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United Airlines to revamp scheduling to fight flight delays -- United Airlines plans to change the way it schedules flights and to use new technology to tackle the delays and cancellations that have hurt its competitiveness, company executives told Reuters. The new initiatives aim to narrow the gap in performance between United Continental Holdings Inc and Delta Air Lines Inc, which has the best on-time record of U.S. airlines. They reflect a broader effort by United to boost customer and investor confidence following high-profile glitches that halted flights twice this summer, causing widespread delays. Jeffrey Dastin/Reuters
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United Continental, Activision to join S&P 500 -- United Continental Holdings Inc. will join the S&P 500 index, becoming the fourth airline in the benchmark index. Inclusion in the S&P 500 is typically a boon for a stock as index-tracking funds buy shares. In after-hours trading, United was up 6.6% to $56.88. Before Delta Air Lines Inc.'s 2013 inclusion, Southwest Airlines Co. was the only airline in the S&P 500. In March, American Airlines Group Inc. was added to the S&P 500, less than a year and a half after it combined with US Airways and emerged from bankruptcy protection. Josh Beckerman/Wall Street Journal
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Airlines fight consumer request to DOT to cap change fees on international tickets -- Airlines are fighting a request from a consumer group that asked the Transportation Department to cap change fees on international tickets at $100. The group FlyersRights.org filed the petition in February because change fees are growing and totaled nearly $3 billion in 2014. Paul Hudson, the group's president, argued that international change fees reach as high as $750 and have no relation to the cost of actually changing a ticket. Bart Jansen/USA Today
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American Airlines mistakenly discounts airfare by 90% - then what? -- Some customers found an unexpected and pleasant surprise last week while buying tickets online from American Airlines. An apparent error on the airline's website caused all published fares to be a mere fraction of normal prices for any ticket purchased. It is unknown how long the error had existed, but information about the mistake was posted early in the day last Thursday on Flyertalk, a popular website and online forum for the frequent flyer community. John Nguyen/Airline Reporter
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Airlines start waiving Florida change fees ahead of Erika -- Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue issued flexible rebooking policies for some Florida airports as Tropical Storm Erika appears increasingly likely to affect the state. Big U.S. airlines had already issued weather waivers for Caribbean destinations in Erika's path. But American and Southwest were the first of the nation's "big four" to do so for Florida. After a wave of mergers have reduced the number of U.S. airlines in recent years, American, Delta Southwest and United now combine to carry about 80% passengers in the U.S. Ben Mutzabaugh/USA Today
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Iridium aims to save airlines money with new traffic-tracking satellites -- The dozens of Iridium satellites that orbit the Earth are notable for two things: the flashes of light they emit when the sun strikes them just so, and the $1.5-billion (U.S.) bankruptcy that followed their launch in the late 1990s. The former Motorola-backed company, now known as Iridium Communications Inc., hopes the 66 satellites it will begin launching in December will have a greater legacy: allowing around-the-globe surveillance of the world's airline traffic. Eric Atkins/Toronto Globe & Mail
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In-flight Wi-Fi prices jump as demand surges -- During a Tuesday-morning flight in April from Los Angeles to New York, Christine Lu's smartphone web browser loaded an unpleasant surprise: Gogo, the in-flight Wi-Fi provider, wanted to charge her $27 to use its service during the five-and-a-half-hour trip. The price was more than double the $13 that she had paid for Gogo's Wi-Fi four years earlier, said Ms. Lu, a start-up entrepreneur. "It's like a hotel charging obscene rates for Wi-Fi in the room," said Ms. Lu, who swallowed the cost to do some work. "You get this bad feeling." Brian X. Chen/New York Times
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When airlines looked cool and showed it -- In more ways than one, "Airline Visual Identity, 1945-1975" (Callisto Publishing) is a hefty piece of work, landing at 430 pages, weighing 14 pounds and selling for $400. But the true size of its ambition is how it reveals the optimism of the Jet Age through nearly 400 posters and images from airlines like Pan Am, TWA, and United, evoking a time now seen as the golden age of flying. The author, Matthias C. H�hne, is also the owner of Callisto, which published the book in April. Jad Mouawad/New York Times Related: 33 Airline Posters from Flying's Golden Age
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Foreign fliers fuel LAX -- International travel to Los Angeles continues to drive traffic at Los Angeles International Airport, which saw a double-digit surge in the number of international travelers last month. Last month, 5.2 million domestic passenger traveled through LAX, an increase of 3.7 percent over the same month last year. But the number of international passengers swelled to 2.1 million in July, a nearly 12 percent increase, according to figures released this week by city airport agency Los Angeles World Airports. Overall, 7.3 million passengers moved through LAX last month, a 5.9 percent increase over the same period last year. Carol Lawrence/Los Angeles Business Journal LAX Statistics
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ONT passenger travel up slightly in July -- Passenger traffic in and out of LA/Ontario International Airport during July this year was up slightly over the same month in 2014, helped by a sharp increase in international passengers. In figures released last week, 467,000 passengers used the ONT during the month, up about 5,000 passengers over July 2014. Domestic travel was actually off 1.45 percent but international flights carried 19,000 passengers, up from about 9,000 the previous year. Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Richard K. De Atley/Riverside Press-Enterprise ONT Statistics
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Ridesharing vote puts taxi drivers on hot seat -- When the Los Angeles City Council gave the green light for Uber, Lyft and other ridesharing services to pick up passengers at Los Angeles International Airport last week, there was talk about streamlining regulations for taxicab drivers so they could compete on a more equal footing. That might eventually happen, but in the short run, there's likely to be more regulatory pain for taxi drivers and other transportation providers. Tucked away in the amendments that the council passed along with the motion approving ridesharing services was an order for the city's airport agency to develop a 24-7 complaint hotline for all ground transportation services at LAX. No such hotline currently exists. Howard Fine/Los Angeles Business Journal
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SFO renews permits for Uber, Lyft after criticizing flighty practices -- San Francisco International Airport is granting permits to Uber and Lyft - while also calling their business practices unsafe. SFO this year submitted legal filings with regulators saying that ride-hail companies need stricter rules to ensure the safety of passengers. This week, it granted Lyft and Uber permits to continue driving on its roads. Taxi advocates say the split shows mixed signals - and SFO could do a lot more to enforce against scofflaw drivers. Joe Rodriguez/San Francisco Examiner
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Las Vegas, Denver considered for nonstop China flights -- Aviation expert Mike Boyd is betting that Las Vegas has nonstop flights to and from China within three years. Boyd, president and CEO of Boyd Group International, told a group gathered for the 20th annual International Aviation Forecast Summit on Saturday that Denver and Las Vegas are the two leading candidates for nonstop flights based on growing travel demand from middle-class Chinese citizens that have the means and desire to travel abroad. Richard N. Velotta/Las Vegas Review-Journal
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Free airport parking? Yes, but there's a catch -- Getting in and out of the airport can feel like maneuvering through an obstacle course. Complicating that for travelers is the expense of airport parking, which at LAX can be as much as $30 a day. FlightCar is trying to change all that. The San Francisco-based company is contracting with airports to provide travelers with free airport parking and a free car wash while they're out of town. In exchange, the service will rent out the traveler's car for others to use. Johan Moreno/Orange County Register
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Man to be sentenced in suicide bomb plot at Kansas Airport -- A Kansas man's odyssey into terrorism culminated when he tried to bring a van filled with inert explosives onto the tarmac at the Wichita airport where he worked, an attack prosecutors say was aimed at causing "maximum carnage" during which Terry L. Loewen would die as a martyr. "I expect to be called a terrorist (which I am), a psychopath, and a homicidal maniac," he wrote in a letter that investigators later found in his house. Roxana Hegeman/AP
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Japan Airlines returns to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Nov. 30 -- Japan Airlines will resume flying between Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Nov. 30, more than 14 years after the Japanese carrier suspended its D/FW-Tokyo flights, the carrier announced Monday. JAL ended its service to D/FW on Oct. 7, 2001, following the terrorist hijackings of Sept. 11, 2001. JAL had initiated service between D/FW and Tokyo Narita on March 15, 1999. The airline will resume operating the route with four flights a week, and said it may expand to daily service in spring 2016. Terry Maxon/Dallas Morning News
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FAA dedicates National Airport Pavement and Materials Research Center -- The Federal Aviation Administration dedicated its new National Airport Pavement and Materials Research Center in Egg Harbor Township in Pennsylvania. The building allows engineers to research environmentally-friendly airport materials. NBC10 Philadelphia
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TSA agent charged with molesting young woman at NYC airport -- A former federal transportation security agent remained held on $3,000 bail Saturday after being charged with luring a 21-year-old Korean exchange student going to school in Utah into a bathroom at a New York City airport and molesting her. Maxie Oquendo, 40, was arrested Thursday on unlawful imprisonment, official misconduct and sexual abuse charges, two days after authorities say the TSA agent confronted the woman after she stepped off a flight from Salt Lake City Tuesday, telling her a "secondary security screening" was necessary. AP
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Japan aims to crack the aviation market with its first new passenger plane in four decades -- Japan is home to some of the world's biggest automakers, is one of the world's biggest ship makers, and its trains run on subways and high-speed tracks around the world. One industry Japan hasn't been able to penetrate is construction of passenger jets. Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. is aiming to change that with Japan's first new passenger plane in more than four decades -- and its first passenger jet ever. Chris Cooper/Bloomberg
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L.A. City Council again pushes pause button on Olympic bid commitment -- A few weeks ago, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Los Angeles would bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. A team assembled by Mayor Eric Garcetti worked quietly behind the scenes, putting the finishing touches on a $4.5-billion plan and negotiating terms of the proposal with the U.S. Olympic Committee. Now, the process has been pulled into the public spotlight and the road to the Games has become a little bumpier. David Wharton/Los Angeles Times
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How would a 2024 Olympics in L.A. differ from 1984? -- A Summer Olympics in 2024 in Los Angeles would look vastly different than its predecessors. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and the team heading the city's bid for the 2024 Games outlined for this news organization details of the proposal showing the city's unique ability to host the world's largest international multisport event for the third time. They emphasized that they have worked closely with the U.S. Olympic Committee in the designing and vetting of L.A.'s proposal. Sarah Favot/Los Angeles Daily News Jonathan Diamond/Los Angeles Business Journal
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If L.A. bids for 2024 Olympics, will taxpayers be on the hook? -- When Los Angeles City Council members vote on pursuing the 2024 Summer Olympics this week, they will be deferring an issue that will probably return to haunt them: Whether city taxpayers should be made liable for budget overruns on the event, which is expected to cost at least $5.8 billion. Boston's bid for the Games collapsed in July after the city's mayor balked at the fiscal guarantee, which the International Olympic Committee typically demands of host cities. Peter Jamison & David Wharton/Los Angeles Times
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L.A. City Council backs state legislation regulating civilian drone use -- The Los Angeles City Council on Friday unanimously endorsed proposed state legislation that would regulate civilians' use of drones, which have come under fire on such grounds as invasion of privacy and interfering with emergency responders. The council voted 14-0 to endorse a group of state Senate bills that would criminalize launching and piloting a drone that interferes with any firefighting effort, as was the case during a recent wildfire in the San Bernardino National Forest, and to protect officials from liability if they damage or destroy the remote-controlled aircraft. Joseph Serna/Los Angeles Times
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Inequity is 'baked in' when it comes to L.A. city services; where you live matters -- Improving basic city services has become a top priority at Los Angeles City Hall. But how promptly municipal agencies respond to Angelenos' complaints depends largely on where they live, a Los Angeles Times analysis found. An examination of more than 1.4 million service requests since 2010 showed vast disparities across the city in how long it took to patch a pothole, pick up a broken-down sofa or paint over graffiti. Ben Poston & Peter Jamison/Los Angeles Times
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Lawyers call DWP billing settlement 'half-baked,' urge court to reject -- Attorneys representing several Los Angeles residents who sued the Department of Water and Power over the disastrous rollout of its new billing system are balking at a proposed settlement that the utility reached in a separate lawsuit over inflated and erroneous bills, calling it "half-baked." The utility had faced several Superior Court lawsuits over excessive charges that were dealt to customers during the billing fiasco. Emily Alpert Reyes/Los Angeles Times
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LAX Master Plan Visualiztion - 2003
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