Airline Weekly Lounge Episode 28: The French Correction

What’s it gonna take to fix Air France/KLM? The airline group has a number of problems—from labor inflexibility to a soft French economy—all in a very competitive part of the world. But there are reasons for hope: Gulf carriers could one day slow their growth, Air France/KLM still has the gold standard in joint ventures and, heck, labor concessions are always a possibility. Air Canada improved its 2015 operating margin from 6% to 11%—no easy task in a country that’s seeing economic and currency headwinds. The bad news for Copa Airlines is that its operating margin dropped from 18% to 7%. The good news is that Copa still has a profit margin at all, as it’s an airline heavily exposed to troubled Brazil and Venezuela. And why doesn’t Virgin America want to offer a basic economy seat option?