A decade of change for the global airline industry: A new and altered reality in the rankings

A decade is a respectable amount of time in our era when not only change but also the pace of change appears ever faster. Constant improvements in technology have made cutting-edge devices of 2000 seem to be quaint relics ten years later. However, there are also other factors, such as macroeconomic forces, at work that can bring enormous change as well. While not unanticipated, China has surpassed many other nations and soon is expected to be the world's dominant economy. There have also been demographic shifts, political change and the emergence of new business models.