The Next Trip - An Aviation and Travel Podcast

Doug and Drew

The Next Trip is a weekly podcast with aviation insiders Doug and Drew, who together bring more than 40 years of industry experience as a professional pilot and a hub operations manager at a major airline. Join them, and their frequent guests, as they create a network for other AvGeeks and travel enthusiasts to obsess about all things aviation. Doug and Drew discuss today’s aviation news, share personal operational stories, regale listeners with trip reviews, and engage in friendly AvGeek banter. All thoughts and opinions are their own.Visit us at www.nexttripnetwork.com or follow us on Twitter at @nexttrippodcast

  • 1 hour 24 seconds
    Boarding Pass 317: Spirit's Holiday Lifeline and other Christmas Gifts

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    Doug is back from Auckland and Denver and Drew is managing the busy pre-Christmas rush. We discuss:

    • Christmas passenger traffic
    • US government admits fault in January midair collision near DC
    • Spirit Airlines gets a lifeline
    • Barry Biffle is out as CEO of Frontier
    • An update on the 737-7 and 737-10
    • US Customs Preclearance in foreign countries
    • Listener comments

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    Links from this episode:

    Doug’s Auckland Steak Restaurant recommendation: Danny Doolan’s

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    22 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 58 minutes 18 seconds
    Boarding Pass 316: Boeing Goes In-House

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    Doug trains new pilots on touch and go landings in the KC46 and Drew is preparing for a Winter Ops event. We discuss:

    • More Airline Lounges for the new golden age of travel
    • India’s Indigo airlines struggles under new pilot rest rules
    • FAA administrator’s conflict of interest
    • Boeing buys back Spirit AeroSystems
    • California’s 79th Air Refueling Squadron 
    • Listener comments

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    15 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 52 minutes 17 seconds
    Boarding Pass 315: Record Breaking Travel... Again

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    Drew is back from 3 days in Dublin and Doug is back from Osaka. Drew  just had his first airport winter ops event. We discuss:

    • Our travels
    • Early season snow
    • Thanksgiving travel numbers and 2026 travel trends
    • Unexpected growth at a major airport
    • Impact of the government shutdown comes into focus
    • The FAA is investigating airlines after the shutdown
    • Listener feedback 

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    8 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 43 minutes 28 seconds
    Boarding Pass 314: The Golden Age of Travel Starts With You

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    Doug is celebrating Thanksgiving weekend in Chicago and Drew managed to escape from work in time for Thanksgiving dinner in Richmond. How does Doug plan on getting home on the busiest travel day and how does Drew plan to get to Ireland for Christmas Markets?.  We discuss:

    • Airbus A320 ELAC emergency software update
    • New Pacific Airlines shuts down
    • The Boeing 767 lives on with new orders for the KC46 
    • Airline holiday menus
    • DOT’s new Golden Age of Travel

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    1 December 2025, 6:00 am
  • 1 hour 2 seconds
    Boarding Pass 313: Dubai Airshow

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    Doug tapes during another trip to Taipei and Drew finishes his airport scavenger hunt. We discuss:

    • Orders pour in from Dubai
    • Airbus teases a new model
    • An Alaska pilot is sentenced from his 2023 fire handle incident
    • Update on UPS 2976
    • Aircraft lights
    • Listener feedback

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    24 November 2025, 5:00 am
  • 49 minutes 30 seconds
    Boarding Pass 312: Aviation Recovers

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    Doug is back from London and Drew lost a fight with a windsock. We discuss our weeks in flight and airport ops as well as the latest aviation news:

    • Aurora Borealis wows pilots and passengers 
    • Government shutdown ends and aviation recovers
    • 2 airlines serving the UK, Eastern Airways and Blue Islands, shut down
    • FAA extends MD11 grounding to its predecessor, the DC10
    • Windsocks - what are they and what do they do
    • Near miss at LAX
    • Listener comments

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    Links on this episode:

    FAA National Airspace System Status

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    17 November 2025, 5:00 am
  • 1 hour 37 seconds
    Boarding Pass 311: UPS 2976

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    Doug is back from Taipei and Drew has a busy week at airport ops. We discuss:

    • More nonrev adventures 
    • Thanksgiving travel numbers and a way too early weather forecast 
    • More government shutdown issues impacting aviation
    • Security scare in DC
    • UPS Flight 2976
    • Engine failures

    Links from this episode:

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    10 November 2025, 5:00 am
  • 55 minutes 3 seconds
    Boarding Pass 310: Hawaiian (Airlines) Sunset

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    Doug is back from a whirlwind nonrev trip to Germany with his dad. We remember the history of Hawaiian Airlines as its airline code and operating certificate are laid to rest. We discuss:

    • Doug and Dale’s amazing, and fast, nonrev adventure
    • Good bye Hawaiian Airlines
    • Creeping 777-9 certification delays
    • ATC controllers not getting paid as shutdown drags on 
    • The COMAC 919 gains traction in Asia
    • Listener comments

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    3 November 2025, 5:00 am
  • 1 hour 1 minute
    Boarding Pass 309: Weather Balloons

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    Drew is back from a weekend in Quebec City and Doug is preparing for a nonrev adventure with his dad. We discuss:

    • Birds on approach path
    • Travelers Aid people are interesting 
    • Engine shortages
    • EK9788 - ACT Airlines 747-400BCF crash in Hong Kong
    • American Airlines 3rd quarter numbers
    • United flight 1093 severely damaged at 36,000ft
    • What are weather balloons? 
    • Listener feedback

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    27 October 2025, 4:00 am
  • 53 minutes 13 seconds
    Boarding Pass 308: PanAm

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    Doug is back from his narrow body style trip to NYC and Hawaii, via Denver, and Drew is loving runway inspections between flights (literally) and helping lost pigeons in the terminal. We discuss:

    • A Pan Am rebirth?
    • Boeing delivery news
    • Another U.S. airline posts great Q3 numbers
    • Lots of great contributor feedback 

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    20 October 2025, 4:00 am
  • 58 minutes 1 second
    Boarding Pass 307: FAA Staffing and Aircraft Maintenance Checks

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    Doug and Drew are back from trips over the Pacific to Taipei and Honolulu. Our buddy Patrick returns to the show to talk about dragging aircraft around the airport and Drew around Oahu on a packed 2-day trip. We discuss:

    • Getting to Taiwan around a typhoon
    • Nonreving to Hawaii and back
    • Questions on moving aircraft
    • The government shutdown starts affecting ATC
    • United announces 6 new routes for summer 2026
    • Delta 3rd Quarter results
    • Airplane maintenance checks
    • Two perfect days on Oahu

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    13 October 2025, 4:00 am
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