In contrast to Tokyo’s Narita and Haneda airports, Kansai has been able to use its greater available capacity to draw new flights from Japanese and foreign airlines. It is positioning itself well to take advantage of an increase in overseas visitor numbers. This has been particularly evident with LCCs, as Japan’s new budget airlines establish bases and grow their networks at Kansai. In addition, several foreign LCCs have launched service to Osaka, and more plan to follow.

Many of Europe’s legacy airlines, Austrian Airlines among them, are experiencing bitter disputes with employees about cost cuts. But now that Austrian seems to have found a compromise with labor, management attention is shifting to fleet renewal and a sustainable model.

Indian LCC IndiGo has given Airbus its largest single order to date, for 250 new A320neos. A successful IPO in a still tumultuous air transport market will be key to fund the order—and it would cement IndiGo’s position as India’s leading domestic airline.

Executive Editor Jim Asker discusses the Japanese regional jet project with Asia-Pacific Bureau Chief Bradley Perrett and Jens Flottau, managing editor for commercial aviation.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ rollout of the Mitsubishi Regional Jet on Oct. 18 may have occurred later than planned, but it marked a major milestone in Japan’s efforts to get back into the commercial airliner business.

Projecting airline traffic demand is usually straightforward: As GDP goes, so goes passenger activity.

Last month, Michigan celebrated the centennial of aeronautical engineering in the U.S.

Russia’s deteriorating economic situation and political tensions over the crisis in Ukraine are posing serious challenges for the country’s airlines. Growth rates for Russian carriers ballooned in the last decade, but there are signs these times are over.