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Anxiety mounts as FAA deadline nears -- Lawmakers and stakeholders are growing increasingly concerned about the prospect of another short-term Federal Aviation Administration extension with just 19 legislative days left before the agency's legal authority expires. Passing a clean reauthorization would be a blow to the aviation industry and Senate committee leaders who muscled a wide-ranging FAA proposal through the upper chamber on a 95-3 vote. Melanie Zanona/The Hill
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Westfield unveils five tender opportunities at LAX Terminal 1 -- Westfield on Wednesday announced five major concession opportunities for the new Los Angeles International Airport Southwest Airlines Terminal 1. They cover travel essential, specialty retail and food & beverage outlets. The T1 Commercial Evaluation Process is a continuation of the $508 million overhaul spearheaded by Los Angeles World Airports and Southwest Airlines. Martin Moodie/The Moodie Davitt Report
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Allegiant resuming Los Angeles flights from Eastern Iowa Airport -- Allegiant Air on Thursday will resume seasonal non-stop service between Cedar Rapids and Los Angeles. The Las Vegas-based airline originally planned to resume service Wednesday with an outbound flight at 1:57 p.m., but had to reschedule the departure to 10 a.m. Thursday due to crew availability. Kim Schaefer, Allegiant public relations manager, said passengers were provided with meal vouchers and hotel accommodations. George C. Ford/Cedar Rapids Gazette
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Alaska Airlines begins non-stop service between John Wayne Airport and San Jose -- Alaska Airlines on Wednesday began daily non-stop service connecting San Jose, California with Orange County/Santa Ana and San Diego. With the new flights, which are operated by SkyWest Airlines, Alaska now operates a total of 28 peak-day departures to 14 destinations from Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport. Alaska Airlines Press Release
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San Diego Regional Airport Authority hires general counsel -- Amy Gonzalez has been hired as general counsel of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. Gonzalez previously served as senior director of the general counsel's office. She takes over for Bret Lobner, the Airport Authority's first chief legal adviser, who retired last week. Gonzalez has represented the Airport Authority since October 2003. Prior to that, she served as a deputy city attorney representing Los Angeles World Airports. SD Metro Magazine
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Land around Charlotte's airport offers tempting development possibilities, draft study says -- A new Charlotte Douglas International Airport study shows the land around the airport could support millions of square feet of new commercial space over the next 20 years, interim Aviation Director Brent Cagle said Wednesday. Speaking at a meeting of the Global Vision Leaders Group, Cagle outlined the early results of the airport's study looking at property around the main airfield. Ely Portillo/Charlotte Observer
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Armstrong Airport to add direct flights between New Orleans, Germany -- Direct flights between Germany and New Orleans will be available starting next year. Tourism and airport leaders will make the news official Thursday morning at Louis Armstrong International Airport. Condor Airlines will provide seasonal service to Frankfurt twice a week from May through September. Greg LaRose/New Orleans Times-Picayune
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Democrats fight cap on TSA screeners -- A group of House Democrats is pushing back against a cap on the number of full-time employees permitted at the Transportation Security Administration, which Democrats say leaves it ill-equipped to handle fluctuations in air travel or heightened security threats. Congress already approved a $34 million funding shift within the TSA's current budget to hire and train new staff and is considering another $28 million reprogramming request so the agency can convert 2,784 transportation security officers from part-time to full-time status. Melanie Zanona/The Hill
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99 percent satisfaction at TSA? Congressman questions agencies' customer service data -- Agencies are too selective about what they choose to include - and omit - in their quarterly customer service reports on Performance.gov, one congressman said. And he wants agencies to start holding themselves to higher performance standards, preferably measures they don't create for themselves. Take the Transportation Security Administration, for example. Of the six performance indicators TSA lists on Performance.gov, only one shows the agency's customer satisfaction scores. Nicole Ogrysko/Federal News Radio
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3 free apps aim to help you past long TSA lines at airports -- Across the country, TSA lines are causing record delays at airports. But three free apps claim they can get you through them faster - and one of them is from the TSA itself. The Rossen Reports team gave them each a try: MiFlight provides crowd-sourced information, Fleet will not only tell you how busy airport lines are; it will also act as your personal concierge once you're through them, identifying the nearest shopping and food venues. My TSA is an app run by the TSA itself. Jeff Rossen & Josh Davis/TODAY
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Is TSA PreCheck too expensive? -- The Transportation Security Administration has been urging travelers to sign up for its PreCheck trusted traveler program as the best way to avoid long lines at security checkpoints - but a new survey suggests that the PreCheck fee might be too pricey, slowing down enrollment. TSA has a target of 25 million members for PreCheck, but it has fallen far behind that goal. So far, fewer than 2.8 million travelers have joined. Joining PreCheck requires a background interview at a TSA PreCheck enrollment center and payment of an $85 fee for a five-year membership. Chris McGinnis/SF Gate
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United CEO says Board was too isoated to see airline's slide -- United Airlines' board was too isolated in recent years, allowing the carrier to fall behind rivals since its 2010 merger, said Chief Executive Oscar Munoz, who shouldered some of the responsibility himself. "As board members, we only meet infrequently and are not as engaged with the front line, necessarily," he said at the airline's annual meeting Wednesday in Chicago. "The first thing I did as CEO was I left this board room" and visited employees at United, the No. 3 U.S. airline by traffic last year. Michael Sasso/Bloomberg
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United Airlines - we've changed -- United Airlines, preparing to return flights into Auckland, says that its product and service has changed for good. The airline is the world's biggest by the size of its network and will start flying from San Francisco to Auckland from July 1, in partnership with Air New Zealand. The service will be three times a week initially and increase to daily from October using a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Julie Reid, director for Australia and New Zealand sales, said the airline was a "new United." Grant Bradley/New Zealand Herald
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United, Iberia airlines pull out of Nigeria; funds blocked -- U.S. airline United and Spain's Iberia are pulling out of Nigeria as the government is urged to release more than $600 million in air ticket sales blocked by the West African nation's chronic foreign currency shortage. The International Air Transport Association's regional manager flew to the capital, Abuja, this week to negotiate with the government. Michelle Faul/AP
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Thai Airways seeks 10-airline pact to add routes -- Thai Airways International is seeking an alliance with as many as 10 other Asian carriers in order to add destinations and counter a similar grouping of its low-cost rivals. A series of bilateral accords could unite airlines from across the region to boost connectivity in India and China and smaller markets such as Myanmar and Vietnam, THAI president Charamporn Jotikasthira said in an interview. The company lacks the cash to expand its network via acquisitions, he said. Bloomberg
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U.S. airlines match JetBlue fare hike as carriers try to reverse revenue per seat drop -- U.S. airlines' efforts to increase fares are meeting with more success this year than during the previous three, JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Tuesday. Airline shares rose the most in eight months. JetBlue Airways Corp. raised domestic fares $3 one way Monday excluding its premium product, JPMorgan analyst Jamie Baker said in a note to clients Tuesday. American, Delta, United, Southwest, Alaska and Virgin America airlines matched the change on routes where their services overlap with JetBlue's, Baker said. Mary Schlangenstein/Bloomberg
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Skift CMO Interviews: JetBlue's biggest challenge is to keep being cool -- Marty St. George, JetBlue's executive vice president of commercial and planning, is a big fan of a certain Boston-area NFL team. Which may be why he quips that Southwest Airlines' pervasive TV commercials on Sundays "ruined football for me." JetBlue does local TV advertising because it isn't a national brand and some two-thirds of its advertising budget goes to digital marketing. "The beauty of digital is it is made for test and target," St. George says. Dennis Schaal/Skift
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Is this seat taken? Likely, if you flew Southwest Airlines during its record May -- Southwest Airlines planes were the fullest they've ever been in May as growth in passenger traffic outpaced an increase in capacity, according to traffic data released Wednesday. The Dallas-based airline reported a load factor of 85.8 percent, a record for the month of May for a key statistic that compares the number of passengers to the number of available seats. Conor Shine/Dallas Morning News
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Delta Air Lines sees second-quarter profit margin near lower end of guidance: CFO -- Delta Air Lines Inc, the No. 2 U.S. airline by passenger traffic, expects two key second-quarter financial measures will be at the weaker end of its prior forecast, its chief financial officer said on Wednesday. Delta expects an operating profit margin near 21 percent compared with its prior outlook of 21 percent to 23 percent, with passenger unit revenue down around 4.5 percent from a year ago, CFO Paul Jacobson said. It previously expected that measure would drop between 2.5 percent and 4.5 percent. Reuters
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Why it's getting easier to sleep on planes -- For every inch of lost legroom in the back of the plane, there seems to be one new amenity in the front. A disproportionate number of these new offerings are promising to give you the single thing that's most elusive at 35,000 feet: a good night's sleep. Here, a snapshot at the most relaxing new perks in the skies-mostly in business and first class; sorry, coach-including a few that might warrant leaving the melatonin at home. Nikki Ekstein/Bloomberg
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Robert Reardon gave new meaning to the golden age of flying -- Robert Reardon's devotion to the airways earned him a record-setting career and two spots in the Guinness World Records 2013 edition - oldest active flight attendant and the �longest career as a flight attendant. He worked at Northwest �Airlines and then Delta Air Lines for 62 years and 8 months, before finally retiring at 90. On June 3, Reardon responded to his final boarding call. He died 27 days after celebrating his 92nd birthday. Aimee Blanchette/Minneapolis Star Tribune
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China will not build L.A.-to-Vegas rail line -- Nine months after announcing that China would help build a high-speed rail line from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, the private U.S. company behind the plan said late Wednesday that the deal was off. XpressWest said the decision to terminate the relationship with China Railway International was based "primarily upon difficulties associated with timely performance and CRI's challenges in obtaining required authority to proceed with required development activities." Julie Makinen/Los Angeles Times
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