Culture of Collapse: Air Travel’s Disappearance In One Chart

Since companies began restricting business travel over precautions with the coronavirus pandemic, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) provided data on screenings at U.S. airports. These data say a lot about the disappearance of air travel in the U.S. Almost every screening represents a passenger on a flight. The TSA provides a year-over-year comparison, normalized to … Read more

A Better Way to Manage Overhead Bin Space On Airlines

(Adapted from the original post at The Thought Blog at Ahan Analytics, LLC) The stock for U.S. Airways (LCC) is flying high, currently trading at four and half year highs. This performance is much better than the Amex airline index (XAL) which remains over 20% below highs set in 2010. Source for charts: FreeStockCharts.com Clearly, … Read more

AMR’s Bankruptcy Turns the Cost Spotlight on Southwest

On December 5, Southwest Airlines (LUV) CEO Gary Kelly distributed a memo to employees describing the cost challenge ahead for the company (for example, see Bloomberg article “Southwest Fights ‘Cost Enemy’ After AMR Bankruptcy Filing“). With American Airlines (AMR) declaring bankruptcy as a way to cut its costs, Southwest became the last major carrier yet … Read more