Friday Flyer – June 23, 2023

The Paris Airshow has been going on throughout this week.  In addition to being the largest airshow in the world, it is also a chance for airlines around the globe to strike deals with airline manufacturers.  The largest deal ever recorded happened when Indigo signed for 500 Airbus aircraft.  Here’s a good summary of the events so far.

Links

  • Ever wonder who the top CEOs are in the airline industry?  Probably not, but it’s still an interesting list.  Oddly enough, this blogger wrote up his personal list of top 5 CEOs and gave reasons for it.  The first list doesn’t share the criteria of how they were selected, which might make it a bit subjective.  In any case, lists are always fun. (h/t: Sharon D. for the first link)
  • Frontier launched their all-you-can-fly promotion earlier this year.  This article studies the viability of this approach.  It’s worth looking because to date, airlines have only dabbled in it. (h/t: Yining)
  • The stories and data support that US travel is “back.”  The meaning of “back” in this case is that TSA throughput numbers are near 2019 figures.  However, an important element of those numbers is where the passengers are coming from and going to.  Data is now supporting that the international travel inbound to the US is returning as well.  This has continued to be a big gap in demand, so it is nice to see this uptick happening.
  • The top story around the world this week was about the submarine that was lost while attempting to visit the Titanic on the ocean floor.  Obviously, that’s not aviation related, but the billionaire on board took on the aviation challenge to fly around the world in the shortest time possible (going over both poles).  You can read about it here and get details on how to watch the documentary on it.

Interesting Aviation Fact

Have you ever noticed that some airplanes have little curved pieces at the end of the wings?  Those are called winglets, and they’re not just to make the plane look cool.  Here’s more about them and why they’re important.

Cool Aviation Photo

This is an old photo I came across where a Boeing 747-400 is loading some special “car”go.  The photo was taken in 2005, which is why it’s a -400 747.  All of these are now out of service at LH.