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New routes offer opportunity for budget airlines — and travelers

Feb 28, 2024
Vacation season is not far away. Fancy a direct flight from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh or Salt Lake City to Ontario, California?
Some budget airlines are targeting shorter routes, like Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, and enticing new customers with discounted fares.
Kevin Carter/Getty Images

He always wanted to be a pilot. Now he's training to become one.

Dec 18, 2023
Adam Kephart of Poulsbo, Washington, went from government employee to coffee barista to flight instructor. His next stop:? airline pilot.
Becoming an airline pilot has been a childhood dream for Adam Kephart.
Courtesy Kephart

Pilot shortage spurs six-figure bonus offers and poaching of personnel

Nov 8, 2023
An American Airlines unit is offering $250,000 bonuses to attract pilots from freight and other carriers. FedEx, though, has a suplus.
Between a shrinking pool of trained pilots and early retirements during the pandemic, the pilot shortage has been years in the making.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Americans don't just want to travel: they want to go abroad

Aug 7, 2023
Trips from the U.S. to Europe especially are surging this summer. And that has consequences for domestic airlines—and airfares.
Rather than traveling domestically, Americans are choosing to fly abroad, especially to European countries.
Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images

This summer's travel crowds are expected to be record-setting

May 22, 2023
AAA expects Americans will break the travel records they set the year before the pandemic started.
Travelers wait in long lines to speak with airline ticket agents in the United terminal at San Francisco International Airport.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Extra fees have conquered the airline industry. But there may be fewer going forward.

Feb 22, 2023
Customer and airlines like them better than higher airfares.
United Airlines moved recently to ease some of its fees after President Biden criticized the industry's fee practices in his State of the Union address.
Getty Images

As travel picks up, airlines expect to turn their first profit since 2019

Dec 8, 2022
Leisure travel, as opposed to business, is the source of most of the industry’s profits these days.
Before Covid, business travelers made up 50% or more of airline profits. But today, leisure travelers are the source of most of the industry’s profits, says travel industry expert Henry Harteveldt.
Sail Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Aviation, telecom again at odds over 5G

Nov 24, 2022
Airlines and manufacturers say they need more time to retrofit planes to prevent the cell technology from interfering with altimeters.
An airplane flies over a cellular tower disguised as a palm tree as it prepares to land at Los Angeles International Airport.
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

Pilot contract negotiations go south at major airlines

Nov 3, 2022
This week, pilots at both American and United Airlines rejected tentative contract deals, and Delta pilots voted to authorize a strike if negotiations break down.
Delta Airlines pilots picketing for a new contract in September 2022. Their union recently voted to authorize a strike if contract negotiations break down.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Up, up, and away: Airfare ascends 43% in a year

Oct 13, 2022
A lot of people want to fly, and airlines have fewer seats to sell.
Increased passenger demand and staffing shortages are partially to blame for the surge in air travel costs.
Scott Olson/Getty Images