Airlines expect a strong tailwind from travel demand in 2025, even though carriers could be hedged in by capacity issues. United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and several other U.S.-based carriers have all given investors strong forecasts for the year. Wall Street expects major airlines to increase revenue and profit in 2025. Lower jet fuel prices have also helped brighten those forecasts. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian said the airline is already on track for the best “financial year” in its history. “The U.S. consumer is financially healthy and continues to prioritize spending on experiences,” he said, following the airline’s latest quarterly earnings report. Consumer spending remained strong across most goods and services in 2024. Air transportation was among the stronger categories, with spending increasing each month through November, according to the data on personal consumption expenditures. Airlines were among 2024’s biggest gainers on Wall Street, with Delta’s stock rising 50% and United Airlines more than doubling. Most airline stocks have continued gaining ground into 2025, along with expectations for profit growth. Still, the industry faces supply chain problems that have crimped capacity. “The capacity challenges of 2024 will continue into 2025 and indeed through to 2026 as airlines struggle with the fallout from maintenance, repair, and overhaul issues and production delays from major aircraft manufacturers,” said John Grant, chief analyst at travel data company OAG.<br/>
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There is a good reason why American commercial airliners have safely flown billions of miles since the last major tragedy. Every incident, near miss or accident is minutely investigated, without rushed conclusions, political bias or uninformed speculation. The result is an industry based on multiple layers of redundancy, faithfully followed safety protocols, pilot checklists and codes of practice that have made the unnatural business of humans taking to the skies safer than climbing into a car. President Donald Trump on Thursday ignored all those principles when addressing the disaster in Washington’s crowded skies the night before, in one of the most staggering spectacles in the White House briefing room since his last term. In his first national crisis since reassuming the presidency, he put his political goals and need for adulation above the need to find untainted answers about the catastrophe and over the indescribable pain of victims’ families. Trump’s approach highlighted his determination to break the mold of every other modern president and to prioritize what he called “common sense” over traditional expertise in government — to now include air accident investigations. But his appearance also underscored a fundamental question raised by his second term: whether his impulse to be a disrupter may sometimes be counterproductive and even jeopardize the well-being of Americans.<br/>
U.S. commercial pilot Rick Redfern was preparing to land at Reagan Washington National Airport about a decade ago when he spotted a bright red Coast Guard helicopter hovering about 50 feet (15 m) above the Potomac River. Air traffic control promptly warned the helicopter pilot to stay clear, and Redfern said he used evasive maneuvers to avoid it and avert a potential disaster - and that was in daytime, when visibility was clearer. At night "the light can disorient you as to what you might think you are seeing as to what you actually are seeing," Redfern said. A collision on Wednesday night between a Black Hawk military helicopter and an American Airlines subsidiary's CRJ700 regional jet, which killed 67 people, has stirred haunting memories for Redfern and other pilots who have faced challenges landing at the Washington airport. Planes approaching the airport must navigate a precise and narrow flight path to avoid restricted airspace around the nearby White House and Pentagon. "That turn from the eastern side along the river to turn into runway 33 is very, very tight," said Redfern, referring to the same airstrip the American Airlines jet was heading towards before colliding with the U.S. military helicopter. It is unclear what caused the crash, which is now under investigation by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the U.S. Army. Air crashes typically result from multiple factors.<br/>
The crash of an American Airlines passenger jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday highlighted issues around the congested airspace shared by civilian and military aircraft over the U.S. capital. Military helicopters and passenger airplanes are a common sight along the Potomac River in the Washington region, where the collision happened. The area is home to numerous military bases and three major airports. There have been several near-miss incidents at Reagan National Airport that have sparked alarm, including a near-collision in May 2024 between an American Airlines jet and a small airplane and one in April 2024 between Southwest and JetBlue airplanes. The close calls coincide with a shortage of air traffic controllers that has delayed flights and raised safety concerns across the United States. The FAA in October opened an audit into runway incursion risks at the 45 busiest U.S. airports after a series of near-miss incidents. Reagan National is particularly busy. Over a three-year period ending in 2019, there were 88,000 helicopter flights within 30 miles (48 km) of Reagan National Airport, including about 33,000 military and 18,000 law enforcement flights, the Government Accountability Office said in a 2021 report. Wednesday evening's midair collision occurred as the passenger jet flying from Wichita was approaching to land at Reagan. Radio communications between the air traffic control tower and the Black Hawk showed the helicopter crew knew the plane was in the vicinity.<br/>
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he had appointed a former senior aviation official as the acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration, a day after the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years. The announcement came after an American Airlines regional passenger jet collided with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport. Chris Rocheleau, a U.S. Air Force veteran who worked at the FAA for more than 20 years, was previously COO of the National Business Aviation Association. Sources said Liam McKenna, who was the counsel to the Senate Commerce Committee, has also been named chief counsel at the FAA. Rocheleau has been at the FAA since last week, the sources added. Mike Whitaker, unanimously confirmed as the FAA administrator in October 2023, stepped down early from his five-year term on Jan. 20 when Trump took office and for 10 days the FAA declined to say who was running the agency on an acting basis. Trump has not yet named a permanent candidate to replace Whitaker. Trump suggested that efforts to boost diversity at the FAA could have been a cause in the crash. At a White House press conference, he harshly criticized Pete Buttigieg, who headed the Transportation Department under President Joe Biden, saying, "he's a disaster... He's run it right into the ground with his diversity." Buttigieg blasted Trump on social media, calling his comments "despicable." "As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch," Buttigieg said.<br/>
President Donald Trump suggested without evidence on Thursday that the deadly midair collision of two aircraft in Washington was the result of the Federal Aviation Administration's efforts to hire a more diverse workforce. Trump leveled the accusation at a White House press conference called to update Americans on the Wednesday night crash in which a passenger jet about to land at Reagan National Airport collided with an Army helicopter on a training flight. The cause of the air crash is not yet clear, and there is no evidence that efforts to make the federal workforce more diverse have compromised air safety. Yet Trump used the briefing to step up his rhetoric on the issue, in this case criticizing the FAA, which regulates commercial U.S. air travel. "The FAA diversity push includes focus on hiring people with severe intellectual and psychiatric disabilities. That is amazing," Trump said, claiming the FAA wanted people "with severe disabilities, the most underrepresented segment of the workforce, and they want them in and they want them - they can be air traffic controllers." Asked how he could blame diversity, equity and inclusion hiring for the crash without yet knowing who was at fault, Trump said, "because I have common sense." "Air traffic controllers have to be at the highest level of genius," he added. A former FAA official told Reuters that air traffic controllers undergo rigorous testing - mentally and physically - before they are hired. Trump's comments drew criticism from aviation safety experts, disability rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers.<br/>
President Donald Trump said on Thursday that air traffic control systems have not been built properly, speaking in the wake of a deadly midair collision between an American Airlines regional passenger jet and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington D.C. "They spent a lot of money renovating a system, spending much more money than they would have spent if they bought a new system for air traffic controllers, meaning the computerized systems. There are certain companies that do a very good job. They didn't use those companies," Trump said.<br/>
U.S. President Donald Trump's military deportation flight to Guatemala on Monday likely cost at least $4,675 per migrant, according to data provided by U.S. and Guatemalan officials. That is more than five times the $853 cost of a one-way first class ticket on American Airlines from El Paso, Texas, the departure point for the flight, according to a review of publicly available airfares. It is also significantly higher than the cost of a commercial charter flight by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Trump launched the military deportation flights last week as part of his national emergency declaration on immigration, so far sending six planeloads of migrants on flights to Latin America. Only four have landed, all of them in Guatemala, after Colombia refused to let two U.S. C-17 cargo aircraft land and instead sent its own planes to collect migrants following a standoff with Trump. A U.S. official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, estimated the cost to operate a C-17 military transport aircraft is $28,500 per hour. The flight back and forth to Guatemala, not including time on the ground or any operations to prepare the flight for takeoff, took about 10-1/2 hours in the air to complete, the official said.<br/>
Heathrow's third runway can be built and operating in a decade's time, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said. Reeves told the BBC she wanted to see "spades in the ground" in the current Parliament and planes to start using the runway by 2035. She also said that Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London who is opposed to Heathrow's expansion, could not stop the new runway. Shadow chancellor Mel Stride said the Conservatives were in favour of a third runway at Heathrow "in principle" but "it remains to be seen" whether it can be built in a decade. The extra runway at Heathrow was one of a number of infrastructure projects announced by the chancellor on Wednesday as part of the government's plans to boost economic growth. "We think that we can get flights off within a decade," Reeves told the BBC. "I say that because we're not just announcing that we back it, we are changing the way that our planning system works to make it easier to deliver projects like the third runway at Heathrow." When asked if Sadiq Khan could stop the expansion the chancellor said "no". "There can be judicial reviews but we are confident that this airport expansion will happen, that we will get the third runway built," she said. Some have argued that it will take much longer than a decade for a third runway at Heathrow to become reality.<br/>
Fossil fuels will account for more than three-quarters of fuel used by airlines beyond 2040 — according to the British government’s own projections — undermining Rachel Reeves’ claims that new technologies will turn aviation green. The UK chancellor said on Thursday that “sustainable aviation fuels” are a “game-changer” in the debate over airport expansion, as she forecast that flights could take off from a new runway at Heathrow by 2035. Reeves has angered environmentalists — but delighted some business groups — by encouraging Heathrow’s management to put forward plans for the third runway by this summer, with the hope of achieving planning permission before the next election in 2029. “We’ve asked Heathrow to come forward with plans for that third runway by the summer, and we’ve said that it needs to meet strict rules about environmental and carbon emissions . . . I do believe they can. And Heathrow believes that they can as well,” Reeves told the BBC. “I believe [sustainable aviation fuels] are a game-changer in the way that we fly and the carbon emissions,” she said. But the government is only expecting 22% of UK jet fuel to be supplied by SAF by 2040, according to a document dated December 2024. SAF is made from a diverse range of sources, including crops, used cooking oil, household waste or hydrogen and can emit about 70% less carbon dioxide over its life cycle than traditional aviation fuel. It is also much more expensive than traditional jet fuel and is currently only available in small quantities.<br/>
The more aircraft there are in the air, the more maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) activity is required on the ground. It’s why one of the spin-off benefits of Ireland’s aircraft leasing success has been the growth of the MRO industry here, most of it concentrated at Dublin and Shannon airports. Notwithstanding current short-term supply chain issues resulting from a shortage of component parts, the auguries are good. According to UK aviation analytics company Cirium Ascend Consultancy, some 45,900 new passenger, freighter and turboprop aircraft are set to be delivered between now and 2043. “Rises in disposable income result in increased demand, and both China and India are growing markets,” explains John Cotter, professor in finance and chair in quantitative finance at University College Dublin. That bodes well for Ireland’s MRO sector which, in 2020, was estimated to account for 2,600 highly skilled jobs directly and 4,500 jobs overall across the economy.<br/>
Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, saw a record 92.3m passengers pass through its terminals in 2024, officials announced Thursday. The result cements Dubai’s bounce-back from the coronavirus pandemic, surpassing the previous record set in 2018 for the first time. Today, the airport feels like it’s bursting at the seams with aircraft movements and crowds moving through its cavernous terminals. Authorities plan to move operations in 2032 to the city-state’s second airport after a nearly $35b upgrade. Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, first announced the new passenger figure on X. The state-owned airport is home to the long-haul carrier Emirates, which powers the network of state-owned and state-linked businesses known as “Dubai Inc.” “Dubai is the airport of the world ... and a new world in the aviation sector,” Sheikh Mohammed wrote. Speaking with The Associated Press, Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths pointed to the fact that the airport had served more than 700m passengers over the last decade — closing in on twice the population of the United States.<br/>