The Air Show
Jon Ostrower, Brian Sumers and Brett Snyder discuss the business of the sky on this aviation podcast.
- Update frequency
- every 6 days
- Average duration
- 31 minutes
- Episodes
- 66
- Years Active
- 2024 - 2025
A strike lands at Boeing
It was a busy week in the aviation world in the Pacific Northwest. We'll get to the Alaska-Hawaiian merger soon — this week Jon Ostrower, Brett Snyder and Brian Sumers talk about the strike by the la…
Frequent flyer programs on notice
The U.S. Department of Transportation informed the four biggest airlines it would like more information about their frequent flyer programs because it is concerned about hidden pricing, extra fees, d…
The Airbus episode
This week Jon Ostrower and Brian Sumers discuss Airbus — its history, its engineering and development strategies, and its approach toward sales. Ostrower and Sumers also explain how Airbus’ relentles…
The Air(mail) Show
It's August and we've been on vacation recently, so our inbox is pretty stuffed with emails, feedback and questions from you. Brian Sumers and Brett Snyder read feedback from a former CEO (whose form…
The Great Battle of Connecticut
Avelo found a good thing in New Haven and grew into Hartford. Breeze had been in Hartford, but now it's going into New Haven. Despite these seemingly related movies, this might actually be about... …
The Air Show goes to an airshow
Jon Ostrower spent time at this year's Farnborough International Airshow, and he brought back all kinds of knowledge to share. Who had the most orders (and does anyone care)? What airplane is going t…
The ULCC cycle of death
It is not looking great for ultra-low-cost carriers based in the U.S. — especially Frontier and Spirit. Brian Sumers and Brett Snyder discuss what's making business tough for the ULCCs, a dark predic…
Alaska searches for light in winter
Alaska Airlines is on a mission to do something about its dark, dismal winters (and no, we're not just talking about this past winter's foibles). The airline has been trying to figure out a profitabl…
Delta is still on top
Delta had a strong second quarter and its executives were more talkative than usual about the state of the industry. Brian Sumers and Jon Ostrower discussed Delta's numbers, its fleet management and …
Can airlines learn from WestJet?
The last twelve years have been a transformative era for WestJet — management has added complexity and made strategic decisions yielding mixed results for the current business climate. But it's a mor…
Boeing's unforced error
Jon Ostrower talks with Brett Snyder about the two days he spent at Boeing this week, touring factories and walking the line and hearing from Boeing executives...and what happened when the NTSB heard…
Southwest faces its biggest challenge
Weeks ago, we planned to discuss Southwest's underperformance — but so much has happened since then. Legacy-loving Southwest now has an activist investor, which bought more than 10 percent of company…
The IATA AGM report + Ben Smith interview
Jon Ostrower and Brian Sumers interview Air France-KLM CEO Ben Smith, and they catch up with Brett Snyder about this year's IATA annual general meeting — how useful it is as an observer of the indust…
The Scott Kirby interview
United CEO Scott Kirby joins Brian Sumers and Jon Ostrower for a wide-ranging interview from the IATA general meeting in Dubai. Kirby discussed Boeing and the duopoly of airplane manufacturers, his o…
The spectacular failure of American's commercial strategy
Vasu Raja — American's chief commercial officer who remade the airline's distribution strategy and network to less-than-stellar performance — is now out of a job. What happens next? Brett Snyder and…
Searching for the new Frontier
As cost-conscious airline passengers increasingly trade up for tickets on legacy carriers, what's a ULCC to do? Brian Sumers, Jon Ostrower and Brett Snyder discuss the new strategies Frontier Airline…
What’s Next For Embraer
The Brazilian manufacturer has a decision to make. Should it focus on what it already does well, including regional jets, small narrowbodies, and business jets? Or should it take a chance and build a…
Don't call them airlines
JSX and Contour have completely different business models, but they both have something in common. They are able to take advantage of a loophole that allows them to run their operations more flexibl…
American's puzzlingly rigid journey to remake distribution
American Airlines has a bold, new strategy that forgoes managed corporate bookings for direct bookings while remaking its entire sales effort. With the first quarter over and done, how is that plan-t…
Airlines are 'Boeing-level angry' about Pratt & Whitney
It's not just Boeing that's causing acute headaches for airlines. Pratt & Whitney's geared turbofan engine, which has been in operation since 2016 on Airbus single-aisle aircraft, has serious issues …