The world of aviation now has its first billion dollar route. That’s a flight route that makes more money for an airline than any other. And for the first time that route has breached the one billion dollar ceiling – British Airways’ service between London Heathrow and New York’s JFK.

OAG has come up with a list of the routes and airlines that generate the highest revenue around the world.

The Heathrow to JFK route pockets British Airways more than $1.15 billion in the 12 months up to April 2019. With 600+ flights per month, that equates to an hourly revenue of $27,159, a 10% increase on last year’s revenue. British Airways operates the venerable Boeing 747 and Boeing 777-200s on its Heathrow to JFK services.

So where is the second most profitable flight route in the world? QANTAS Airways’ domestic service between the southern cities of Melbourne and Sydney generates more than $861 million a year for Australia’s national airline.

Number 3 and 4 were also flights out of London’s Heathrow – Emirates’ service to Dubai and Singapore Airlines’ route to Singapore Changi. The Heathrow flights to Doha with Qatar Airways was number 7 and Cathay Pacific’s flights to Hong Kong were Number 8.

North American domestic routes also figured in the top 10. United Airlines’ San Francisco to Newark route delivered annual revenue of $689 million dollars and Air Canada’s Vancouver to Toronto route was Number 9 with annual revenue of $541 million dollars.

Highest-revenue flight routes: April 2018 – March 2019

1. British Airways: New York JFK – London Heathrow

(Total revenue: $1,159,126,794 / revenue per hour: $27,159)

2. Qantas Airways: Melbourne – Sydney

(Total revenue: $861,260,322 / revenue per hour: $23,773)

3. Emirates: London Heathrow – Dubai International

(Total revenue: $796,201,645 / revenue per hour: $24,926)

4. Singapore Airlines: London Heathrow – Singapore Changi

(Total revenue: $735,597,614 / revenue per hour: $18,771)

5. United Airlines: San Francisco International – Newark

(Total revenue: $689,371,368 / revenue per hour: $12,882)

6. American Airlines: Los Angeles LAX – New York JFK

(Total revenue: $661,739,788 / Revenue per hour: $13,099)

7. Qatar Airways: London Heathrow – Hamad International

(Total revenue: $639,122,609 / revenue per hour: $20,415)

8. Cathay Pacific Airways: Hong Kong International – London Heathrow

(Total revenue: $604,595,063 / revenue per hour: $13,887)

9. Singapore Airlines: Sydney – Singapore Changi

(Total revenue: $549,711,946 / revenue per hour: $20,821)

10. Air Canada: Vancouver YVR – Toronto Pearson International

(Total revenue: $541,122,509 / revenue per hour: $11,936)

SOURCE: CNN Travel

Asian stock markets have followed Wall Street’s lead this morning falling sharply as investors made their concerns apparent about economic recessions in some of the larger economies. They also reacted to more threats of instability from the trade war between the US and China.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) Index dropped 1.6% during this morning’s trading.

US markets led the march downward yesterday, with the Dow Jones closing just over 3% down with the Nasdaq and S&P 500 posting similar falls.

In other markets the Nikkei 225 dropped nearly 2%. In China, the Shenzhen Composite and Shanghai Composite dropped more than 1%, as did the Hang Seng shedding .5%. The reverse was the case in South Korea with the Kospi rising .5%. China’s industrial output grew by only 4.8% year-on-year in July. This growth rate was the lowest in 17 years. (Many other nations would have been delighted to have had a 4.8% growth rate!)

Meanwhile, the German GDP shrank by 0.1% in Q2 2019, raising fears that Europe’s largest economy is heading for recession. On Twitter, US President Donald Trump blamed the Federal Reserve, calling it “clueless” and noting he has repeatedly called for larger interest rate cuts.

Prominent economist and Noble prize laureate Paul Krugman downplayed threats of recession saying that “objectively, the economic problems are nowhere near as serious as 2008, or even 2001.”

“But we’re being led by the gang that couldn’t think straight.”

Krugman blamed Trump and his aides for poor economic policies and said that Fed is unlikely to come and rescue the markets, according to The Nation.

CARTOON: Financial Times

Five big economies are at risk of recession – Germany, Italy, Mexico, Brazil and the UK. A recession is usually defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction in an economy. Locally Singapore and Hong Kong are teetering on technical recessions, both vital regional business hubs.

The UK economy shrunk in the second quarter, and growth has flat lined in Italy. Germany’s economy, the world’s fourth largest, contracted in the second quarter.

The causes? A lot of economists say there’s a war of confidence in the markets with background noises of the US-China trade war, the Brexit farce, and a perfect storm of a global manufacturing slump and wounded business sentiment.

A global economic shakiness bordering on mild panic.

China’s towering economy is growing at the slowest pace in nearly three decades as the protracted trade war with the US intensifies sending even more shockwaves around the globe.

Now it’s been announced that the US will impose new taxes on Chinese exports in September and December. With the trade imbalance as it is, the US has more weapons to throw at the trade spat. But China’s resolve and deep commitment to spreading it’s economic wings over the last decade – principally its Belt and Road program – will allow it to absorb a lot of the short-term pain.

Chinese businesses are already well into the process of finding other export options (finalisation of RCEP, the largest trade bloc in the world will be wrapped up by the end of the year) and alternatives to US suppliers for specific parts for local manufacturing.

The International Monetary Fund cut its forecast for global growth this year to 3.2% last month, the weakest rate of expansion in a decade. It also downgraded its expectations for 2020 to 3.5%.

More than a third of asset managers surveyed by Bank of America expect a global recession in the next 12 months and the sentiment in bond markets is for contraction in most economies.

With fears of a chaotic Brexit helping to drag down the German and some European economies, the most pain is being felt in the UK, where the economy is shrinking for the first time since 2012. If the UK PM Boris Johnson does what he says – a ‘no deal’ Brexit on October 31 – a recession would be unavoidable.

In Italy, it’s a very local problem of weak productivity, high youth unemployment, huge debt and political turmoil contributing to its sluggish economy. Mexico and the country’s services sector are under pressure causing a loss of investment, and further south in Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, weak industrial production, rancorous politics and high unemployment are killing off potential for growth.

Locally, the central banks of India and Thailand have slashed interest rates – in Thailand the effort is to curb its strong currency – and more cuts are expected.

The good news, if there is any, is for local expats and Thai importing anything into the country or travelling overseas. The Thai baht one of the few shining lights in the world economy at the moment.