People check in for a flight at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, the United States, on November 27, 2024, before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Megan Varner | Reuters
It’s been another eventful year for U.S. air travel. Just five days into this year, a door panel of an almost-new car was blown off boeing company 737 Max, by Alaska AirlinesThe planes crawled out of Portland, Ore., after sunset, sending the plane maker back into crisis mode and delaying deliveries of new planes for months.
Two weeks later, a federal judge blocked JetBlue AirwaysThe planned acquisition of Spirit Airlines would leave the smaller, battered budget airline to fend for itself. Struggling Spirit ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November.
The dramatic year also included an activist campaign by one of America’s most wary airlines, a tech meltdown that stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers during peak summer travel, and the most dramatic year since Barack Obama became president. America’s first major airline merger.
FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker has announced that he will resign on January 20, about a year into his five-year term and the day President-elect Donald Trump takes office That day he will leave the key agency that oversees everything from aircraft certification to air transportation. Airline CEOs have been calling for more air traffic controllers and investment in air traffic technology.
Meanwhile, airlines are competing over who can be the most “premium” and most profitable, with cabins near the front of the plane becoming more popular with travelers (sorry to those looking for free upgrades). Top Two Contenders – Determined delta and challenger united — generates most of the industry’s profits and has its stock price at record highs, while smaller airlines favor higher-end seats and launch higher-end credit cards.
Airlines have been taking a timid approach until the industry cuts a glut of U.S. flights that has driven down fares. But the international tourism boom entering the off-season shows no signs of slowing down. Through it all, overall demand for air travel is breaking records and CEOs are optimistic about next year.
Here’s how they’ll fare in 2024:
Delta Air Lines
On July 23, 2024, in Los Angeles, California, passengers from France waited for their delayed flight at the check-in floor of the Delta Air Lines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
Mario Tama | Getty Images
America’s most profitable airline struggles to recover from July 19 crisis mass strike Power outage kills hundreds Microsoft The Windows machine is offline. Delta Air Lines lost more than $500 million, stranded thousands of passengers, and canceled the most flights in 2019.
Chief Executive Ed Bastian told CNBC last week that demand looks strong heading into 2025. Delta Air Lines lounges, exclusively for passengers traveling in the most premium cabins of the same name, opened this year in New York, Los Angeles and Boston, with more locations in the pipeline.
It’s a sign of Delta’s continued focus on high-end travelers that its “premium” brand, like Spirit for budget travel, has become such a fixture on high-end travel that “Saturday Night Live” sketch Last week, Martin Short played a Delta employee who blocked actor Paul Rudd from entering the coveted Delta Sky Club, saying his name “sounded bad.”
Delta Air Lines isn’t launching a streamlined business class offering at its November investor day as some analysts had expected, but the new lounge could ease crowding in Delta’s popular Sky Club.
United Airlines
An American Airlines plane passes behind a United Airlines plane at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, on September 28, 2024.
Gary Hershorn | Corbes News | Getty Images
Can it beat Delta? It’s unclear whether Magnolia Bakery banana pudding will be enough to get more travelers to buy first class, but United is making other big moves, such as expanding its network to include more premium leisure destinations Routes to Mongolia, Greenland and northern Spain will be launched next year to attract customers seeking off-the-beaten-track destinations off traditional U.S. air destinations.
The airline’s performance this year has investors excited and it has set lofty goals for next year. Shares more than doubled in 2024, making it the best-performing airline.
United Airlines is introducing newly equipped narrow-body aircraft to its fleet with new interiors, seatback screens and Bluetooth connectivity. The company announced a WiFi partnership with Musk’s SpaceX’s Starlink and, following Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways, it will not charge for the service.
Chief Executive Scott Kirby said earlier this year that the airline would not count on Boeing’s yet-to-be-certified 737 Max 10 and would consider more Airbus planes as alternatives, but he backed the planemaker’s new CEO Kelly. Ortberg.
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines’ new premium seats feature extra legroom.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
Say goodbye to open seating. The Dallas-based airline shocked loyal and frustrated customers alike in July when it said it would begin operations. Assign seats and update its livery cabin to add rows of seats with extra legroom to increase revenue. It’s the airline’s biggest strategic change in nearly half a century.
While Southwest says it has been working on the changes for months, it comes after activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management took a roughly $2 billion stake in the airline and pushed for changes, including ousting its chief executive. The airline announced the changes after Chief Executive Bob Jordan. Former CEO and ex-chairman Gary Kelly survived the race despite agreeing to retire. In a truce, Southwest appointed six new board members in October, including five nominated by Elliott.
American Airlines
Jeff Greenberg | Universal Image Group | Getty Images
American Airlines In May, the airline axed its commercial chief Vasu Raja after its sales strategy of eliminating travel agents in favor of selling directly to business travelers backfired and the airline suddenly made deep cuts. sales guidance.
The company’s outlook has improved, with executives optimistic about demand through the end of the year and into 2025. Citibankand will end its relationship with its co-branding partner Barclays, a holdover from American Airlines’ 2013 merger with US Airways.
spirit airlines
Terminal A at New York’s LaGuardia International Airport, serving JetBlue and Spirit Airlines.
Leslie Josephs | CNBC
Comedians love to hate the budget airline, and problems have snowballed this year, starting with a federal judge January blocked JetBlue Airways’ acquisition of Spirit Airlines.
After the merger closes, Spirit faces other issues: a surge in labor and other costs in the wake of the pandemic, fierce competition in its domestic market, a surge in demand for travel to countries where the company doesn’t operate, such as Italy and Japan, and Pratt & Whitney’s The engine recall has had a huge impact on Spirit, grounding dozens of aircraft.
With the refinancing deadline looming, the company was hemorrhaging nerves and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, becoming the first major U.S. airline to file for bankruptcy protection since American Airlines in 2011. It’s expected to make a splash in the first quarter, but whether it will try again for bankruptcy remains an open question in conjunction with other budget airlines. border.
The airline has changed its long-standing business model of charging low fares and adding other fees such as seat selection to offer more bundled options during the summer.
JetBlue Airways
A person sits on the edge of the engine of a JetBlue Airways Airbus A320 passenger aircraft in a JetBlue maintenance hangar at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport on March 4, 2024, before a Career Discovery Week event.
Charlie Triballo | AFP | Getty Images
While Spirit Airlines’ stock was delisted after it filed for bankruptcy, JetBlue Airways is moving forward after a judge blocked its takeover plan. Here are the highlights: Cut costs and return to profitability.
New CEO Joanna Geraghty and former commercial executive Marty St. George, who returned to the airline as president in February, have developed the JetForward strategy to refocus the airline , the airline added too many loss-making routes after the epidemic.
The airline announced earlier this month that it would update domestic business cabins on some of its aircraft to complement those with its top-tier Mint business class cabin.
As of Tuesday’s close, the company’s stock price has risen more than 40% this year, ranking first S&P 500 Indexperformance. Investors were pleased with its latest revenue picture, with an update showing revenue was better than expected.
Alaska Airlines
On January 7, the National Transportation Safety Board in Portland, Oregon, saw during its investigation that Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, a Boeing 737-9 MAX, was forced to make an emergency landing with a gap in the fuselage.
National Transportation Safety Board | Reuters
Boeing paid compensation after a door jam burst on one of the airline’s new Boeing planes at the start of the new year, temporarily grounding the Max 9 aircraft just a few miles away in London, Washington. Dayton.
Months later, the company refocused on its nearly $2 billion acquisition of troubled Hawaiian Airlines, a merger that passed antitrust regulators this summer, marking the beginning of This is the first merger of a major U.S. airline since Alaska Airlines acquired Virgin America in 2016.
Alaska has made solid profits so far this year, with its stock price soaring more than 70%, nearly three times the premium to the broader market. Earlier this month, executives laid out an ambitious blueprint for investors, announcing that the combined airline would expand globally, including offering flights to Europe and Asia from Seattle, where its biggest rival is Delta Air Lines direct service by wide-body aircraft.
Frontier Airlines
On August 5, 2023, a Frontier Airlines plane parked at the gate of Denver International Airport (DEN) in Denver, Colorado.
Daniel Slim | AFP | Getty Images
A first-rate frontier? The airline has returned to profitability again and is trying to move upscale, planning to equip its planes with Domestic first class seats.
It also plans to offer more packages that include seat assignments, baggage and no change fees.
Chief executive Barry Biffle said the airline expected to return to double-digit profit margins by mid-2025, attributing the recent improvement to a series of network changes, such as opening flights on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays when demand is lower. Flights are reduced on days and in crowded places.
Allegiant Air
File photo of Allegiant Aircraft
Source: Allegiant Airlines | Wikipedia
loyalty travelIt has struggled to get into the hotel business and this summer said it would conduct a strategic review of its Sanctuary resort in Florida. The company added this fall that it was approaching a capital partner for the property north of Fort Myers.
Main business, low cost Allegiant AirNew CEO Greg Anderson told investors this fall that a turning point had been reached and peak demand was high. The airline updated its fourth-quarter guidance in early December, which beat analysts’ expectations.
sun country
A Sun Country Airlines jet
Nick Potts | PA Images | Getty Images
The airline’s profit margins are enviable, especially for a low-fare carrier, and it benefits from cargo contracts with: Amazon Deutsche Bank airlines analyst Mike Linenberg said this month that competitors were cutting capacity from its headquarters in Minneapolis.
“sun countryDiversification of revenue provides the company with an economic moat, allowing the airline to remain profitable even in its most volatile and competitive quarter since the pandemic,” he wrote in a Dec. 11 note .
The airline has successfully adapted its flight schedule to the seasons, adding services to warmer destinations during the winter.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the parent company of CNBC and NBC, which airs “Saturday Night Live.”
About The Author
