APEX Editor's Blog

IATA’s previous management team consisted of failed airline executives looking for “a cosy three- or four-year” stint before retirement, and the organisation had become irrelevant. These are just a couple of the points made by former IATA chief executive and director general Giovanni Bisignani during an interview with the APEX editor’s blog ahead of the [...]

DUBAI: How does one go about making the world’s largest airliner, the Airbus A380, look small? Park it at the new Concourse A at Dubai International Airport, which was designed to handle the giant aircraft and all the high-end passengers who will fly in its premium cabins. Earlier this year Emirates and Dubai International Airport [...]

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has a colourful way of describing the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). “NextGen is the transformation of how airplanes traverse the sky,” says the agency, and represents “a new era of flight”. But creating a new era of flight, which entails transitioning from a decades old ground-based system [...]

People with reduced mobility (PRMs) are accustomed to filling out complicated forms to inform airlines of their needs in advance of flying so that they can be assisted through the airport and onto their aircraft. Many are put off travelling altogether because of the lack of consistency and communication between the airline and the airport, which sometimes [...]

There are plenty of tales lamenting the race to the bottom in amenities and service for passengers in the United States. But that is not the entire story. Indeed, there are some markets where competition amongst carriers is working to increase the options available to travellers. Not only are there more choices now in these [...]

Once American and US Airways combine to produce the “new American”, inflight product is set to take on an unprecedented eminence as a distinguishing competitive factor among the country’s big three carriers. Current US Airways CEO and future chief of the merged American Doug Parker stressed the new paradigm during the recent Phoenix Sky Harbor [...]

JFK airport in New York City used to be called Idlewild, but in anticipation of its revamped Terminal 4 opening later in May, Delta Air Lines is doing anything but idling about. A pop-up space is showcasing the expanded terminal and new passenger experience. Dubbed T4X, it is not just in Manhattan but key neighborhood [...]

Air travel in the 1950s and 1960s used to convey a sense of wonder and awe. It was glamourous and exciting. Hollywood stars would be photographed stepping out of an aircraft looking flawless despite having flown for hours across continents, over oceans. This era is often referred to as the “golden age” of flying. Today, many [...]

When airlines started rolling out inflight Wi-Fi at the end of the last decade, passengers had far different bandwidth requirements than in 2013. Armed with smart phones and tablets, today’s mobile, social, vocal passengers can’t seem to get enough bandwidth. They’re a seemingly insatiable bunch. So airlines and IFC service providers are re-adjusting their approaches to [...]

WASHINGTON DC: With airlines from Doja, Qatar to Houston, Texas making plans to resume Boeing 787 flights in time for the summer travel season, the National Transportation Safety Board’s investigation into the cause of a Japan Airlines Dreamliner battery fire in Boston on 7 January has moved from urgent to theoretical. In two days of [...]