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Washington's Compliance Crackdown Becomes the Freight Market's Defining Force
For two years the trucking industry's story was a glut of capacity and rock-bottom rates. This week, it became something else entirely: a market being reshaped less by demand than by the federal government deciding who gets to stay on the road. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's enforcement push, layered across English-language proficiency rules, a non-domiciled CDL crackdown, ELD decertifications and a training-registry purge, is pulling drivers out of the sys
51 minutes ago1 min read
Carriers Ride an Early Peak Season as Container Rates Spike Across the Pacific
Ocean carriers spent this week doing something they could only dream of through a soft spring: raising prices, and making them stick. Rate hikes and a wave of fresh surcharges that took effect June 1 drove Asia-to-U.S. West Coast spot prices up 51% in the most recent week, reaching $4,836 per forty-foot equivalent unit, according to the Freightos Baltic Index. Asia-U.S. East Coast prices increased 25% to $6,336 per FEU. Freightos research chief Judah Levine called the moves t
54 minutes ago2 min read
Regulators keep $85bn Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern merger alive, but the clock barely moves
The most consequential railroad deal in a generation cleared a procedural hurdle this week, even as federal regulators signalled that any verdict on the first US coast-to-coast freight network remains a long way off. The Surface Transportation Board confirmed it has accepted for review the revised application from Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern to combine into a single transcontinental carrier. The Board's unanimous decision simultaneously held the proceedings in abeyance
1 day ago1 min read
Middle East war torches airline profits as IATA halves its 2026 forecast
US carriers are absorbing the heaviest blow to their bottom lines since the pandemic, as a widening Middle East conflict and a doubling of jet fuel prices upend an industry that began the year flush with confidence. The reckoning came into sharp focus this week in Rio de Janeiro, where the International Air Transport Association used its annual summit to slash its global profit outlook. Airlines are now expected to post a combined net profit of $23 billion in 2026, roughly ha
1 day ago2 min read
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Newark Airport Dispute Exposes Political Risk to US Aviation
One of America’s busiest international airports found itself at the centre of political confrontation. The Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin threatened on 28 May that the Trump administration could soon stop processing international travellers and cargo at Newark airport as local law enforcement in the Blue State of New Jersey refused to assist federal immigration officials. With fans gearing up for the FIFA World Cup this summer, questions over international
3 days ago3 min read
The Right Policy at the Wrong Moment: Why Family Seating Fees Should Wait
When a parent books a flight for themselves and a young child, most assume the family will sit together. For many travellers, that assumption does not survive contact with the booking page. Across several major carriers, seating a parent next to their child can mean an extra charge, a gamble on whatever is left at check-in, or an awkward negotiation with strangers at the gate. A long-running effort in Washington has sought to put an end to that. The question now is not whethe
Jun 44 min read
United Airlines Flight Attendants Ratify New Contract Following 6 Years of Negotiations. Was The Wait Worth It?
United flight attendants ratified the tentative agreement yesterday with a vote of 82% in favour. The result emerged after eight months of further mediated talks and was announced on March 26 following a four-day session in Washington D.C. The agreed contract will last for five years from May 31, 2026, to May 31, 2031. The United Airlines flight attendants have been on stagnant pay since the pandemic as they watch rival aviation companies Delta and American reward their work
May 144 min read
‘We owe it to the victims’ families and the American flying public’ | Interview with Rep. Sharice Davids on aviation safety reform after Flight 5342
Sharice Davids is the Democratic representative for Kansas’s 3rd District, covering much of the Kansas City metropolitan area. She sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and has played a leading role in Congress's response to the midair collision of American Eagle Flight 5342 with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter on 29 January 2025, in which 67 people were killed. Davids helped lead the bipartisan ALERT Act, which passed the House last month by 396 votes
May 64 min read
‘We owe it to the victims’ families and the American flying public’ | Interview with Rep. Sharice Davids on aviation safety reform after Flight 5342
Sharice Davids is the Democratic representative for Kansas’s 3rd District, covering much of the Kansas City metropolitan area. She sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and has played a leading role in Congress's response to the midair collision of American Eagle Flight 5342 with a US Army Black Hawk helicopter on 29 January 2025, in which 67 people were killed. Davids helped lead the bipartisan ALERT Act, which passed the House last month by 396 votes
May 64 min read
'MH370 disappearance shows how ruthless democracy's enemies are' | Interview with aviation journalist Jeff Wise
Jeff Wise is a journalist specializing in aviation, technology, and psychology who has written for Businessweek, Psychology Today, and...
Aug 16, 20244 min read
A High Flying Career: Flight Attendant Kara Mulder on the Evolving Landscape of Aviation
Kara Mulder, an accomplished flight attendant and the creative force behind the popular Flight Attendant Life blog, has leveraged her...
Aug 17, 20234 min read
With Summer Travel Almost Here, the FAA Remains Leaderless
In another twist in the saga of complications and chaos that has been plaguing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), it has recently...
Apr 12, 20233 min read
Newark Airport Dispute Exposes Political Risk to US Aviation
One of America’s busiest international airports found itself at the centre of political confrontation. The Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin threatened on 28 May that the Trump administration could soon stop processing international travellers and cargo at Newark airport as local law enforcement in the Blue State of New Jersey refused to assist federal immigration officials. With fans gearing up for the FIFA World Cup this summer, questions over international
3 days ago3 min read
The Right Policy at the Wrong Moment: Why Family Seating Fees Should Wait
When a parent books a flight for themselves and a young child, most assume the family will sit together. For many travellers, that assumption does not survive contact with the booking page. Across several major carriers, seating a parent next to their child can mean an extra charge, a gamble on whatever is left at check-in, or an awkward negotiation with strangers at the gate. A long-running effort in Washington has sought to put an end to that. The question now is not whethe
Jun 44 min read
Duffy’s Xbox Controllers
How the FAA's gaming pitch drew a record 12,350 applications in a single hiring window The United States Federal Aviation Administration has spent the better part of a decade wrestling with a chronic shortage of air traffic controllers. This month, it tried something unorthodox: it asked video gamers to step up. The response was overwhelming. On 17 April 2026, the FAA opened its annual hiring window for trainee air traffic controllers with a recruitment campaign built around
Apr 223 min read
Fuelling the Crisis: Aviation’s most dangerous vulnerability exposed
There is a line buried in airline annual reports that tends to get overlooked in good times. Fuel costs are, the reports note, "extremely volatile and unpredictable, and even a small change in market fuel prices can significantly affect profitability." Southwest Airlines wrote that in its 2025 filing. Weeks later, it became the understatement of the year. When the US and Israel struck Iran on 28 February 2026, the airline industry's most intractable cost problem moved from ch
Apr 103 min read
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