Air Canada joins the ranks of Basic Economy airlines this week. The carrier now has five fare families for its economy class passengers and this rollout may be one of the most advanced we’ve seen to date.
Seats & Cabin
Mirus Hawk takes flight on AirAsia
Breaking in to the commercial aircraft seating market is hard. Mirus arrived with a splash two years ago and now is flying its lightweight Hawk seat with AirAsia. Product innovation and hundreds more aircraft are yet to come.
Astronics new USB power takes flight on TUI’s 737 MAX 8
Even LCC passengers need power on board. TUI is meeting that need with Astronics’ new UltraLite USB outlets, installed as part of its Boeing 737 MAX 8 deliveries. All sorts of good PaxEx news in this deal…
When even the boss doesn’t like cabin densification
Does management hate the new JetBlue galley/lav setup as much as passengers? It sure sounds like it from the CEO, though that didn’t stop the company from doing it anyways, so…
United cutting Polaris service citing customer feedback
Surprised that changes are coming to United Airlines’ Polaris service? Apparently the cuts are coming because of customer preference, so there’s that.
What United’s domestic premium economy offering look like?
United Airlines’ President Scott Kirby slipped news about a potential new domestic premium economy offering into an investor briefing this morning. What will it look like? When will it roll out? What will it replace? Of course, no answers to these important questions, but here are some interesting ideas to consider as United moves forward on this effort.
Engine selection “core” to Boom Supersonic’s success
Supersonic is sexy as hell for marketing but it is also hard to accomplish. Powering the aircraft is proving to be one of the bigger challenges for Boom Supersonic as no current engine model meets the company’s needs. Can an existing “core” solve those problems? Company CEO Blake Scholl seems to think so, though he also appears dependent on getting new engines faster than Boeing can for its NMA. So that’s an interesting set of circumstances.
Icelandair kills off premium economy offering
Premium economy disappearing from an airline?!? It is certainly uncommon these days but Icelandair appears to have at least two good reasons for making the move.
Emirates drops some business class middles seats
Emirates is finally getting rid of its middle seats in business class. At least a few of them. On some planes. And also scrapping first class on that sub-fleet at the same time. So, is that really a win??
United brings the 737 MAX 9 online
Looking to fly on United’s newest aircraft type? Head to Houston on June 7th to be part of the first day of 737 MAX 9 operations. Alas, nothing particularly now or exciting with the interiors.