I’ve been obsessed with the airline industry since I was a little kid, yet I only recently learned about what might be the most interesting little industry insight I’ve ever come across. I’m kind of in disbelief that I hadn’t heard about this until now, so bear with me for a moment.
Continue reading: WOW: Conquistadores Del Cielo, The Secret Club For Airline Executives
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
It’s discussed in a great book about the airline industry from the 90s called Hard Landing! Actually just finished reading the book which is fascinating given it came out before 9/11 and the true birth of alliances
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/438607.Hard_Landing
You really should read the book hard landing. Though it came out in 1994 or so it is THE definitive book written about the industry. And it has tons of details about the conquistadores and their meetings.
WOW: I've dropped this term here few times over the years and always thought Ben and few readers gets it.
I remember I said it once when Ben went to Montana.
Nothing like an elitist group coming together under the guise of being the Conquerers of The Sky. It's creepy, it's very strange, super questionable, and it's not 1940 anymore. Surprised you are glamorizing this a bit in the post.
“American president Tim Horton” brought such a smile to my face. We should be so lucky.
“Do Robert Isom and Carsten Spohr go hunting together? Do Ed Bastian and Scott Kirby sit by the fireplace in the evenings sipping on scotch? Do Michael O’Leary and Willie Walsh go horseback riding together?”
Goodness, I’m fanning myself. Perhaps now’s the time to wipe off and share a cigarette with Ford.
It all sounds like a gayer version of Bohemian Grove, if one can even contemplate such a thing.
I’m surprised given your position in the aviation blogosphere that you’ve not yet read Hard Landing. You will enjoy every page of that book… go read it now.
Guess where they got the ideas for various seating assignment fees and baggage charges?
A bunch of rich, white men sitting by the fire and deciding how the rest of us get to travel. Whats not to love about that?
As Adam Smith observed almost 250 years ago, "People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices."
Came here to say this! Incredible book for anyone who has an interest in the industry.
The 'bite' of a quip requires a subject which hasn't already been flogged to death in 2016..
i believe they gather every year not to share their common passion for horse riding but to share ideas on how to maximize revenue on our backs
Ben, love the blog but can't believe you didn't mention how potentially problematic this could be for antitrust matters. This event could facilitate collusion on pricing, capacity, frequent flier program devals, etc yet you write about it like a kid.
You should read Hard Landing by Thomas Petzinger. He talks about mergers and other stuff that happened at those meetings
As innocently as this may have begun you could not convince me that they aren't colluding for anti-competition purposes.
"Conquistadores del Cielo...was never even mentioned in any sort of mainstream press until 2010."
Do books from major publishers count as mainstream press? Maybe you haven't read "Rapid Descent: Deregulation and the Shakeout in the Airlines," written by myself and Barbara Peterson (Simon & Schuster 1994), which opens with a detailed account of what goes on at Conquistadores' annual gathering.
This sounds as laughably self-serious as the Cape and Pistol Society. The only difference is that Cape and Pistol is intentionally goofy because it was written that way for a TV comedy.
Three things: 1) A shout out to TravelinWilly for writing the funniest comment in awhile on this blog: 2) Of course they are colluding during these cozy events; and 3) the irony of executives in an industry that is based on advanced technology trying to live the fantasy of another age (clearly, 1st class passengers should be delivered from lounge to gate in sedan chairs based on these executives' fantasies).
As a Gay American man I can honestly say this is the gayest American corporate event I’ve ever heard of!
And clearly that’s not an insult.
He was there every year, and his attendance was endlessly reported in many books where this topic such as Hard Landing, as referenced here in this thread.
We should lobby to get all anti trust immunity by all carriers and alliances thrown out. Technology is now good enough to know where ur luggage is and interlining penalties should eliminate games played by carriers. This will get us a competitive landscape again.
I'm surprised you never read Hard Landing. Fantastic book about the commercial airline industry in the US during 20th century. The book mentions Conquistadores several times.
I worked at A Bar A Ranch one year and experienced it all. Neil Armstrong was there too. 2011 was, surprise surprise, the first year they allowed women in. I would not exactly call the initiation ceremony a “solemn” event.
I counted 24 private jets at Shiveley Field this evening (Sept 6, 2025). Most have been parked here all week, several look like they will be leaving tonight sometime.