The Business of Passenger Experience
Just how many aircraft carry inflight connectivity hardware? And which kit?? A pair of announcements this week gives greater insight into which kit is where and how the market is shifting, rapidly in some cases. Not that installation number 1000 matters more than number 999, of course. Yet somehow it does. Just a little.
Informed passengers truly can affect the airline industry. Today’s example comes at American Airlines, where carry-on bags will soon be included in the carrier’s Basic Economy fares, owing to a better educated consumer and websites that help them suss out the difference.
Oneworld wants to grow its route network and it is willing to take on smaller airlines to deliver on that plan. Fiji Airways is the inaugural member in the new “oneworld connect” program allows limited alliance membership and limited benefits for passengers. But locking up the new connect member airlines is a smart move for the group.
When senior airline executives are willing to trash their vendors in public that's usually bad news for everyone involved. Welcome to the inflight connectivity world, where airlines are almost as unhappy as the passengers struggling to stay online in the sky. Alas, only part of that frustration is grounded in reality.
As Alaska Airilnes shifts its aircraft to Gogo's 2Ku offering passengers will see increased bandwidth, hopefully driving an increase in the number online. But a change in the way the product is priced could throw a wrench in those plans.
“We very often don’t earn enough cash to cover the price of fuel on the flight.” That’s definitely not what you want to hear from the VP of network planning. For American Airlines, however, it is part of a major shift in international operations at its O’Hare hub.
Alaska Airlines is pulling the plug on Virgin America’s mid-continent hub at Dallas’s Love Field; routes to NYC’s LaGuardia and Wasington, DC’s Reagan National are being slashed later this year.
American’s move to the 787 for its fleet refresh is a big win for Boeing and a blow to the A330neo program. But does it also pose challenges for Boeing’s NMA?
Gogo has a new CEO. In an abrupt move the company announced the replacement of Michael Small with the current largest shareholder, Oakleigh (Oak) Thorne. This should be an interesting few weeks for the company, particularly with a number of trade shows on the near-term horizon.
How much revenue does the American Airlines fleet contribute to Gogo? What will things look like in 2018 as 400ish planes leave? Here's a look at what I think might happen.
