Good evening everyone. This week’s edition of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted.

What, pray tell, are we talking about this week?

I’m sure you won’t be surprised to know we talk a lot about the escalating disaster that is American Airlines. I think a lot of people are missing the bigger picture in terms of what is happening at the airline. This is not just a “pilot/management” pissing match. It’s much worse.

Meanwhile, across the pond, we try to get you caught up with all the latest potential “coupling” updates, including whether Qatar is going to get cozy with British Airways, whether British Airways is going to buy the Irish government’s stake in Aer Lingus, and whether or not Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary is still remotely interested in actually buying a piece of Aer Lingus or not. Our answer? No.

Back on this side of the pond, Air Canada’s CFO Mike Rousseau rolled out a lot of additional details about that airline’s new low cost subsidiary last week to a CIBC analyst conference. The information got investors excited apparently, as shares of the airline posted the largest gain of any airline stock we track for the week.

Reports say that Delta’s refinery subsidiary has started to make jet fuel. Don’t know about you, but I’m still excited about this project.

Another project I got to get a first hand look at last week that got me excited was Lufthansa System’s new onboard wireless IFE system, BoardConnect. I sat down with the folks from Lufthansa Systems at the APEX Conference in Long Beach. No question about it — the concept is the best option I’ve seen out there. If I owned an airline, I’d install it on my airplanes.

We have our usual letters this week, including a rebuttal to American Airlines’ claim that my tweet concerning the pilot contract terms harkened mostly back to the April Term Sheet.

Virgin America announced its second quarter 2012 earnings on Monday. Richard Branson can honestly say he has an investment in a non-profit entity in the U.S. Still.

Oh, and of course we address the major aircraft-related question of the week — why is it that windows in airplanes don’t open? And who is going to do something about this?

All this — and more — in this week’s issue of PlaneBusiness Banter.