American, Delta, United, and Alaska all announced record results as the biggest airlines continue to recover from the pandemic downturn.

A new year means new resolutions, new opportunities and, importantly for travelers, new flights. Hawaii trips are set to get a bit easier at Southwest Airlines. Greenland will get what may be its first U.S. nonstop on United Airlines. And a newly beefed-up Alaska Airlines is launching flights to Tokyo and Seoul.

Air New Zealand, which flies one of the longest regularly scheduled routes on the entire planet, took the top award, handed out by AirlineRatings.com. The Kiwi carrier serves Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, from New York’s JFK Airport — a distance of 8,828 miles. The trip takes 16 hours and 15 minutes.

Alaska Airlines is going big in Oregon this summer with three new routes — and additional flights on existing routes — from the Beaver State. Beginning May

Fort Lauderdale is no stranger to long routes. In fact, the flight from LAX is one of the top seven longest flights out of the airport. Other destinations include Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle.

Air New Zealand was once again named the safest full-service airline in the world for 2025, holding on to the title for a second straight year.

Allegiant Air had the lowest mishandled baggage rate overall but saw a 46.2% spike year over year, data show. In contrast, JetBlue Airways saw the biggest improvement in baggage handling, falling 34.8% from 0.56 mishandled bags per 100 bags enplaned in 2023 to 0.36 in 2024, according to Upgraded Points.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Midwest has done a decent job of taking care of travelers' items, with major airports in Kansas City, Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Denver ranked among the top six for the least complaints per 100,000 passengers.

In a report released yesterday, Duane Pfennigwerth from Evercore ISI maintained a Buy rating on United Airlines Holdings (UAL – Research

Alaska Airlines' merger with Hawaiian Airlines aims to enhance connectivity and drive earnings growth through strategic initiatives in 2025.

Republic Airways is one of the multiple different regional carriers that exist in the United States today, and it operates flights for other scheduled passenger airlines. Carriers like Delta Air Lines,

United CEO Scott Kirby diminished American in comments on Wednesday. American CEO Robert Isom barely responded during American's earnings call.