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A Boeing 737-800 slammed into a mound of dirt and a concrete wall at the end of the runway.
The area housed a localizer that guides planes on the runway.
Some aviation experts say the fatalities could have been minimized had the plane not collided with the concrete wall.

The wreckage of the Jeju Air aircraft that went off the runway and crashed lies at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, December 30, 2024. 
Kim Hong-ji | Reuters

Aviation experts are questioning the role of an airport design that positioned a mound of dirt and a concrete wall past the end of a runway, which Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 slammed into Sunday morning, killing all but two of the 181 people on board.
The plane, a Boeing 737-800, belly-landed on the runway after an overnight flight, apparently with flaps and landing gear retracted. The jetliner burst into flames after hitting the dirt and wall, where a localizer, which guides planes onto the runway, had been installed.

“Certainly that made it difficult to stop the aircraft safely,” said Todd Curtis, founder of Air Safe Media, which tracks aviation accidents and other incidents. Curtis worked at Boeing for nearly a decade as a safety engineer.
It will take crash investigators months if not longer to uncover the cause of the crash, the worst-ever air disaster in South Korea and the deadliest crash in years. They will examine everything from aircraft maintenance records to pilot scheduling to cockpit voice recorders.

Family members of the victims of the Jeju Air crash react as officials hold a briefing at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, December 30, 2024. 
Kim Soo-hyeon | Reuters

Initial evidence suggests a bird strike could have played a key role in possible engine loss. Experts cautioned the investigation is in the very early stages.
Some aviation experts say the fatalities could have been minimized had the plane not collided with the concrete wall.
In video of the Jeju Air flight’s landing, “you see the airplane skidding along, it is slowing down, they’re slowing down and everything is going pretty well up until where they hit” the wall, said John Cox, an aviation safety consultant and a Boeing 737 pilot.

Cox said he suspects the cause of death for most of the passengers on board is “going to be blunt force trauma of hitting the wall.”
Barriers past airport runways are common and recommended.
At New York’s LaGuardia Airport and others, for example, there are engineered material arresting systems, or EMAS, installed — a crushable material that slows down a plane beyond the runway and prevents it rolling into more dangerous areas. In 2016, then-vice presidential candidate Mike Pence’s plane overran the runway at LaGuardia and was ultimately stopped by EMAS.
The barrier at the edge of the runway at Muan International Airport in South Korea did not appear to be frangible, or have the ability to break apart, according to video footage and expert analysis, something investigators are likely to focus on. More

Jeju Air Flight 7C2216 crash landed at Muan International Airport killing 179 of the 181 people on board, in South Korea’s worst air disaster in decades.
Investigators are trying to figure out what caused the fatal belly landing of the Boeing 737-800.
The aircraft is one of the world’s most common models of aircraft, with nearly 4,400 in service, according to Cirium.

A Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 taking off from Osaka Kansai airport. 
Fabrizio Gandolfo | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Accident investigators are trying to figure out what caused a Jeju Air flight to belly land without its landing gear down at Muan International Airport in southwestern South Korea, killing all but two of the 181 people on board as it burst into flames in the nation’s worst air disaster in decades.
South Korea’s acting president, Choi Sang-mok, ordered an emergency inspection of the country’s Boeing 737-800s, the type of plane used on the fatal Jeju Air Flight 7C2216.

The Boeing 737-800 is one of the world’s most commonly used airplanes, and it has a strong safety record. It predates the Boeing 737 Max, the type that was involved in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed all 346 people on board those flights. The 737 Max was grounded for almost two years, and a flight-control system, which was later tweaked, was implicated in both of those crashes.

The scene where a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 series aircraft crashed and burst into flames is seen at Muan International Airport in Muan, some 288 kilometres southwest of Seoul on December 30, 2024. 
Jung Yeon-je | Afp | Getty Images

There are nearly 4,400 of the older Boeing 737-800s operated around the world, according to aviation-data firm Cirium. That means the model makes up about 17% of the world’s in-service commercial passenger jet fleet.
The average age of the world’s 737-800 fleet is 13 years old, according to Cirium, and the last of the series of planes were delivered about five years ago.
Jeju Air took delivery of the plane which was involved in this weekend’s crash in 2017. It was previously operated by European discount carrier Ryanair, according to Flightradar24. The plane involved in the crash was about 15 years old.
Aerospace experts say it’s unlikely that investigators will find a design problem with the long-flying aircraft.

“The idea that they’ll find a design flaw at this point is borderline inconceivable,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory, an aerospace consulting firm.

A full investigation could take longer than a year, and the unusual incident has raised more questions than answers, such as why the landing gear wasn’t deployed. Even with a hydraulic malfunction, Boeing 737-800 pilots can drop the landing gear manually.
One theory involves a possible bird strike that disabled at least one if not both engines.
“If that happens at the altitude they were at, they may not have had time to do emergency checklists,” said Jeff Guzzetti, a retired air safety investigator with the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration. He also said if the plane hadn’t run into a mount of dirt and hard wall at the end of the runway, the accident could have been more survivable. That area housed a localizer that helps guide aircraft.
The NTSB is leading the U.S. team of investigators that also includes Boeing and the FAA, since the aircraft was manufactured and certified in the United States.
Under international protocols, the country in which the accident took place will lead the overall investigation.
Boeing shares fell more than 4% early Monday after local officials called for inspections on 737-800s operated by South Korean airlines, but pared earlier losses to end the day down 2.3%.

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Boeing shares dropped Monday after South Korea ordered an inspection of all 737-800 planes — the model involved in a deadly Jeju Air crash over the weekend — operated by its domestic carriers.
Uncertainty surrounds the exact circumstances of the crash, which killed 179 of 181 people on board the flight on Sunday.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok told the Transport Ministry to carry out an emergency safety inspection of the country’s entire airline operation system, while officials at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, or MOLIT, said they would conduct a “comprehensive special inspection of the B737-800.”

The wreckage of Jeju Air Co. Flight 2216 at Muan International Airport in Muan County, South Korea, on Monday, Dec. 30, 2024.
SeongJoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Boeing shares fell more than 2% on Monday, after South Korea ordered an inspection of all 737-800 planes — the model involved in a deadly Jeju Air crash over the weekend — operated by its domestic carriers.
Acting President Choi Sang-mok told the Transport Ministry to carry out an emergency safety inspection of the country’s entire airline operation system, while officials at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, or MOLIT, said they would conduct a “comprehensive special inspection of the B737-800.”

Uncertainty surrounds the exact circumstances of the crash, which killed 179 of 181 people who were on board the flight on Sunday. The plane landed without the correct gear deployed at South Korea’s Muan International Airport, skidded off the runway and smashed into a wall, bursting into flames. The survivors were two crew members who were pulled from the wreckage.
In a Monday briefing, MOLIT said the aircraft’s pilot had mentioned a “bird strike” a few minutes after the airport’s control tower issued a bird activity warning. The pilot also notified the control tower of a “go-around,” referring to an aborted landing attempt, and declared “Mayday,” said Yu Kyung-soo, director of aviation safety policy at MOLIT, according to an NBC News translation.
Two black boxes were retrieved from the aircraft and have been sent for analysis. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is meanwhile leading a team of U.S. investigators, including the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing, to assist South Korea’s Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board with a probe into the crash. Engine manufacturer CFM International, a joint venture between GE Aerospace and France’s Safran Aircraft Engines, will also be involved in the investigation.

A Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 on the runway at Tokyo Narita airport in 2017.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

MOLIT officials said Monday they were reviewing the concrete wall that the aircraft hit for its connection to the accident in addition to the inspection of the 737-800s in South Korean airlines’ fleet.
The popular Boeing narrow-body aircraft has been in operation for nearly three decades, with development predating the U.S. manufacturer’s troubled 737 Max jets, a later iteration of the model. Aviation experts said it was unlikely that a design flaw played into Sunday’s crash.

The Boeing 737-800 has a strong safety record and is one of the most widely used aircraft with about 4,400 in service, equal to about 17% of the active global jet fleet, according to aviation-data firm Cirium.
It is also commonly used by South Korean low-cost carriers, MOLIT said, with Jeju Air the biggest operator with 39 jets. Other operators include T’way Air, Jin Air, Eastar Jet and Air Incheon, while flag carrier Korean Air has two of the model.

“We will examine compliance with various regulations, including operational records, inspections, and maintenance conducted before and after flights,” Ju Jong-wan, director of the Aviation Policy Office at MOLIT, said Monday, according to the NBC News translation.
“We plan to review strengthening regulations regarding bird strikes, identified as a potential cause of the accident, especially for new airports under construction.”
A Boeing spokesperson told CNBC: “We are in contact with Jeju Air regarding flight 2216 and stand ready to support them. We extend our deepest condolences to the families who lost loved ones, and our thoughts remain with the passengers and crew.”

The wreckage of the Jeju Air aircraft that went off the runway and crashed lies at Muan International Airport, in Muan, South Korea, December 30, 2024.
Kim Hong-ji | Reuters

Local media reported that another Jeju Air aircraft of the same model returned to South Korea’s Gimpo Airport shortly after takeoff on Monday after reporting issues with its landing gear.
“The model and type of aircraft has a very strong safety record and over 200 airlines around the world have chosen to fly the Boeing 737-800 in the last year,” Paul Charles, CEO and travel analyst at The PC Agency, said by email.
“The investigators will need to comb through every maintenance record relating to the 737-800s at Jeju Air to see if they offer up any further clues as to why the aircraft’s landing gear did not come down.”
At a press briefing Sunday, head of the management support office at Jeju Air, Song Kyung-hoon, said the airline would support the victims and their families, and that the aircraft was covered by a $1 billion insurance, according to news site Yonhap.
Song also denied that mechanical faults or inadequate safety preparations played a role in the crash.
“This crash is not about any maintenance issues. There can be absolutely no compromise when it comes to maintaining aircraft,” Song said.
Shares of Jeju Air hit an all-time low Monday, according to FactSet, and closed down 8.65%.
— CNBC’s Yeo Boon Ping and Leslie Josephs contributed to this story. More

From the dining room on the ground floor of “Carl’s Villa” in Copenhagen, guests are treated to views of a charming garden adorned with classical statues. The art nouveau house was built in 1892 by Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of Carlsberg. Since then the brewer, which now uses the house for meetings, has become one of the biggest in the world. Sitting across the table Jacob Aarup-Andersen, Carlsberg’s current boss, admits that the company’s success is part of a bigger puzzle about Danish businesses. Just last night at dinner, he says, someone asked him how a country so small could produce so many large companies. More

Netflix set records for the most streamed NFL games ever in the U.S. with its two Christmas Day matchups, according to Nielsen.
Nearly 65 million people across the U.S. tuned in to the two NFL games on Christmas Day.
The NBA also had its most-watched Christmas Day in five years, averaging 5.25 million viewers per game in the U.S. across five contests throughout the day, according to Nielsen.

A detailed view of a Netflix Christmas Gameday sign during the regular season NFL football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers on December 25, 2024 at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, PA. 
Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

Christmas came right on time for Netflix, as the streamer set records for the most streamed NFL games ever in the U.S., according to Nielsen.
Nearly 65 million people across the U.S. tuned in to the two NFL matchups on Christmas Day, which Netflix held exclusive rights to show. The Baltimore Ravens’ victory over the Houston Texans averaged 24.3 million viewers, while the Kansas City Chiefs’ win against the Pittsburgh Steelers averaged 24.1 million, according to Nielsen.

The U.S. audience for the Ravens versus Texans game peaked during Beyoncé’s halftime show, with more than 27 million viewers tuning in to watch the star-studded performance.
“Bringing our members this record-breaking day of two NFL games was the best Christmas gift we could have delivered,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria said in a press release. “We’re thankful for our partnership with the NFL, all of our wonderful on-air talent, and let’s please not forget the electrifying Beyoncé and the brilliant Mariah Carey.”
Wednesday’s games were the first in a three-year deal between the NFL and Netflix to show Christmas matchups exclusively on the streaming giant.
The NFL wasn’t the only sports league to feel the Christmas cheer. The NBA — which typically dominates the Christmas sports schedule — set a record for its most-watched Christmas Day in five years, averaging 5.25 million viewers per game in the U.S. across five games throughout the day, according to Nielsen.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ victory over the Golden State Warriors was the most watched NBA regular season and Christmas Day game in five years, averaging 7.76 million viewers and peaking with 8.32 million viewers. The first game of the day, the New York Knicks’ win over the San Antonio Spurs, averaged 4.91 million viewers, making it the most watched Christmas Day opener in 13 years.

All in all, viewership was up 84% across the five games compared with Christmas in 2023. The games were broadcast on Disney’s cable and streaming platforms ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, Disney+ and ESPN+.
The strong ratings were a welcome sign for the NBA, which is struggling with lower viewership this year.

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Media companies are expecting to see ad spending stabilize in 2025 — and even grow for those platforms with sports and live events, industry executives told CNBC.
Even as streaming gobbles up a bigger share of ad dollars from traditional TV, executives are telling advertisers they need to plan for both distribution platforms to reach more demographics.
Ad spending has picked up late in the fourth quarter, and executives see a strong pipeline in the first quarter of 2025 as they move past any uncertainty tied to the election.

The New York Liberty celebrate after wining the 2024 WNBA Championship against the Minnesota Lynx during Game 5 of the 2024 WNBA Finals on October 20, 2024 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. 
David Sherman | National Basketball Association | Getty Images

The advertising market has positive momentum going into 2025 — especially for media companies with sports rights and tentpole live programming.
Sports and live events such as awards shows reigned supreme in conversations with media executives who weighed in on their expectations for the advertising market in the year ahead. The end of the uncertainty surrounding the election has helped the outlook improve, too, they said.

And despite consumers fleeing the traditional TV bundles, with more ad dollars going toward streaming, executives emphasized that traditional TV is still important in discussions with advertisers, especially when it comes to sports.
Overall, executives said they expect stability in the market and are hoping to move past the slowdown in ad spending in recent years.
“Normalization is the right way to say it with the advertising market,” said Mark Marshall, NBCUniversal’s chairman of global advertising and partnerships. “With the election settled, a lot of companies feel the uncertainty over that has gone away.”
He added that the company has seen more so-called scatter market budgets come in during the fourth quarter, which is what the industry calls the buying and selling of ads closer to their airdate versus ads that are bought further out.
“Our first quarter is looking really strong. I think that any election year is challenging for anyone in the fourth quarter because a lot of marketers end up sitting on their hands since the airwaves and digital are crowded,” said Dan Porter, CEO of sports media company Overtime. “I think that’s true for us and it’s true for everyone.”

Yet despite the uptick in ad revenue following the election and the forecast stability, Natalie Bastian, global chief marketing officer at Teads, said she expects a lot of the same trends.
Bastian noted that 2024 included major moments like the Summer Olympics and presidential election, which strengthened TV ad revenue. She expects the same budgets to carry over into the new year, however.
“What we’ve heard in general from some of our closest partners … media budgets aren’t growing, and so there’s just more selection into where [advertisers are] spending their money,” said Bastian. This makes sports and live programming that much more important to media companies.
Overall, the global advertising industry is expected to surpass $1 trillion in total revenue for the first time this year, excluding U.S. political advertising, and will grow 7.7% in 2025 to reach $1.1 trillion, according to a recent report from GroupM, WPP’s media investment group. Advertising on digital platforms — which includes retail media as a segment — is what’s driving that increase.
TV, considered “the most effective form of advertising,” is expected to grow nearly 2% in 2025 to $169.1 billion in total global ad revenue. In comparison, ad revenue for “pure-play digital,” which excludes “the digital extensions of traditional media” like streaming but includes platforms like YouTube and TikTok, is expected to grow by 10% to $813.3 billion globally in 2025, according to GroupM.

Championing sports

Karen Bass, Mayor of Los Angeles, waves the Olympic flag as Thomas Bach, President of International Olympic Committee, applauds during the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 at Stade de France on August 11, 2024 in Paris, France.
Carl Recine | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images

Sports keep attracting big audiences and advertisers, leading media companies to pay hefty sums for the rights to games.
Commercials during live sports generated 24% more engagement than other programming, according to EDO, an advertising data company.
“Live event coverage will continue to be a cornerstone of media engagement, and streaming services must step up their game,” said Tim Hurd, vice president of media at Goodway Group. “As more streaming platforms dive into sports, the challenge will be to keep viewers engaged, not just by offering content, but by enhancing the overall experience with personalized, non-disruptive ad units.”
Comcast’s NBCUniversal said the Summer Olympics in Paris generated a record $1.2 billion in ad revenue. It appeared to have paid off, with the company reporting a total audience delivery of more than 30 million people on NBC’s TV and streaming platforms.
Fox Corp. executives have said the company already sold out of Super Bowl ads for this coming February, which reportedly cost about $7 million each. The 2024 Super Bowl had an estimated 123.7 million viewers.
And Disney said it had sold out of ads for its Christmas Day NBA games two weeks before they aired. The company added that it’s “pacing up substantially” for the full NBA season when it comes to ad revenue compared with last year, and that it’s “already seen early movement” for the postseason in the scatter market.
The audience for women’s sports, driven by the WNBA in particular, also ramped up in the last year, meaning more opportunities for advertisers.
“This is beyond Caitlin Clark, even though she is a massive catalyst,” said Josh Mattison, Disney Advertising’s executive vice president of digital revenue pricing, planning and operations. “This was a transformational year in terms of audiences.”
The audience for the WNBA hit a record in 2024, and consumers were 16% more likely to engage with ads during these games compared with last year, according to EDO. But while advertisers spent $8.5 billion on sports TV ads in 2024, women’s sports only made up 3% of that number, according to EDO, leaving plenty of room for growth next year.
The growing popularity of women’s sports and its importance for media companies was evident this month when Netflix secured the U.S. rights to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027 and 2031. The streaming giant has been bulking up its sports portfolio, as have its peers across the legacy and digital media space.

Linear importance

A view of a ESPN cameraman during the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cincinnati Bengals on December 4, 2023 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fl. 
David Rosenblum | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

While consumers are cutting the cord and streaming services are now snapping up sports rights, linear TV’s audience still significantly outpaces streaming.
“There’s still declines in linear TV in a lot of markets, but not in all markets,” said Kate Scott-Dawkins, GroupM’s global president of business intelligence, noting there are international markets that are seeing growth. “When we talk about total TV, there is still a lot of opportunity and hopefully a renewed appreciation for how effective that can be as a medium [for advertisers].”
Amy Leifer, DirecTV Advertising’s chief ad sales officer, said the company predicts continued growth in programmatic ad spending, or automated digital ad buying, in streaming.
“Despite the shift towards streaming, linear TV still holds a significant advantage in terms of ad impressions, generating six times more than streaming,” said Leifer.
Executives said they have been talking with advertisers about how to look at linear and streaming together when disbursing ad dollars.
Leifer said DirecTV Advertising’s mantra is that “TV is TV,” no matter the distribution method. “Our focus for 2025 is to unify digital and linear television advertising by adopting a comprehensive approach and developing convergent TV solutions,” she added.
Both Marshall of NBCUniversal and Mattison of Disney said advertisers used to be focused on linear “versus” streaming. That’s not the case anymore.
“The pitch [we made to advertisers] last year is you really can’t look at one versus the other. When it’s rolled out into one platform, it’s how do you look at digital and linear together. That’s made a huge difference,” said Marshall, noting that older audiences are more present on linear TV, while younger generations have gravitated toward streaming.
Marshall said that NBCUniversal’s Peacock “hasn’t been cannibalizing linear,” because there’s little overlap between the content on both distribution outlets. “It’s actually two distinct, different audiences,” Marshall said.
Mattison noted Disney’s expansive sports portfolio and its various platforms across linear and streaming, with TV networks like ABC and ESPN, and streaming service ESPN+, which has content being added to Disney+, have been an advantage.
“The convergence [of the streaming apps] is really good for consumers, which leads to growth for advertisers,” he said. “We’re fortunate we spent years building our streaming ad tech, and we’re able to maximize audience reach as well as targeting and performance.”
“Maybe a few years ago it was linear versus streaming. I think now it’s linear AND streaming,” Mattison continued. “They’re kind of planned together. It’s true on both the media side and the advertiser side.”
Disclosure: Comcast owns CNBC parent NBCUniversal. NBCUniversal owns NBC Sports and NBC Olympics. NBC Olympics is the U.S. broadcast rights holder to all Summer and Winter Games through 2032.

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The drama-filled year in airlines started with a midair door panel blowing off a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9.
2024 also brought an activist campaign to Southwest, an IT meltdown that stranded hundreds of thousands of Delta travelers during the height of summer travel and the first major U.S. airline merger since 2011.
Holiday demand broke records and airline executives say bookings are strong into 2025.

People check-in for their flights at the airport ahead of the Thanksgiving Holiday at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., November 27, 2024. 
Megan Varner | Reuters

It’s been another eventful year for U.S. air travel. Just five days into the year, a door panel blew off of a nearly new Boeing 737 Max, operated by Alaska Airlines, as it climbed out of Portland, Oregon, after sunset, plunging the airplane manufacturer back in crisis mode and delaying deliveries of new jets for months.
Two weeks later, a federal judge blocked JetBlue Airways’ planned purchase of Spirit Airlines, leaving the smaller, battered budget carrier to fend for itself. Struggling Spirit ultimately filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November.

The drama-filled year also included an activist campaign at one of the country’s most cautious carriers, a tech meltdown that stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers during the height of summer travel and the first major U.S. airline merger since Barack Obama was president.
Federal Aviation Administration chief Mike Whitaker announced he’ll step down on Jan. 20, about a year into a five-year term, and the day President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated, leaving the critical agency that oversees everything from aircraft certification to the U.S. airspace yet again without a leader. Airline CEOs have been clamoring for more air traffic controllers and investment in air traffic technology.
Meanwhile, carriers duked it out for who could be the most “premium” and profitable, with cabins closer to the front of the plane becoming more popular purchases for travelers (sorry to those seeking free upgrades). The top two contenders — stalwart Delta and challenger United — brought most of the industry’s profits, and their stock prices hit records, while smaller airlines leaned into roomier seats and announced higher-end credit cards.
Airlines played chicken until the industry trimmed its glut of U.S. flights that were pushing down fares. But the international travel boom, well into the off-season, is showing no signs of slowing down. Through it all, demand for air travel overall smashed records, and CEOs are optimistic about next year, too.
Here’s how they each fared in 2024:

Delta Air Lines

Travelers from France wait on their delayed flight on the check-in floor of the Delta Air Lines terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on July 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. 
Mario Tama | Getty Images

The most profitable of U.S. carriers struggled to recover from a July 19 CrowdStrike outage that took hundreds of Microsoft Windows machines offline. It cost Delta Air Lines more than $500 million and left thousands of stranded customers, with a cancellation tally that topped all of 2019. Still, the carrier’s stock price hit a record this month.
CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC last week that demand looks strong going into 2025. The airline has been stepping up its premium offerings for high-paying customers, like with three new Delta One lounges, dedicated to travelers flying in that eponymous highest-tier cabin; New York, Los Angeles and Boston opened this year, with more on the way.
It’s a sign of Delta’s continued focus on upscale travelers and its “premium” brand, which like Spirit for budget travel, has become a punchline about the upper end of travel to the point that a “Saturday Night Live” sketch last week featured Martin Short playing a Delta employee who blocks actor Paul Rudd from entering a coveted Delta Sky Club, saying his name “sounds poor.”
Delta stopped short of rolling out a business-class lite product that some analysts expected during a November investor day, but the new lounges could relieve crowding at Delta’s popular Sky Clubs.

United Airlines

An American Airlines airplane passes behind a United Airlines airplane at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey, on Sept. 28, 2024.
Gary Hershorn | Corbis News | Getty Images

Can it beat Delta? It’s not clear whether the Magnolia Bakery banana pudding is enough to get more travelers to buy up to first class, but United Airlines is making other big moves, like expanding its network to include more premium leisure destinations from Mongolia to Greenland to northern Spain in the next year to capture customers seeking to travel off the beaten path of traditional U.S. airline destinations.
The carrier has thrilled investors with its results this year and set lofty targets for next year. Its stock has more than doubled in 2024, becoming the top-performing carrier.
United is introducing freshly outfitted narrow-body planes with new interiors featuring seat-back screens and Bluetooth connections into its fleet. It announced a Wi-Fi partnership powered by Elon Musk-owned SpaceX’s Starlink, and it won’t charge for the service, following Delta and JetBlue.
CEO Scott Kirby early in the year said the carrier isn’t counting on Boeing’s yet-to-be-certified 737 Max 10 and will look at more Airbus planes as an alternative, but he’s thrown his support behind the plane maker’s new chief executive, Kelly Ortberg.

Southwest Airlines

Southwest Airlines new premium seats featuring extra legroom.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC

Say goodbye to open seating. The Dallas-based carrier shocked customers — faithful and frustrated alike — when it said in July that it would start assigning seats and update its uniform cabin to include several rows with extra legroom in a bid to increase its revenue. It was the biggest strategy change for the carrier in its almost half century of flying.
While Southwest said it was working on the changes for months, the carrier announced them after activist hedge fund Elliott Investment Management took a roughly $2 billion stake in the airline and pushed for changes, including CEO Bob Jordan’s ouster. He survived the campaign, though ex-CEO and former Chairman Gary Kelly agreed to retire. In a truce, Southwest appointed six new board members in October, including five of Elliott’s nominees.

American Airlines

Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

American Airlines ousted its commercial chief, Vasu Raja, in May after a sales strategy that cut out travel agencies in favor of selling directly to business travelers backfired and the carrier abruptly slashed its sales guidance.
Its outlook has improved, and executives are upbeat about year-end demand and into 2025. It signed a new credit card deal with its partner Citi, and will end things with its co-brand partner Barclays, a holdover from American’s 2013 merger with US Airways.

Spirit Airlines

LaGuardia International Airport Terminal A for JetBlue and Spirit Airlines in New York.
Leslie Josephs | CNBC

The budget carrier comedians love to hate saw its problems snowball this year, starting with a federal judge blocking Spirit’s acquisition by JetBlue in January.
Merger off, Spirit was left to face its other problems: a surge in labor and other costs post-pandemic, high competition in domestic markets, a jump in travel demand to places it doesn’t fly (like Italy and Japan), and Pratt & Whitney’s engine recall that has had an outsize affect on Spirit, grounding dozens of its planes.
Hemorrhaging money with a refinancing deadline approaching, Spirit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, becoming the first major U.S. carrier to do since American Airlines in 2011. It expects to emerge in the first quarter and it’s an open question whether it will again attempt a combination with fellow budget carrier Frontier.
The carrier changed its longstanding business model of charging a low fare and adding on fees for everything else, like seat selection, to offering more bundled options in the summer.

JetBlue Airways

A person sits on the edge of an engine of an Airbus A320 passenger aircraft of Jet Blue airlines in a maintenance hangar of the company at JFK International Airport in New York on March 4, 2024, prior of a Career Discovery Week event. 
Charly Triballeau | AFP | Getty Images

While Spirit saw its stock delisted after filing for bankruptcy, JetBlue forged ahead after the judge blocked the planned acquisition with a singular focus: slash costs and get back to profitability.
New CEO Joanna Geraghty and former commercial chief Marty St. George, who returned to the airline as president in February, set out on JetForward, a strategy that aimed to refocus the airline, which had added too many money-losing routes after the pandemic with its premium-outfitted planes deployed to the wrong places.
The carrier earlier this month announced it would update some of its jets with a domestic business class, to complement its aircraft that feature its top-tier Mint business class.
Its shares are up more than 40% this year through Tuesday’s close, topping the S&P 500’s performance. Investors have been happy with its latest update that showed better-than-expected revenue.

Alaska Airlines

The fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 Boeing 737-9 MAX, which was forced to make an emergency landing with a gap in the fuselage, is seen during its investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board in Portland, Oregon, on Jan. 7, 2024.
Ntsb | Via Reuters

The airline started the year with the door plug blowout of one of its new Boeing planes, which led to a temporary grounding of Max 9s, and later a payout from Boeing, which makes the Maxes a few miles away in Renton, Washington.
Months later, it was back to focusing on its nearly $2 billion acquisition of struggling carrier Hawaiian Airlines, a combination that got through antitrust regulators in the summer, marking the first merger of major U.S. carriers since Alaska bought Virgin America in 2016.
Alaska has posted solid profits and enjoyed a surge in its stock price of more than 70% so far this year, a nearly threefold premium over the broader market. Executives painted an ambitious picture for investors earlier this month, announcing a global expansion for the combined airline that includes nonstop service on wide-body planes from Seattle — where its top competitor is Delta — to Europe and Asia.

Frontier Airlines

Frontier Airlines planes are parked at gates in Denver International Airport (DEN) in Denver, Colorado, on August 5, 2023.
Daniel Slim | Afp | Getty Images

First-class Frontier? The carrier is turning a profit again and is trying to go upscale, planning to outfit its planes with first-class domestic seats.
It’s also planning to offer more bundles that include seat assignments, baggage and no change fees.
CEO Barry Biffle said the airline expects to get back to double-digit margins in mid-2025 and credits recent improvement in results with a series of network changes, such as cutting flying during lower-demand days like Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and in crowded markets like in Florida and Las Vegas.

Allegiant Air

A file photo of an Allegiant Air plane
Source: Allegiant Air | Wikipedia

Allegiant Travel’s foray into the hotel business hit a rough patch and said this summer said it would undergo a strategic review for its Sunseeker Resort in Florida. It added this fall that it was closing in on a capital partner for the property that located north of Fort Myers.
The main business, low-cost Allegiant Airlines, has turned a corner, seeing high demand in peak periods, new CEO Greg Anderson told investors this fall. The carrier updated its fourth-quarter guidance that came in ahead of analyst estimates in early December.

Sun Country

A Sun Country Airlines jet
Nick Potts | PA Images | Getty Images

With enviable margins, especially for a low-fare airline, the carrier has benefited from its cargo-flying contract with Amazon and competitors cutting capacity from its home hub of Minneapolis, Deutsche Bank airline analyst Mike Linenberg said this month.
“Sun Country’s revenue diversity provides the company with an economic moat that has allowed the carrier to maintain profitability during even the most volatile and intensely competitive quarters since the pandemic,” he wrote in a Dec. 11 note.
The airline has been successful at switching its schedule with the seasons, ramping up service to warmer destinations in the winter.
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