Who controls the Chicago O’Hare domestic market? The answer is complicated. Until as recently as Q4 2018, the answer has surprisingly been American… not United. And it hasn’t even been close. In fact, American enjoyed a 7 point advantage over United as early as Q1 2016, in United’s own back yard. Things have changed. When…
Delta was the first airline to post Q3 results, and they did not disappoint. Net income was up $173M compared with the same quarter in 2018, to almost $1.5b. Once again, we find visualizing the year-over-year results the best way to provide full context into how the airline is trending. For Delta, the trend is…
LATAM is leaving American for Delta. Boom. Just like that. On Friday, it was announced that Delta would acquire 20% of LATAM and take assignment of 14 A350s originally destined for LATAM. In exchange, Delta will receive the best Latin American code-share partner U.S. dollars can buy. This week, we focus on LATAM, and how…
Low Cost Carriers were a thorn in the side of the legacy carriers long before the industry felt the need to add the term “Ultra”. With networks built on maximizing revenue through connectivity, the legacy carriers became prime targets of low cost airlines who could fly point-to-point for low fares with their low cost structure….
A quick map this week showing some of the work we are doing combining census data with market sizes. The Dallas-Fort Worth metro area has been growing rapidly. Anyone who dodges new road orange barrels while counting tower cranes in north Dallas can tell you; things are growing. In a city served by multiple airports,…
With the prospect of narrow-bodies entering the trans-Atlantic markets, the question of cargo arises. How much cargo is being moved in passenger aircraft? For that matter, how much weight is being carried in the form of passengers and bags, and how much is sold as freight or mail? This week, we try to provide some…
A big part of what we do here at Visual Approach is to find meaning in alternative data. The word “alternative” has come to mean something different these days, however there is no better word to describe it. Information that is useful, but not directly related to aviation is alternative. Yet, this data can give…
The end of an era is little more than a month away. The last MD-80 flight is scheduled for September 4th. The once work-horse of the American narrow-body fleet has been slowly reducing flying the past decade in preparation for its inevitable retirement. This week, we’ve built a moving map showing the past 28 years…
The market opportunities of new aircraft programs are often constrained by the limitations of the past. These new designs tend to be evaluated on current networks, drawn to circumvent the now outdated limitations of the older fleets. It can take years for operators to realize the full potential of an aircraft as they slowly discover…