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This is why no airline will ever dominate LAX -- It's a battle for Los Angeles that may never have a clear winner. American Airlines Group Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. are fighting to be the biggest airlines at Los Angeles International, the largest airport in one of the world's most lucrative air travel markets. Earlier this month, American said it will build two gates at LAX to allow 20 new daily flights, bringing its total to 220 flights and 70 destinations. It comes after Delta celebrated the completion last summer of a $229 million renovation of LAX's Terminal 5, at which it operates, including a private entrance for celebrities and other elite travelers. Justin Bachman/Bloomberg Business
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Virgin America launches daily flights from LAX to Hawaii -- Virgin America announced Tuesday it will expand its service to Hawaii with daily nonstop flights from Los Angeles International Airport to Honolulu, Oahu on May 5, and Kahului, Maui on June 14. The airline recently launched daily service from San Francisco International Airport to Honolulu and Maui. The Aloha state is the "most wanted" destination by members of Virgin America's Elevate loyalty program and Hawaii continues to be the number one tourism destination from the West Coast, according to Virgin America President and CEO David Cush. City News Service
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LA City Council unanimously approves zero tolerance policy for taxi drivers' prejudice at LAX -- The LA City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to approve a zero-tolerance policy for handling any taxi drivers who deny someone a ride at LAX for prejudicial reasons. The proposal comes after former Major League Baseball player Doug Glanville claimed an LAX cabbie refused to give him a ride because he's black. Councilman Paul Koretz supported the move -- but said it should also apply to Uber and Lyft. Paige Osburn/KPCC AP
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Bob Hope Airport passenger count trends upward, but at slower pace than early 2015 -- With exceptions last year, Bob Hope Airport saw a trend of increased passengers traveling through the Burbank airfield each month, compared with the same months a year earlier. The trend continued in December, the third straight month of passenger gains following a flat line in September and August, but increases each of the six months before that. Chad Garland/Los Angeles Times
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AOPA responds to appeal of FAA determination on Santa Monica -- AOPA and nine others are asking the FAA to deny an appeal of its determination that Santa Monica Municipal Airport in California is grant obligated and must remain open at least through Aug. 27, 2023. The city of Santa Monica filed the appeal, which asks the FAA's associate administrator for airports to overturn the December 2015 "director's determination" that the airport is bound by federal grant obligations until 2023. Elizabeth A. Tennyson/AOPA
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Airline consultants reject renovation options for Kansas City International Airport -- A consultant for Kansas City's airlines on Tuesday flatly rejected a proposal by Kansas City-based Crawford Architects to renovate the airport's horseshoe terminals. "They didn't understand all that was required," Lou Salomon, chief operating officer for AvAirPros, said of the Crawford plan, adding that it doesn't accommodate future needs at Kansas City International Airport for gates, baggage, technology, security, concessions, parking, international service or larger aircraft. Lynn Horsley/Kansas City Star
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DFW Airport considers switching to Coca-Cola -- After twenty years with the "choice of a new generation," Dallas/Fort Worth Airport plans to "open happiness" by offering travelers Coca-Cola. The airport is considering switching from Pepsi to Coke at its terminal concessionaires. The new ten-year sponsorship deal is valued at more than $35 million as the airport will receive $3.5 million in revenues annually from the Atlanta-based beverage company. Andrea Ahles/Fort Worth Star-Telegram
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Clash of the Titans: American and Delta, successful with different approaches, turn their wrath on each other -- They are the two largest airlines in the world and-in terms of total dollars-the two most profitable too. And they are at each other's throats. American and Delta are at war. Last week, you could even hear it during American's conference call with investors and journalists. Executives made no mention of American's longtime rival in Chicago, United. Nor did they talk much about low-cost carriers. Instead, they ripped Delta for losing billions of dollars from fuel hedging. Airline Weekly
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Record profit is a bad optic as American Air CEO decries profit sharing -- Profit sharing is a controversial topic at American Airlines for two reasons. First, CEO Doug Parker believes strongly that profit sharing is not a reliable method for compensating employees because profits sometimes disappear for reasons that have nothing to do with employees -- such as the economy or perhaps even the Zika virus. This may be an eminently logical argument but it has become a tough one to make at a time when airline profits are at record levels. Ted Reed/The Street
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Review: American Airlines Boeing 777 first class: Sydney-Los Angeles -- Following the recent debut of American Airlines' Boeing 777-300ER flights between Sydney and Los Angeles, passengers now have more choice than ever up the very front when crossing the Pacific. Fitted with first class ahead of business class and also economy, Australian Business Traveller takes a trip to the home of Hollywood to bring you this exclusive review. Chris Chamberlin/Australian Business Traveller
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Icelandair unveiling new buddy system as it expands into Chicago -- Now here's something not every international air carrier is prepared to offer travelers. Icelandair, which is re-introducing nonstop service to Reykjavik, Iceland from Chicago on Mar. 16, said Tuesday it is launching a buddy service for passengers who plan on stopping over on the island en route to an Icelandair destination in Europe. Icelandair has set up a dedicated page on its website where travelers can request Iceland-based buddies who shares their interests related to nature, sports, food, culture or something else more exotic. Lewis Lazare/Chicago Business Journal
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Families of Flight 3407 brace for new fight over pilot regulations -- The families of Continental Flight 3407 joined with senators, congressmen and one of the nation's most prominent pilots Tuesday to launch the first strike in what they expect will be a battle to preserve key aviation safety improvements won after Clarence crash that claimed 50 lives. A day before the planned introduction of legislation that could be used to gut those safety improvements, Sens. Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten E Gillibrand, both Democrats, said they would use the power that any senator has to block legislation if they need to do that to halt an attempt to weaken aviation safety. Jerry Zremski/Buffalo News
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One killed by blast that forced Somali emergency landing: officials -- A man was killed in an explosion on an Airbus A321 that made a hole in the fuselage and forced the plane to return to the Somali capital of Mogadishu to make an emergency landing, officials said on Wednesday. Somalia's civil aviation director, Abdiwahid Omar, told the state radio website that a person was missing after the Daallo Airlines plane landed on Tuesday and the body had been found. Reuters
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UPS 4Q profit of $1.33 billion beats Wall Street forecasts -- UPS nearly tripled its fourth-quarter profit and seemed to avoid many of the holiday package-delivery breakdowns that it suffered a year earlier. The company said that through greater use of automation and working with retailers, it was able to smooth out some of the spikes that overwhelmed its network in late 2014. UPS expects 2016 earnings of between $5.70 and $5.90 per share, which would be an increase of between 5 percent and 9 percent over 2015 and stronger than Wall Street expected. David Koenig/AP Related: Air freight demand up 2.2 pct in 2015, slows from 2014 -IATA
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FAA overhaul bill stirs uproar -- The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Republican chairman on Wednesday plans to unveil legislation to dramatically reshape the nation's air-traffic-control network. But growing Democratic and industry opposition threatens to make the bill another victim of partisan gridlock. Part of a Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization measure, the proposal calls for creating a standalone, nonprofit corporation funded by user fees that would take over the agency's responsibilities for managing air-traffic operations and oversee modernization of the system. Andy Pasztor & Susan Carey/Wall Street Journal Keith Laing/The Hill
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Here's where L.A.'s biggest crime increases are happening -- Crime is on the increase in Los Angeles. Violent crime was up 20.2 percent and and all crime was up 12.6 percent when 2015 is compared with 2014, according to Los Angeles Police Department data. Why is anyone's guess. Some have blamed prison realignment that sent offenders to local lockups with shorter stays. Others say the voter-approved Proposition 47, which reduces some drug violations to misdemeanors, is the culprit. Dennis Romero/LA Weekly
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Port of L.A. terminal fails to comply with pollution-reduction mandates, officials say -- The Port of Los Angeles has failed to meet pollution-reduction requirements at another shipping terminal, city officials said Monday, their second such admission in recent months. The TraPac terminal near Wilmington did not comply with air quality improvement measures the city adopted years ago, including mandates that massive cargo ships shut down their engines and plug into shore-based electricity while docked to reduce harmful diesel emissions, a recent audit by the city-owned port found. Tony Barboza & Jack Dolan/Los Angeles Times
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DWP defends security practices after leadership shake-up -- Leaders of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power defended the utility's security practices Tuesday following the release of a confidential report that identified vulnerabilities at three of the city's power stations. The defense also followed a leadership shake-up at the DWP. Patrick Findley, who oversaw security and emergency management, was let go last Thursday, according to city government sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because of confidentiality rules on personnel matters. Alice Walton & Emily Alpert Reyes/Los Angeles Times
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L.A. leaders want someone overseeing oil operations in the city full time -- Los Angeles, a metropolis studded with hundreds of active oil and gas wells, is supposed to have someone who handles a long list of duties tied to petroleum, according to city codes. Yet for decades, no one has held the job full time. That vacuum has troubled some environmental and neighborhood activists, who argue that without an active, involved petroleum administrator, the slew of government agencies involved in regulating oil and gas have failed to coordinate to protect neighbors. Emily Alpert Reyes/Los Angeles Times
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