Global economic malaise, political upheavals, labor strife, volatile fuel prices, government intervention or indifference, onerous security measures, archaic air traffic control practices, infrastructure challenges, and relentless competition mean another business-as-usual year for the airline industry. In Ihis throe-part series, we survey the state of the scheduled, charter, and all-cargo airlines of the USA, which account for 35% of the world's airline traffic: 720 million passengers (of which 640 million are domestic), 9.1 million flights within the 50 states alone, and 23 million tonnes of cargo moving by air every 12 months, with a remarkable safety record.
展开▼
