A quick nostalgic chart this week as we look back on the difference in fleet composition between 2017 and 2000. The days of finding variety in fleets is quickly fading. If you are traveling within the U.S., you have a 2 in 3 chance of being on a 737 or A320 family aircraft. The writing…
The U.S. Fleet has changed significantly over the past 17 years. Using the free VisualApproach.io data explorer, we can watch the fleet change over the years with the help of animated charts. As the McDonnell Douglas fleet slowly goes away, the landscape has become dominated by four players: Bombardier and Embraer with regional aircraft, and…
It is impossible to please everyone. Boeing is certainly being reminded of this as they define the market for the upcoming Middle of the Market aircraft, widely anticipated to become the 797. Looking at the distributions in passenger demand across four key markets for the aircraft, the subtleties of each market become apparent. North America,…
The debate between passenger space and total revenues has been raging ever since the dawn of economy class. The trade-off is simple: can an airline find passengers willing to pay more for a larger seat, or is it better to carry more passengers at lower fares in the same space? It becomes a matter of…
While listening to dozens of earnings calls, it becomes clear that some are better than others. Some are precise and on point with strong candor during the Q&A period, while others seem to leave questions regarding the organization of the call… and the company. The question is whether the effectiveness of the management during these…
With the news last week of Ethiopian Airlines placing their fifth order for new Q400s, we take a look at which aircraft types have customers who have placed multiple orders. For an airline or lessor to place a follow-on order requires a high level of confidence in the aircraft. This confidence can be subjectively measured…
When it comes to ranking the largest airlines, the top four U.S. airlines have changed little in the past decade. However, one area of evolution has been the prominence of the ULCC. With Allegiant being the only true ULCC from birth, Spirit, Frontier, and now Sun Country have joined the ranks of ultra low fares,…
#ChartoftheWeek – Scoring the Financial Health of the Airlines and the Challenges at Gol. There are many different ratios and indexes to measure company health, however this week we focus on the Pilarski P-Score. Based on the same methodology as the better known Altman-Z score, Pilarski and team calibrated their model to the airline industry. …
Interesting #ChartoftheWeek – Which Airports are the most expensive per passenger, and which are able to offset those fees with other revenues? This week we dive into the publicly available airport financials to understand how the various U.S. airports cover their costs. Airline cost per enplaned passenger represents the average fees charged to the airlines…