Saturday Flyer – December 16, 2023

Another week and another special edition of the Flyer coming on a Saturday.  Let’s hope this trend doesn’t continue.  Here’s what’s going on around the airline industry this week.

Interesting Aviation News

  • A trend starting in the travel industry lately is the idea of “surprise travel” where this company plans all aspects of your trip, and you have no idea where you’re going.  Is that something you would be interested in?  Personally, I am way too controlling for that, but there seems to be appeal for some. (h/t: Carlos P.)
  • While 2023 has been a boom for airline demand, it seems that the number of complaints against airlines has boomed too.  Perhaps all of those people have made for less favorable conditions for the airlines.
  • When you think of TSA security screening, you probably aren’t considering any innovation they’re considering.  It turns out that they are doing a lot of innovation.  They seem to be hinting at a “self-service” model for screening.  Details are still limited, but it’s something to watch for as we all hope for less time standing in line.
  • It’s no secret that AI is a hot topic in all parts of life and we’re seeing it every day in the airline industry, and PROS specifically.  For airlines, they’re looking at ways it can help across all parts of their business.  Jetblue is looking at how AI can help them with weather predictions, with the goal being to save money normally lost to disruptions.
  • Tony Douglas, CEO of the newly founded Riyadh Air, shared a few interesting details about what he is expecting from the new airline.  No uniforms for crew and “premium economy that’s as good as business class.”  Both of those are interesting to see how they play out.  
  • This story of Delta expanding into Austin isn’t exactly major airline news and fairly specific.  But I’m sharing it because it shows how complex the dynamics of route planning and competition are.  In this case, Delta is going into Austin not all that long after American pulled out.  So what makes Delta think they can be successful in the market where American isn’t?  I don’t have the answer to that, but hopefully time will tell.

Interesting Aviation Fact

Did you know that commercial aircraft are struck by lightning 1-2 times per year on average?  Generally, this happening isn’t a big deal for an airplane.  Here’s a bit more about what happens when a plane is struck by lightning.

Cool Aviation Photo

The Dubai Airshow was last month and there were lots of cool sights to see.  This was a Boeing 777X aircraft.  This plane has not officially launched, and airlines have lots of orders out for it.  But none of that stops this one from taking to the sky and making an incredible banking turn.  It’s impressive what aircraft this large are capable of.

The Friday Flyer is a weekly email with links to interesting aviation articles from the previous week.  It was started by the Travel PS team a few years ago as a way to keep interested PROS colleagues updated on the latest happenings in the industry.  It was handed over to me in 2020 to keep it going.