Delta has entered into an agreement with Wheeltug plc to assist in developing a new system that might enable pilots to back away from gates with a tow tug, and to taxi without using jet engines. This would reduce fuel consumption on the ground, and may reduce airline ground congestion by assisting in airplane mobility.…
Last week, Kip Hawley, the head of the Transportation Security Administration submitted his own post to the people at Aviation Daily on the subject of employee screening and the recent increase in TSA activity in Florida. You can have a look at the post in full. Here are some highlights and points Terrorists are adaptive,…
Expressjet launched its new service operated under its own name, as opposed to operating for a larger carrier today with the launch of service from Kansas City, Omaha(Eppley Airfield), Austin, Boise, LA/Ontario, Spokane, and Tucson. Further service will commence over the coming weeks/months. As part of its rollout, the company is offering nonstop service in…
Midwest Airlines continued its rollout of 50-seater regional jets operated by Skywest Airlines as Midwest Connect with the inauguration of service onboard these jets from Milwaukee to Columbus, OH and on select flights between Milwaukee and Minneapolis/St. Paul and Philadelphia. Midwest’s new route between Kansas City and Seattle/Tacoma launched today. The flights operate as Midwest…
Spirit today announced nonstop service from its hub in Ft. Lauderdale to Guatemala City, Guatemala once daily effective May 10th. Commercial passenger service will be terminating in Lake Havasu City, Arizona effective May 6th. Mesa Airlines, which provides service from the airport to Phoenix and Las Vegas. A Mesa analysis on the Havasu airport showed…
The New York Times offered some advice recently on coping with the TSA liquid and gel ban. As they put it… SINCE the Transportation Security Administration began cracking down on liquids, gels and aerosols in carry-on luggage last summer, travelers determined not to check their bags have been haunting the trial-size aisles at Wal-Mart, trolling…
The Wall Street Journal reports that U.S. Airlines are expected to start making announcements this summer about the offering of in-flight internet connections. While Aircell is temporarilly out of the game for in-flight cellular communications due to the recent FCC decision not to adjust its ban, Aircell plans to install equipment to establish a wi-fi…
Some days in the airline industry, it seems a neverending stream of negative publicity. Here are a few things we caught over the last few days. It fails to inspire us. (Note: In every one of our roundups, links to a news source are provided for each item. Feel free to click through for more…
The Coalition for Luggage Security once again sounded its trumpet call to require travellers to voluntarily ship their luggage from domestic air travel prior to departure. To be fair, we had a look at Universal Express’s Luggage Express pitch. They plan to charge $70 per piece of dropped off luggage of $85 per pick-up. In…
United Airlines and bmi have applied to the United States Department of Transportation to combine their transatlantic operations. The two carriers have no overlapping nonstop service and would take advantage of the open skies pact. Both carriers are members of the Star Alliance. The agreement would only merge their transatlantic operations. Other operations would remain…
A flight from Philadelphia to Rome had to return to Philadelphia two hours into the flight because of a computer glitch in a backup navigation computer. The passengers are being reaccomodated as best possible to their final destinations.
Southwest Airlines has reupped for another three years of serving Coca-Cola company products, which will extend their offering through 2011. Under the terms of the agreement, Coca-Cola North America will continue to be the beverage provider for Southwest, supplying soft drinks including Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite and Sprite Zero, Seagram’s mixers, and Minute Maid juices…
When we are on a plane, we enjoy reading through the Skymall catalog, which is full of interesting things we have to admit we’ve drooled over, but never gotten around to purchasing. Try this coupon for them… SkyMall – Save $5 no minimum. Some restrictions apply. We’ve placed a Skymall button on the site for…
The Consumerist, of which we are an avid reader, posted on the subject of Rule 240…however, we felt their post was somewhat brief on what Rule 240 meant, and decided to revisit the issue. We approached it in a post in September. To reiterate, Rule 240 has no power post-deregulation. Deregulation occurred in 1978. Many…
The Cranky Flier has a featured interview between him and Josh Marks, the Senior Vice-Preisdent of Planning and Development for MAXjet. MAXjet is a business-class only airline that started service between New York-JFK and London-Stansted airport in 2005. They offer the “perks of international Business Class (fast check-in and security clearance, spacious departure lounges, deep-recline…
Bruce Schneier has announced his Second Annual Movie Plot Threat Contest…and we’re aiming to win the prize…one of his books autographed… Our goal: invent a terrorist plot to hijack or blow up an airplane with a commonly carried item as a key component. The component should be so critical to the plot that the TSA…
Northwest cancelled flight 1190 from Las Vegas to Detroit yesterday over the behavior of its captain. The captain was on a cell phone, and at some point during the boarding process, left the cockpit and went into the lavatory, locked the door, and continued his conversation. The conversation could be heard through the door by…
Northwest regional affiliate Pinnacle is suspending flights from Kalamazoo to Minneapolis until May 2nd to give the airline time to hire and train additional pilots. Apparently 20 of their pilots took jobs with larger, mainline carriers and they are trying to find replacements. Meanwhile, Northwest has also been cleared to begin operations at Compass, its…
ATA announced last week that it would acquire World Air Holdings, which owns charter carriers World Airways and North American Airlines. North American, based at JFK, offers some regularly scheduled service. World Air Holdings did not acquire North American that long ago itself. The airlines would be operated as three separate airlines under one corporate…
United will add a $10 surcharge for all passengers out of LAX to offset a $10 million rent increase imposed by the Los Angeles World Airports effective immediately. United is one of several airlines suing LAWA, which runs LAX, over the increase and has decided to encourage public outrage by making the passenger pay the…
Four fighter jets, two F-15s and two F-16s, were dispatched to inspect a Continental Airlines Boeing 777 today from Newark to Tel Aviv which failed to make contact with Air Traffic Control and comply with international regulations as it approached Israeli airspace. The fighters incepted the Flight 90, carrying 251 passengers, once it reached the…
After United announced it would impose a $10 fare surcharge to all passengers travelling through Los Angeles International Airport(LAX), the Los Angeles World Airports(LAWA), the parent agency of the airport, issued a press release condemning the action as “exploiting a justified increase in its maintenance and operations costs in order to dramatically increase profits on…
Jetblue is adding Saturday service from Boston to Aruba to complement its JFK service effective June 30th. It will also add service from Boston to San Diego once daily effective June 28th. Connections will be available to its partner, Cape Air. Southwest Airlines will be adding one additional daily nonstop flight between Albuquerque and Dallas…
A white mouse onboard a Japan-bound Vietnam Airlines flight delayed the flight for four hours. The rodent had to be seized as a matter of safety. It was theorized it might have been brought on in carry-on luggage. On Thursday, Pinnacle Airlines, which operates as Northwest Airlink, was involved in an incident as Flight 4712…
We recently read a fascinating article dated April 5th on the subject of Jetblue and its service issues from the perspective of the recently hired CIO, who went through it. We heartily recommend it. It attributes the bulk of Jetblue’s problems to issues with its information infrastructure…systems that had not previously been tested under these…