USA

Throughout most of the world the privatisation of airports, often by lease, is by now long established. That isn't the case in the USA, where it has been tried since 1996 up until 2019, when the last major attempt floundered - as so many others have done before. In Canada everyone thought the perfect system, one that dates back to the 1990s, had already been introduced - mainly public sector ownership of the main airports by not-for-profit stakeholder organisations, which precluded private investment. But those airports simply aren't making enough money for the government, even though it charges them hefty annual ground rents, as it still owns the land in most cases. Now, at the fourth attempt, the government, which had already opened the door in 2025 to investment by the country's pension funds in its own airports - which they previously were not allowed to do - will try to set up a sovereign wealth fund that will be partly funded by capital sales at the airports, thus permitting enti

U.S. Jet-A Fuel Costs Rise In May 2026 The largest monthly price increase for a gallon of Jet-A fuel was in the Western Pacific region, with prices up 39 cents per gallon compared to April figures, while the largest decrease was in the Great Lakes region, with costs down 47 cents per gallon from a month ago. molly.mcmillin… Mon, 05/11/2026 - 23:41 Author override BCA Staff Content source Business & Commercial Aviation Primary Category Aircraft & Propulsion

The US airline industry has entered a compressed cycle of disruption and response, where the speed of external shocks is matched only by the pace of commercial adaptation. The recent surge in fuel prices, triggered by geopolitical instability, has exposed a structural shift: the widespread abandonment of fuel hedging has removed a traditional buffer, but in doing so has enabled unprecedented alignment in fare responses across airlines, such as Alaska Air Group, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines. This synchronisation has driven rapid yield expansion, with fare increases sticking more effectively than in previous cycles. The industry is no longer reacting defensively. Instead, it is actively recalibrating pricing to reflect structural cost realities. Early indicators suggest that demand resilience - combined with disciplined capacity strategies - has allowed airlines to recapture a meaningful share of fuel cost escalation. However, the central question is not whether airlines can raise

Consolidation built the modern US airline industry - but its next chapter is far from straightforward. As renewed speculation around mergers gathers pace, the underlying question is not who will merge, but whether the conditions that once drove transformative deals still apply in today's fundamentally different marketplace. This report explores how the industry's evolution into a highly concentrated, premium-driven system has altered the calculus for consolidation. Scale has already been achieved at the top end of the market, and with it, strong profitability, disciplined capacity growth and powerful revenue diversification. For the largest airlines, the strategic imperative is no longer survival through merger, but optimisation of existing networks, products and loyalty ecosystems. Attention most recently has shifted to the margins of the industry, where structural pressures are most acute. Low-cost and leisure-focused carriers face a more challenging landscape, defined by rising cost