• Jonathan Mutch is a helicopter pilot in Antarctica with the tour company Quark Expeditions.
• Flightseeing is included in select Antarctic itineraries, which cost up to $26,000 per person.
• Only highly experienced pilots are hired, and a team of at least 13 people is needed to run flights.

Quark Expeditions helicopter pilot Jonathan Mutch is working his third season in Antarctica, flying high-paying tourists to some of the planet's remotest places.

Mutch told Business Insider that flying helicopters across the seventh continent is no easy feat.

It takes a team of pilots, flight engineers, mountain guides, and expedition leaders to run the operation safely. Quark says it has strict environmental parameters to avoid affecting wildlife.

"It's a lot more complicated than it looks," Mutch said. "We'll start with a study of our maps and charts and previous experience with the weather, and we'll brief over the preceding days."

He said that because Antarctic weather can be harsh and unpredictable, guests must have realistic and flexible expectations.

Helicopter flightseeing excursions are included in all Antarctic itineraries on the Ultramarine, the luxury vessel where Quark guests live during their voyage and where the helicopters take off and land.

Mutch said Quark prioritizes getting everybody a 15-minute flightseeing trip, followed by potential landings.

Pricing for the 2025-2026 season starts at about $14,000 per person and includes flightseeing, meals, housing, and other activities. Helicopter landings are $530 extra.

Deep-pocketed tourists can also pay $26,000 or more per person for a more helicopter-focused tour that includes landing near an Emperor penguin colony.

Helicopter travel is different in Antarctica

Mutch said Quark has two Airbus-made H145 helicopters, which are fitted with safety technology to operate in the polar south, such as a redundant two engines and advanced autopilot.

The helicopters are stored and maintained in hangars on top of the ship. Here, guests board and disembark, the aircraft are refueled between trips, and the crew plans flights.

Mutch said both helicopters are needed to prep the landing sites before taking passengers. Pilots and engineers ensure things like lighting and recirculating snow won't impact safety or vision.

Veteran expedition leader Jake Morrison told BI that a flightseeing operation requires at least 13 employees, or 20 or more for ice landings.

Experienced mountain guides test the landing ice thickness and ensure the sites are safe for walking and void of crevasses.

"We won't get airborne if the experience is going to be lackluster or if there's any risk of leaving anybody out there," Mutch said. He added that Quark operates to the same standards as airlines, and the ships' crew will always follow the helicopter's location.

Mutch said Quark pilots are trained beyond minimum standards, including twice a year in a flight simulator, and have a background in complicated flying.

"We'll put the aircraft into white-out conditions and test the pilots' decision-making," Mutch said, speaking about the simulator training. "We want guys who are not going to be too proud [that causes them] to push on and make mistakes."

Environmental considerations

Antarctic conservation is a hot topic as a record-breaking number of tourists visit the continent. Ice levels are decreasing, and wildlife is at risk for pollutants from ships, aircraft, and humans.

The International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators tries to curb environmental risks by limiting the number of people on the continent at once, governing what tourists can and cannot bring on the ice, and more.

Flying carbon-emitting helicopters across Antarctica will impact the environment, but Quark said it does what it can to minimize its footprint.

Morisson said the H145 helicopters are more fuel-efficient and quieter than similar aircraft in its category.

Mutch said flightseeing tours are intended to show the landscape, so pilots will not fly within a mile of wildlife. The flight-following crew on the ship helps maintain distance.

For Emperor penguin landings, he said there is typically an iceberg between the birds and humans — so Quark guests are "virtually inaudible and invisible."

"The last thing we want to do is change the behavior of any wildlife or interact in any way with the wildlife down here, whether it be penguins, seals, sea birds, or whales," Mutch said. "We explain this to passengers when we board."

Guests should have realistic expectations

Weather will determine if a flight can safely operate, so there are some days when a tour is scheduled but cannot fly — meaning guests must prepare for uncertainty and possible disappointment.

It's easy to get frustrated considering the high cost of the tour, but that's the reality of flying in the polar south.

"We're quite conservative about when we fly, but we'd ideally want a blue-sky day," he said, adding the company completes an average of 200 flights per season. "We'd like to fly three or perhaps four times per trip, but it's really what the weather will allow us."

Most people do get the chance to fly over Antarctica, thanks to the long itineraries and various options of places to fly.

The single-pilot flightseeing tours carry up to six passengers, with everyone getting a window seat. To optimize capacity, landings will carry up to nine, as prime seating is unnecessary.

"There's Fournier Bay on Anvers Island, an amphitheater of steep ice cliffs … and if we can get above the ridge, you can see up to 100 miles of the Antarctic Peninsula on a clear day," Mutch said, speaking about his favorite sites. "It's not unusual to have guests welling up, overwhelmed with emotion."

• Sunday's Jeju Air crash has again raised concerns about flight safety.
• Boeing's 737-800 model is used by nearly 200 airlines and has a strong safety record.
• The 737-800 is different from Boeing's 737 Max family, which has faced significant issues.

The Boeing plane that crashed in South Korea on Sunday, killing 179, has a remarkable safety record.

The 737-800 model is among the world's most widely used passenger planes, with some 4,400 in service for nearly 200 airlines, according to data from Cirium.

In its nearly 30 years of service, the 737 variant — much older than the problematic Max models —  has seen 1,100 fatalities from 17 accidents, according to data compiled by the Aviation Safety Network, a nonprofit research organization.

That's a relatively low crash rate, given the thousands of plane units produced and the millions of passenger flights completed. The model remains a backbone of global aviation.

"The 737-800 is a great airplane, the workhorse of the world, if you like," Airline News editor and aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told Business Insider. "It is the most reliable aircraft out there."

Human error has contributed to most of the fatal 737-800 accidents.

Boeing 737-800 crashes

The first fatal crash involving the 737-800 was Brazil's Gol Airlines in 2006. The plane experienced a midair collision with a private jet and broke up, killing all 154 passengers and crew.

Investigators said errors by an air traffic controller and the private pilots were to blame.

Pilot error was a factor in several other 737-800 crashes, such as a 2007 Kenya Air flight, two Air India Express accidents in 2010 and 2020, and a 2016 Flydubai crash.

No US airline has experienced a fatal 737-800 crash, though some have been damaged due to things like mechanical issues, weather, bird strikes, and pilot error.

Some 737-800 accidents were due to other factors. In 2020, 176 people died after a Ukraine International Airlines flight was shot down by Iran.

In 2022, a China Eastern Airlines 737-800 nose-dived, killing 132, but the investigation is ongoing. A Wall Street Journal report that year said US officials had pointed to someone in the cockpit intentionally crashing the jet.

A China Airlines plane that crashed but suffered no fatalities in 2007 pointed to airline mechanic error and inadequate maintenance guidance from Boeing, Japanese investigators found.

Following the crash, the US Federal Aviation Administration instructed 737 operators in the US to ensure the maintenance component that caused the accident was properly installed.

Which airlines fly the 737-800?

The 737-800 is part of Boeing's "next generation" or "NG" line of planes, which also includes the smaller 737-600 and 737-700 and the larger 737-900.

The 737-800 first flew in 1998, and the model competes with the Airbus A320 narrowbody jetliner.

The NG planes were an upgrade to the classic 737 models with more range and fuel efficiency. The 737-800 can fly about 3,400 miles and carry up to 189 passengers, making it popular for short and medium-haul flying.

Cirium data shows commercial airlines operated the 737-800 on nearly 5.9 million flights in 2024. More than 6.2 million are scheduled through November 2025.

American Airlines is the biggest operator of the 737-800, with 303 in service, per Cirium. Irish budget carrier Ryanair and Southwest Airlines follow with 205 and 204, respectively.

US airlines Alaska Airlines, Avelo Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Sun Country Airlines, and United Airlines also operate the 737-800, but operators reach virtually every corner of the globe.

The Boeing 737-800 is not the same as the 737 Max

The 737-800 model does not have the same system that caused its successor, the 737 Max, to crash in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people.

That system, known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, was blamed for the crashes.

Thanks to their more powerful and fuel-efficient engines, the Max 8 and Max 9 planes in service can fly about 500 miles further than the 737-800. The Max jets can also hold more passengers compared.

Boeing stopped producing the 737-800 in late 2019 when it replaced the NG family with the Max.

There are about 4,800 Max jets on backorder. Production resumed in December following a worker strike at its Washington factories.

• A Jeju Air plane crashed in South Korea, killing 179 of 181 on board.
• Investigators are considering the role of a bird strike in the crash.
• Bird strikes have not caused many plane losses, and experts say it may not be the only factor.

Bird strike is being considered as a possible cause of the plane crash in South Korea, which killed almost everyone on board.

Although colliding with birds has always been a risk of flying, it has brought down comparatively few modern aircraft.

Some experts said of the Sunday crash that a bird strike was unlikely to be the sole cause.

"A bird strike should be a survivable event," said Sonya Brown, an aerospace-design lecturer at the University of New South Wales, in an interview with The Guardian.

She said that planes are designed to cope with bird strikes. Engine-builders have long tested their designs by launching bird carcasses into running engines to ensure they keep working, as reported by this CNBC article from 2017.

A June report by the US Federal Aviation Administration said wildlife strikes on civilian and military aircraft have killed 491 people and destroyed some 350 aircraft globally between 1988 and 2023.

It said that in the US, 49 civil aircraft were lost because of birds in the period between 1990 and 2023.

Civil aircraft include both airliners and general aviation planes. The latter are more susceptible to damage because many are smaller, have less robust airframes, and single engines.

While that may sound a lot, it represents a tiny fraction of total losses over that period of more than 30 years.

There were more than 27,000 aircraft fatalities between 1988 and 2021, according to the Aviation Safety Network, putting bird strikes as a factor in fewer than 1.8% of deaths. Most of the deaths involve general aviation planes.

Bird strikes on passenger jetliners very rarely bring down an aircraft. The last time it happened in the US was the 2009 crash-landing of the "Miracle on the Hudson", where everyone survived.

Most of the time, bird strikes will cause damage to airlines, but pilots are safely able to land the plane. American Airlines, for example, suffered a bird strike over New York in December and circled back to the airport for an emergency landing, with no reported injuries.

The Jeju crash reason is still unknown

Investigators have yet to give a reason for the loss of the Jeju Air flight, a Boeing 737-800.

An official in South Korea's transport ministry official said the airport's control tower issued a bird strike warning before the crash, Reuters reported.

The fire chief at Muan International Airport, where the plane crashed, said in a televised briefing that an investigation will consider whether birds stuck the plane.

South Korea's acting president ordered an emergency inspection of the country's airline operations. And the government said it will audit all 101 of the country's 737-800s with US investigators.

But a bird strike is being considered as a cause, or a possible factor. And other issues have been reported, too.

Video footage showed that the plane landed without its landing gear deployed.

Keith Tonkin, the managing director of Aviation Projects, an aviation consulting company in Australia, previously told BI: "It appears that the aircraft wasn't configured for a normal landing — the landing gear wasn't down, and it looks like the wing flaps weren't extended either."

Commentators have also pointed to the design of the airport — the plane came to a hard stop when it hit a solid wall near the runway.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former accident investigator at the US's Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board, told The New York Times that plane crashes are typically the result of multiple factors at once.

This is known as the "Swiss Cheese Model" in aviation, a theory that says a string of multiple smaller errors often lead to an air accident.

"The aviation industry is built on redundancy, and there are very few single-point failures in airplane design or airplane operations," he said. "Typically, it's a combination of factors."

• A plane crashed at an airport in South Korea on Sunday, killing nearly all of its passengers.
• An aviation expert told BI that the pilots were possibly overwhelmed after a bird strike.
• South Korea has transformed its air travel industry from a 'pariah' to one of the world's safest.

A plane crashed in South Korea, killing nearly all on board and surprising an industry that has come to view the nation as one of the world's safest for air travel.

Flight 7C2216, a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 operated by the Korean budget airline Jeju Air, crashed while landing at Muan International Airport just after 9 a.m. local time on Sunday. Of the 181 people on board, there were just two survivors, both crew members.

In recent years, South Korea has been considered among the safest for air travel, but it wasn't always that way.

"25 years ago, South Korea was a pariah in the aviation industry," Airline News editor and aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told Business Insider. He said the nation's safety standards have since improved "dramatically."

Sunday's crash marks the first fatal accident for Jeju Air, founded in 2005 and named one of the best low-cost airlines in the world in 2024 by aviation ranking website AirlineRatings.com.

The airline was founded after decades of fatal crashes prompted the nation to rehabilitate its aviation safety culture.

Years of deadly crashes

South Korea had a decadeslong history of crashes due to pilot errors.

Before 2000, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines were the two main airlines operating in South Korea. In mid-December, Korean Air completed a $1.3 billion acquisition of Asiana Airlines, marking a new era in the country's aviation industry.

Korean Air — the country's flag carrier and its biggest — struggled with safety during the latter part of the 20th century. The airline had seven fatal passenger and cargo crashes between 1978 and 1999, according to data from the Aviation Safety Network.

Pilot error was cited as a contributing factor in each.

Some 75 passengers and crew, plus four people on the ground, died in 1989 when Korean Air Flight 803 crashed while attempting to land at Tripoli International Airport in Libya.

An Associated Press report published in 1990 said the Seoul Criminal Court sentenced the pilot, who cited poor visibility, to two years in prison for causing the crash.

One of the worst incidents happened in 1997 when Korean Air Flight 801 flew from Seoul to Guam. The Boeing 747 plane attempted to land at the A.B. Won Guam International Airport when it crashed, resulting in the deaths of over 200 passengers.

The National Transportation Safety Board published a report on Flight 801, which said the probable cause for the crash was the "captain's failure to adequately brief and execute" the approach, combined with the first officer and flight engineer's failure to monitor or challenge the captain.

Two fatal Korean cargo flights in 1999 also pointed to serious safety problems, including failed crew communication and cooperation.

Founded nearly 20 years after Korean Air, Asiana only had one fatal crash before 2000, when a Boeing 737 landed short of Mokpo's airport in South Korea in 1993. Reuters reported that an inquiry found that pilot error was the cause of the crash, which killed over 60 people.

The series of crashes made Korean Air a pariah in the aviation industry.

In 1999, Delta and Air France suspended their code-share partnerships with Korean Air, temporarily severing their airline alliances.

Around the same time, the US Department of Defense banned its employees from flying on Korean Air planes.

In 2001, the Federal Aviation Administration downgraded South Korea's safety rating, citing its failure to meet international standards — representing a particularly low point for the nation.

From unreliable to the gold standard

In the late 1990s, South Korea embarked on an effort to rehabilitate its air safety reputation. It hired a retired Delta executive to help overhaul training and hiring practices.

Investigations of several Korean Air crashes found that cultural issues in the cockpit — wherein first officers and flight engineers didn't communicate effectively with the captains or hesitated to challenge them — were partly to blame for the deadly accidents.

According to a 2006 report from The Wall Street Journal, the airline shored up its training by increasing shared responsibilities among pilots and reducing its hiring of Korean Air Force veterans who struggled to collaborate with others who they considered inferior in rank.

The cultural changes paid off in the years to come.

By 2002, Delta and Air France resumed their partnerships with Korean Air, and the FAA upgraded the airline's safety rating. Likewise, the US Department of Defense lifted the ban on employees flying on the airline.

By 2008, South Korea performed better than US airlines in the International Civil Aviation Organization's safety audit.

Korean Air is today considered among the world's safest airlines, and is part of the international SkyTeam Alliance — which requires strict high levels of safety to join.

"They certainly have cleaned up," Thomas, the editor from Airline News, told BI.

He added that Jeju Air had an "excellent" record since its founding and that the 737-800 is "the workhorse of the world."

"It is the most reliable aircraft out there, so everybody knows how it works," Thomas said.

In the case of Sunday's crash, Thomas said the pilots were likely overwhelmed as they were dealing with "a disaster."

"I think the issue is multiple bird strikes and then multiple failures resulting from that," Thomas said. "I would expect by the end of the week we will have critical information about exactly what went on, the multiple failures, and the cockpit discussion about what was going on."

But some information may not be immediately available to the public, he said.

"As a responsible country, any safety learnings from this would come out immediately so this information could be passed on to other operators of the 737 model of aircraft," Thomas said. "It may not necessarily be transmitted to the general public, but it would be transmitted to airline operators to alert them to a particular failure to check their own aircraft."

• A plane carrying 181 people crashed at an airport in South Korea on Sunday, killing 179.
• Photos and videos show the aircraft overrunning a runway before being engulfed in flames.
• It will likely take months or years to uncover why the plane crashed.

A commercial aircraft crashed at a South Korean airport on Sunday, killing 179 people.

Flight 7C2216, operated by the Korean budget airline Jeju Air, was carrying 181 passengers and crew when it tried to land at Muan International Airport at 9:03 a.m. local time but overran the runway.

A video broadcast by MBC News, a South Korean news network, showed the plane speeding down the runway, with smoke coming from its belly, before it crashed into what appeared to be a barrier and burst into flames.

The flight was traveling from Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.

The aircraft was a 15-year-old Boeing 737-800 that Ryanair, a budget Irish airline, operated before it was delivered to Jeju Air in 2017, according to the Planespotters.net flight tracking website. It was not a Max variant, which has been embroiled in quality and production problems.

Video footage shows the aircraft landed without its landing gear deployed.

Airline News editor and aviation expert Geoffrey Thomas told Business Insider that a bird strike could have caused a mechanical issue on the plane.

"It's possible that the bird strike prevented the standard landing gear operation," he said. "It's possible, however, the pilots could crank the landing gear down manually."

"But if they had multiple failures related to the engines, then they probably didn't have time to do it, and therefore they simply made a belly-up landing on the runway because they had no options," Thomas added.

Jeju Air CEO Kim Yi-bae told reporters on December 31 that the aircraft's pre-flight inspection found "no issues" and "nothing abnormal was noted with the landing gear," the BBC reported.

South Korea's transport ministry said on Sunday that it plans to conduct a safety inspection of all Boeing 737-800 aircraft in the country, per Yonhap News.

The Boeing 737-800 is a popular aircraft that is used widely around the world.

Cirium data sent to BI found about 4,400 737-800s are used by nearly 200 airlines, representing 15% of the 28,000 passenger planes in service globally.

In a statement to BI, Boeing gave its condolences to families who lost loved ones and said it was in contact with and "ready to support" Jeju Air.

Spokespeople for Jeju Air did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement posted online, Jeju Air said it was "bowing" its head in apology and would investigate the crash.

A total of 179 people died, including 85 women, 84 men, and 10 others whose gender was not immediately identifiable. Two of the plane's six crew members survived and were conscious, according to local health officials. They were rescued from the tail section of the jet.

On Sunday, South Korea's land ministry said that it had identified 141 out of the 170 bodies, Yonhap News reported.

This is the first fatal crash involving a Jeju plane since the airline was founded in 2005. The last major aviation accident involving a South Korean airline was in 1997 when a Korean Air jet crashed in Guam, killing 228 people.

Reports of birds striking the aircraft

In a televised briefing, Lee Jeong-hyeon, chief of the Muan fire station, said that workers were investigating what caused the crash, including whether birds struck the aircraft.

"It appears that the aircraft wasn't configured for a normal landing — the landing gear wasn't down, and it looks like the wing flaps weren't extended either," Keith Tonkin, the managing director of Aviation Projects, an aviation consulting company in Australia, told BI.

The plane was almost completely destroyed, with the tail assembly the most intact part of the wreckage. After landing, the plane hit a wall, which Thomas said was within international standards, but the plane landed fast and far down the runway.

"The airport complied with international standards," he said. "The landing was anything but international standard."

Officials said that air traffic controllers warned about bird strike risks minutes before the incident, and a surviving crew member mentioned a bird strike after being rescued, The Guardian reported.

Thomas told BI that the pilots reported "mayday" shortly after air traffic controllers issued a bird strike warning. The pilots were then given permission to land on the opposite side of the runway.

Thomas said flight tracking was lost at about 900 feet, suggesting a possible electrical failure.

"I think that could well be one of the pivotal factors in this investigation as to why did it fail," he said. "What does that tell us about what was going on in the cockpit?"

South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that Muan International Airport has the highest rate of bird strike incidents among 14 airports nationwide.

Black boxes recovered, but one damaged

The Independent reported that transport ministry officials said they recovered the aircraft's two black boxes: the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.

These provide investigators with information that helps string together the events before and during a crash.

However, Yonhap reported that officials said one of the black boxes, the flight data recorder, was partially damaged. The cockpit voice recorder — which will have information on what the crew said leading up to the crash — remained intact.

CNN reported South Korean investigators have extracted some data from the cockpit voice recorder — the full process will take two days — but the damaged black box will have to be sent to the US for the NTSB to analyze.

Air crash investigations can often take months or years to complete, meaning the cause of the crash likely won't be known for a long time. The damaged black box could further delay the investigation.

The investigation will be led by South Korea, where the crash occurred and Jeju was registered. The National Transportation Safety Board in the United States, where the Boeing jet was manufactured, along with Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, will also be involved, the agency said in a post on X.

Crashes typically have more than one cause — known as the "Swiss Cheese Model" in aviation, a string of smaller errors often leads to an accident, not just one.

"The biggest risk is speculation because it obscures the actual causes of a near-miss, incident, or accident," Simon Bennett, an aviation safety expert at the University of Leicester in the UK, told BI.

"I appreciate that the relatives of the dead and injured will want answers. Understandably, they will want closure," he said. "However, rushing the investigation would do a huge disservice to the aviation community and airlines' customers."

The crash occurred amid a political crisis in South Korea and two days into the tenure of acting President Choi Sang-mok.

Choi took over from the country's previous acting president, Han Duck-soo, who was impeached two weeks after succeeding President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was himself impeached after trying to impose martial law.

• Korean Air is expected to stop flying the longest Boeing 747 passenger flight in March 2025.
• Airlines globally have been phasing out the massive jet in favor of less costly widebodies.
• Only four airlines are scheduled to operate the jumbo in 2025, representing 75% fewer 747 flights than in 2019.

Korean Air is among the last airlines still flying the iconic Boeing 747, but it's scheduled to pull the jet from a particularly long US route in 2025.

Route scheduling data from the aviation analytics company Cirium shows Korean Air plans to stop flying the 747 on its 7,153-mile route from Seoul to Atlanta — the longest 747 passenger flight by distance — in March. It will replace the 747 with the smaller Boeing 777-300ER, which has fewer seats on board.

Korean's 777 carries up to 291 passengers, depending on the configuration, compared to the 368 seats on the double-decker 747. Korean did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Korean may sell more upgraded seats on the 777 to make up for fewer total tickets sold per flight. Most of Korean's scheduled 777 flights to Atlanta are equipped with more high-dollar first and business-class seats than the 747.

The carrier is expected to fly the 747 to New York, Los Angeles, and Singapore next year but plans to retire the fleet fully by 2031. Reuters reported that Korean sold five Boeing 747s in May for $674 million as part of its phase-out plan.

Airlines globally have been phasing out the famous "Queen of the Skies" for years. Boeing ended production of the jet in December 2022 after 54 years and 1,574 units built.

While the 747 was already leaving fleets before 2020 — with no US carrier flying it by the end of 2017 — airlines accelerated retirements when the pandemic uprooted travel.

British Airways, Dutch flag carrier KLM, and Australia's Qantas all ditched the plane during Covid to help weather losses and better shape their future fleets.

The gas-guzzling four-engine 747 is costly and inefficient compared to newer twin-engine widebodies, like Boeing's 777 and 787 and Airbus' A330neo and A350, that airlines now more readily rely on.

The 747 also proved too big for airlines' needs, especially as point-to-point flying using smaller widebodies became more lucrative than the traditional hub-and-spoke model that warranted greater capacity.

Even narrow-body planes are starting to become more common on long-haul flights.

Airbus' family of extra-ranged A321neos is particularly revolutionizing this trend because they can target smaller markets with lower demand while still earning profits — and airlines favor that flexibility.

Only 4 airlines will fly the 747 in 2025

Compounding industry changes have dampened the need for jumbo-sized planes like the 747, and only four passenger airlines will still fly it in 2025.

Cirium data through November shows Air China, Korean Air, Lufthansa, and Russian carrier Rossiya Airlines have about 19,0000 collective 747 flights scheduled next year. They'll cover 35 routes.

That's a 75% decrease from the nearly 76,000 scheduled 747 flights across 25 global carriers in 2019.

In 2024, about 19,600 of the double-decker flights were scheduled.

South Korea's Asiana Airlines and Middle Eastern carrier Saudia contributed to this year's total but ceased 747 passenger flights in March and September, respectively. Asiana Airlines merged with Korean Air in December.

Lufthansa's more than two dozen 747 jets are expected to cover 21 routes from Frankfurt in 2025, totaling about 12,000 flights, per Cirium. That's about 63% of next year's total scheduled 747 flights.

The airline is retrofitting the aircraft with new seats, an investment that signals a future need for the fleet.

By comparison, Air China's roughly 4,450 scheduled flights would cover four routes from Beijing, Korean's 1,900 scheduled flights would cover four routes from Seoul, and Rossiya's about 750 scheduled flights would cover six routes from Moscow.

A dozen 747 routes are scheduled to serve North America in 2025, including New York City, Newark, New Jersey, Boston, Washington, DC, Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston, Mexico City, and in Canada, Vancouver and Toronto.

The 747s are also expected to touch Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Argentina, Germany, South Korea, South Africa, and Singapore. Rossiya's 747 operations are expected to be limited to Russia.

The Russian airline is a subsidiary of flag carrier Aeroflot and restarted 747 operations in 2024, likely to take advantage of the 522-seat capacity as Western sanctions limit Russia's available planes.

Cirium data shows a majority of Rossiya's 2025 routes are set to fly to the country's Far East — suggesting the massive 747s are useful not just for tourists but also for cargo needed in the remote Russian region.

A new world's longest 747 passenger flight

When Korean stops flying its 747 to Atlanta in March, Lufthansa's 7,133-mile trek between Frankfurt and Buenos Aires would become the new longest passenger 747 flight by distance.

Korean's 747 flight between Seoul and New York would be the second-longest at 6,906 miles, followed by Air China's route between Beijing and New York at 6,838 miles.

Although not the longest by distance, Air China's New York service is the longest passenger 747 trek by flight time at about 17 hours. The longer-ranged Lufthansa and Korean routes reach about 14 hours and 16 hours, respectively.

Air China would run the shortest 747 flight in 2025, flying just two hours across 667 miles between Beijing and Shanghai. According to data from OAG, the route's nearly 7.8 million available seats ranked it among the world's top 10 busiest domestic flights in 2024.

The airline's other intra-China flights to Guangzhou and Shenzhen — and the only other 747 flights it operates besides Shanghai and New York — are about 1,200 miles, or roughly three and a half hours.

Rossiya is scheduled to fly a 747 route under 1,000 miles that hops between Moscow and Sochi, a popular beach town in southwest Russia along the Black Sea.

• People in the back sections of two different plane crashes on Wednesday and Sunday survived.
• A 2015 study from Time Magazine found lower fatality rates in the rear section of aircraft.
• Pilot actions and the circumstances of the crash impact survivability across all seat areas.

Video footage of survivors emerging from the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane crash on Wednesday, followed by two people surviving a Jeju Air crash on Sunday, showed it's possible to survive such catastrophic events.

29 people survived the Azerbaijan crash in Kazakhstan, and 38 people died. Two flight attendants seated in the tail section of the Jeju plane that crashed in South Korea lived, while the 179 others on board died.

CNN reported that emergency services said the tail section of the Jeju plane was the only piece somewhat intact after Sunday's accident.

The survivability of any plane crash largely depends on the circumstances of the accident. It's not yet known what caused the Azerbaijan or Jeju crashes or how any of the people on board either jet survived.

In general, however, seating arrangements and the actions of crew on board can contribute to survivability.

Specifically, seats in the rear of a plane — the section from which the Azerbaijan survivors were emerging and the location of the jumpseats the Jeju crew would have been sitting — are historically the safest, data shows.

Federal data analyzed by Time Magazine in 2015, which looked at 17 crashes between 1985 and 2000 that had both survivors and fatalities and seat maps available, found the back third of the aircraft had a fatality rate of 32%.

The rear middle seats had the lowest fatality rate at 28%.

That compares to the 39% fatality rate in the middle third section and the 38% fatality rate in the front third section. The study found the highest fatality rate was in the middle section aisle seats at 44%.

The report followed a 2007 analysis by the science and technology magazine Popular Mechanics.

It analyzed 20 crashes dating back to 1971 and found the survival rate in the aft, or rear, section was 69%, which is a 31% fatality rate. The middle section and front sections had survival rates of 56% and 49%, respectively.

The rear seats can experience less G-force

The back of the plane may be safer because, when a plane crashes, the front and middle sections often absorb much of the impact energy.

This can allow the back of the aircraft to remain more intact during head-on collisions with water or terrain, even if the rear portion separates from the plane.

The sole four people who survived a Japan Airlines crash in 1985 were seated in the aft section when the plane slammed into a mountainside. 520 others died.

A Delta Air Lines crash in 1985 in Texas saw 27 survivors, most of whom were seated in the back of the aircraft. The aft section broke free during impact.

In 2012, the Discovery Channel purposefully crashed an unmanned Boeing 727 into the desert with test dummies on board to analyze survivability.

They found that the middle and aft sections were the least fatal, with the front section experiencing 12 times the force of gravity. The middle and aft sections experienced a G-force of eight and six, respectively.

Crew actions can increase survivability

Pilot handling and cabin crew responses can also improve the chances of surviving a plane crash.

Azerbaijan Airlines president Samir Rzayev spoke about the pilots' "heroism" to reporters on Wednesday. Both died in the crash.

"While this tragic accident brought a significant loss to our nation, the crew's valiant dedication to their duties until the last moment and their prioritization of human life have immortalized their names in history," Rzayev said, according to the Report, an Azerbaijani news agency.

Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger is one of the more famous examples of pilots whose quick decision-making is credited with saving lives.

In 2009, Sullenberger's US Airways plane lost engine power over New York City. He responded by ditching the aircraft in the Hudson River because there were no runways in gliding range. All 155 passengers and crew survived.

Decades earlier, a United Airlines plane crashed in Iowa in 1989 due to an engine failure and subsequent hydraulics loss, meaning aircraft control was severely limited.

The pilots kept the landing gear down to absorb some of the crash shock and maintained relative control of the plane as it crashed. 184 of the 296 passengers and crew survived.

Flight attendants have also been credited for saving lives. During a fiery Japan Airlines runway collision in January, flight crews' quick response and communication were cited for the successful evacuation of all 379 people on board.

There is no universal safest seat

Federal authorities say there is no safest seat on a plane because every crash is different and depends on factors like how the plane impacted the ground and whether there was a fire.

Sully's water landing is an example of how the back of the plane could be most at risk after landing because it was taking on water with no exit doors available — so those passengers were among the last to exit.

In the United crash in Iowa, most of the survivors were in the rows behind first class but in front of the wings. They likely lived because of how the plane hit the ground and broke during landing, allowing people to more easily escape. Some people who did not perish on impact died due to smoke inhalation, an NTSB investigation found.

In 1977, a Pan Am and a KLM Boeing 747 collided in Tenerife, Spain, killing 583 people and becoming the world's deadliest plane crash. However, 61 people seated in the front section of the Pan Am plane survived.

The KLM jet hit the middle and aft sections of the Pan Am aircraft, causing the front of the Pan Am jet to be less severely damaged and allowing people to escape via an opening near the left wing.

Despite the different outcomes of the varying air crashes over the decades, flying is the safest mode of transportation — regardless of where you sit — thanks to strict safety laws and improvements in aircraft design.

A 2020 National Transportation Safety Board survivability report found that 1.3% of people involved in commercial airline accidents between 2001 and 2017 died, down from 4.7% between 1983 and 2000.

• An Azerbaijan Airlines flight crashed in Kazakhstan, killing 38, including both pilots.
• Remarkably, nearly half the passengers — 29 people — survived.
• The airline's president praised the "heroism" of the pilots and crew while speaking to reporters.

The president of Azerbaijan Airlines praised the pilots of flight J2-8243 after the plane, carrying 67 people, crashed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.

Although both pilots were among the 38 fatalities reported by Kazakh authorities, nearly half the passengers— 29 people —survived.

Samir Rzayev, who heads up the airline, also known as AZAL, told reporters on Wednesday that the two pilot's "heroism will never be forgotten."

"While this tragic accident brought a significant loss to our nation, the crew's valiant dedication to their duties until the last moment and their prioritization of human life have immortalized their names in history," Rzayev said, according to the Azerbaijani news agency Report.

Rzayev said the pilots collectively had over 15,000 flight hours and that the plane had recently passed a technical inspection.

"Despite these measures, the causes of the incident are still under investigation," Rzayev added.

The Associated Press posted a video of the crash showing some passengers being pulled from the aft section of the aircraft, an area which is traditionally safer in a crash.

Per a 2015 analysis by Time Magazine of US federal data from 1985 to 2000, the seats in the back of the plane had a fatality rate of 32%, compared to 39% in the middle and 38% in the front. The back middle seats had the lowest fatality rate, at 28%.

Still, the circumstances of the crash play a bigger role, like how a jet lands and the actions of its pilots.

The Embraer 190 jet had departed from Baku, Azerbaijan, early Wednesday, bound for Grozny, Russia.

Adverse weather conditions led to a diversion, the airline told BBC News. The flight-tracking website Flightradar24 shows that the plane made a crash-landing at about 06:28 local time near Aktau, Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan's Senate Chairman Ashimbayev Maulen told Reuters on Thursday that the cause of the crash remains unknown.

Preliminary information from Russia's civil aviation authority, Rosaviatsia, suggested that the plane diverted after a bird strike caused an onboard emergency, according to AP.

And Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov cautioned against speculating on the cause of the crash before the completion of an investigation, per the Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti.

However, Andriy Kovalenko, the head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation, put the blame on Russia. On Wednesday evening, he claimed in an X post that the commercial airline was "shot down by a Russian air defense system."

In the post, he said there is video footage from inside the plane, showing "punctured life vests and other damage."

Others have also suggested Russian involvement.

Osprey Flight Solutions, an aviation security firm, told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the plane may have been damaged by a Russian anti-missile system. The firm cited footage of the crash, the apparent damage to the aircraft, and recent military activity in the area.

"Incidents of civilian airliners being misidentified and shot down by air-defence systems are not unprecedented in the region," a critical alert issued by Osprey and provided to Business Insider said.

Oliver Alexander, an OSINT analyst, said in a message to BI that "at this point, I don't think there is enough available evidence to conclusively say what exactly happened (type of missile etc)."

But he added that "all the evidence I have seen points to the aircraft being hit by shrapnel from an air defense missile which severely damaged the elevator and rudder controls."

Ukrainian drones have targeted Grozny in recent weeks, and the governor of the Russian region of North Ossetia said in a Telegram post on Wednesday that there were Ukrainian drone attacks carried out in a number of regions of the North Caucasus Federal District that day.

The district includes Grozny and the surrounding area.

The post specifically mentioned a drone being taken down in Vladikavkas, about 70 miles west of Grozny.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a statement: "There are videos of the plane crash available in the media and on social networks, and everyone can watch them. However, the reasons for the crash are not yet known to us."

This wouldn't be the first time Russia was blamed for the shooting down of a passenger aircraft.

In 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was hit by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people onboard. Investigators said the missile system used originated in Russia and was launched from a part of Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed forces.

Russia has denied involvement in the MH17 crash.

Azerbaijan Airlines did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Rzayev, the airline's president, told reporters that the plane's black box had been recovered and that "its analysis is being conducted in line with international aviation standards."

Embraer, which built the aircraft that crashed Wednesday, said in a statement that it was "deeply saddened" by the crash and was working closely with relevant authorities to support the investigation.

• Elon Musk's private jets made 355 flights in 2024, data from jet-tracking company JetSpy shows.
• The jets' travel shows the billionaire's growing political involvement.
• Over half the jets' trips since November 5 have been to or from the Palm Beach area, near Mar-a-Lago.

Elon Musk has had a busy year. He unveiled Tesla's robotaxi, his net worth surpassed $400 billion, and he became President-elect Donald Trump's "first buddy."

His private jets also spent about 881 hours crisscrossing the globe.

To help shed light on how the world's wealthiest man spent his time in 2024, Business Insider charted Musk's private jets' travel using the jet-tracking service JetSpy.

All told, Musk's two Gulfstream private jets made 355 flights between January and mid-December this year.

The data helps reveal how extensively Musk has burrowed into Trumpworld and, alongside his coming advisory role to the new White House and millions of dollars in donations, provides another window into his growing political involvement.

Musk did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The jet travel may have been an early clue that the billionaire was growing closer to Trump.

On February 17, one of Musk's planes took its first flight of the year to Palm Beach International Airport — about 5 miles from Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago. Three months later, The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that Trump and Musk had talked about a potential advisory role in the event the former president won reelection.

In total, Musk's jets made 31 flights to or from Palm Beach International Airport in 2024.

It's unclear whether Musk was on each flight tracked. It's also unclear whether he might have visited the Palm Beach, Florida, area for reasons other than a meeting with Trump. Twenty-five of the 31 Palm Beach-area flights were after Trump's election victory. The other flights took place between February and March. More than half the jets' trips since November 5 have involved flying to or from the area.

Musk has been photographed several times alongside Trump at Mar-a-Lago, including at a Thanksgiving dinner.

Following Musk's official endorsement of Trump, his jets also made 13 trips to and from swing states, including various cities across Pennsylvania and Georgia. The Tesla CEO's planes also made ten trips to and from an airport near Washington, DC.

In total, 54 of the 355 flights involved travel to and from the Palm Beach area, Washington, and swing states. In 2023, by comparison, his jets traveled to and from an airport near Washington 16 times.

In 2022, Musk began using a federal program that allows private jet owners to cloak their travels with a temporary aircraft-registration number, and his jets have used the service on and off since then.

This year, Musk's aircraft used a "privacy ICAO address" for 17 flights, according to JetSpy. On election night, a PIA was used to fly to West Palm Beach. The service was employed for several flights in June to and from a Memphis airport near a data center for Musk's xAI startup, a facility the city announced that same month. (JetSpy doesn't rely solely on Federal Aviation Administration data, which enables it to track flights that use PIA.)

Besides politics-related travel, the planes' top destinations in 2024 included airports in Hawthorne, California, and Brownsville, Texas, which are both near SpaceX sites. They also frequently flew to an airport in Austin near Tesla's headquarters and one of Musk's homes.

The planes also flew overseas to France, Poland, Germany, Portugal, Indonesia, China, and the UK. Musk visited Paris for the Olympics and Notre-Dame's reopening, as well as Bali for a Starlink launch.

The two jets used about $2.5 million worth of fuel and emitted nearly 4,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2024, according to the JetSpy data. Per the International Energy Agency, that's about 250 times what the average person in the US emits over their lifetime.

The longest flight recorded between Musk's two jets was 10 hours, from Seattle to Tokyo, in May. Musk's planes also took several quick flights, including nine flights that lasted less than 10 minutes, though some of these were likely the result of the pilot repositioning the aircraft. The average flight time for the two aircraft was about two hours.

Still, despite his global travels, 2024 was comparatively sedate — last year, the planes logged 456 flights.

Do you have a tip? Reach out to the reporter via a non-work email and device at [email protected] or 248-894-6012.

• United Airlines' share price has more than doubled in 2024, outperforming competitors.
• The airline benefits from its hub airport structure and has been smart with deploying capacity.
• Strong finances and planned share buybacks have also helped.

United Airlines may be Boeing's biggest customer, but the two companies have had wildly different years.

A quality-control crisis and seven-week labor strike have led to layoffs, increased regulatory scrutiny, and — perhaps most problematically — production delays.

And despite massive headwinds across the entire airline industry, United has outperformed most of its peers, with its stock price up 148% in 2024.

Financial analysts and industry consultants say the airline's strong finances, share buybacks, broad network, and a coming fleet refresh are among the reasons it has been doing so well.

That's despite impacts from Boeing delivery delays, which forced United to offer pilots unpaid leave and rethink its flying this year. The airline coped by leasing planes and shrinking its domestic supply.

Clark Johns of Alton Aviation Consultancy told Business Insider that United's advantageous hub structure and hundreds of incoming narrow-body aircraft helped position the airline to better manage Boeing-related headwinds.

The carrier also benefited this year by refocusing on long-haul flying to boost business and revenue.

"Basic economy is still a major revenue stream for them, and they're expanding their premium seating," Johns said. "In some senses, they're kind of firing on all cylinders."

United flies to more overseas cities than any other US carrier

Among the biggest boons for United has been international flying.

Analysts at HSBC raised their price target for United in December to $116 —about 14% above current levels — citing its international network as a key driver.

"Its exposure to the international markets is well above its peers, and the international demand is quite strong," HSBC said, adding that United's 2024 transatlantic winter bookings — typically a slower period — are 30% higher compared to pre-Covid levels.

Johns said United "has done a good job with regards to the timing" of deploying its capacity amid delays to deliveries of new Boeing planes.

He said United had a strong performance in Europe — operating long-haul routes when demand was high but more modestly on domestic routes when overcapacity impacted US airline revenues.

United has also expanded its capacity on flights to Asia. Tokyo's Narita Airport has been a particularly key base for United, and Johns praised the airline as "tactical" in redeploying aircraft there from weaker routes out of its Guam base. In 2025, it plans to further expand in the region.

United's diverse hubs provide a strategic advantage

United benefits hub airport locations that create strong network opportunities across oceans and the Americas.

Large population centers, such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, DC, and Newark, New Jersey, act as strong international gateways.

Johns said these airports help United target high-yielding premium and business traffic.

The airline also feeds passengers through hubs in Chicago, Denver, and Houston, providing good connectivity across the interior US.

In an October report seen by BI, Deutsche Bank analysts said they anticipate 2025 will be a "strong year of regional growth" for the airline's network.

Johns said Delta and American don't have the same vast hub structure and have dominance in fewer places, like Dallas-Fort Worth and Charlotte for American and Atlanta and Detroit for Delta.

United is revamping its fleet with hundreds of new planes

A fleet renewal plan that includes 270 new Airbus and Boeing narrow-body planes, plus 150 widebody Boeing 787 Dreamliners, is powering United's expansion.

Data from the manufacturers show that as of November 30 this year, United had received 21 Airbus A321neos, 31 Boeing 737 Maxs, and one Dreamliner. The 737 deliveries are less than half of the 71 Max planes United received through November 2023.

As it shifts capacity, United has removed the yet-to-be-certified 737 Max 10 from its future fleet plan. It has 150 units on order.

United also has new planes from rival Airbus to look forward to in the coming years, including its first A321XLR in 2026.

United's SVP of global network planning and alliances, Patrick Quayle, previously told BI the airline plans to replace its aging Boeing 757s with the A321XLR and fly to new destinations, like northern Italy and West Africa.

This influx of narrow-body planes could help United lower costs and make the airline even more competitive.

United's fleet allows for diverse revenue streams, including basic economy and money-making premium cabins; the latter is especially lucrative as corporate travel remains on the rise.

Deutsche Bank analysts said United's adjusted pretax margin of 9.7% "reflects the company's advantage of having revenue diversification with premium customers, basic economy customers, and domestic road warriors."

United's third-quarter premium revenues, including Polaris business class and premium economy, were up 5% year over year.

Basic economy was up by a fifth, signaling United's discounted fare has likely poached some business from budget carriers struggling to maintain customers who prefer more perks when flying.

Share buyback signals strong finances

In its third-quarter earnings, United's adjusted earnings per share of $3.33 beat analysts' estimates. It also announced plans for a $1.5 billion share buyback.

"We intend this buyback to be the beginning of a consistent and disciplined return of capital that is paced by our ability to generate increasing levels of free cash," said CFO Michael Leskinen.

Johns told BI that this was another sign of United's progress toward becoming a dependable "blue-chip" stock as it works to reduce its debt-to-earnings ratio.

"I think that's probably the market broadly seeing the positive aspects in terms of how the airline is performing," he said.

In a recent earnings call, United CEO Scott Kirby said the airline has been confident for the past two years that the industry is evolving to produce higher margins.

Deutsche Bank analysts are also bullish, saying: "We believe the solid earnings momentum will continue into the next two years."

• American Airlines briefly grounded all its US flights over a technical issue on Tuesday morning.
• The airline told BI that a "vendor technology issue" had affected its flights.
• Certain cancellations and delays trigger compensation under new federal rules.

American Airlines grounded all of its flights across the US for about an hour on Tuesday, saying it was experiencing technical issues.

Later Tuesday morning, American flights were back in the air. It was unclear whether the delays would reverberate through its network and cause additional issues on a big travel day ahead of Christmas.

Data from aviation analytics company Cirium and shared with Business Insider showed that only around 37% of American's flights are running on time as of 2 p.m. Eastern Time. Still, less than 1% have been canceled.

"Based on previous such incidents, it appears American has been able to maintain its schedule, albeit with delays," Cirium said in a statement.

Cancelations could grow, Cirium said, if crews "time out" — or run out of time they're allowed to fly by regulations.

Under new Department of Transportation guidelines, some passengers could be entitled to compensation if their flights are delayed or canceled.

The Federal Aviation Administration said in an advisory statement early on Tuesday that the airline's flights across the US were grounded. An update about an hour later said the nationwide ground stop was canceled.

American Airlines told BI in a statement that a "vendor technology issue briefly affected flights." That issue has been resolved, and flights have resumed.

"We sincerely apologize to our customers for the inconvenience this morning," American said. "It's all hands on deck as our team is working diligently to get customers where they need to go as quickly as possible."

The airline said the technology issue affected the systems needed to release flights, and the ground stop lasted about an hour.

Bloomberg described online posts as saying the issue prevented the airline from calculating weight and balance requirements for its flights.

More than 2,400 flight delays on Christmas Eve

The Cirium data shows that 63% of American's 3,900 global scheduled flights were delayed after Tuesday's ground stop. Planes were getting back in the air by mid-morning Eastern Time, with only 19 total cancellations.

Most of American's flights are running within two hours of their originally scheduled departure time, per Cirium, though some are reaching three hours or more.

FlightAware data shows American's hubs in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Dallas/Fort Worth are the most affected airports, with about 400 and 500 flight delays, respectively, as of 2:00 p.m. ET.

A weather advisory in effect in the Dallas area was further disrupting flights.

Federal rules about customer compensation

Users on X said they were made to get off their planes on Tuesday morning.

New Department of Transportation rules say customers are entitled to automatic refunds for flights that are canceled or "significantly changed," including domestic flights that arrive at least three hours later than scheduled. To receive a refund, a customer must not accept a changed booking.

Most airlines, including American, offer meal vouchers to travelers who wait three or more hours because of a delayed or canceled flight that was within the airline's control. American's technical issues would fall under that category.

Many provide hotels for an overnight delay or cancellation, as well as transportation to and from the airport. It's unclear whether American's Tuesday disruptions will spill over into Wednesday.

The disruption comes on Christmas Eve, one of the biggest travel days of the year.

The Transportation Security Administration said it expected to screen almost 40 million people through airports over the holidays, an increase of more than 6% from last year.

• American Airlines will launch new longer-haul routes from LaGuardia. They'll only fly once weekly.
• LaGuardia's new routes are doable thanks to the "perimeter rule" being waived on Saturdays.
• American and other airlines also use perimeter rule exemptions in Washington, DC.

American Airlines will use a special rule exception to fly longer-than-normal routes out of New York's LaGuardia Airport next year.

An airline spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider on Monday that American will launch new flights to Bozeman and Kalispell in Montana and Calgary in Canada in June 2025 to target leisure travelers.

There is one caveat: The routes will only operate on Saturdays.

This is because, to manage airport capacity, LaGuardia allows flights of only 1,500 miles or fewer from Sunday through Friday. This is known as a "perimeter rule." Longer flights and bigger jets are primarily pushed to the nearby Newark Liberty and John F. Kennedy airports.

However, the rule is waived for flights to Denver at all times and for flights operated to all other places on Saturdays. The latter exception gave American the leeway it needed to fly the new Saturday routes to Montana and Canada.

LaGurdia's slot restriction is also waived on Saturdays, meaning American won't need special takeoff and landing permissions for the routes. Cirium data shows all three flights will use a Boeing 737 Max and trek about 2,000 miles.

Operating Saturday-only flights to avoid the perimeter rule at LaGuardia is not new, though airlines have struggled to fill planes because Saturdays are lower-demand days.

Delta Air Lines, for example, cut two Saturday cross-country flights from LaGuardia to Los Angeles and Phoenix in January.

American also uses perimeter exemptions in the US capital

Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, DC, is the only other US airport with a mandated perimeter rule. The restrictions at both airports were established in the 1980s.

Reagan's routes are limited to 1,250 miles. Dulles International Airport, about 30 miles away, gets longer flights.

However, over the past two decades, Congress has increased daily slot allowances to allow for more flights beyond the perimeter on Sunday through Friday.

American and other airlines have taken advantage of the exemptions. Cirium shows American already flies daily to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.

Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines also use exemptions to fly daily from Reagan to cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin, Denver, and Seattle.

The Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Bill, signed in May, approved 10 additional slots that could operate within or beyond Reagan's perimeter. That equates to five more roundtrip flights.

American was awarded one of the slots on Friday, a daily roundtrip to San Antonio starting in March. It will be the only airline operating the flight.

Meanwhile, Delta was awarded a slot pair to Seattle, Alaska was given one to San Diego, Southwest will use one to serve Las Vegas, and United received approval to San Francisco — which will be the airline's second daily flight to the California city.

There is debate over keeping the perimeter rule at Reagan and LaGuardia.

Some advocates say it reduces noise and airport congestion and ensures airlines don't shift slots to abandon regional routes within the perimeter. A near-miss at Reagan in May also sparked concern that more flights could impact runway safety.

Opponents of the rule say it restricts airline networks, gives travelers less choice, raises airfares, and limits economic growth. For lawmakers, eliminating the rule at Reagan would mean more convenient flights into DC from their home states.

• Boeing is having a rough year.
• The company has faced mechanical problems, lawsuits, a leadership shake-up, and layoffs.
• Here's a breakdown of how Boeing's year has gone from bad to worse.

Boeing has been going through it this year.

From losing a door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight, causing a side panel to blow out in midair, to an exodus of corporate executives, the company has faced a litany of crises in 2024. The company's stock has fallen about 35% this year.

In a message to employees during the company's third-quarter earnings call, Boeing CEO Kely Ortberg said the company was at a "crossroads."

"My mission here is pretty straightforward," she said. "Turn this big ship in the right direction and restore Boeing to the leadership position that we all know and want."

Here's how Boeing's year went from bad to worse.

Emergency on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282

The problems began almost immediately this year when, on January 5, Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 lost a door plug midair, blowing a hole in the side of the plane. While no one died in the incident, several passengers were injured, and the pilots were forced to make an emergency landing in Portland, Oregon.

In the aftermath of the incident, the FAA temporarily grounded over 170 of Boeing's 737 Max 9 planes until they could complete safety inspections.

The Justice Department opened an investigation into Boeing shortly after, and the FBI told passengers aboard the flight that they might have been victims of a crime.

Ongoing litigation

Boeing was hit with multiple lawsuits this year.

Passengers from the Alaska Airlines flight filed a class action suit against the company just days after the incident.

"Passengers were shocked and confused, thrust into a waking nightmare unsure if these were their last seconds alive," the lawsuit said.

Boeing's shareholders filed a separate class action suit against the company in January, stating that it had prioritized profit over safety, Reuters reported.

Separately, in July, Boeing struck a plea deal related to two 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people. If a judge had approved the deal, it would have allowed Boeing to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud, avoid a trial, pay a fine of about $244 million, and invest at least $455 million in safety and compliance measures.

Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion in 2021 in a deal with the federal government to avoid prosecution for the crashes, but Justice Department officials said in May that Boeing had violated portions of the deal, putting a trial back on the table. Relatives of the deceased passengers asked a Texas judge in October to throw out the agreement, which they called a "sweetheart" deal. The families have previously called for the company to pay a fine amounting to nearly $25 billion.

In December, the judge rejected the deal. A lawyer representing families who lost people in the 2019 crash told BI that they "anticipate a significant renegotiation of the plea deal that incorporates terms truly commensurate with the gravity of Boeing's crimes."

FAA audit of Boeing's safety procedures

The Federal Aviation Administration commissioned a report into Boeing following the fatal 2018 and 2019 crashes — and the results published in February weren't good news for the company.

The FAA report found 27 insufficient areas in Boeing's safety procedures, including no clear system for employees to report safety concerns, confusing management structures, and poor communication with employees about safety procedures.

The latest statement from the FAA about Boeing's compliance to remedy the safety issues was published in August. It said the agency continues "actively monitoring Boeing's progress in a variety of ways," including regular reviews by FAA experts of Boeing's safety procedures and issuing airworthiness certificates for every newly produced Boeing 737 Max. 

The FAA itself has faced scrutiny for its oversight of Boeing. A report from the Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General in October found the agency's checks were insufficient.

Exodus of Boeing executives

In March, Boeing announced a leadership shake-up.

CEO Dan Calhoun said he would step down. Stan Deal, the CEO of the company's commercial airplanes division, said he would retire. In the same announcement, board chair Larry Kellner announced his plan not to seek reelection.

Stephanie Pope, the company's COO, was promoted to replace Deal shortly after his departure. At the end of July, Kelly Ortberg was named the company's new CEO.

Ted Colbert, who headed Boeing's defense, space, and security division, became the first prominent executive to leave the company after Ortberg took over. Colbert's departure was announced in September.

Stranded astronauts

The aerospace company faced another high-profile problem in June when NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams traveled to the International Space Station on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner spaceship. It marked the first time Boeing flew astronauts to space.

The astronauts left Earth on June 5 and were supposed to return after eight days, but issues with Starliner's thrusters and helium leaks caused delays. NASA and Boeing began troubleshooting the problems to bring Wilmore and Williams back home. However, in late July, the two astronauts were still stuck at the International Space Station.

NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, Steve Stich, said in a press briefing that month that Elon Musk's SpaceX could bring home the astronauts if needed. After working with Boeing to determine whether the two astronauts could safely return to Earth on Starliner, NASA announced in August that it chose SpaceX to do the job instead.

"Spaceflight is risky," NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a press conference. "Even at its safest. Even at its most routine. A test flight, by nature, is neither safe nor routine. So, the decision to keep Butch and Suni aboard the International Space Station, and bring the Boeing Starliner home un-crewed, is a result of a commitment to safety."

The decision was a major blow to Boeing, which spent $4.2 billion developing Starliner. Wilmore and Williams' flight was the final step Boeing needed to clear for NASA to certify Starliner for human spaceflight. It highlighted just how far Boeing lags behind its competitor, SpaceX.

Wilmore and Williams are now expected to return to Earth in 2025 on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship, which launched for the International Space Station in September. The astronauts were initially set to return home in February, but NASA announced they would be delayed until March as SpaceX readies its spaceship.

Union strike

Thousands of unionized Boeing employees walked out in September after contract negotiations broke down.

The strike began despite a promising pay package proposal, which would have raised wages by more than 25% over the contract period for more than 32,000 employees in the Pacific Northwest.

Ultimately, union workers denied the proposal and voted to initiate a strike, which is costing the company about $50 million a day.

Negotiations stalled, with both sides filing National Labor Relations Board violations accusing the other of negotiating in bad faith.

Boeing and union leaders reached a tentative deal on October 19 that included a 35% general wage increase spread over four years and a one-time ratification bonus of $7,000.

However, striking Boeing employees rejected the deal on October 24.

"After 10 years of sacrifice, we still have ground to make up. We hope to resume negotiations promptly," the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said on X.

The 53-day strike ended in early November when workers approved a new contract.

Layoffs

Boeing began furloughs of white-collar workers in mid-September after the strike began. Select employees were required to take one week off every four weeks on a rolling basis.

Ortberg, in a staff memo, also announced that executive leadership would take a "commensurate pay reduction for the duration of the strike," though details of the pay reduction remain unclear.

Layoffs began several weeks later. In mid-October, Boeing announced plans to lay off about 10% of its 170,000-member workforce.

In a memo to employees, Ortberg said Boeing was in a "difficult position" and that "restoring our company requires tough decisions."

The company also delayed production of its 777X twin-engine jet and discontinued production of its 767 cargo plane, the memo noted.

Production delays with the Boeing 777X plane

The experimental 777X is Boeing's newest widebody plane, banking 481 orders from more than a dozen global carriers even though regulators have not yet approved it to fly passengers.

But the aircraft has been riddled with production problems — like supply chain issues, design troubles, and now the ongoing strike — which have already put it five years behind schedule and set Boeing back $1.5 billion.

That hole will likely deepen with the latest entry delay to 2026, further eroding the industry's trust in Boeing's 777X program. It could also push carriers to choose Boeing's European rival Airbus and its already-in-service Airbus A350.

The aircraft is still uncertified but started certification flight testing in July. Testing was halted in August due to a problem with a key part that connects the engine to the aircraft, CNBC reported.

Production troubles with Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft

The FAA announced in January that it would not grant any production expansions of Boeing's MAX aircraft, including the 737 MAX 9, following the emergency on Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.

"The Jan. 5 Boeing 737-9 MAX incident must never happen again," the FAA said in a press release said.

FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said Boeing would not be cleared to expand production or add additional production lines for the 737 MAX "until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved," according to the press release.

Boeing held a three-hour meeting with the FAA in June to address safety and quality concerns. Afterward, Whitaker spoke at a press conference, where he told a reporter that expanding production of 737 MAX planes was still up in the air.

The FAA told Business Insider, "This is about systemic change, and there's a lot of work to be done. Boeing must meet milestones, and the timing of our decisions will be driven by their ability to do so."

The agency added: "Boeing has delivered a roadmap to change its safety culture, and the FAA will make sure Boeing implements the changes they have outlined. We will not approve production increases beyond the current cap until we're satisfied they've followed through on implementing corrective actions and transforming their safety culture."

Boeing restarted production of the 737 Max in December following the strike's conclusion.

Whistleblowers report problems at Boeing

Sam Salehpour, a Boeing engineer, testified at an April Senate hearing that the company ignored his reports on safety concerns, that his boss retaliated against him, and that he received threats against his physical safety.

The Senate subcommittee investigating Boeing's safety and quality practices released a 204-page report in June. The report included accounts from several whistleblowers.

Sam Mohawk, a Boeing quality assurance inspector, said the company lost track of hundreds of bad 737 parts and instructed employees to conceal improperly stored plane parts from FAA inspectors.

Another whistleblower, Richard Cuevas, wrote in a June complaint to the FAA that holes were being incorrectly drilled on Boeing's 787 Dreamliner planes.

Money woes

In a sign of how Boeing's problems have hurt its bottom line, the company said in a regulatory filing to the SEC in October that it had entered a $10 billion credit agreement with four major banks: JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Citibank.

The company also filed a prospectus saying it might sell up to $25 billion in securities.

"These are two prudent steps to support the company's access to liquidity," Boeing said in a statement.

While workers were on strike, Bank of America analysts estimated that the work stoppage cost Boeing $50 million a day.

To save money, Ortberg, the company's CEO, instructed top executives to stop flying private jets and instead fly economy on commercial flights.

• Ireland's Aer Lingus is the second airline to receive the new Airbus A321XLR.
• The plane opens new long-haul opportunities, including Dublin to Indianapolis and Nashville.
• Other airlines, including Iberia, United, Qantas, and American are also planning new routes.

The Airbus A321XLR is the European planemaker's latest narrow-body jet, and it's already changing how people fly long-haul.

On Thursday, Ireland's Aer Lingus became the second airline to receive the A321XLR, with Airbus delivering two of the carrier's six that are on order.

Spanish flag carrier Iberia became the plane's first operator in November.

The jet's extra-long-haul capabilities mean Aer Lingus can now operate flights deeper into the US. Two new routes are already scheduled: Flights between Dublin and Nashville will begin in April, and flights between Dublin and Indianapolis will launch in May.

Iberia and Aer Lingus are just the beginning for Airbus's new plane, which has tallied up more than 550 global orders.

American Airlines, Australian flag carrier Qantas, and Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air all expect to receive the jet next year, followed by United Airlines in early 2026.

And all are expected to launch never-before-flown narrow-body routes across oceans and continents.

Airbus' new A321XLR jet is set to open new route options

The A321XLR is uniquely equipped for long-haul flying, thanks to an extra rear center fuel tank that helps the narrow-body aircraft fly up to 5,400 miles, or 11 hours, nonstop.

That's about 800 miles farther than its Airbus A321LR predecessor. That opens new routes to places previously unreachable with older narrowbodies — or that were unprofitable with a widebody.

Iberia plans to begin a new service using the A321XLR between Madrid and Washington Dulles on January 15. Wizz Air also plans to launch A321XLR routes between London and Saudi Arabia and Milan and Abu Dhabi in 2025.

In March, American Airlines' managing director of global network planning, Jason Reisinger, said the A321XLR was desirable because it would let the airline serve "routes that cannot support a 787 but where we still have a nice onboard product."

American has since said it plans to launch the A321XLRs on transcontinental routes now served by its A321T.

And the airline's senior vice president of network planning, Brian Znotins, told The Points Guy in November that it plans to also fly its A321XLR fleet to Europe and possibly South America.

Qantas plans to use the A321XLR to fly farther into Asia and the Pacific.

United Airlines previously told Business Insider that the A321XLR would replace its aging Boeing 757s and open new routes to places like Northern Italy and West Africa.

Icelandair is also using the A321XLR to replace the 757 and fly farther into North America and Europe from 2029. Boeing never built another version of the popular narrow-body, which ceased production in 2004.

The A321XLR will have varying cabin experiences

Customers can expect varying cabin experiences on board these new versatile single-aisle planes.

Iberia offers lie-flat business class on its A321XLRs, which is typical of what customers find on long-haul widebody flights.

Aer Lingus will also have lie-flat business class seats similar to what it already flies on its A321LRs, but some rows won't have direct aisle access.

American plans to install its new Flagship suites on its A321XLRs, while United is also planning a lie-flat business cabin. Qantas will have large reclining loungers in business class.

Wizz will have the least posh cabin. Its no-frills A321XLRs will have cramped seats, no in-flight entertainment, and no freebies like snacks and water.

Its CEO said the experience is something passengers will have to "suffer" through for seven hours for the cheap ticket.

• The FAA banned drone flights across wide swaths of New Jersey.
• Thousands of reports of drone sightings have sparked concerns among residents and local officials.
• Federal officials have repeatedly said most of the sightings were crewed aircraft operating legally.

The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily banned drones from flying over most of New Jersey.

The restrictions, which are in effect until January 17, affect more than 22 communities across the Garden State and prevent drones from flying within 1 nautical mile of the restricted areas.

"At the request of federal security partners, the FAA published 22 Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) prohibiting drone flights over critical New Jersey infrastructure," the agency told Business Insider.

The news comes after thousands of reports of "mystery drones" over the US East Coast for the past month have sparked concern from locals and lawmakers.

Officials have repeatedly said most of the drone sightings are lawfully operated crewed aircraft.

Incidents of lasers being pointed at aircraft have also increased. The FAA said the number of lasers pointed at planes over New Jersey increased 269% in December compared with the same month last year.

"Misidentification often occurs when UAS are mistaken for more familiar objects such as manned aircraft, low-orbit satellites, or celestial bodies like planets or stars," the FBI said Monday in a statement, referring to unmanned aircraft systems.

There are over 1 million legally registered drones in the US. Federal regulations already prohibit drones from operating too close to an airport or flying higher than 400 feet without authorization.

• China Airlines ordered nearly $12 billion worth of Boeing and Airbus widebody aircraft.
• The deal is worth about $7.4 billion to Boeing, with China Airlines as its newest 777X customer.
• Boeing is still trying to certify the now at least six year delayed 777X.

Boeing has added another customer to its 777X backlog as the planemaker continues to work toward certification of the long-delayed widebody.

Taiwanese carrier China Airlines announced a nearly $12 billion order for 10 Boeing 777Xs, 10 Airbus A350-1000s, and four 777X freighters on Friday.

This is the first order Boeing has secured for the 777X since Korean Air and Qatar Airways announced deals for the jet in July.

According to a filing, the order is worth about $7.4 billion to Boeing at list prices and is likely a sign of relief for the struggling planemaker and its delayed 777X — a setback that has already put Boeing at least $1 billion in the hole.

The yet-to-be-certified 777X, which will come in two passenger variants, was already five years behind schedule when a labor strike halted production for over seven weeks this fall and further pushed the timeline back to at least 2026.

Quality control and 777X design issues haven't helped. Boeing finally restarted production of its 767 and 777 models on Wednesday.

The 777X is designed as a more fuel-efficient replacement for the classic 777. Thanks to its longer wings, more powerful engines, and revolutionary folding wingtips, the 777-9 variant China Airlines bought is designed to fly up to 426 people across nearly 8,400 miles.

Along with the 787 Dreamliner, the potentially lucrative 777X is key to Boeing's reputational and financial recovery.

However, the 777X's delays have forced airlines to fly older jets for longer. It has also opened the door for Airbus to sell its readily available rival A350.

"Emirates has had to make significant and highly expensive amendments to our fleet programs as a result of Boeing's multiple contractual shortfalls," Emirates president Tim Clark told Business Insider in October after the latest 777X delay.

Emirates received its first A350 in November. It was initially supposed to follow the 777X but will now lead the airline's long-haul expansion.

China Airlines joins a dozen other global buyers, like Emirates, Qatar Airways, and British Airways. No US airline has ordered the 777X because its size and range don't fit into the business models.

Data from the manufacturers shows about 1,350 global orders for the A350 and about 500 for the 777X.

• Frontier Airlines' annual all-you-can-fly flight pass called "GoWild!" costs $299 through Wednesday.
• I bought the seasonal subscription in 2023 and used it to crisscross the US.
• While it has limitations, I think GoWild is good for flexible travelers with a spontaneous spirit.

Frontier Airlines' all-you-can-fly pass is an interesting concept that comes with a major catch.

Called "GoWild!," the subscription-based program gives members exclusive access to heavily discounted flights — $0.01, plus taxes and fees.

On Tuesday, Frontier announced the annual pass option for just $299, valid for travel between May 1, 2025, and April 30, 2026. This is GoWild's lowest price yet, which goes up to $499 after December 18.

Frontier also sells seasonal and monthly passes. Be aware that GoWild will automatically renew unless you cancel.

Bookings can be made the day before for domestic flights or up to 10 days in advance for international flights, with the option to pay an early booking fee for dates beyond that.

Luggage, reserved seats, snacks, and drinks still cost extra. New this year is the ability to earn Frontier Miles when booking seats and bags with a GoWild ticket.

Hypothetically, GoWild means one could wake up one morning and, on a whim, go hop across Frontier's route map for as low as $15 per leg with just a personal item.

It sounds too good to be true, so I decided to test it out using Frontier's $299 unlimited fall and winter pass in 2023.

I visited three cities over five days, spending $60 total on last-minute flights. There were early mornings and late nights, some moments of uncertainty, and hours of flying on Frontier's uncomfortable planes.

After using the pass, I found that GoWild can be extremely frustrating to use if you aren't flexible or willing to get creative. But for others, it may be a golden ticket.

Over 4,000 miles in five days for $60

Frontier's GoWild pass offers unlimited flights across its entire network, which touches the US, Mexico, and the Caribbean.

I started my 2023 trip in Austin after a friend's wedding. Then, I flew to Las Vegas and Orlando. I took the Brightline train to Miami to catch a flight to Philadelphia, where I then headed home to Connecticut via Amtrak.

Thanks to the early booking option, I booked my first leg to Vegas about a week in advance to ensure I'd at least get out of Texas. It was an extra fee, but it was worth the peace of mind.

The other two legs were booked at the lowest rate, so I paid $15 to Orlando and Philadelphia and $30 to Vegas for a total of $60 on three flights. Without the pass, the flights would have cost about $260.

I personally enjoyed piecing together the trip and having various options to work with, but I also loved that I could potentially switch up plans on a whim.

But I realized the too-good-to-be-true pass has a few pain points that make it only really useful for certain lifestyles.

The "unlimited" flight pass has its limitations

One of the biggest concerns about GoWild is actually getting anywhere at all.

Not only are there blackout dates, but it's not uncommon for Frontier to have nonstop flights listed but no GoWild seats available for purchase.

This could force people to ditch paradise destinations like Cancun for a completely different city in a random place, like Ohama, for example. Not that a spontaneous trip to Nebraska can't be fun, but it's not the beach getaway one may have expected.

Plus, last-minute GoWild seats to the Caribbean are difficult to snag, as a Wall Street Journal reporter who tested the pass in June 2023 found.

Travelers also have to consider last-minute hotels and activities may be more expensive or sold out.

Frontier doesn't have the best flight schedule

I didn't have many options for leaving Austin except a 10 p.m. flight to Las Vegas. I wasn't thrilled about the late departure, but that's part of the experience.

After a full day of touring around Las Vegas, I was hoping to sleep in the next morning and then take a red-eye flight to Florida that night.

Surprisingly, on the one day that I wanted to fly to Orlando, Frontier had only a 6:15 a.m. flight — nothing later. I sucked it up and trudged through another sleepless night after leaving Vegas' famous Sphere at 11:30 p.m.

After a full day exploring Miami with a friend, I switched my next day's Philadelphia flight from 6:10 a.m. to 1:11 p.m. to get more sleep.

There was no cancellation fee, but I also lost a day of exploring Philadelphia.

I restricted myself to a personal item

Because I was trying to book the cheapest GoWild flights possible, I forwent a carry-on bag, which cost over $60 for each leg.

I brought a regular-sized backpack with a laptop pocket in the back. I packed it so that nothing bulged out, and it fit perfectly inside Frontier's size checker.

I'll admit that I had to pack and repack several times, and I had to ditch a lot of outfits that I wanted to bring with me.

Bringing only a personal item ended up being extremely challenging, so I recommend just paying for the carry-on if you think you'll need it.

If you do opt for the free option, be warned: an agent visually checked every personal item during boarding during all three flights.

They forced those that looked too big into the size box and charged extra for the bags that didn't fit — likely part of Frontier's controversial bag incentive program.

Finding GoWild seats is a lot of tedious guess-and-check

The process of searching and booking GoWild seats is a cumbersome task. The flights can only be bought on Frontier's website, not its app, and customers have to check each one by one.

Fortunately, some computer-savvy individuals independent of Frontier launched "The 1491 Club," which has a monthly fee but lists every single GoWild seat available.

It saved me a lot of effort when trying to Tetris together my GoWild itinerary.

Getting home proved tricky once I realized that using Frontier isn't ideal for those of us living in no-man's land Connecticut.

When I bought the pass, I initially planned to use Stewart International Airport in New York, 40 minutes away, but Frontier has sadly since shut down operations there.

I ended up taking a two-hour Amtrak home from Philadelphia for $40 and Ubering home from the station.

I could save time by driving to a New York City airport, but then I'd be locked into returning to the same airport, which would make using GoWild even tougher.

My advice is that if you don't live near a Frontier hub or focus city, GoWild will be nearly impossible to use unless you're willing to add drive time, parking fees, rideshare trips, or train fares.

GoWild is most realistic for those with remote or flexible jobs

Despite the less-than-favorable flight times, I managed to check off my list of cities to hit and things to do.

While I had a good experience, there are still a lot of limitations to the "unlimited" flight pass, and the costs can add up.

Personal items that bulge just a little too much may be subject to Frontier's hefty carry-on fee. You also have to pay extra for more luggage or legroom.

There's also no guarantee you'll get to your desired destination until the day before unless you fork out even more money for an early booking fee. This uncertainty can be stressful.

But for those who love to travel on a whim, the concept of not knowing your next move could be a dream adventure.

Spontaneous digital nomads or freelancers would likely get the most out of the pass. I have a remote job, so I could make it work.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who could make weekend getaways via GoWild work, too. But it'd come with risks like getting stuck somewhere and missing work — at that point, I don't think it'd be worth the hassle.

• Mysterious drones over the US East Coast have sparked concern and skepticism among locals.
• Officials said many of the reported sightings are "actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully."
• You can use websites like FlightRadar24 and ADS-B Exchange to check some of the aircraft overhead.

Mysterious drones flying over the US East Coast have sparked concern and skepticism among locals and government representatives.

Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security told reporters over the weekend that they were still investigating the events but had no evidence the aircraft posed a threat to the public or was connected to a foreign adversary.

The uncertainty and contradictions, plus a social media rumor mill, have prompted some people to point to every moving object in the sky as a possible drone sighting.

But not everything flying overhead is an anomaly. National security officials have repeatedly stressed that many of the reported drone sightings are "actually manned aircraft, operating lawfully."

This points to commercial, military, or general aviation aircraft, and there are free, public ways to check for yourself.

Many airplanes can be spotted using FAA data

The Federal Aviation Administration handles 45,000 flights every day, with some 5,400 commercial planes flying in the sky at once during peak travel times.

Most commercial planes can be tracked via free websites like FlightAware and Flightradar24 because they use FAA data. With these tools, you can confidently say the Boeing and Airbus planes that take off from the highly congested New York City airports every day aren't more mystery drones.

For example, on the FlightAware or Flightradar24 website or app, you can search for New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport, airport code "EWR," to see all of the planes overhead.

The websites also provide data like aircraft type, location, speed, altitude, and operator.

You can also spot a commercial plane based on where it's flying, as airliners use specific flight paths when heading into and out of NYC.

A large number of them fly along the New Jersey coast, so if you see low-altitude flashing lights in the night sky heading northbound, for example, it's quite likely a passenger airplane landing.

Flight paths can differ depending on the route and winds, but flight-tracking websites can give you the best idea of what's flying overhead.

Federal regulations prevent commercial and recreational drones from operating too close to an airport or flying higher than 400 feet unless authorized.

The FAA will sometimes provide waivers, but its unlikely an aircraft operating within these parameters is a drone. In some cases, drone activity has forced a handful of airports, including an air force base, to close entirely for short periods of time.

Some hidden aircraft can be tracked via ADS-B Exchange

Using flight paths and tracking websites doesn't eliminate all of the potential aircraft that could be flying overhead — it simply identifies an aircraft as an airliner.

However, people can use a free website called ADS-B Exchange to filter for military and private aircraft that are blocked from websites that use FAA data.

These operators use specific federal programs called "LADD" and "PIA" to avoid flight tracking because they don't want their location data easily available to the public. Elon Musk and Taylor Swift are famous examples.

Still, military aircraft, including drones, can turn off their ADS-B software to maintain stealth or secrecy, meaning they can't be seen using free and public websites. Drones with sinister motives — the kinds officials have said they aren't concerned about with these sightings — assumably also would not use public transponders.

Many general aviation aircraft used for personal use — some of which are smaller, fly much slower, and could be mistaken for a drone or unidentified aircraft — are also not equipped with ADS-B and could be another unidentifiable object in the night sky.

Drones are quieter, with similar but different lighting

Nearly 800,000 commercial and recreational drones are registered with the FAA. There are a few easy ways to visually distinguish a drone from an airplane.

Most drones and airplanes both have four lights — though lighting on a drone will usually be in a square pattern, while an airplane has lights on both wings, the nose, and the tail.

Most drones will also have red or white anti-collision lights for use at night, though many will be red and green for easier operation. The wing lights on airplanes are also red and green.

Observers can use sound and movement as indicators if lighting doesn't help identify an airplane.

Drones commonly hover or whip quickly in different directions, which are not characteristics of airplanes. Drones also usually emit a buzz or hum noise from their rotors, while passenger aircraft engines have a distinctively louder sound.

Former FBI supervisory special agent Tom Adams told CNN on Friday that some of these reported drones could be people flying their own drones to hype up coverage. He added the sightings may have a simple answer.

"I can tell you from my firsthand experience conducting operations for the FBI, as well as investigations into the suspected sighting of drones at critical infrastructure, it was fairly common for planets, crewed aircraft, and even low Earth orbit satellites to be misidentified as drones at night," Adams said.

• The Airbus A321XLR is revolutionizing long-haul travel with its 11-hour range.
• The versatile jet can reach far-away places and fit into mainline and budget business models.
• Launch customer Iberia and soon-to-be A321XLR operator Wizz Air have very different cabin approaches.

The Airbus A321XLR is the European manufacturer's latest long-haul, narrow-body plane.

With its 11-hour range and smaller size, the jet is set to revolutionize how people travel.

Airlines can now more easily fly to lower-demand markets previously unprofitable with a widebody or to far-away places previously unreachable with other single-aisle planes.

The A321XLR first entered service with Spanish flag carrier Iberia in November. The airline flew seven hours from Madrid to Boston, equipping the plane with lie-flat business class and economy.

With 550 orders, the plane has garnered interest from both mainline and budget carriers — but not all experiences will be equal.

European budget carrier Wizz Air is not far behind Iberia, with its first A321XLR expected to trek seven hours from London to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, starting in March — but it won't be close to high-end.

The two carrier's plans for their new planes showcase the model's versatility.

Iberia will offer business class.

Iberia wanted to provide luxury onboard its long-haul A321XLR with business class. It's similar to JetBlue Airways' Mint cabin but without popular sliding doors.

The high-dollar cabin, which can cost $5,000 or more roundtrip, comes with a large Bluetooth-capable television, linens, hot meals, alcohol, and a lie-flat recliner.

Other A321XLR buyers, including United Airlines and American Airlines, also plan to offer lie-flat business class to target premium travelers. American's will have a door.

Economy will offer decent space and amenities.

Iberia's economy cabin has comforts like an adjustable headrest, deep recline, a Bluetooth-capable screen, charging ports, extra storage slots in the seatback pocket, and 30-31 inches of seat pitch.

The legroom is on par with other mainline carriers, but taller travelers can choose a bulkhead or exit row with 40 inches of pitch.

Iberia's Bluetooth feature is rare on airlines and it allows Iberia flyers to connect their own wireless headphones to the screen.

Hot meals and linens are included on Iberia.

Iberia offers what is typical on a mainline, long-haul flight. This means travelers will get linens and hot meals included in their fare.

The airline also offers free messaging via WiFi, with internet browsing and streaming available for a fee.

Wizz's A321XLR approach is very different.

Wizz is a low-cost carrier that built its business on offering cheap fares at the expense of onboard comforts — and the airline continues to push the limits of flyer tolerance.

"Fifteen, 20 years ago, I thought three hours would test passenger tolerance, and then we pushed it to six hours, and we are still fine," Wizz CEO József Váradi said during a September press conference in London. "You kind of suffer the pain, if you wish, for the economic benefits that you are deriving from the transaction."

Iberia's A321XLR has 182 seats. Wizz's will cram in 239.

The all-economy cabin will offer minimal space.

Wizz said its A321XLR cabin will resemble that of its A321neo, which already flies across Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East.

The plane doesn't come with business class seats or Iberia's amenity-heavy economy cabin. Instead, travelers can expect slim, cramped coach seats with no headrest, no television, and a tiny tray table.

The seat pitch is only 28 inches, and there is no recline. It'd be like flying on Spirit or Frontier, but for seven hours.

The cramped, all-economy cabin will be cheap, but it's an experience Wizz's CEO described as something customers must "suffer" through to save money.

Not even water is free.

Like its ultra-low-cost counterparts in the US, Wizz flights come with nothing included, except a personal item. This means any food or drinks — including water — costs extra.

"When you take a legacy carrier and you get a coffee for free, that is probably the most expensive cappuccino in your life," Varadi said. "We don't want to do that."

According to Wizz's online menus, food bundles start at £11.50, or about $12, and include a sandwich, drink, and snack. Soups start at £3.70, while a water bottle costs £3.20. Alcohol, chips, and coffee, among other items, are also on sale.

Don't expect any internet or entertainment.

Wizz keeps its fares low because it does not carry the extra weight many mainline carriers do, like seatback screens or WiFi. Flyers can pre-download content to a phone or tablet to watch during the flight.

"If you want to have more fun, you have to create the fun for yourself," Váradi told Bloomberg in September. "It's not going to be us who create it."

Some Wizz planes have a messaging platform, but it doesn't connect to the internet. It's uncertain if this will be on the A321XLRs.

Bags cost extra and unprepared flyers risk other fees.

Wizz flyers who want a carry-on or checked bag must pay extra. For the London to Jeddah flight in April, a 10-kilogram checked bag costs £95, or $120, and a carry-on costs £66, or $83, roundtrip at the time of booking.

The bags must also meet specific size and weight requirements or flyers risk even more fees at the airport.

Another fee is for assigned seats, which cost between £18 and £42 on the same flight. Flyers also need to check in online at least three hours before the flight or pay £40 at the airport per ticket.

Wizz customers willing to 'suffer' can save hundreds of dollars.

Major airlines British Airways and Saudia are the only other carriers that fly nonstop between London and Jeddah.

According to Google Flights, Wizz's basic fare is regularly a few hundred dollars cheaper than both mainline options.

That's without any add-ons like bags and seats, so customers should be sure to do the math for all options before booking.

• JetBlue will launch new international flights from Boston to Edinburgh and Madrid in May 2025.
• The new routes are part of a major network restructuring to boost revenue.
• JetBlue will compete with Iberia on the Madrid route, with both using A321neo family jets.

JetBlue Airways is redrawing its route network — and there is some good news for Europe-bound flyers.

JetBlue announced plans to launch two new transatlantic flights from Boston to Edinburgh and Madrid in May 2025. It will be the airline's first flight to Spain — bringing its total European destinations to five.

The struggling carrier will compete with just one airline to Madrid: Spanish flag carrier Iberia. Both will fly an Airbus A321neo family jet on the route, meaning travelers can expect a smaller plane across the Atlantic.

The new routes are part of a larger restructuring plan to bolster revenue. JetBlue has not turned a profit since 2019, largely due to high costs and failed deals with American Airlines and Spirit Airlines that hampered its expansion.

The airline announced over 50 route cuts in 2024 and ended service to 15 underperforming airports. It's now refocusing on the Northeast US and Florida, with additional flights to Europe and the Caribbean.

It's also deploying high-dollar Mint-business-class equipped planes to more high-demand markets, including the new Spain route.

Here's how JetBlue and Iberia's business and coach cabins compare on the seven-hour trek to Madrid.

JetBlue has more premium seating on its Airbus A321neos.

JetBlue flies its A321neo and A321LR variants across the Atlantic, the latter is a lower-ranged predecessor to Iberia's A321XLR and is more premium-heavy. They host 160 and 114 seats, respectively.

Each is equipped with lie-flat Mint seats, front-row Studios, and extra-legroom economy seats — the remaining are regular coach seats. Half of the A321LR cabin is premium seating.

Iberia has a higher-capacity A321XLR with 182 seats: 14 in business class and 168 in economy.

Iberia's smaller business class doesn't have doors.

JetBlue and Iberia chose the same seatmaker for their A321neo business class cabins, but Iberia did not install a sliding door. Mint has doors.

This goes against an industry-wide trend, with many global carriers, such as Korean Air, Air India, and Turkish Airlines, adding the popular feature.

Business Insider toured Iberia's A321XLR business class in November and found the angled seats and large wings offered more than enough privacy. Iberia likely wanted to save on costly weight and best optimize the cabin's already limited space.

The Spanish carrier also lacks a designated 'Studio.'

To cater to more business travelers, JetBlue installed a front-row "Mint Studio" on its A321neos, complete with a companion seat and extra storage. The seat is an upcharge.

Iberia did not include the extra-revenue option, meaning travelers have less choice in business class.

You'll otherwise get the usual business-class perks on both.

Because the seats are otherwise exactly the same design, travelers can expect similar comforts. This includes a lie-flat recliner, storage, and an inflight television. Both also include meals, linens, and an amenity kit.

Iberia's 18.5-inch screen is bigger than JetBlue's 17-inch one in regular Mint, though the Mint Studio hosts the largest overall at 22 inches.

However, JetBlue does not offer Bluetooth connectivity. Customers on Iberia can connect their own wireless headphones to the business-class screens — and that goes for the economy cabin, too.

Both have nice economy cabins.

The 3×3 economy cabins offer adjustable headrests, an inflight screen, extra storage slots in the seatback pocket, and linens.

JetBlue's 10.1-inch screen is smaller than Iberia's 12-inch Bluetooth one, but JetBlue travelers can connect their phone as a remote. JetBlue also offers free WiFi, while Iberia's is only free for messaging.

Iberia's seats recline up to four inches, while JetBlue's recline three inches. Thanks to Airbus' wider narrowbody cabin design, both coach options offer 18 inches of width.

Iberia has less legroom and fewer extra space seats in coach.

JetBlue has several rows of "Even More Space" seats to target flyers willing to pay extra for more legroom. The US carrier also offers an industry-leading 32 inches of legroom — beating out rivals like Delta and United.

Iberia's 40-inch-pitch extra legroom seats are only in the bulkhead and exit rows, meaning taller travelers have limited options for more space. The legroom is 30-31 inches, putting Iberia on par with US mainlines.

Avoid certain rows if you want a window.

Iberia does not have a window in row 39. The windows in rows 22 and 23 on JetBlue's A321LR and rows 23 and 24 on its A321neos are missing or misaligned.

If you pay extra for a window seat with hopes of a view, it's best to avoid these rows.

JetBlue doesn't offer hot meals in economy anymore.

In October, JetBlue stopped serving hot meals in economy on transatlantic flights in an effort to cut costs. Cold meals are now served, like a crepe for breakfast, a chicken grain bowl for lunch, or a pesto pasta salad for dinner.

Still, the meals come included in the fare — something that distinguishes JetBlue from other low-cost options like Norse Atlantic Airways where food costs extra.

Iberia customers can expect hot meals in coach, which is in line with what mainline carriers offer across the Atlantic.

Don't miss the hidden lavatory on Iberia.

Coach travelers on Iberia share three lavatories in the aft cabin, but the high-capacity cabin means the queue can get long and crowded — especially if the third one is overlooked, as can be the case.

It's located behind the flight attendant jump seat.

The A321neo narrowbodies offer convenience that widebodies don't.

Airbus' new long-ranged jets are changing the way people fly to Europe. Some people may worry about the smaller plane, but it has its benefits.

The tinier cabin may be cozier, plus deplaning and boarding are much quicker thanks to fewer people — and may be a saving grace during tight layovers.