IAGblog Podcasts

Its been a long time, but today United announced orders for 25 787s and 25 A350s plus 50 options on both. This is a big order as a whole, but seems like a compromise also. The discussion today includes Scott Hamilton from Leeham and Jon Ostrower from FlightGlobal. The conversation dwells on the 787 really being the best sized new technology available to replace the 767. But the A350 selection is truly surprising as United plans to use this airplane to replace its 747s. There is a big difference in capacity, and as Jon suggests, seems to be sending a signal that United is prepared to dispense with the lowest yield traffic. In both orders, United has flexibility to substitute different models - perhaps allowing the airline to accept the larger A350-1000 when it becomes available. Jon points out that this order is the largest order of its type this year and is ground breaking in that it is the first all composite airplane order.

In our first joint interview with Tnooz, we join Tnooz editor Kevin May to speak with travel distribution expert Timothy O'Neil-Dunne about open GDS. The idea is radical but also rather simple. The GDS environment has changed markedly as has the whole travel industry. The GDS thread that tied things together so far is frayed and, frankly, coming apart in places. Timothy explains why this is happening and where the GDS technology needs to go to stay relevant.

In our monthly conversation with ATW's Perry Flint we started off talking about the fact that it seems common sense is dead. Looking at the fact that the government feels the need to regulate what pilots carry on to the flight deck simply seems amazing. As Perry says, even as children we learn to look where we're going, we don't need Congress to regulate this. Following up on the pilot issue we discuss the seemingly lack of common sense with respect to Copenhagen. You would think that with the large amount of data suddenly coming out, leading the every ration person asking questions, the politicians might stop to think. But no, minds are made up already. Finally we move on to the possibility that consolidation among US airlines is playing out. Perry points out the poor record consolidation has in the industry. The last two left are not likely suitors it seems. If the music stops they both might be better off without seats.

In another of our ongoing discussions about social media and its impact on the travel industry, we discuss the ability of social media to memorialize conversations. This creates a long tail of information. What was embarrassing a year ago is a gift that keeps on giving - pouring salt into a wound that never closes. Yet so many firms with significant resources and good brand names are putting a lot of risk into inexperienced hands. The fallacy of treating social media as a task to hand off to an intern or other inexperienced staffer has generated a lot of examples of what not to do. Its unfair on the intern and downright dangerous for the brand. IAG's Steven Frischling and Pamela Johnson, president of PJ Inc. Public Relations explain why and cite examples.

United has not ordered a new plane in over a decade. As one of the USA's oldest airlines, with arguable the bluest of any US airlines' heritage (an offspring of Boeing), whatever they do is automatically big news. Not only has it been a long time since United bought new planes, the airline has been mortgaging assets and parking planes - of late it has been among the airlines brands hardest hit. Even a broken guitar caused the airline a flutter of news. Its been a tough few years.

But this pending order is coming at an auspicious time - we are in the midst of a relative drought in orders, certainly from big US airlines. United, for all its tribulations, remains a company everyone watches. Its home base of Chicago also means special attention - Boeing is based in Chicago and the President hails from Chicago. Yet this deal is nowhere near a shoo-in for Boeing.

Discussing the pending order are Julie Johnsson of the Chicago Tribune and Jon Ostrower from FlightGlobal. The discussion ranges across the entire US airline industry, alliances and then comes back to the United order.

Gueric Dechavanne, VP of Commercial Aviation Services at Collateral Verifications, raised interesting points on the CSeries and how disruptive it be to the aerospace industry. He sees the CSeries as most likely driving down the value of the A318/9 and 737-3/5/600 first. But clearly even among these models, the impact could be quite disruptive for operators and owners. The idea of re-engining programs comes up but Dechavanne does not see this as much of a threat.

We then go on to take a guess at likely targets for Bombardier and concur the CSeries may end up being a North American focused product - which does create other challenges for Bombardier.

Social media is all the rage at the moment. But the problems the travel industry, especially airlines, face are not new. So how, exactly, should the industry view social media as a solution to what is, essentially, old issues and problems? Sergio Mello, CEO and co-founder of Satisfly.com discusses how the industry needs to consider new technologies and tools in context. The problems may be old, but social media does mean a change of approach.

Ron Kuhlmann is a CAPA correspondent who just returned from the ACI meeting Kuala Lampur and shares his thought on airports - the perennial construction; the backwards and forwards of how this type of business runs given the vagaries of the airline business and being caught between communities that want air service everywhere for cheap, but don't want the noise. Its a tough business and it takes a special type of manager to deal with the politics on both sides of the business.

Sound like an over the top headline?  Well its not - check the math here. Air India just announced another blockbuster loss. The state says it will inject more capital. Surprise, surprise - as long as the airline remains state owned this transfer of wealth from the population to a select few will continue. And why do India's private airlines not yell at the top of their voices?  Great question - obviously they are taken care of - somehow. This is a truly sad state of affairs for Indians. It is a rotten situation.

The symbolism of a Titanic deckchair speaks for itself. The airline industry is shrinking into three mega-groups. But as these groups coalesce each airline not yet "affiliated" is either rapidly becoming an ugly duckling or something precious. Discussing the current batch of potential candidates for mergers is Ted Reed, airline columnist from TheStreet.com and Michael Ciasullo, IAG's managing partner for aviation consulting.

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