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Taxi lobby's City Hall spending falls short against Uber, Lyft over LAX -- The Los Angeles City Council's vote Tuesday to allow ride-hailing companies to pick up passengers at LAX severely undercut the taxi industry's last competitive advantage in the city. The loss came despite the hundreds of thousands of dollars taxi executives have spent over the decades on political lobbying and contributions. Although it's not at all unusual for business interests to spend that kind of money at City Hall, it is uncommon for a City Council vote to get so much grass-roots attention. Alice Walton/Los Angeles Times Also: Uber unleashes lobbyists in California to reshape driver rules
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Tourist with toy grenades arrested at San Francisco airport -- A Spanish tourist caused major delays at San Francisco International Airport after he tried to carry on six toy grenades through a security checkpoint and is now in jail on a misdemeanor charge, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office. Pedro Maillo-Briz, 38, of Barcelona, on Sunday told authorities he purchased the plastic, replica grenades for his teen nephews, who love to play paint ball, according to District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe. Mark Gomez/San Jose Mercury News
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Allegheny County Airport authority looking to replace development director -- A search firm will be hired to find a replacement for the man who was largely responsible for the development of the Allegheny County-owned land surrounding Pittsburgh International Airport. But Christina Cassotis, CEO of the county's airport authority, appears to be in no hurry to fill the post vacated last month by Randy Forister, the senior director of development who was instrumental in negotiating the airport's Consol Energy gas drilling contract. Mark Belko/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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| New airport's Internet room a closed window on North Korea -- Pyongyang's shiny new airport building has all the features international travelers have come to expect, though some lose their luster upon closer examination. Case in point: Its Internet room appears to be missing the Internet. On two recent trips through the airport by The Associated Press, the room's three terminals were either occupied by North Korean airport employees, making it impossible for others to use them, or were completely empty, with their keyboards removed. Attempts to open any browser with a mouse resulted in a failure to connect. Eric Talmadge/AP |
Creepy green Gov. Broward greets airport travelers -- A green giant has moved into the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. But not everyone is jolly. "He reminds me of broccoli," said David Coelho, a 5-1/2-year-old traveling from Ashland, Mass., with his family Tuesday. Towering over Baggage Claim 3 in Terminal 1, was a puppet version of Napoleon Bonaparte Broward, the county's namesake and Florida's governor from 1905 to 1909. Made up of a 12-foot-tall head, a creepy torso that seemed to rise from the floor and two arms that stretched out 20-feet, the cardboard puppet weighed only a couple pounds. Marian Liu/Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel
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The next Spirit Airlines may be no better than the old one -- Frontier Airlines emerges as a copycat to low-cost Spirit Airlines. How much discomfort is someone willing to endure for a cheap flight? This is the question travelers must consider when facing the prospect of flying on the new Frontier Airlines. The carrier, reinvented by Indigo Partners, the private equity firm led by Bill Franke who ran ultra-low budget airline Spirit Airlines, has scaled back on basic amenities like legroom and gotten rid of TVs, free carry-on bags, complimentary drinks, free reserved seating, and even its toll-free customer service number. Ethan Wolff-Mann/Money
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Gulf Airlines eat into traffic on American, Delta, United -- Newly available statistics show that U.S. flights by Mideast carriers have a significant impact on the number of passengers carried by American, Delta, United, as well as their joint venture partners, to the Mideast, Africa, Indian and southeast Asia -- all destinations where international airline passengers generally rely on connecting flights. Ted Reed/The Street
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New study shows flight delays can be distributed more equitably among airlines -- Delays tend to hit some airlines harder than others, due to the approach the Federal Aviation Administration uses to resolve them. This approach places an emphasis on minimizing aggregate system delays, nationwide-a policy that affects some airlines much more than others at a given time. But now a study by MIT researchers presents a new method for dealing with delays that, they conclude, keeps system-wide delays virtually constant while distributing delays among airlines more evenly. Peter Dizikes/Phys.Org
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Fired ramp worker, a union activist at MSP, settles claims against Delta -- A former Twin Cities baggage handler for Delta Air Lines has reached a settlement with the commercial carrier over his legal claims that he was fired from his job of 26 years for union organizing and making public comments about low pay for Delta's ground workers. Christopher "Kip" Hedges said Monday that he and Delta on Aug. 13 settled the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis. Hedges added that his workers' compensation claim against the Atlanta-based airline in connection with his back injuries was also settled. Paul Walsh/Minneapolis Star Tribune
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Musician's guitar gets damaged in airline's care -- A Canadian guitarist says he could be out thousands of dollars after his livelihood was "destroyed" in an airline's care. Don Ross was flying back from a performance at a festival in Munich, Germany, when, he says, a United Airlines employee told him that he couldn't put his guitar in the overhead bin. The bins were already at capacity when Ross boarded, so he was told it would have to go through special handing. "I reluctantly handed it over," the musician said. He landed in Chicago before taking an Air Canada flight to Toronto on Friday night. Riannon Westall/Toronto Star
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Korean Air is latest airline to get Boeing's newest, biggest 747 -- Korean Air on Tuesday became the latest carrier to take delivery of the newest passenger version of Boeing's iconic 747 - the 747-8 Intercontinental. "This new aircraft delivers better fuel economy," Walter Cho, Korean Air's Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, says in a statement. "That is important to a global airline such as ours. And it supports our goal to build and operate a first-class fleet of world-class aircraft." The 747-8 is Boeing's newest and biggest version of its humped jumbo jet that has been in production since 1968. Ben Mutzabaugh/USA Today
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United Airlines packs a dragon, Loch Ness monster and golf cart run amok in new safety video -- A year after debuting a rather unconventional inflight safety video, United Airlines is at it again. The Chicago-based airline will unveil its latest onboard safety video on Sept. 25. But United is launching this new iteration of its safety video - intended to instruct and entertain - with a lot of additional fanfare that includes a feature film-style trailer. Lewis Lazare/Chicago Business Journal
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Azul unveils all-you-can-fly Air Passes for travelers from USA -- Azul Airlines, the Brazilian start-up launched by JetBlue founder David Neeleman, has unveiled two sets of all-you-can-fly air passes for flights within Brazil. The Azul Brazil Air Passes cost $299 for 10 days of unlimited domestic travel or $399 for 21 days. The passes must be purchased as part of an itinerary that originates in the United States. Azul currently flies from just two U.S. cities - Orlando and Fort Lauderdale. But the air passes also are available to passengers flying to Brazil on United Airlines, which entered into a codeshare and frequent-flier partnership with Azul in June. Ben Mutzabaugh/USA Today
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Foiled Paris attack sparks fresh calls for US rail security -- A pair of Democratic senators is calling for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to secure the nation's railways after a thwarted attack by a heavily armed gunman on a high-speed train in Europe. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) are urging the TSA to "to implement security and safety improvements ... to our country's public transportation and passenger rail systems" that the duo said were "mandated by Congress in 2007 but still not implemented." Keith Laing/The Hill
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Boeing to lay off workers in El Segundo satellite division -- Aerospace giant Boeing Co. said Tuesday that it plans to lay off as many as several hundred employees at its Southern California-based satellite division. Boeing said the cuts were needed after a customer could not get financing through the Export-Import Bank and canceled an order for a pricey satellite. At the same time, recent rocket failures have delayed the start of work on other satellite orders, the company said, and the division has suffered as the Pentagon continues to reduce spending. Melody Petersen/Los Angeles Times
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Top Garcetti aide leaves City Hall to campaign for L.A. 2024 Olympic bid -- A senior aide to Mayor Eric Garcetti has left City Hall to work for the committee handling Los Angeles' renascent campaign to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. Jeff Millman, who functioned as Garcetti's most visible spokesman during his 2013 run for mayor and during the first two years of his administration, said Tuesday that he is on a "leave of absence" from the mayor's office to work with the private committee organizing L.A.'s bid for the Summer Games. Peter Jamison/Los Angeles Times
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Los Angeles projects $161 million surplus for Olympics -- Anxiety over taxpayer costs helped cripple Boston's 2024 Olympic bid, but organizers in potential stand-in Los Angeles projected Tuesday that they could stage events from Santa Monica Beach to the Hollywood Hills and bank a $161 million surplus. Los Angeles, which hosted the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, is viewed as the likely replacement for Boston's failed bid because the city's many existing venues could help keep costs low. The Los Angeles plan projects spending $4.1 billion; Boston's operating budget was about $4.6 billion, but billions more could have been needed for construction, security and other costs. Michael R. Blood/AP
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Proposed venues for 2024 Los Angeles Olympics -- The bid book for the 2024 Olympics that Los Angeles officials released Tuesday laid out an initial blueprint for 30 or so proposed venues. A renovated Coliseum will serve as the centerpiece, with other facilities arranged in five clusters across the city. Bidding is a long process and plans almost always change, but here is the current configuration. David Wharton/Los Angeles Times
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L.A. officials want to keep Airbnb-type rentals from being 'rogue hotels' -- Worried about needed housing being turned into "rogue hotels" through online platforms such as Airbnb, Los Angeles lawmakers are weighing whether to bar people from renting out homes for short stays that are not their main residence. As Los Angeles officials begin the process of hashing out new rental regulations, they are trying to draw a line between what one local lawmaker calls "good" and "bad" rentals -- a line that is hotly disputed by affordable housing advocates, rental operators and neighborhood activists. Emily Alpert Reyes/Los Angeles Times
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L.A. City Council demands plan of action on trash pickup disparity -- City Council members are demanding an explanation for why sanitation workers apparently ignored thousands of complaints about illegally dumped trash in some of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods. The Times reported this month that many poor areas of L.A. saw requests for clean-up service answered at dramatically lower rates than more affluent neighborhoods. Those disparities have persisted even as Mayor Eric Garcetti says he is devoting new attention and money to handling complaints from residents about refuse left on sidewalks and in alleyways. Peter Jamison & Ben Poston/Los Angeles Times
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