American Airlines announces LAX-Sydney service -- American Airlines is adding a high-profile new route to Australia, announcing on Tuesday that it will begin flying to Sydney. American will offer daily nonstop service from Los Angeles beginning this December. The airline will use Boeing 777-300ER jets on the flights. The new route comes as American looks to beef up its presence on trans-Pacific routes, where it is at a sizable disadvantage compared to U.S. rivals Delta and United. American also has recently added several new routes to Beijing, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai. Ben Mutzabaugh/USA Today

Qantas to resume flights to San Francisco -- American Airlines will start daily flights to Sydney as a part of a tourism-boosting expansion of its relationship with Qantas that will see the flying kangaroo return to San Francisco. The world's biggest airline will start operating daily, non-stop flights between Sydney and Los Angeles from December 17 using a three-class Boeing 777-300ER featuring American's new lie-flat seats in first and business. Steve Creedy/The Australian Business Review

Volaris inaugurates new Leon/Bajio - Los Angeles service -- Volaris, the ultra low cost Mexican airline with the most extensive route network servicing Mexico and the US, announced today their consolidation in Mexico's Bajio region, with new international services connecting Leon, Guanajuato to Los Angeles, California operating four times a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. "This is yet further proof that we are committed to uniting friends and family on both sides of the border at low fares, efficiently and safely," said Volaris Commercial Director, Holger Blankenstein. Volaris Press Release

Filth found in airline food operations at Los Angeles Airport -- A federal inspector on a routine visit to food service facilities at Los Angeles International Airport in January found conditions that, she wrote, could compromise the safety of food meant for airline passengers. Bathrooms where employees washed their hands were dirty. Machines used to control bacteria were not adequately maintained. And clutter in the food storage area created a potential for pests, the inspector for the Food and Drug Administration wrote, according to a report to be issued Wednesday by Unite Here, a union representing airline food workers. Ron Nixon/New York Times

Lost footage moments before Amelia Earhart's final flight surfaces -- It was a clear spring day in 1937 when Amelia Earhart, ready to make history by flying around the world, brought her personal photographer to a small Southern California airport to document the journey's beginning. Al Bresnik took dozens of still photos, including a few that have likely been seen by millions. His brother John, who tagged along, made a very dark, grainy 3.5-minute home movie almost nobody saw - until now. ABC7

Speaker taps aviation stars to lift troop morale -- Boosting the spirits of U. S. service personnel was the goal when Flight Path Director Nissen Davis recruited five aviation celebrities to visit 10 military bases and an aircraft carrier at sea.  Davis will recount highlights of this and similar missions on Tuesday, June 23, at 10 a.m. at the Flight Path Museum in the LAX Imperial Terminal, 6661 W. Imperial Highway, Los Angeles. Flight Path Museum News Release

Wheelchair attendants strike at FLL airport -- They prayed, chanted motivational slogans and shared their stories as they gathered in solidarity on the picket line Tuesday. About 50 wheelchair attendants at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport rallied in the heat, some dogding raindrops during a one-day strike to protest what they called the "poverty wages" paid by their employer and other labor related concerns. Arlene Satchell/Sun-Sentinel

What will Montreal's new airport train cost? -- Would a future train to the Trudeau airport be as expensive as the controversial Union-Pearson Express? Opened last week at a cost of $27.50 per person, per trip, the airport train from downtown Toronto has come under fire for what some say is an exorbitant fare (monthly pass users pay $19 per trip). And now with the Caisse de d�p�t et placement du Qu�bec considering whether to build an airport shuttle to Trudeau airport by 2020, some are concerned the Toronto example is a bad precedent. Jason Magder/Montreal Gazette

Homeland Security looks for leaker of report on airport-checkpoint failures -- The inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday that he is investigating the leak of classified information from an undercover operation in which investigators were able to slip through airport security with weapons and phony bombs more than 95 percent of the time. "We have started an investigation to determine where the leak was," Inspector General John Roth told the Senate Homeland Security Committee. Ashley Halsey III/Washington Post

Airline group proposes smaller carry-on bags -- Get ready to buy a slimmer carry-on bag. To address the problem of size limits that vary by airline, a trade group for the world's airlines has come up with a standard size for luggage that passengers are allowed to bring on board planes. But passengers may not be happy about the new guidelines because the size limits proposed by the International Air Transport Assn. are slightly smaller than the standards imposed by most U.S. carriers, including Delta, United, American and Southwest Airlines. Hugo Martin/Los Angeles Times

IAG chief raises concerns over airlines' costs -- The chief executive of IAG, the parent of British Airways, has warned of possible legal action after expressing concern that limited competition might be keeping prices for aircraft, engines and maintenance services artificially high. Willie Walsh was speaking at the International Air Transport Association's annual meeting in Miami Beach alongside a representative of Airbus, one of the world's two large aircraft suppliers, and General Electric, one of a handful of big engine makers. Robert Wright/Financial Times

Qantas, Emirates and Singapore Airlines out of excuses for fuel surcharges -- With oil prices almost half what they were this time last year, travellers could be forgiven for wondering when they will benefit from an equally large fall in air fares. The bottom line is that you won't. Egged on by investors, airlines are doing their utmost to pocket the gains from cheaper fuel and weaker competition on international and domestic routes. In fact, airlines worldwide are set to report a collective $US29.3 billion ($38.4 billion) profit this year due mostly to the sharply reduced fuel prices and cramming more passengers on planes. Matt O'Sullivan/Sydney Morning Herald

Appeals court rules for Allegiant Air in dispute with pilots -- A federal appeals court says Allegiant Air had the right to make changes in work rules for its pilots. It's the latest development in a dispute that nearly led to a strike earlier this year at the low-fare airline. Allegiant pilots are angry over changes that the company made in crew-scheduling rules and benefits that had been negotiated by some of the pilots before they joined a union. On Monday, three judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the pilots who negotiated the rules were not an official collective bargaining agent. AP

Frontier removes departure time from boarding passes -- Passengers flying Frontier Airlines will notice something familiar missing from their boarding passes: the departure time. Instead, Frontier will now list the time that "boarding begins" and the time that the boarding "door closes," which is 10 minutes prior to a flight's schedule departure time. Frontier began rolling out the new boarding pass format late last week, and the move appears to be a first among big U.S. carriers. Ben Mutzabaugh/USA Today

American, Southwest add to airline investors' concern -- Southwest Airlines is raising some fares just as investors are growing wary about signs of weakness in the airline industry. Southwest raised fares by $5 each way "in a small percentage of select markets," spokeswoman Alyssa Eliasen said late Tuesday. J.P. Morgan analyst Jamie Baker said the increase covered about half of Southwest's fares and seemed concentrated on tickets that require no more than a seven-day advance purchase. David Koenig/AP

CEO: Malaysia Airlines emerging from 'paralysis' -- Malaysia Airlines is emerging from the "paralysis" caused by the loss of two aircraft in 2014, the airline's CEO said. "Everything was happening a little bit in slow motion [when I joined the company] ... and that's the reason why it's important that we work on the morale," Christoph Mueller told CNN on Monday. "The fighting spirit has suffered." Mueller, who was named CEO late last year and took up the post on May 1, has been tasked with helping Malaysia Airlines rebound after the mysterious disappearance of flight MH370 and the shooting down of MH17. Sophia Yan/CNN Money

Malaysia Airlines MH370: Aircraft 'nosedived into ocean' explaining lack of debris, claims Texas mathematician -- Missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 nosedived into the ocean, explaining the lack of debris and oil spillage ever to be found, a Texas university mathematician has claimed. The disappearance of the Boeing 777 on March 8 last year has been dubbed one of the aviation industry's biggest mysteries. The flight veered off its original path from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur for reasons still unknown before it reportedly crashed into the southern Indian Ocean. Samantha Payne/International Business Times

Airline industry battles with pilot mental health options after Germanwings -- Pilot screening and mental health measures aimed at preventing a recurrence of the Germanwings crash are rife with complications that will make them tough to implement, airline industry executives said this week. International Air Transport Association (IATA) Director General Tony Tyler called the crash, in which the co-pilot locked the captain out of the cockpit and steered the plane into the French Alps, a "deliberate and horrible act by one of our own." Victoria Bryan/Reuters

Protesters, many from the San Fernando Valley, decry bullet train route at meeting in L.A. -- About 300 protesters from the San Fernando Valley showed up Tuesday at a meeting of the California High-Speed Rail Authority in downtown Los Angeles to complain about the proposed bullet train route through Southern California. Outside the Ronald Reagan State Building, about 50 of them carried signs saying "Devastation and Destruction" and "NO HSR, YES H2O" in objecting to a route that would head into the heart of the Valley. Ralph Vartabedian & Soumya Karlamangla/Los Angeles Times

City Council member wants smokeless tobacco out of L.A. baseball -- Los Angeles City Council member wants the city to throw out smokeless tobacco use in baseball venues, as San Francisco did last month. Councilman Jose Huizar will announce plans Tuesday morning to introduce legislation that would eliminate smokeless tobacco use -- by players and spectators alike -- at all baseball venues in the city. The motion would begin the process of directing the city attorney to craft an ordinance that would ban smokeless tobacco use anywhere organized baseball is played in the city of Los Angeles, including Dodger Stadium. Brittny Mejia/Los Angeles Times