Raphael Stevens

Ford saw big growth in August in sales of its three-row Expedition SUV.
The most popular Expedition models start at around $74,000. The vehicle is gas-powered, signaling that even as demand for electric vehicles has risen, consumers are still interested in big, traditional models.
While the Expedition only made up about 5% of sales in August, Ford’s profit engine for decades has been large trucks and SUVs.

Ford’s redesigned three-row Expedition SUV is seeing explosive growth.
The Detroit automaker reported Wednesday that it sold 8,724 Expeditions in August, up 53.7% from the same time last year and marking its best sales in 21 years. It’s sold 61,022 of the vehicles so far this year, a 13.1% increase from the same period in 2024.

The Expedition is outperforming Ford’s sales overall. In total, the company’s August sales were up 3.9% from the same month last year.
While the Expedition only made up about 5% of sales in August, Ford’s profit engine for decades has been large trucks and SUVs.
It also has a traditional internal combustion engine, signaling customers are still interested in large, gas-powered vehicles even as electric vehicle sales have been up this year.
Buyers have been rushing to purchase EVs ahead of the end of a federal tax credit at the end of this month. Ford is seeing the surge, with EV sales up 19.3% in August from the same period last year. Wall Street analysts predict EV sales will drop at the end of the year as the credits expire.
Ford’s crosstown rival General Motors also touted its EV sales for the period, saying the segment set an all-time monthly record in August.

Mark Levine, Ford director of North America product communications, acknowledged that there’s been a lot of interest with EVs but said families are drawn to bigger vehicles, like the Expedition.

2025 Ford Expedition Tremor

While Ford has an electric vehicle segment of its business called “Model e,” the company hasn’t been as enthusiastic as some of its rivals when it comes to the all-electric transition. It canceled plans for a three-row electric SUV a year ago and said at the time it would prioritize the development of hybrid models.
“We are out of sync, in a good way, with our competitors who are now fully loaded with all their EVs, and they’ll have to commit to them,” Ford CEO Jim Farley said on the company’s latest earnings call with analysts at the end of July.
It’s also a sign that some consumers are still willing to spend on large vehicles. The most popular models of the Expedition start at around $74,000, Ford said Thursday, and can go up from there. Ford said its most popular models are the Platinum, Tremor and King Ranch, at the higher end of the lineup.
The automaker unveiled the latest model of the Expedition in October, and it started shipping the SUV about five months ago. It’s assembled at the company’s Kentucky Truck Plant.
Ford’s main rival in the segment has long been GM, with its Chevrolet Tahoe, Chevrolet Suburban and GMC Yukon vehicles. But new competitors such as the Jeep Wagoneer from Stellantis as well as large three-row crossovers from Kia and Hyundai have also come to market. More

JetBlue plans to adopt Amazon’s Project Kuiper satellite internet service on a portion of its fleet.
It’s a vote of confidence for Kuiper, Amazon’s constellation of internet satellites that is designed to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink.
U.S. airlines have been working to improve their in-flight Wi-Fi, which has long been derided for slow speeds and high prices.

A JetBlue Airways Airbus A321-231 departs San Diego International Airport en route to New York on March 4, 2025 in San Diego, California.
Kevin Carter | Getty Images

JetBlue Airways plans to install Amazon’s Project Kuiper on some of its airplanes to bolster in-flight Wi-Fi, the companies announced Thursday, in a vote of confidence for the nascent internet satellite service.
The technology will be added to about a quarter of the airline’s fleet, with the rollout beginning in 2027 and expected to be complete in 2028, JetBlue President Marty St. George said on a call with reporters.

The team-up is a significant win for Amazon, which has been working to build a constellation of internet-beaming satellites in low-Earth orbit, called Project Kuiper. The service will compete directly with Elon Musk’s Starlink, which currently dominates the market and has 8,000 satellites in orbit.
Amazon has sent up 102 satellites through a series of rocket launches since April. It’s aiming to meet a deadline by the Federal Communications Commission, which requires it to have about 1,600, or half of its full constellation, in orbit by the end of July 2026.
The company hopes to begin commercial service later this year.
“Even though we still have a lot more work to do, we’re super excited to have JetBlue as the first airline customer for Kuiper,” Chris Weber, Kuiper’s vice president of sales and marketing, told reporters.

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Starlink has signed up a growing number of airlines to use its services. JetBlue is Kuiper’s first airline partner, though Amazon has signed several deals recently as it tries to expand the service, including with European plane maker Airbus in April.

JetBlue has offered free in-flight internet for years through a partnership with Viasat, which operates a network of geostationary, or GEO, satellites. That partnership will continue, St. George said.
He praised Amazon’s satellite service, saying Kuiper offers high speed, low latency and high reliability compared with GEO satellite networks. JetBlue could eventually use a combination of low-Earth orbit and GEO satellites for in-flight internet, St. George added.
U.S. airlines have been working to improve their in-flight Wi-Fi, which has long been derided for slow speeds and high prices.
Southwest Airlines on Thursday said it will offer free Wi-Fi to members of its Rapid Rewards loyalty program through a partnership with T-Mobile starting Oct. 24.
Delta Air Lines followed JetBlue in unveiling complimentary connectivity in 2023 for its SkyMiles loyalty program members. Hawaiian Airlines is using Starlink for free in-flight Wi-Fi, and Alaska Airlines, which acquired that carrier last year, recently said it would outfit its planes with the same service.
United Airlines is also working to equip its planes to offer its loyalty program members free Wi-Fi through Starlink. American Airlines, for its part, in April said it plans to have free in-flight internet on most of its planes next year for members of its AAdvantage program.

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Spirit Airlines is cutting flights to a slew of cities after it filed for bankruptcy protection last week for the second time in less than a year.
United Airlines said it’s adding flights in case Spirit “suddenly goes out of business.”
Frontier Airlines has also planned to add flights aimed at Spirit’s customers.

A Spirit Airlines jet takes off above two United Airlines airplanes at Newark Liberty Airport on March 23, 2018 in Newark, New Jersey.
Gary Hershorn | Getty Images

Spirit Airlines is ending service in a host of U.S. cities this fall as it fights for survival. Its rivals, meanwhile, are circling its customers, and one is preparing for the possibility the budget travel icon shuts down altogether.
United Airlines on Thursday put on sale a slew of new flights in cities where Spirit operates, like its home base of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and Orlando, Florida, as well as Las Vegas, Houston and Chicago.

“If Spirit suddenly goes out of business it will be incredibly disruptive, so we’re adding these flights to give their customers other options if they want or need them,” Patrick Quayle, United’s senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, said in a news release.
The new service starts Jan. 6.
Last week Frontier Airlines, the second-largest budget airline in the U.S. behind Spirit, announced 20 new routes that compete with Spirit.
Meanwhile, in October, Spirit is exiting Albuquerque, New Mexico; Birmingham, Alabama; Boise, Idaho; Chattanooga, Tennessee; Columbia, South Carolina; Portland, Oregon; and Salt Lake City, as well as Oakland, San Diego, Sacramento and San Jose in California, the carrier told CNBC on Wednesday. It is also axing plans to start service in Macon, Georgia, on Oct. 16. 
“We apologize to our Guests for any inconvenience this may cause and will reach out to those with affected reservations to notify them of their options, including a refund,” Spirit said in an emailed statement.

Some of United’s additional flights include service between the New York area and Columbia and Chattanooga. United is also adding additional flights between Houston, Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as several additional daily roundtrip options like Los Angeles to Las Vegas, and Chicago to Orlando, Fort Lauderdale, New Orleans and Las Vegas, among others.
Frontier has the most seat overlap with Spirit at 39%, while United has 18%, according to TD Cowen analyst Tom Fitzgerald.
Several analysts have said they expect full-service airlines will benefit from Spirit’s troubles. Many of those carriers have big global networks to serve customers, as well as a basic economy, no-frills product that competes with Spirit and other low-cost airlines.
With larger airlines “improving onboard product (premium, free Wi-Fi, inflight entertainment) and network expansion, consumers are increasingly choosing network airlines like Delta and United over the historical market disruptors,” Melius Research analyst Conor Cunningham wrote in a note on Wednesday.

Back to court

Spirit Airlines filed for its second Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a less than year last week after it faced weaker-than-expected demand and continued high costs when it exited its earlier bankruptcy in March.
The carrier didn’t make the more painful, deeper cuts that are common in bankruptcies the first time it filed, and it’s now facing those choices now.
Upon filing its second bankruptcy petition, Spirit last week said it would further scale down its network and shrink its fleet, cuts that it said will reduce costs by “hundreds of millions of dollars” a year.
“Since emerging from our previous restructuring, which was targeted exclusively on reducing Spirit’s funded debt and raising equity capital, it has become clear that there is much more work to be done and many more tools are available to best position Spirit for the future,” Spirit CEO Dave Davis said in a news release on Friday.
In a court filing in December, Spirit forecast a net profit of $252 million this year. But in August, it said it instead lost nearly $257 million since March 13, after it exited Chapter 11, through the end of June.
Spirit warned earlier in August that it might not be able to survive a year unless it significantly increased its cash.
It also said its credit card processor was seeking additional collateral. It then borrowed the entire $275 million available under its revolving credit facility and said that the card processor could hold back up to $3 million a day from the airline. Even before bankruptcy, Spirit had planned to furlough hundreds of additional pilots this fall. More