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Private jets tagged with graffiti at LA airport -- Vandals who broke into a private hangar at Van Nuys Airport on Sunday night covered three different multi-million-dollar corporate jets with graffiti -- the second such incident at the Los Angeles area airfield in the past two years. The jets were tagged on their fuselages, tail wings and wheel flaps with "URA" and a large "872." Other smaller monikers sprayed in blue and black paint on the planes included "URAF," "MarkB" and "GLOK$." All three jets were in a large hangar in a secure area of the airport. Andrew Blankstein/NBC News Richard Winton/Los Angeles Times
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Bad weather nationwide cancels, delays flights out of LAX -- Winter storms moving through the Midwest and the East Coast on Monday were expected to continue hampering air travel into and out of Los Angeles International Airport through Tuesday morning. Hundreds of flights were canceled nationwide due to the inclement weather, with 140 departure and arrival flights at LAX delayed and another 22 canceled between midnight and 5 p.m., according to airport spokeswoman Nancy Castles. City News Service National story: Weather snarls flights for second day in a row
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Bowl flights from Eastern Iowa Airport expected to miss storm -- Several hundred travelers booked on flights out of The Eastern Iowa Airport saw their plans derailed Monday - including many headed to California to watch the University of Iowa play in its first Rose Bowl in a quarter century. To blame was a massive weather system impacting much of the country - from deadly tornadoes in Texas over the weekend, to heavy rain, wind, snow, and ice blanketing much of the Midwest on Monday. George C. Ford/Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette
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John Wayne Airport posts November 2015 statistics -- Airline passenger traffic at John Wayne Airport increased in November 2015 as compared with November 2014. In November 2015, the Airport served 876,748 passengers, an increase of 14.3% when compared with the November 2014 passenger traffic count of 767,315. Commercial aircraft operations increased 11.5% and commuter aircraft operations increased 1.8% when compared with November 2014 levels. Total aircraft operations decreased in November 2015 as compared with the same month in 2014. JWA News Release LAX Statistics ONT Statistics
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TSA increases screening of airport and airline employees -- The Transportation Security Administration is increasing random checks of airport and airline employees who hold badges that enable them to bypass security checkpoints. The decision follows instances in the past two years in which employees used restricted entrances to smuggle guns and launder money. It's also part of a larger push to increase airport security after the Paris terrorist attacks and the crash of a jet flying between Egypt and Russia, believed to have been brought down by a bomb. Scott Mayerowitz/AP
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Atlanta is world's first airport to hit 100 million passengers in year -- The world's busiest airport says it has become the first in the world to top a major passenger milestone. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport counted its 100 millionth passenger on Sunday morning, something that the airport says makes it the first airport in the world to ever serve that many passengers in a single calendar year. Atlanta's airport even went so far as to estimate when the 100 millionth passenger would arrive. Ben Mutzabaugh/USA Today Kelly Yamanouchi/Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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What do LCCs want of airports? How airport-airline cooperation can accelerate regional growth -- Asia's low cost airlines have had to fit into existing - and often irrelevant - infrastructure to prove themselves. In the early 2000s, low cost airlines in Asia were regarded on a scale between foolish and bankrupt-inducing. In the early days of LCC growth Singapore Airlines confidently predicted the early demise of the genre. Today LCCs account for 60% of all seats in Southeast Asia. Now SIA even has two LCCs in its group, including a long haul operation, Scoot, that is in the vanguard of widebody LCC flying. Scoot is also now taking over routes from full service sister Silk Air. CAPA Centre for Aviation
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Airport didn't violate free-speech rights, court rules -- Phillip Mocek's acquittal on disorderly conduct charges failed to persuade an appeals court that the city, airport police and security screeners should be civilly liable for arresting him without probable cause and violating his protected free-speech rights. The U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals last week affirmed a ruling by U.S. District Judge James Browning dismissing the civil lawsuit that Mocek, through the First Amendment Project, filed in federal court over his 2009 arrest in Albuquerque. Scott Sandlin/Albuquerque Journal
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Southwest Airlines executive Teresa Laraba dies -- Teresa Laraba, a top-ranking female executive at Southwest Airlines and in the airline industry, died on Christmas Day. She was 53. "It's a deeply sad day at Southwest Airlines as we share the news of Teresa's death," Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said in the statement. "Teresa Laraba contributed so much to Southwest Airlines during her more than 30 years with the company and she will be forever in our hearts." The cause of death was not released. Sheryl Jean/Dallas Morning News
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Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly suffers major labor setbacks in 2015 -- Even as all of Southwest Airlines mourned the death of Teresa Laraba this past weekend, the low-fare behemoth's CEO Gary Kelly already must have been feeling pretty glum about the state of the airline's labor relations and the glaring lack of progress he was able to report on that front in 2015. Over the past 12 months, Kelly has suffered one setback after another in what looked to be aggressive efforts to secure new labor contracts with no fewer than four of the airline's most important labor groups - pilots, flight attendants, ramp agents and aircraft maintenance technicians. Lewis Lazare/Chicago Business Journal
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What American Airlines could learn from business travelers' concerns -- Seeing someone who's excited to be at an airport is like seeing a unicorn or a leprechaun: It doesn't happen. It's an incredible challenge for airlines to keep customers satisfied - from getting baggage to seat upgrades - and American Airlines is no exception. The airline has completely fleshed out its two-year merger with US Airways, a process which accentuated the usual shortcomings in airline service like flight delays and system errors. Steven Totten/Phoenix Business Journal
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Spirit Airlines and Virgin America treated diametrically in 2015, plan 10%+ growth in 2016 -- Just a couple of years ago, Spirit Airlines was a Wall Street star. Its ultra low cost business model seemed built to withstand any cyclical disruption to the industry. But markedly lower fuel prices in 2015 have given larger airlines an ability - and the willingness - to price some of their inventory to match Spirit's low baseline fares. As a result, Spirit's unit revenues have fallen sharply and its stock price has compressed more than any other US airline during 2015. CAPA Centre for Aviation
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Which US airline offers the best beer menu? -- As recently as a few years ago, if you wanted a beer on your flight, your choices were usually limited to the flavorless, big-brand beers from Busch and Miller. But with the meteoric rise of craft beer, airlines have become wise to the trend, and have begun stocking beers that will appeal to almost any connoisseur. Airlines have long boasted about recruiting wine sommeliers to build their menu of vino offerings, especially for business and first class, but they were neglecting beer lovers. Paul Thompson/Travel Pulse
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Russell Crowe slams Virgin Australia over hoverboard ban -- He may just be a parent with two kids trying to go on vacation, but rules are rules. Even if you're Russell Crowe. The 51-year-old Academy Award-winning actor has slammed Virgin Australia after being told at airport check-in that his children's hoverboards were not permitted in the plane's hold. The popular holiday gift has been plagued with controversy after reports emerged of the self-balancing boards spontaneously bursting into flames. Lauren Said-Moorhouse/CNN
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Airlines we lost 2015 -- It's the end of the year, and you know what that means. As we do every year, it's time to look back and remember those airlines we lost. The biggest surprise is that SpiceJet is not on this list. It was teetering last year, but it shrunk and recapitalized so it continues to live. Once again, I turned to Thomas at the excellent ch-aviation site to make sure I had a complete list. Still, it's always possible something was missed, so feel free to leave those in the comments below. Brett Snyder/The Cranky Flier
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FAA drone laws start to clash with stricter local rules -- Frank Carollo, a longtime member of the City Council here, had worked for several weeks fine-tuning a proposal to limit the use of recreational drones, the increasingly popular remote-controlled flying devices. Minutes before the start of the vote on the rules this month, lawyers from the Federal Aviation Administration called him. The lawyers said the Miami ordinance needed to make clear that the federal agency had ultimate control over airspace. Cecilia Kang/New York Times
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TSA changes policy on full-body screening of passengers -- Under a new policy for screening airline passengers, Transportation Security Administration officers at the airport can now require that you go through a full-body scanner even if you ask for a pat-down search instead. The change in policy that began this month means that airline passengers can still ask TSA officers for a pat-down search instead of having to go through a full-body scanner that uses millimeter wave technology to disclose weapons hidden under clothing. Hugo Martin/Los Angeles Times
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2016 in aviation: Profits, airport upgrades and the longest flight in the world -- New planes. Longer routes. Improved airports. Heightened attention to safety. Throw in an estimated 3.7 billion passengers for 2016 ... and you've got a seriously busy aviation year ahead. Air travelers hate to waste time, so let's get to the details: Airlines - Fuel prices: Record profits to continue? Most airlines are already having a happy new year as they rake in massive profits thanks to ultra-low fuel prices. Thom Patterson/CNN
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Airlines stocks look attractive for 2016 thanks to low fuel, share buybacks -- The airline industry confounded investors in 2015 as share price performance was mixed even as profits reached record levels. Looking to 2016, analysts appear generally optimistic that profits will continue to remain strong and that this time around, share prices should follow. Nonetheless, the airline industry, as always, faces barriers that include not only its own conduct, which could lead to excessive capacity growth and fare discounting, but also outside factors, including slower economic growth and the possibility that the steep decline in fuel costs will reverse. Ted Reed/The Street
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