Karen Walker is Air Transport World Editor-in-Chief and Aviation Week Network Group Air Transport Editor-in-Chief. She joined ATW in 2011 and oversees the editorial content and direction of ATW, Routes and Aviation Week Group air transport content.
Karen serves on the board of directors of the International Aviation Club of Washington and was the IAC’s President in 2017-2018.
Karen has been writing about the aerospace and air transport industries for more than 35 years and is a recognized authority and commenter on the airline industry. She is a regular speaker and moderator at aviation events worldwide and a commentator on radio and TV news programs. In 2019, she was a judge and a presenter for IATA’s inaugural diversity awards.
Based in Washington D.C., she gained her degree in journalism in the U.K. and is a multiple winner of the Royal Aeronautical Society’s aerospace journalism awards.
She is the recipient of the Aerospace Media Awards 2021 Aerospace Writer of the Year.
This industry has adapted to many watershed events, products and economic forces that have led to major shifts in the way it does business. Jet engines, hub-and-spoke, global alliances, regional jets, low-cost carriers and terrorism are among some of history’s most significant game changers. The biggest challenge facing airlines today is oil. Not just high oil prices, though that’s a clear and present pain point, but the volatility of oil prices. For most airline managers, jet fuel has become not just their highest cost, but also their most unpredictable.
