Airports
LAX gives inside look at security, police training -- Whenever there is a terrorist attack or possibility of one, Los Angeles International Airport increases its security. Eyewitness News got an exclusive look at how LAX officers train in order to be prepared for an emergency at the airport. Airport police train using snipers, rifles, K-9s and tactical BearCat armored vehicles. There is also a round-the-clock 12-member emergency services team. Rob Hayes/ABC7
Counter-terrorism security increases at LAX after EgyptAir Flight 804 disappears -- Counter-terrorism security measures were heightened Friday at the Los Angeles International Airport in the wake of the disappearance of EgyptAir Flight 804. Los Angeles Airport Police say security was strengthened as it monitors events and intelligence, both abroad and domestically. "The safety and security of passengers, airport workers and visitors is the number one priority of the Los Airport Police Division," Sgt. Belinda Joseph said in a statement. Veronica Rocha/Los Angeles Times
LAWA names new executive in charge of public, government relations -- An aide to Sen. Dianne Feinstein has been appointed to serve as Los Angeles World Airports' liaison to the public and outside governmental agencies, airport officials said. Trevor Daley was named deputy executive director and chief of external affairs of LAWA, which runs the city-owned Los Angeles International Airport, and will oversee its government affairs, public relations and community affairs divisions. Daley is set to begin June 13. Daley worked more than 16 years for Feinstein and began serving as her state director in 2013. He previously worked for Los Angeles Councilwoman Ruth Galanter. City News Service LAWA Press Release Senator Feinstein Press Release 
El Segundo seeks to keep lid on LAX passengers -- The court order that capped passenger trips through Los Angeles International Airport at 78.9 million lapsed at the end of the year, putting the airport in a position to hit as many as 80 million trips this year. That prospect led the city of El Segundo to file a petition earlier this month challenging the Southern California Association of Governments' approval of a regional transportation plan that antticipates traffic at LAX to climb to nearly 100 million passengers by 2040.  Olga Grigoryants/Los Angeles Business Journal
Southwest Airlines applying for L.A. to Puerto Vallarta routes -- Southwest Airlines will apply this month to fly from Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta, along with Cancun and Los Cabos. That decision comes in the wake of the finalization last month of a new aviation agreement between the U.S. and Mexico. Under the deal, there are no limits on the number carriers that can serve any U.S.-Mexico city pair. The previous agreement between the two countries limited the number of carriers to two or three from each country per route. Puerto Vallarta Daily News
LAWA deputy general manager gives up city car after alleged DUI -- Another Los Angeles city employee has been charged with allegedly driving under the influence, according to police records. Lisa Trifiletti, a top manager at Los Angeles World Airports, is due in a Van Nuys courthouse next month after being arrested in February in the San Fernando Valley. Trifiletti was operating a city vehicle at the time. Trifiletti, 40, was arrested on Valley Heart Drive at 9 p.m. on Feb. 10, police records show. Dakota Smith/Los Angeles Daily News
Golf Club tees off at speak up Newport meeting -- Keeping control of the land and revamping the Newport Beach Golf Club will benefit the community in more than one way, club officials explained recently. It can be a world class golf course, said William Buck Johns, who represents the golf course's new ownership group, which took over on Dec. 31. Johns provided details of the "grand plan" about improving the club and keeping control of the land, which would help prevent expansion of the John Wayne Airport, during Speak Up Newport's monthly meeting in the Community Room at the Civic Center May 11. Newport Beach Independent
Atlanta airport general manager ousted by mayor -- With the airport under pressure to fix long security wait times while tackling a series of enormous expansion projects, the head of the world's busiest airport has been ousted by Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed. Miguel Southwell, general manager of Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, will no longer lead the airport, according to a written statement from Reed late Friday evening. Kelly Yamanouchi/Atlanta Journal-Constitution
EgyptAir Flight 804 
Smoke detected on EgyptAir plane before crash, investigators say; images of debris revealed -- Automatic messages sent from EgyptAir Flight 804 indicated there was smoke in the cabin shortly before the aircraft lost contact with air traffic controllers and crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, French investigators said Saturday. The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis, France's civil aviation investigative body, said it was premature to determine the meaning of the messages, but experts said the finding was consistent with speculation among U.S. and Egyptian officials that a bomb could have exploded on board. Shashank Bengali/Los Angeles Times Related: Investigators perplexed over EgyptAir Flight 804 automated warning system
Still few answers in EgyptAir crash - and no claim of responsibility -- Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi urged patience Sunday as the search for the wreckage of EgyptAir Flight 804 concluded a third day with scant progress. Government investigators said it would be a month before they would release preliminary findings. Egyptian officials, who speculated following the crash that terrorism was the likely cause, have sounded a more cautious note in subsequent days since no militant group has claimed responsibility and Egyptian military units have recovered only bits of debris and human remains from the sea. Shashank Bengali/Los Angeles Times
Capt. Sully weighs in on EgyptAir 804 crash -- Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger, said Sunday people should not jump to conclusions about what happened to EgyptAir flight 804. "In many walks of life it's just human nature to shoot from the hip or jump to conclusions, but in safety-critical domains like aviation ... it's the evidence, facts, that we must rely on," Sullenberger said in an interview on CBS' "Face the Nation." Emily Schultheis/CBS News
Airlines
United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz to tell how airline will improve the customer experience -- Oscar, the stage is yours. In yet another - and perhaps the flashiest - sign yet that United Airlines is changing, CEO Oscar Munoz will take center stage in what is being billed as a major media event on June 2 at the historic Gotham Hall in New York City. Multiple sources said this will be Munoz's biggest public event since he returned in late March from an extended medical leave after a heart attack and heart transplant. Lewis Lazare/Chicago Business Journal
Watch American Airlines implode old headquarters to make way for new offices -- With the push of a lever and a little help from 380 pounds of explosives, American Airlines imploded six buildings from its 1980s-era headquarters Friday afternoon to make way for new development at its Fort Worth campus. Hundreds of American Airlines employees gathered on the roof of the parking garage a half-mile away to watch the collection of three-to-five-story buildings fall at 1 p.m. Conor Shine/Dallas Morning News
Aviation Security
TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger may be in trouble -- Wait times at major airports that exceed 90 minutes. Independent tests showing Transportation Security Administration screeners failed to detect fake weapons and bombs planted by auditors 95 percent of the time. The constant threat of a terrorist attack. That's the stuff on TSA Administrator Peter Neffenger's daily must-address list. A new addition to that list: a job in possible jeopardy. The Senate approved Neffenger's appointment as the TSA's sixth administrator in June. Just 11 months later, he has basically been warned. Janell Ross/Washington Post
Experts say perfect security is elusive at all airports -- Explosives in the form of paper, or concealed in a medicine-sized bottle and looking like salt. Tiny electric detonators. Security agents at the main airport in Paris are trained to detect all manner of increasingly sophisticated devices that could doom a flight. But the chilling reality is that security is ultimately fallible. "The infinitely perfect does not exist," said Sylvain Prevost, who trains airport personnel seeking the coveted red badge that allows them access to the airport's restricted areas. Elaine Ganley/AP
Long airport TSA lines cause pain, but privatization may not be cure -- Staggeringly long lines at the nation's airports this spring have led officials in Chicago, New York City, Atlanta and Seattle to discuss turning security over to private contractors, instead of employees of the Transportation Security Administration. It is not clear that having multiple airports privatize would fix TSA-related issues, since the TSA still runs the system, approves the contractors, makes the rules, and writes the checks from the same limited pot of federal money. Mary Wisniewski/Chicago Tribune  
How TSA's big 'bet' to sell travelers on PreCheck program fell short -- If long security screening lines at the airport have you down, you and your fellow travelers have only yourselves to blame for not "turning a place of 'no' into a place of 'yes'" by enrolling in the Transportation Security Administration's PreCheck program. A Virginia marketing company used that phrase to describe the challenge it faced in 2014, when it launched what eventually became a $1.53 million marketing campaign intended to help popularize the TSA's expedited airport security screening program. Mike Brunker/NBC News
The TSA is hiring: Here's what you need to know -- The TSA is on a hiring blitz. The agency announced plans earlier this month to hire 768 full-time screeners and have them in airports by mid-June to help combat long security lines. Airports across the country are experiencing a high volume of passengers that's causing major backups at security checkpoints. That's because the number of TSA officers has decreased, as the number of fliers has increased.  In 2013, the TSA had roughly 47,000 screeners to clear 643 million passengers through security. Kathryn Vasel/CNN Money
American Airlines puts $4 million toward cutting TSA lines -- American Airlines is so fed up with the long airport security lines that it is putting up its own money to tackle the problem. Security lines have been growing, according to the Transportation Security Administration, because the number of screening officers has dropped - caused by a high turnover rate - while the number of air travelers in the U.S. has increased. Airlines and other travel promoters worry that the security lines will scare off vacationers during the peak summer travel season. Hugo Martin/Los Angeles Times
Business Aviation
With commercial airlines soaring, why have some private jet start-ups failed? -- The nation's commercial airlines are reporting soaring profit margins and enough revenue to invest billions of dollars in new planes, airport lounges and even designer-made employee uniforms. So why hasn't that success extended to the fleet of private jet start-ups that launched in the last few years?  Private jet charters Blackjet, Blue Star Jets and Beacon, among others, have ended operations in recent months, citing funding difficulties as well as problems securing planes, among other issues. Hugo Martin/Los Angeles Times
Plane cleaner adds services to land jobs -- Business is really taking of for airplane cleaner Gary Privitera. His La Mirada-based firm, Gary's Aircraft Detailing, has expanded the services it offers, giving revenue a lift. "Revenue has grown 20 percent since last year," said Privitera, 58, who has added aluminum polishing, leather dyeing, and color matching to the basic cleaning package. "Doing all those services on top of the detailing has made us more successful." Olga Grigoryants/Los Angeles Business Journal
Airplanes
Boeing wins $11.3 billion order for 100 planes from VietJet -- Boeing Co. won an order for 100 jets from VietJet Aviation Joint Stock Co. valued at $11.3 billion in list prices as Vietnam's only private airline expands fleet amid a surge in travel. VietJet signed the agreement today in Hanoi during President Barack Obama's visit to Vietnam. Delivery of the Boeing 737 Max 200 planes will run for four years beginning in 2019 and will help the carrier expand its fleet to 200 by the end of 2023, the company said in a statement. John Boudreau &  Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen/Bloomberg
Aviation Data & Analysis
Air Cargo Volume Declines 13.1% US Carriers in February
Courtesy Oliver Wyman PlaneStats
Monday @ the Memories
Braniff JetRail at Love Field - 1970 to 1974
Braniff JetRail at Love Field -
1970 to 1974
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