A4A's Chief Economist #JohnHeimlich, who chairs the Airlines Subcommittee of the #TransportationResearchBoard asked me to participate in their mid-year meeting held two days ago.

History will look back on this administration as being the most responsible for increased prices to consumers over the last 45 years.

Finally, the #PGAChampionship is about to get underway after a nearly 2-hour frost delay this morning. It is just cold in Rochester, NY at the venerable Oak Hill Country Club. And it is supposed to be wet on the weekend as well.

Just back from playing in a member-guest at #BallyhackGolfClub in Roanoke with good friend #DanTrumbower. I am 65 today and I really do not want to write about pilot issues again, but I am going to. It really is a love-hate thing with me.

First day of May 2023. Being born in May 1958 I qualify for Medicare. Never sure if all the mail from AARP is good or not? What I do know is that the AARP mail is better than the numerous emails I get about funeral insurance.

I am actually looking forward to tomorrow's Reauthorization hearing before the House of Representatives Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.

Still in the vortex of the finest 30 days in sports television. From Selection Show Sunday through the second Sunday in April in Augusta, it doesn't get better. No #1 seeds in the Elite 8, let alone the Final Four?

I think about FAA Reauthorization circa 2023 differently. Shocker! My humble thinking embraces the KISS Principle.

This may be premature, but remember the song by Stealers Wheel? Maybe it was prescient regarding a #jetbluespiritmerger when it was released in 1974.

...Oh, that's right, it has begun. Lots running through my head this morning. Yesterday, I wrote in detail to clients about the concept of cost convergence in layman's terms. It is complicated and it is not.

As I listened to last week's Senate hearing with Southwest's "meltdown" presumed to be at its "heart", many emotions/frustrations were running through my head. Except for one panelist, nothing was interesting. Nothing was consumer friendly (see below) - even though the words consumer protections were part of the hearing's title.

It is Groundhog Day. We are releasing the summary findings of our First Annual Airport/Air Service rankings.

#ScottKirby Does Not Disappoint on UA's 4Q Call. In UA's 3Q call, UA's CEO spoke about the ULCCs and their operating model as “doomed” in the face of rising fuel and labor expenses that will make it impossible to offer the rock-bottom fares their customers expect. Fast forward

I have written about air service at Dubuque (DBQ) many times. The trends in small community air service have been evident for a decade. The DBQs of the world are vulnerable to losing some/all air service. Particularly from the network carriers.

That prescient view is 30 years old. Before I begin this post in earnest, Levine made reference to point-to-point. Industry watchers have made clear that Southwest is no longer that. Rather, they connect traffic at various nodes around their system.

Thinking/hoping that 2023 is the year that we can truly call post-Pandemic. It is a FAA Reauthorization year and that can mean much to many stakeholders.

Last week I flew to Huntsville to attend the retirement party of one of the airport community's best thinkers/Airport Directors in the business - #RickTucker.

I, and others, are numb by the attention the mainstream press gives to points/data regarding small community air service the #RegionalAirlineAssociation (RAA) provides.

I have all but written off the regional sector. My honest concern now is that the ULCC sector will get “crowded out” of any growth plans they may have. 

One thing about #EdBastien, #DeltaAirLines CEO, he has been bullish on a demand rebound for some time albeit with some fits and starts as we worked through the final variants of COVID.

This past week the Regional Airline Association gathered CEOs, subject matter experts, folks from Capitol Hill, and journalists for the 2022 RAA Leaders Conference. Ed Bastien, Delta's CEO spoke in Minneapolis. Swelbar-Zhong published the 10th update to its US Regional Market Watch.

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, a note from #TheAirCurrent was dropped in my email box that hinted that #unitedairlines and #emiratesairlines were plotting a codeshare agreement.

In my post a couple of months ago titled DESTINATION: POINT STUPID, I said "Something just does not feel right here". For serious watchers of this industry, it should not for you either.

POLITICO reported on a segment on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" with Sec. Buttigieg. He said that DOT is ready to take enforcement actions against airlines that don't perform in the name of consumer protection.

The USG willfully provides Eau Claire, WI (EAU) a competitive advantage v. its neighbor to the south - LaCrosse, WI (LSE) that is not subsidized by spending $6.5 million to lure a ULCC to replace SkyWest. Or Rochester, MN for that matter.

Last Tuesday, June 14, we updated the Swelbar-Zhong U.S. Regional Market Watch to August 2022. The data points that jumped out at us were two: 1) departures flown by the Big 3 on large regional jets as a percent of the same month in 2019 continue to decline;

As a student of the airline industry who has spent considerable time in distressed labor contract talks, I keep asking how in the hell will the industry absorb/pass through the cost increases occurring within nearly every line item on the income statement?

Recently, the pilots at AA wrote to customers: "AA is going to disappoint you, dear customer, just like it's disappointing us. UA and DL are so much better.

If this becomes the definition of ESSENTIAL AIR SERVICE (EAS) in 2022, at least Congress will get to learn in real time the difference between being connected to the grid v. simply having access to some leisure destination offering low fares.