Forecasts

Korean Air has finished rebuilding its Incheon cargo terminal with an impressive engineering, but the real point is commercial: in high-value air cargo, the terminal is the product.

Qatar Airways will fly Doha–Western Sydney from December 2027, the first Gulf carrier to commit to the new airport. Emirates has not announced plans.

Michael O’Leary says European airfares could rise by up to 20% next year. What sits behind the call, what his record suggests, and the sales logic of “book now”.

A TNMT review of 18 airline loyalty programmes finds tiers and cards still dominate, while AI, hotel tie-ups and free Starlink Wi-Fi hint at a new model.

Raven’s Customer Growth Index of 101 airlines finds AI assistants name the right carrier 78% of the time, link to it only 27%. An estimated $3bn a year lost.

Milan, Spain, the UK and now Shannon: four times since late August, Ryanair has tied an investment to a relocation threat. A fifth case is likely by February.

American will fit Starlink across its entire mainline fleet from 2027. With almost every serious competitor now committed, Delta’s bet on Amazon’s Leo network is starting to look less like discipline and more like exposure.

Lufthansa Group will fly up to 50 times a week to Japan in summer 2027, bringing back Frankfurt–Nagoya and adding a daily Narita service. Japan has reached the stage of recovery where secondary gateways return, and other European groups are likely to follow.

Inside the Lufthansa Group, ITA Airways is handing over network, alliance and loyalty currency while keeping its brand. That leaves the brand to win bookings on its own, in exactly the markets the group needs it to.

United, American and Air Canada are building their transatlantic growth around the Airbus A321XLR. Delta is the only major US network carrier refusing it, and the choice reveals two opposite theories of what premium is for.