American Airlines Customer Chief to Depart

When travelers buy an airplane ticket, they’re often made aware of the carbon emissions from their trip. Google Flights and some airlines give fliers an estimate when they check fares, and carriers like British Airways and Qantas offer customers the option to buy carbon offsets or contribute to a “climate fund” in the booking process.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration expects the number of travelers passing through airport checkpoints to beat, if only slightly, the record of 262 million set four years ago.

The price of airline tickets has reached an all-time high this year. With costs soaring, passengers are desperately searching for cheap flights.

There is a shortage of a critical skilled labor group needed to keep America’s airlines flying: Pilots, particularly captains, are in short supply and that’s resulting in fewer flights to some of the smallest cities across the country.

The deadly wildfires on the island of Maui are likely to affect visitor — and airline — demand to the island for the “foreseeable future,” analysts at T.D. Cowen said Friday.

The world’s biggest airline is ready for Thanksgiving, having already battled through several hurricanes in recent months.

The inaugural Skift Aviation Forum welcomed Robert Isom, the CEO of American Airlines, as its first speaker at the Statler Hotel in downtown Dallas. During the interview he shared how the world’s biggest airline was prepared for the upcoming Thanksgiving vacation, and already looking ahead to the future with a focus on recruiting and training pilots, and staffing the carrier back up.

In hindsight, we should have known the mess that was air travel in 2022 was coming. Airlines kicked off the year canceling tens of thousands of flights amid the surge in Omicron variant cases that kept crews at home, and travelers — unfortunately — on the ground.

United Airlines took a nearly 10 percent stake in its regional partner Mesa Air Group in a deal unveiled after markets closed. The transaction is worth an estimated $10.5 million based on the closing price of Mesa’s stock of $2.61 per share on Monday.

Despite a number of constraints in the aviation industry, American Airlines has achieved a full year of profitability for the first time since 2019. 

Hydrogen-powered flight is one step closer to reality. Universal Hydrogen, which is developing a hydrogen fuel-cell powered commercial aircraft engine, has a green light from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to begin test flights.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, February 14. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.