Jon Ostrower, of FlightBlogger, probably the best aviation blog around, has uncovered an internal Airbus competitive intelligence briefing on their arch rival Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner program. A briefing, filled with juicy details. Even if you are not interested in commercial aircraft development, I recommend reading both Jon’s article, as well as the Airbus presentation. It is a stunning eye opener …

Delta Air Lines is taking another step in aligning and combining its frequent flier program with recently acquired, Northwest Airlines’ WorldPerks program: It will let SkyMiles members earn elite status by flying a certain number of segments. Delta announced elite and reward changes to both the Delta SkyMiles® and Northwest WorldPerks® programs to better align member benefits. Beginning in 2009, …

One frequently hears the term “fuel hedging”. May not be much in India, since airlines are not allowed to import fuel directly, and the government controlled oil marketing companies Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum, etc., do not practice hedging. Fuel Hedging is a contractual tool used by some airlines to stabilize jet fuel costs. A fuel hedge contract commits …

Deutsche Lufthansa AG said its supervisory board approved a plan to buy ailing Austrian Airlines AG. At the end of September reporting period, Lufthansa had cash and reserves of about €3.8 billion, with a nine-month net profit of €551 million. As the global economic turmoils squeeze the airline industry, the proposed merger highlights how the relative strong airlines are gaining …

My good friend K.B. Syed, recommended this article as a counter balance to the Arvind Lavakere article. It is not my intention to turn this in to a religious or ethic debate, but rather to raise awareness, on the methods, blatant and devious, used to divide us, instead of uniting us. In this regard, my respects to Mobashar Jawed Akbar. …