the fees they can. But fees are just starting to creep in on long-haul flights. Expect that trend to continue in the next few years.

Airlines prefer not to take risks with most of their senior hires, which makes sense, because the industry is more complicated than most.

Munoz still has the goodwill of industry observers, but he's going to need to make an impact on consumer-friendly metrics like on-time arrivals as well as market-friendly ones like earnings to turn the goodwill into longer-term success.

Scott Kirby, known for his strong financial acumen, could be the savior United's investors have been seeking.

Airlines like to strike a delicate balance with on-time performance. They want to be reliable, but they don't necessarily want sky-high on-time rates. An always-punctual operation is expensive.

The new flight attendants' contract at United, coupled with other steps CEO Oscar Munoz is taking, could finally enable United to make up some serious ground against its competitors.

With American Airlines capitulating, in-flight entertainment on all three legacy carriers is now completely free. The next phase of competition will likely revolve around the quality of that content with each airline trying to out-do the other.