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What's Delta's plan at LAX? Here's a possible sneak peak. -- Los Angeles International Airport is briefing other airlines on Delta Air Lines' proposed move from Terminals 5 and 6 to Terminals 2 and 3, a plan that could include a new connector inside security to the Tom Bradley International Terminal. Under the plan, Delta eventually could control between 22 and 27 gates in Terminals 2 and 3, according to a slide shared with tenants. As I understand it, Delta would also have access to more gates at the Tom Bradley International Terminal. BrianSumers.com
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Delta Air Lines hopes to be a good sport in L.A. - In the battle to become Los Angeles' favorite air carrier, Delta Air Lines is trying to win over Angelenos through our love of sports. The Atlanta-based carrier is the second most popular airline at Los Angeles International Airport, behind American Airlines. With its big-spending business executives and Hollywood celebrities, Los Angeles has become a coveted market for the nation's airlines. Hugo Martin/Los Angeles Times
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Long lines predicted at airport security checkpoints this summer because of TSA cutbacks -- The wait times at airport security checkpoints, always a source of grief for air passengers, have gotten so lengthy that airlines and airport operators are protesting and predicting gridlock during the upcoming summer travel season. At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, the head administrator suggested hiring private contractors to help speed the lines. Airline officials say the delays have kept hundreds of passengers from catching their flights. Hugo Martin/Los Angeles Times
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College student is removed from LAX flight after speaking Arabic on plane -- A college student who came to the United States as an Iraqi refugee was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight in California earlier this month after another passenger became alarmed when she heard him speaking Arabic. The student, Khairuldeen Makhzoomi, a senior at the University of California, Berkeley, was taken off a flight from Los Angeles International Airport to Oakland on April 6 after he called an uncle in Baghdad to tell him about an event he attended that included a speech by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Liam Stack/New York Times Marisa Gerber/Los Angeles Times
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Impact report on proposed Bob Hope Airport replacement terminal to land soon -- The long-awaited draft environmental impact report of the often debated proposed replacement terminal at Bob Hope Airport will soon be available for the public to review, airfield officials told the Burbank City Council on Tuesday. Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Authority board commissioner Terry Tornek said the report, which outlines the environmental impacts of the project, will be available on April 29. Once it is completed, city officials will be notified and that will mark the beginning of a 45-day review process. Anthony Clark Carpio/Burbank Leader
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Calling all Angels fans: Historical exhibit at John Wayne Airport is a hit -- In late 2004, baseball's winter meetings were held in Anaheim, so when league executives arrived at John Wayne Airport en route to the annual December summit, they passed an art exhibit put together by Tammy Lechner. A little more than 11 years later, Lechner has helped piece together another baseball collection at the airport, this one highlighting the Angels in commemoration of their 56th season. Joey Kaufman/Orange County Register
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How the Denver-to-DIA train, opening Friday, will change the metro area forever -- Twenty-three miles. Thirty-seven minutes. Nine dollars. That's the distance, the duration and the price of a one-way trip between Union Station and Denver International Airport on the A-Line, which opens Friday. The Regional Transportation District's train to the airport is a major new option for thousands of daily travelers, who until now had to rely on taxis, ride-hailing services, buses and their own vehicles to get to DIA. John Aguilar/Denver Post Related: Denver airport's new Westin hotel offers convenience, style
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KC Council members say visit with Southwest Airlines about KCI was instructive -- Five Kansas City Council members visited Friday with top Southwest Airlines executives in Dallas and got an in-person report about airline preferences for a new terminal at Kansas City International Airport. "They basically indicated they are willing to finance a new terminal," Jolie Justus, the council's Airport Committee chairwoman, said by telephone while waiting to board a flight back to Kansas City. Lynn Horsley/The Kansas City Star
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British Airways flight believed to hit drone on approach -- Police say a British Airways flight from Geneva hit an object believed to be a drone while on approach to London's Heathrow Airport. The airline says the plane landed safely Sunday afternoon and has been cleared for its next flight. The Airbus A320 was carrying 132 passengers and five crew members. No arrests have been made and police are investigating the incident. Aviation authorities have expressed concern about the risk posed by the increasing number of drones. AP
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FedEx worker falls asleep, stows away on Texas flight -- A FedEx Express hub worker unintentionally stowed away on a flight early Friday to Texas after falling asleep while loading the plane, a Lubbock airport official said. The employee, who was not identified, woke up in mid-flight, knocked on the cabin door and communicated with pilots via telephone. The pilots didn't open the cabin door but directed the employee to use the jump seat for landing. "This is very unusual," Kelly Campbell, director of Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport. Wayne Risher/Memphis Commercial Appeal
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U.S. regulators clear path for new transatlantic competition -- The U.S. Department of Transportation on Friday dealt a blow to domestic airlines, granting tentative approval to a plan by Norwegian Air International to serve the U.S. after more than two years of debate over the discounter's plan. The regulator, in a statement, said that Norwegian "appears to meet DOT's normal standards for award of a permit and that there appears to be no legal basis to deny NAI's application." Lou Whiteman/TheStreet
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United Airlines workers ratify new contracts -- United Airlines workers have ratified a set of new contracts that will increase their pay and benefits over the next five years. Airline and union representatives said Saturday that the vote was "overwhelming" in favor of the contracts, which govern about 30,000 employees including airport workers, security officers and other staffers. The new pacts will increase pay by about 30 percent over five years, raise pension benefits and halt outsourcing of some union jobs. AP
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American Airlines dispatchers approve new five-year contract -- American Airlines announced Thursday it's reached a deal with more than 400 U.S.-based dispatchers and operations specialists, the company's 12th employee group to reach a contract after its 2013 merger with US Airways. The deal with the Transport Workers Union Local 549 will give members immediate pay increases as well as improved longevity pay, increased vacation, sick days and holidays, among other benefits, the company said. Conor Shine/Dallas Morning News
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Two surveys give mixed picture of airline satisfaction rates -- Most Americans are pretty content with air travel and prefer paying separately for food, drinks, entertainment and luggage instead of buying an all-inclusive airline ticket. At least that is what Airlines for America, a trade group for the nation's airlines, says it has learned from an online survey of 3,019 American travelers. Of those surveyed, 80% said they were either very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with their air travel experience in 2015 and 67% said they prefer paying a la carte for onboard extras. But another survey released last week found that air travelers are not so happy with life at 30,000 feet. Hugo Martin/Los Angeles Times
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Airline pranking its passengers using message boards -- When waiting for a flight the last thing you want to see on the departure boards are the words "delayed" or "cancelled". But if you travel with Virgin America, you're likely to be treated to something far less depressing. According to imgur user rootbeer1, employees are encouraged to write a personal message for the amusement of awaiting passengers - and they really go to town, The Sun reported. Rootbeer1 posted a series of snaps of their finest work on the picture sharing site. Hayley Richardson/The Sun
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Reclaiming fees when airline luggage goes astray -- Buried in the new bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration are a few sections addressing the fees that many of us pay to fly. And while the Senate and the House bills still differ a bit, one likely result is going to be this: The carriers are going to have to refund the fees you pay when your luggage isn't on your flight and you have to wait a long time to get it. Refunding those fees may not seem like a big deal, but airlines in the United States took in about $3 billion in fees for checked luggage last year. Ron Lieber/New York Times
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Mideast airlines hit rare rough patch -- The Mideast's fast-growing airlines, long a thorn in the side of legacy U.S. and European carriers, are hitting a rare patch of turbulence, thanks to low oil prices. Today's energy rout has been great for global airlines, whose fuel bills typically are among their biggest costs. Profits for the global industry nearly doubled in 2015, to a record $33 billion from a year earlier, thanks mostly to lower fuel costs, according to the International Air Transport Association, a global trade body. Robert Wall/Wall Street Journal
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Three big airlines just trashed your cheap fares -- Airline executives hate few things more than supercheap ticket prices, which they often dub "junk fares" and "trash fares." Yet the industry has been awash in these deals for more than a year, as Spirit Airlines Inc. and Frontier Airlines Inc. expanded aggressively, and Southwest Airlines Co. began flying nationwide from Dallas. Some examples: $41 from Dallas to New York City; $34 from Las Vegas to San Francisco; $40 from Nashville to Orlando. Justin Bachman/Bloomberg
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Delta: 'Basic Economy' fare strategy pays off, will expand -- The new no-frills "Basic Economy" fares that Delta rolled to battle discount carriers are paying dividends, the carrier said during its first-quarter earnings call on Thursday. In fact, the fares are doing so well that Delta plans to expand the option to more U.S. markets. Delta said it got $20 million in extra revenue during the January-to-March quarter from selling those cheaper "Basic Economy" fares, which are aimed at the most price-sensitive fliers. Bart Jansen/USA Today
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| Transportation Network Companies |
Uber and Lyft have devastated L.A.'s taxi industry, city records show -- The rise of Uber and Lyft has dealt a swift, brutal blow to the Los Angeles taxi industry. Since the ride-hailing services began operating in Southern California three years ago, the number of L.A. taxi trips arranged in advance has fallen by 42%, according to city records, and the total number of trips has plummeted by nearly 30%. The steepest drops were in the city's most popular nightlife and tourist destinations: the Westside, Hollywood and downtown. Laura J. Nelson/Los Angeles Times
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Editorial: Who is going to pay for the bullet train to L.A.? -- The California High Speed Rail Authority's newly revised business plan faces up to a hard truth: Money is tight. If the agency is going to complete the first leg of a commercially viable bullet train on time and on budget, it has to build the first segment in Northern California and postpone the more difficult route over the Tehachapi Mountains to Los Angeles. That may be a reasonable shift given the funding constraints. But left unsaid in the draft 2016 business plan is how exactly the authority will get the money to build the bullet train to Southern California. Los Angeles Times Editorial Board
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L.A. releases addresses of 13,500 apartments and condos likely to need earthquake retrofitting -- Neighborhoods in the San Fernando Valley, Hollywood and the Westside will feel the biggest impact from Los Angeles' new law requiring the retrofitting of wood-frame apartment buildings to better withstand a major earthquake, according to a Times data analysis. City inspectors spent about two years developing a list of 13,500 so-called soft-story buildings that will probably need seismic strengthening. Rosanna Xia & Jon Schleuss/Los Angeles Times
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L.A.'s effort to equip officers with body cameras stalls -- Los Angeles' much-touted plan to equip thousands of police officers with body cameras has stalled amid controversy at City Hall over the program's price tag and whether the Police Department got the best deal possible. Delays have derailed Mayor Eric Garcetti's pledge to provide nearly every officer with a camera by the end of this year, an ambitious proposal that garnered national attention and would make the LAPD the largest law enforcement agency in the country to use the devices on a widespread scale. Kate Mather and David Zahniser/Los Angeles Times
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L.A. City Council votes to stop doing business with North Carolina and Mississippi over LGBT laws -- In the wake of controversial North Carolina and Mississippi laws that critics say discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the Los Angeles City Council voted Friday to refrain from conducting business with the two states. City Council members voted 12 to 0 to stop doing business with the states, including participating in any conventions or other business that requires city resources. Brittny Mejia & David Zahniser/Los Angeles Times
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Check out what flying American Airlines used to be like -- As American Airlines' London-bound Flight 90 pushed back from the gate at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Friday, passengers in the terminal beheld an unusual sight: The pilot popped open the cockpit window to hold out a flag bearing the carrier's original eagle logo, which fluttered all the way out to the runway. While new to present-day passengers, the flying of the company flag was actually a reprisal of a venerable tradition. A venerable tradition for a venerable carrier: American Airlines turned 90 years old on Friday. With 19 billion in revenue passenger miles and a fleet of 627 planes, it's easy to overlook the fact that American Airlines isn't just the world's largest carrier, but also a survivor from the pioneering days of American aviation-a time when airplanes had propellers and the cabins weren't yet pressurized. Robert Klare/Adweek
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