Hard Landing: The Epic Contest for Power and Profits That Plunged the Airlines into Chaos

As organizations succeed and grow, they become more formalized, more bureaucratic, more careful, more remote from customers, and slower to act. Diseconomies of scale begin to work, overshadowing the cost advantages of size. Overhead grows, decision-making slows. Direct feedback from customers is reduced, filtered, and often ignored. The demon of af

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Many airlines around the world receive significant financial support from governments, in the form of either funding or outright ownership. For example, according to the Centre for Aviation, over a billion dollars in government subsidies went to four prominent Chinese airlines in 2014, helping drive up visitor numbers in secondary cities like Cheng

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With the nation awash in planes left over from the war, and with the advent of new passenger-friendly technology like pressurized cabins and onboard toilets, America was entering what we look back on as the “golden age” of flying. It was becoming a more mainstream way to travel. At the time, commercial airlines were heavily regulated by the Civil A

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Ownership in other airlines. Delta currently owns 49 percent of both Aeromexico and Virgin Atlantic and invests billions in partner airlines around the world. American has invested hundreds of millions in China Southern Airlines. United owns a portion of Brazilian airline Azul and is a creditor for Colombia’s Avianca. Investments like these…

Some hi

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