|
|
|
|
Congress extends FAA's authorization for six months -- The US Congress has voted to extend FAA's authorization for six months, averting a disruption when the agency's current authority expires Sept. 30. Despite more than a year of talk about a "transformational" FAA reauthorization bill, legislation to renew the agency's authorization on a long-term basis was never introduced in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. With the authorization deadline bearing down, first the Senate and then the House easily passed legislation to extend the current authorization until March 31, 2016. The bill is expected to be quickly signed by President Barack Obama. Aaron Karp/Air Transport World
|
Passenger traffic through LAX rose in August -- Passenger volume continued rising in August at Los Angeles International Airport, putting the airport on track to exceed last year's record traffic, according to figures released Tuesday by Los Angeles World Airports. The number of passengers traveling through the airport grew to 7.1 million last month, up 5.8 percent from the 6.7 million passengers of the same period a year earlier. Domestic volume grew 3.9 percent to 5 million, compared to 4.8 million a year ago. International passenger numbers climbed 10.8 percent to 2.1 million, up from 1.9 million a year ago. Carol Lawrence/Los Angeles Business Journal LAX Statistics
|
Airport lighting: Los Angeles adds to roadway project; Atlanta converts airfield -- Eaton's lighting division (formerly Cooper Lighting) has announced completion of a second phase of a roadway solid-state lighting (SSL) project within the confines of the Los Angeles International Airport that involves a custom-designed Y-shaped luminaire illuminating upper/departure and lower/arrivals roadways. The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, GA has announced that utility Georgia Power presented a $45,901 rebate to the airport for the conversion of runway and other airfield lighting to LED sources. Maury Wright/LEDs Magazine
|
Long Beach Airport To host 2015 Airports Council International Conference and Exhibition -- Long Beach Airport will host the 2015 Airports Council International - North America (ACI-NA) Conference and Exhibition, which takes place from Oct. 4 through 7. Two thousand airport officials are expected to attend the conference, which focuses on modern trends in the commercial aviation industry. This year will be the first time Long Beach Airport hosts the event. Jennifer Rice Epstein/Long Beach Gazette
|
Air carrier to begin flights from Merced -- Merced County travelers soon will have new flight options close to home, with regional airline Boutique Air set to begin service to Oakland and Los Angeles next week. The San Francisco-based airline will begin offering two daily roundtrip flights to Los Angeles International Airport and three to Oakland International Airport on Oct. 5. A daily route between Merced and Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport will begin Nov. 1, the company said in a news release. Thaddeus Miller/Merced Sun-Star Central Valley Business Times
|
7 Reasons you should attend Flying Aviation Expo in Palm Springs -- We're just a couple of weeks away from Flying Aviation Expo and the excitement for Southern California's premier aviation event, planned for October 15-17 in Palm Springs, is growing by the day. Dozens of new airplanes from LSAs to turboprops to jets will be at the Palm Springs Convention Center for the show, giving you easy access to everything on your wish list in one convenient place. Stephen Pope/Flying
|
Air India's San Francisco plans confirmed -- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced during his recent visit to Silicon Valley that national carrier Air India will begin non-stop service to San Francisco - but from New Delhi, not from India's tech center of Bengaluru (Bangalore) as initially reported. The carrier will use a 777-200LR for the 16-hour, 7,670-mile journey. It will begin December 2, and will operate three days a week (Wednesday, Friday and Sunday). The aircraft will have eight first class seats, 35 in business class and 195 in economy. TravelSkills
|
S&P upgrades Chicago's O'Hare Airport rating ahead of bond sale -- Standard & Poor's on Tuesday upgraded the credit rating for Chicago's O'Hare International Airport general airport revenue bonds to A from A-minus ahead of a nearly $2 billion debt sale next week. "The upgrade reflects our view of (O'Hare's) large origin-destination base, high traffic levels, and importance to the global aviation system as a major connecting hub," said S&P credit analyst Joseph Pezzimenti in a statement. The credit rating agency added that the higher rating also takes into account the airport's massive runway reconfiguration project. Reuters
|
Plans call for 'convenient, inspiring and sustainable' airport -- One giant terminal with spacious gate areas and moving walkways. A new parking garage, doubling the number of stalls. And an elevated TRAX line leading directly to the second level between the terminal and the parking garage. Those are just a few highlights of Salt Lake City International Airport's $1.8 billion terminal redevelopment project. City and airport officials unveiled renderings detailing the project's interior and exterior designs Tuesday, announcing the new terminal's construction is slated for 2020. Katie McKellar/Deseret News
|
Airport workers rally at Atlanta City Hall -- Airport workers and other union members gathered Tuesday at Atlanta City Hall to call attention to a company competing for a contract to build an on-site hotel, travel plaza and office development at the airport. The workers, members of labor union Unite Here, raised questions about the labor practices of Airmall USA, one of the three companies competing for the contract at Hartsfield-Jackson International. Kelly Yamanouchi/Atlanta Business-Journal Also: Airline food workers rally in Portland for better health care
|
CBP using mobile fingerprint scanners at Atlanta airport -- Non-U.S. citizens traveling through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport on their way out of the country will be able to move along a bit faster as Customs and Border Protection agents pilot a new handheld fingerprinting device. Using mobile, quick-scan devices, CBP officers will be stationed at the loading gate for select departing flights recording fingerprints and passports of foreign nationals. Aaron Boyd/Federal Times
|
Southwest paid $120 million for 2 gates at Dallas Airport -- Southwest Airlines is so intent on strengthening its grip over Dallas Love Field that it is paying United Airlines $120 million to control two more gates at the airport near downtown. Southwest disclosed the deal Monday during a hearing on a court fight that will determine whether Delta Air Lines can stay at Love Field. The hearing gave a rare glimpse into the high-stakes dealing that sometimes happens in the airline business as carriers compete for scarce gates and landing rights. AP
|
CVG losing leisure airline -- Add Branson Air Express to the list of niche vacation carriers that didn't last long here. The Branson, Missouri-based charter service has pulled the plug on all flights from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport after just five months of operations, The Enquirer has learned. Branson Air Express' final flight to the Southwest Missouri tourist city from CVG is scheduled for Monday. Sanford, Florida-based Orange Air, the company that operates Branson Air Express flights, also plans to cease connecting service to New Orleans and Cancun, Mexico, for CVG fliers. Jason Williams/Cincinnati Enquirer
|
American Airlines secretly adds free real-time bag tracking -- American Airlines in recent weeks has quietly added free real-time online luggage tracking for checked bags, allowing customers to determine where their bag is - from check-in counter to baggage carousel pickup. The service is useful not only for curious travelers, but in case a checked bag hasn't arrived at your destination. You'll know right away that your luggage is on the wrong plane, and you won't have to stand at baggage claim for an hour wondering if your bag will be coming. Gregory Karp/Chicago Tribune
|
Rolls-Royce, American Airlines to dissolve Fort Worth partnership facility affecting 600 workers -- Rolls-Royce and American Airlines announced Tuesday morning that the two will close a Fort Worth aircraft engine maintenance facility that it had operated under a 50-50 joint venture. The shutdown will affect 600 workers at the facility. Texas Aero Engine Services LLC provides maintenance, repair, and overhaul services on aircraft engines. Reductions in demand and lack of future growth opportunities were both listed as reasons for the shutdown which was upon Rolls-Royce's request and American Airlines accepted. Sean Lester/Dallas Morning News
|
Emirates wins seven APEX Passenger Choice Awards, including Best Airline for Overall Passenger Experience -- Members of the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) gathered tonight in Portland, Ore., as part of APEX EXPO to honor the winners of the 2015 Passenger Choice and APEX Awards. Emirates, which has a fleet of more than 230 aircraft and flies to over 140 destinations in more than 80 countries around the world, was the big winner of the evening, taking home seven awards. Norwegian and Virgin America were also winners of multiple awards. APEX Press Release
|
What makes those Middle East airlines so special? -- Those fancy Middle Eastern airlines - Etihad, Emirates, Qatar and, to a lesser extent, Turkish - have been in the news a lot lately, mostly thanks to the major U.S. and European airlines complaining that they're unfairly subsidized by their governments. Even if they missed the news, most fliers welcome the competition, lower fares and new planes with exemplary service and products. And while there probably is a case to be made that they are subsidized, rather than open that can of worms, recently I set about exploring what, if anything, sets them apart from their competitors. George Hobica/USA Today
|
Airline Kindness: Amazing gesture of stranger captured in viral photo -- When Rebekka Garvison boarded her Spirit Air flight from Chicago to Atlanta earlier this week with an infant in tow, she saw the annoyed looks of her seatmates. When baby Rylee started crying before takeoff, the situation with her in-flight neighbors didn't improve. "As soon as we got on the plane at 5:30 a.m. it was very quiet and it was a full flight," Garvison wrote in a Facebook post that's now been shared almost 85,000 times. Genevieve Shaw Brown/ABC News
|
| Frontier launches to fifth-most profitable airline in the U.S. -- Denver-based Frontier Airlines is enjoying record profitability that in the past 12 months propelled it to the fifth-most-profitable airline in the U.S. and seventh in the world, according to industry analysts. Frontier logged a net profit of $54 million and an operating margin of 21 percent from April through June 2015, according to Airline Weekly analysis of second-quarter financial data compiled by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Laura Keeney/Denver Post Also: Frontier beefs up presence in Florida, Denver with 8 new routes
|
Upset with an airline? GetService.com will complain for you. -- Have you had a bad experience on an airline? Do you want to complain? But maybe you don't have the time? Or you're not in the mood to fire off an angry email to customer service? There's a company that claims it will make the process easy for you. It is called Get Service, and while it deals with all sorts of customer service problems, I suspect airline complaints are a big part of its business. To see how the site works, I pretended to make a complaint about American Airlines. These were the first questions the site asked me. BrianSumers.com
|
How upgraded amenities may change air travel as we know it -- As a growing number of airlines continue to scale back some of the benefits frequent fliers once took for granted, such as complimentary in-flight meals and free checked bags on top of already expensive plane tickets, it's refreshing to know other carriers are taking a different path. In an effort to provide travelers with a better customer experience, some airlines are offering additional perks rather than increasing fares for ancillaries such as priority boarding access and in-flight Wi-Fi. Lynn Mettler/U.S. News & World Report
|
U.S.-Cuban aviation deal possible this year, official says -- Cuba and the United States advanced toward restoring scheduled airline service during two days of talks that concluded in Havana on Tuesday, with the potential to reach a deal this year, a U.S. official said. The two sides planned to meet again, possibly before the end of this year and most likely in Washington, the official told Reuters. Daniel Trotta/Reuters
|
| Transport Canada tells airlines to stop separating parents, children on flights -- Canada's transport minister quietly wrote to the heads of every major airline in the country earlier this year to try and stamp out a practice where parents were being seated separately from their children on flights. In the March letter, Lisa Raitt called the issue one "where logic should prevail" and encouraged the airlines to ensure parents were seated with their young children whenever possible. Jordan Press/Canadian Press |
Scientists: TSA scanners didn't zap travelers with too much radiation -- A new report that found X-ray scanners previously used by the Transportation Security Administration didn't overexpose travelers to radiation opens the door for the agency to bring back updated versions of the machines. The so-called "backscatter" machines, which TSA used at airport checkpoints from 2008 to 2013, exposed travelers to one-tenth the radiation limit set by the American National Standards Institute and Health Physics Society, according to the report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine made public Tuesday. Bart Jansen/USA Today
|
|
|
|
Homicides continue to rise in Los Angeles, police chief says -- After a "very, very tough weekend" where 19 people were shot across Los Angeles, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck said Tuesday that homicides were now up nearly 11% so far this year. At least five people were fatally shot between Friday night and Monday morning, police officials said. The majority of the weekend's shootings were gang-related, Beck told the Police Commission at the board's weekly meeting. Gang-related crime was up about 15.6% so far this year compared with 2014, Beck said. Kate Mather & Nicole Santa Cruz/Los Angeles Times
|
|
|
|
|
|
