Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 93: Separation Anxiety

Air France/KLM and Lufthansa have a lot in common, including the fact that both distantly trail IAG (the parent company of British Airways, Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling) in terms of profitability among Europe’s Big Three airline groups. What does IAG have that the others don’t? Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic turned in a profitless 2017 partly because of hurricanes.

The fiesta has fizzled in Mexico right now as overcapacity, a weak peso and political concerns made it a miserable 2017 for the airlines there. Aeromexico can at least chase money overseas. Volaris has not been so fortunate. Hopefully, Volaris can make a comeback like Copa and Turkish Airlines. Both carriers have gone from tears to cheers in recent years.