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This week:
- Hawaii wants to diversify its economy
- Qatar PM: “We will continue trying to seek de-escalation”
- Choose your Wi-Fighter: AA vs BA
- WSJ: Americans are leaving the U.S. in record numbers
- Qantas’ new safety video isn’t likely to last
- Capital One has a new restaurant at LaGuardia
March 8, 2026
Hawaii wants to diversify its economy
Christine Hitt, reporting for SFGate:
“There’s still been growth in visitor numbers but the per person in real inflation-adjusted terms, spending was at its highest actually in 1988, so it means tourists now are spending less than they did individually in 1988,” Steven Bond-Smith, an economist at the Economic Research Organization at the University of Hawaii, told SFGATE by phone.
Bond-Smith said a healthy economy in the US averages about 2% growth over long periods of time, but Hawaii is averaging much lower, at around 0.6%. Because the state hasn’t kept pace with the continent, residents are driven to leave.
“You need higher- and higher-value jobs and activities being done here,” Bond-Smith said. The jobs that tend to offer higher wages are in very large US cities and they’re particularly in tech or biotech, he explained. “The main activity here is obviously tourism, and it hasn’t had that kind of income growth that other places have had.”
Simple Flying, reporting on Alaska’s hub strategy after acquiring Hawaiian:
Following the airlines’ merger, more than 20% more seats are now on offer between Seattle and Honolulu, with three of the six daily flights operated by widebody aircraft. Further down the coast, Portland now sees three daily nonstop flights to Hawaii, representing an increase of 25% more seats.
Two daily flights now take off between San Diego and Maui, with new routes from San Francisco to Kona and Lihue. This will see the group now offer four daily nonstop flights from San Francisco to the main airports in the state. The Hawaiian A330 will also add a once-daily service between Honolulu and Sacramento.
So, one upshot of Alaska’s purchase – so far – has been more seats between Hawaii and both Seattle and San Francisco, two cities with thriving tech sectors. Approving that acquisition was a no-brainer.
March 8, 2026
Qatar PM: “We will continue trying to seek de-escalation”
Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in a Sky News interview aired on Sunday urged all sides involved in the Iran conflict to de-escalate.
“We will continue talking to the Iranians, we will continue trying to seek de-escalation,” the prime minister said in the interview.
…”For the U.S., we would like to see a de-escalation, we would like to see … a diplomatic solution that addresses our concerns as well as their concerns,” he added.
“We need to ensure, first, that Iran should stop all attacks against Gulf countries and other countries that they are attacking and are not party of this war,” he said.
March 6, 2026
Choose your Wi-Fighter: AA vs BA
David Flynn, writing for Executive Traveller:
British Airways will join a global shift to Starlink Wi-Fi this month when the Oneworld member’s first Starlink-equipped Boeing 787 takes to the skies.
And based on results to date, passengers can look forward to download speeds in excess of 100Mbps.
Even better: Starlink Wi-Fi will be free for all passengers, from the coveted first class suites in Row 1 to the very last row in economy.
However, nobody will have to enter their credit card details or even be a member of the British Airways Club loyalty program to log on.
Compare AA and BA’s Wi-Fi rollout plans:
| Feature | AA | BA |
| Speed1 | ~50-60mbps | ~150mbps |
| Access | Create or login to an Aadvantage account | No login |
| Ads | Video ads after login | No ads |
Once BA rolls out Starlink across its fleet (date TBA), I’d watch the impact on load factor on AA and BA’s joint venture flights between JFK and LHR. There has never been a clear advantage to flying one over the other. Soon there will be.
- According to Ookla’s latest In-Flight Wifi speed test results for Intelsat and Viasat. I get speeds between 1-15mbps when flying American, but I’m trusting their data over my anecdote. ↩︎
March 4, 2026
WSJ: Americans are leaving the U.S. in record numbers
Drew Hinshaw and Joe Parkinson, writing for The Wall Street Journal:
The U.S. experienced net negative migration—an estimated loss of some 150,000 people—in 2025, and the outflow will likely increase in 2026, according to calculations by the Brookings Institution, a public-policy think tank. The number could be larger or smaller because official U.S. data doesn’t yet fully capture the number of people leaving, Brookings analysts noted. The total in-migration was between around 2.6 and 2.7 million in 2025, down from a peak of almost 6 million in 2023.
Trump is part of the why, but that’s not the full story:
Do these émigrés personify a loss of faith in America’s future and way of life? Across dozens of interviews, U.S. expats described their motivations as a tangle of economic incentives, lifestyle preferences and disenchantment with the trajectory of America, citing violent crime, cost of living and turbulent politics. Trump’s re-election was a factor for many—although others voted for him. But the structural and societal shift runs much deeper. When Gallup asked Americans during the 2008 recession how many wanted to leave the U.S., the answer was one in 10. Last year: One in five.
“It undercuts this American exceptionalism, ‘we have the best quality of life, we’re the best country in the world, everyone wants to move here,’” said Caitlin Joyce, one of two researchers at Temple University who have spent years studying the trend. “Well, Americans move abroad and find they like life better abroad. They like the social democratic policies.”
March 4, 2026
Qantas’ new safety video isn’t likely to last
Robyn Ironside, writing for The Australian:
Qantas has quietly rolled out its new safety video which ditches the unlikely locations and frequent flyer cameos of past years, in favour of actual aircraft settings.
Introduced to flights over the weekend, the video runs just under four minutes and includes recent changes to rules about the use and carriage of power banks, delivered by cabin crew and pilots.
…“When developing safety videos, the primary objective is to ensure customers understand what the safety procedures are, but we also need to capture their attention so safety is front of mind, particularly for regular flyers who might otherwise tune out,” Qantas said.
Here’s the video, which curiously, Qantas hasn’t publicized on its own channels. The song you hear in the background is an updated instrumental of Alex Lloyd’s “Amazing.”
Qantas’ “magic place” video was gorgeous, but seems to have caused some anxiety at the airline and the unions for being too distracting. I’d argue that a more cinematic safety video gets people to look up from their phone in the first place, so I’d love to see what the research says.
These videos are also marketing tools, and on those grounds, the new video is effective. I’m convinced1that the best advertisement for Qantas remains its impeccable safety record.
In any case, I don’t think this specific version of the video will last long. It prominently features the current Qantas uniforms, which the airline expects to retire next year. I’d expect at least a minor refresh soon after.
- Nearly 40 years after the film’s release, the comment I still get the most when I mention Qantas here in the States is about Rain Man. ↩︎
March 2, 2026
Capital One has a new restaurant at LaGuardia
Capital One partnered with [José] Andrés and the José Andrés Group to open the first Capital One Landing in 2024, at Washington Reagan National (DCA). In February, the partnership opened a second tapas-style restaurant—more than twice as large as the first—within a fully refurbished, 12,500-square-foot space at LaGuardia Airport (LGA).
The collaboration is far more hands-on than the average celebrity chef deal, according to Gary Leff, the industry watcher behind the View from the Wing blog. “José Andrés Group actually has staff on-site,” Leff says. “They’ve sourced plates and insisted on specific ingredients, such as the jamón ibérico.”
That translates into a high-end experience inside Terminal B, just before the bridge to gates 11 through 31. Andrés said at a media preview that he enjoys serving business travelers.
If you’re flying American at LaGuardia, you’ll get a glimpse of this space, and its exciting menu, on your way to the Admirals Club.