The Monocle Minute

US regulators approved Alaska Airlines’s $1.9bn (€1.7bn) acquisition of transpacific carrier Hawaiian Airlines last week, paving the way for the North America-only airline to become intercontinental for the first time in its 92-year history (outside of a short-lived 1990s experiment with flights to Russia). The move is a sizable leap for the US’s fourth-largest carrier but not without precedent. Alaska absorbed Virgin America in 2016 with minimal disruption, successfully creating the West Coast’s undisputed king – and giving legacy carriers stiff competition on lucrative nonstop coast-to-coast flights between major hubs such as New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Still, there are key elements that Alaska’s leadership should pursue as it begins flying across the Pacific.

For starters, keeping the Hawaiian brand was a smart move. The frosty 49th state might have joined the Union first but the image of Hawaii’s tropical breezes is more likely to lure flyers unfamiliar with either airline. Air France-KLM, for example, has retained both its individual identities as the French and Dutch flagship carriers while still operating seamlessly. Alaska Airlines should also build up the new Honolulu hub for quick connections. Just as Fiji Airways and Icelandair run transcontinental routes with popular stopovers, the Hawaii hub could do the same for travellers between North America and Australia.

The company should keep Hawaiian’s Airbus planes, too. Headquartered in Seattle, Alaska flies an all-Boeing fleet but recent events have undercut that point of pride. Blind loyalty to the aerospace giant is unwise and diversifying aircraft manufacturers will create more slack when planes break down and parts are difficult to source.

Finally, it should go global but stay local. This merger is an opportunity to showcase Pacific Northwest brands to a global audience. Serve Portland coffee roasters, Oregon craft distilleries and Washington state wineries onboard and in lounges. Continue to let Seattle fashion designer Luly Yang design the uniforms. Even as it begins flying internationally, it needs to retain service to small regional airports that have no alternative.

Gregory Scruggs is Monocle’s Seattle correspondent. For more opinion, analysis and insight, subscribe to Monocle today.

When the UN General Assembly convenes tomorrow for the high-level General Debate of its 79th session, all eyes will be on Iran’s diplomatic overtures. Tehran has signalled a willingness to restart negotiations on its nuclear deal, which has been in disarray since the US’s withdrawal in 2018. Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, is expected to propose renewed discussions with the West, aiming to ease sanctions that have crippled his country’s economy.

The move comes amid high tensions in the Middle East and the possibility of all-out war. Western nations have said that they are cautiously optimistic but US officials remain wary. They will be hoping that any new agreement with Iran addresses nuclear issues but also Iran’s ballistic-missile program and regional influence. Diplomats at the UN will be watching closely to see if Iran’s proposals offer a genuine path forward. The stakes are high, with the potential to reshape geopolitical dynamics in the region and beyond.

Italian brand Armani is having something of a moment this season – and trying out new things. First, an elegant menswear collaboration by its sub-brand Giorgio Armani with New York-based brand Kith was unveiled last week. Then another sub-label, Emporio Armani, debuted its spring 2025 ready-to-wear collection at Milan Fashion Week with attractive blazers, thick ties, cinched cardigans and the occasional pair of voluminous trousers tucked into hiking boots.

From there, crowds were invited to Milan’s busy Via Manzoni to celebrate the reopening of the Emporio Armani flagship. The house took over the building in 2000 and has gone on to become the home of the Emporio Armani Ristorante & Caffè, Nobu Milano, Armani Hotel and the Armani/Privé nightclub. Followers of the house can also look forward to the Giorgio Armani spring-summer 2025 collection show, which will take place on 17 October in New York and coincide with the opening of the designer’s new building on Madison Avenue.

Brussels’ transformation from car-choked hellhole to walker’s paradise is largely the result of a series of highly interventionist regional mobility plans. Monocle travels to the Belgian capital’s congested centre where an anti-car initiative has divided opinion. We meet the policy’s architects and some of its opponents.

To read thefull article, pick up a copy of Monocle’sSeptember issue, which is available online and on newsstands now.

This week on The Stack we speak with the team behind Reporters magazine, a literary reportage publication from Ukraine. Plus: a new travel title based in Dubai and French cinema publication La Septième Obsession.