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FAA: All United Airlines flights grounded because of automation problem -- All United Airlines flights are under a ground stop Wednesday morning, according to an alert from the Federal Aviation Administration. The warning said an "automation issue" was causing the problem. It was not immediately clear how long the ground stop would be in place. Washington Post
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T+L magazine: Virgin America, Singapore are top airlines for 2015 -- Virgin America has been named the USA's top airline according to the 2015 "World's Best Awards" released Tuesday by Travel + Leisure magazine. It's the eight consecutive year T+L has tabbed the San Francisco-based carrier as the top in the nation. The T+L awards are one of several that attempt to rank airlines. Just last month, the World Airline Awards published by Skytrax tabbed Qatar Airways as the world's top carrier. Ben Mutzabaugh/USA Today Related: A British 'bad boy' created America's No. 1 commercial airline, Virgin America
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Want to fly on a Boeing 747 on United or Delta? Better hurry -- The era of the jumbo jet is closing quickly. I learned recently that United Airlines plans to retire three Boeing 747s between now and next July. I'm pretty sure that will leave United with 20 models of the iconic jet. They'll still be around for a few years, probably until United's A350s arrive from Airbus, but I expect the numbers will continue to decline. The only other U.S carrier to fly the 747 is Delta. I believe Delta is now flying 14 of the jets, and according to Bloomberg, it plans to retire all of them by 2017. BrianSumers.com
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American Airlines flight to Los Angeles makes emergency landing in Dallas/Fort Worth -- NBC 5 has learned an American Airlines flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles made an emergency landing at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Tuesday. Flight 2437, an Airbus A319, departed Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport at about 12:30 p.m. ET Tuesday and landed at DFW after declaring an emergency at about 1:40 p.m. due to a possible issue with the plane's hydraulics. Frank Heinz/NBC DFW
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Airlines boost on-time rating but storms create long delays -- The latest government report shows airlines doing a little better at arriving on time. The Transportation Department said Tuesday that 80.5 percent of flights operated by the leading airlines were on time in May, up from 76.9 percent in May 2014. But the on-time rating was down slightly from April's 81.8 percent, and 16 flights were stuck on the tarmac longer than federal rules allow. Ten of those flights were on the same stormy day at Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston. Chicago Tribune Related: Hawaiian, Alaska, Delta top rankings of on-time airlines
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Airlines' 40% failure rate: Nobody is in charge of making sure you get there on time -- The reward for improving, streamlining, simplifying or perfecting a company's operational processes is supposed to be saving gobs and gobs of money that translates into much larger corporate profits. But sometimes the reward for doing that is so pleasing to your customers that you, quite unexpectedly, begin attracting such a large and loyal following of satisfied, even enthusiastic customers that in addition to making gobs of money in the short run your business turns into a market-dominating perpetual success story. Dan Reed/Forbes Part 3: Airlines' 40% failure rate: Abdicating responsibility
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Airline tickets will reportedly drop to their cheapest price in years -- If it's fear of an empty wallet that's keeping you from booking that next flight, there's good news from Hopper, the airfare prediction app that analyzes "data sets comprising billions of flight prices to help travelers find the right destination for their budget." According to its Consumer Airfare Index released this week, Hopper projects the average cost of domestic airfare will drop to $248 this fall, a 3.6% decrease from last year and 8.1% decrease from fall of 2013. Mike Dunphy/Road Warrior Voices/USA Today
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Southwest Airlines mechanics seek federal mediation on contract talks -- The union that represents Southwest Airlines aircraft maintenance technicians called on the National Mediation Board on Monday to help out in the prolonged contract talks with the airline. The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association said it had asked the federal mediators to intervene to speed up the talks, which began nearly three years ago. In a statement, Southwest said the request to the mediators "comes as no surprise." Terry Maxon/Dallas Morning News
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Not all Southwest Airlines' flight attendants are smiling about news of tentative contract agreement -- Not so fast Gary Kelly. Southwest Airlines' controversial CEO Gary Kelly appears to have opened a huge hornets' nest in the wake of news about a tentative agreement on a new contract with more than 13,500 unionized flight attendants who work at the low-fare behemoth. Lewis Lazare/Chicago Business Journal
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Vietnam Airlines shows off first 787 at D.C.'s National Airport -- Vietnam Airlines celebrated its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner Monday with a special pre-delivery ceremony at Washington's Reagan National Airport. The 787-9 variant of the Dreamliner is the first of 19 firm 787 orders that Vietnam Airlines has placed with the U.S. jetmaker. The two sides also revealed Monday that they've begun negotiations for Boeing to sell Vietnam eight 787-10 Dreamliner models and eight of Boeing's 777-8X widebodies. Ben Mutzabaugh/USA Today
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Delta sells former NWA HQ to local investors -- Delta Air Lines Inc. sold the former Northwest Airlines headquarters in Eagan to an investment group for $10.4 million, according to sale information made public Monday. I reported June 1 that Eden Prairie-based Excelsior Group had a contract to buy the 550,000-square-foot complex from Atlanta-based Delta, but at the time didn't know the sale price. The deal is for two vacant office buildings, which total 550,000 square feet and sit on 190 acres. Sam Black/Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal
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Boeing procedures help Alaska Airlines improve efficiency, cut fuel consumption -- Alaska Airlines says it is on track to save 87 gallons of fuel, shorten flight times by about nine minutes and reduce carbon emissions by nearly 1 metric ton, every time one of its planes land at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport using new, operations-enhancing Federal Aviation Administration procedures designed by Boeing. Environmental Leader
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Don't open plane's emergency door for the toilet! -- As VietJet Air flight 175 prepared to leave Hanoi for Ho Chi Minh City, a 43-year-old passenger opened the emergency exit door because he wanted to go to the bathroom. Nguyen Thanh Chuong, a farmer from a village on the outskirts of Hanoi, activated the Airbus A321's evacuation slide, causing a three-hour delay and costing the airline tens of thousands of dollars. He's not alone. John Boudreau & Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen/Bloomberg Business
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Long Beach Council supports feasibility study of international airport request -- A feasibility study to gather information before the city decides whether to apply for a U.S. Customs facility at the Long Beach Airport was approved Tuesday night. The debate took more than two hours, with more than an hour of public comment. That comment leaned slightly in opposition of the study, but there also was more than a dozen speakers asking the study to move forward. Of those in favor, half were JetBlue employees or representatives. Harry Saltzgaver/Long Beach Gazette
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Virgin Atlantic's new LAX Clubhouse - review -- I'm about to take a sip of a champagne mojito when I realise I can see the Hollywood sign out over the baking Tarmac of LAX. I am in the brand new �2.5m Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse waiting for my return flight to London - but boy, oh boy, it does not feel like a wait at all. The views of the Hollywood Hills offer the perfect farewell note from the city and are venerated in the lounge's impeccably designed interior. There's a curved copper bar, sculpted sofasand a mural by British artist Vic Lee. Oscar Quine/London Evening Standard
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CASSIE MACDUFF: Fasten your seat belt; big doings for ONT airport -- Rejoice! Ontario International Airport's passenger numbers grew 2 percent during the first five months of 2015 over 2014 numbers. But wait. That's lower than average growth for Southern California airports during the same period: Air passenger numbers for the region overall grew 3.5 percent. The figures were part of a report to the Ontario International Airport Authority on Monday. Cassie MacDuff/Riverside Press-Enterprise
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Silence, please. This is an airport -- Think airports have been giving you the silent treatment recently? You aren't being paranoid. Increasing numbers of airports, especially in Europe, are taking on a "silent airport" philosophy. This doesn't mean they'll be entirely noise-free. Nor will Marcel Marceau-style mimes roam the terminals offering directions and gate information to wayward passengers via hand gestures and sad faces. Laura Powell/CNN
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As travelers carry less cash, will ATMs at airports go the way of phone booths? -- Americans need cash less and less when they travel, a development that may soon make it more difficult to find ATMs in the nation's airports. Executives at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are coming to grips with the change after struggling in recent months to drum up interest from the nation's largest financial companies to place ATMs in the airport. Adam Belz/Minneapolis Star Tribune
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Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson: 'I'm not running for mayor' -- Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson sought Tuesday to put to rest rumors he's launching a bid for mayor, insisting during an interview that he's not focused on his political future. "I am not running for mayor," Wesson said during an interview with the Los Angeles News Group editorial board. "I am doing my job as the council member from the 10th District who happens to be the quarterback of the Los Angeles City Council." Dakota Smith/Los Angeles Daily News
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LADWP board to begin rate-increase review -- The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power this week begins the process of raising rates to add up to $270 million per year to update its aging pipe system and power grid. City power rates last went up in 2012, the base water rate hasn't risen since 2009. The utility has been studying its operations and efficiency to make a public case to justify the increases, which must win approval from the DWP's board. Sharon McNary/KPCC
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Chicana Service Action Center executives charged in $8.5-million fraud case -- For decades, the Chicana Service Action Center received millions of dollars in taxpayer money to help some of the county's most disadvantaged residents: the homeless, the unemployed, victims of domestic violence, foster youth looking for work. Now, prosecutors have charged three of the group's executives with embezzlement and conspiracy, accusing them of participating in a "billing scam" that defrauded the county of more than $8.5 million, according to the district attorney's office. David Zahniser & Abby Sewell/Los Angeles Times
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L.A. County supervisors move to consolidate power by weakening CEO's job -- They are called the "five little kings." Each represents a constituency of about 2 million people. Together, they oversee America's largest local government agency, with a $27-billion budget and 100,000 employees. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors decided to grant themselves even more power over the working of the vast bureaucracy. Abby Sewell/Los Angeles Times
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