Airways Podcast

Vinay and Rohan kick off the show discussing Qatar's diplomatic spat with several Middle Eastern neighbors (0:45), which may spell sinister things for Qatari aviation. Rohan and Vinay don't expect the situation to subside very quickly, or at least without repercussion.

On a more positive note, they discuss United Airlines' announcement of nonstop service from Los Angeles to Singapore on the Boeing 787-9 (12:44), which certainly took everyone by surprise, even though an 18-hour flight in 9-abreast seating doesn't sound like many peoples' cup of tea.

North of the US border, Canada's WestJet will be taking a huge step as its pilots voted in favor of unionization (22:25) under the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA). Will its flight attendants be next?

Back on US soil, Donald Trump has expressed interest in privatizing Air Traffic Control (29:00). What could this spell for US aviation, and who may be against the idea?

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Vinay and Rohan kick off the show discussing the fact that Air India is still in growth mode (2:05) and will be expanding in Scandinavia, not to mention stated intentions to grow in the U.S., thanks to the electronics ban that has affected Gulf competitors operating to the U.S. Will Air India fill the remaining void for the underserved nonstop U.S. - India markets?

They then move on to discuss the great "Terminal Shuffle" at LAX airport (12:58) last month went relatively smoothly, which we talk about in greater depth, since this was precipitated by Delta and its desire to become closer to SkyTeam partners at LAX.

Alaska will begin services to Seattle's Paine Field (22:25) in the fall of 2018, starting with 9 daily services. What does this mean for Alaska, now that it will be operating at two airports in the same metropolitan region, not to mention its home city? Finally, Vinay and Rohan give their updated take on the infamous electronics ban and the potential for it to expand to Europe (30:30).

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At the suggestion of listener Tak Wong, Vinay and Rohan discuss aviation in the Bay Area, covering San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose. They begin the episode talking about United's growing hub at SFO (4:00), before moving on to cover new foreign carrier services from SFO to various points around the world (6:20). They then move on to discuss the secondary airports at San Jose (12:00) and Oakland (15:00). The episode concludes with thoughts on whether the growth in Bay Area air travel is sustainable through the next dot-com bust or tech industry recession (17:00).

Alaska Airlines is adding routes out of Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego and many places in between to points North, South, East, and West. This week, Vinay and Rohan discuss the new additions (2:00) and what the logic is behind the new routes and capacity changes given the new assets and fleet that the combined carrier will leverage (6:00). In particular, they take note of many of the new red-eye and trans-con routes (14:20) that Alaska is adding that indicate how Alaska is building a network differently than Virgin would have. Finally, they talk about Alaska's decision to keep its Dallas Love Field gates (18:30), which has been the talk of the town.

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Rohan and Vinay kick off the show discussing the abysmal April for US carriers beginning with Delta's 4-day operational meltdown (2:10) which lead to thousands of canceled flights after its Atlanta hub was throttled by bad weather. Was it REALLY as bad as the media said it was, or was it simply "schadenfreude" for people wanting to chastise the widget for its, "on-time machine" hubris? United is pulling Tokyo - Seoul and shifting 737s from its Guam base to the U.S. mainland (15:50), further decreasing its intra-Asia footprint. Ryanair's, "Always Getting Better" program will now include connecting flights and other customer-friendly perks - and no, this was not an April Fool's joke (28:40). Finally, Norwegian heads West of the Rocky Mountains to launch services to Denver and Seattle. Better get started on that flannel-themed 787, stat.

United's revenue underperformance versus its peers is now front and center, thanks to Scott Kirby's transition to United and greater transparency on levers the carrier is pulling to improve its unit revenues relative to Delta and American. But why is United lagging, despite having hubs in some of the largest and wealthiest U.S. cities (1:10)? Vinay's theory: the carrier is over-exposed to the volatilities of a large international network that could be off-set if the carrier were to re-allocate capacity back to its domestic hubs (3:00). In this network beat episode, Vinay outlines his thesis (which is a complement to his article, "United Should Cut Back International Flying to Fund Domestic Growth," which published in Airways digital on April 5, 2017) and Rohan asks a few clarifying questions. For the revenue management and network planning geeks, this is an episode you will not want to miss!

Vinay and Rohan kick off this week's episode by discussing the electronics ban on flights from certain Middle Eastern countries to the US and UK (2:40). Does this mean that Vinay won't be able to take selfies on his iPad on certain airlines despite getting Global Entry? While on the subject of UK-based carriers, the two discuss the business case for IAG's new Barcelona-based long-haul, low-cost carrier, "LEVEL," (23:32) and what impact will it have alongside the other North Atlantic, "disruptor" LCCs taking the skies by storm in summer 2017? Meanwhile, across the ocean, IAG's JV partner American Airlines had some words for Wall Street Analysts, spearheaded by CEO Doug Parker admonishing that investors are taking "too narrow" of a view on airline RASM performance (36:15). Finally, a star has fallen - somewhat - with Cathay Pacific in the red (45:30). How can Thai be profitable while Cathay is not?

As a companion to Vinay's two-part series featured on www.airwaysmag.com, "The Rise, Fall and Eventual Resurgence of the Middle East's Airline Giants," Rohan and Vinay discuss all things Gulf-Aviation in a unique special on the MEB3 and Turkish Airlines. They kick things off by talking about the "rise" of Emirates, Etihad, Qatar and Turkish thanks to political will and pro-aviation government establishments relative to their peer countries (5:00). But in today's world, low oil prices, the 2016 U.S. Presidential election, Brexit, political strife and changing nationalist attitudes around the globe are cutting holes in the business model of these four carriers, which is dissected in the "fall" section of the episode (22:50). But the future is anything but bleak: new aircraft is on the way, with suppliers like Boeing and Airbus eager to work with the MEB3 and adjustments to be made on the commercial roadmap, there will eventually be a resurgence (41:00) of the MEB3 as well.