Cambridge Aviation Research Blog

Hans Rosling demonstrated a compelling way to present time series data in his amazing 2006 TED talk on world economic development. Google's Visualization API allows us to present a similar view of 20 years of domestic airline traffic statistics as a 20-second movie. read more>>

The fatal end to a Gulfstream G650 test flight followed the structural failure and decompression of Southwest 812 by one day, a one-two punch which set the tone for a terrible month. While U.S. commercial aviation was spared further loss of life, the headlines have brought a drumbeat of reasons for the public to suspect airlines, air traffic controllers, pilots, and ground crews alike. read more>>

As the title of our new report suggests, we expect a relatively easy antitrust review for the proposed Southwest-AirTran merger.  But while researching "Southwest's proposed merger with AirTran likely to pass antitrust review," our analysis of the two carriers' overlap markets surfaced a few areas of concern worth highlighting: read more>>

American is threatening to pull its flights from Orbitz at the end of the month. This threat constitutes a marked escalation in American's attempt to push its AA Direct Connect platform as the sole means to access its inventory. While there are many good things to say about the modern, XML-based system, the bottom line for this effort is... well, the bottom line... as American attempts to reduce its distribution costs. read more>>

Southwest's acquisition of AirTran sets the carrier's course for the next decade.  With a stroke of the pen, Southwest has simultaneously undertaken three new challenges: read more>>

Google has released its new Google Instant search-while-you-type interface. But the big news is not the slick new interface or the purported five seconds it can save searchers; if it's from Google, it's all about ads. For while Google is guessing what you're intending to search for, it's displaying ads—and counting impressions—every step of the way. read more>>