King-5 News reports that all of the Christmas trees inside the terminal at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport have been removed in response to a complaint by a local rabbi. The rabbi in question wanted to install an eight-foot menorah and have a public lighting ceremony. He threatened to sue if the menorah wasn’t put up and…
The Herald reports that John Wilkie, a lecturer teaching stage management at the Royal Scottish Academy of Drama and Music in Glasgow, was arrested on the orders of Ryanair for trying to disembark an aircraft. The plane from Paris Beauvois to Glasgow’s Prestwick Airport was diverted to Edinburgh after a terror alert. Mr. Wilkie and…
The Associated Press reports that a 42-year old woman gave birth to a girl late Wednesday night on a Mexicana Airlines flight from Guadalajara to Chicago’s O’Hare Airport. An obstetrician-gynecologist happened to be on board and the baby was born nearly an hour before landing. We continue to wonder…in this case…which country would this girl…
Frontier Airlines is considering selling travel insurance or vacation packages, a tactic many airlines have invested in, looking for a way to diversify its sources of revenue. It could announce the results of its attempts in revenue diversification in the next six months. Frontier’s cross-promotional partnership with Airtran will likely generate five or six million…
USAToday reported on Friday that the TSA is testing whether it can allow people without boarding passes to enter the secure areas at airports. If the test programs at Dallas-Fort Worth and Detroit are considered successful, many airports are fighting for the right to allow others past checkpoints. Thus, those waiting for arrivals would be…
Today in the Sky reports that Northwest has reached a deal to sell seven of its DC-10s to ATA Airlines. Northwest has replaced its DC-10s in favor of more efficient aircraft and is looking at slowly doing the same with its fleet of DC9s. ATA is likely to use them for its charter operations, most…
After the US Airways announcement of a desired merger, Delta first announced service from New York to Phoenix, then Salt Lake City to Charlotte…and now, they announced today Salt Lake City to Pittsburgh, effective March 1. Delta Connection carrier Skywest will operate once daily service using the 70-seater Bombardier CRJ-900, with 10 first class and…
Today, the chief of Boeing’s commercial airplanes unit said the 787 Dreamliner is on schedule for its first test flight next summer and first customer delivery in 2008. Assembly of the main sections is set to start in January. Boeing already has 435 orders for the aircraft. Meanwhile, Lufthansa has announced that they are ordering…
US Airways issued a press release earlier today, advising that they are fully committed to their proposal to merge with Delta. Today in the Sky reports, however, that CEO Doug Parker told USAToday that his company could abandon the attempt if management continues to oppose the merger. He will not fight Delta in court without…
USAToday reports that an American flight from Washington National to Dallas Fort Worth Airports was diverted Monday after passengers reported smelling struck matches. The plane landed safely and the FBI, TSA, and airport authority responded and everyone and their luggage was offloaded. A woman admitted she struck the matches in an attempt to conceal flatulence.…
Today in the Sky reports that the Boeing 767 might be hanging around for longer than expected. The jet was supposed to be obsolete. But now it and other widebody aircraft are in high-demand as there is increase demand and a shortage of such aircraft. As Boeing considers shutting down 767 production, lease rates for…
Yesterday, British Airways announced an eight daily roundtrip flight between JFK Airport in New York and London Heathrow. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic announced their April inauguration of service from O’Hare Airport in Chicago to London Heathrow. O’Hare is the tenth US gateway for Virgin and the 17th daily flight from London.
Jetblue yesterday announced it was amending its Embraer 190 delivery schedule to defer deliveries, reducing its capacity growth for next year from 18-20% to 14-17%, which also assumes additional aircraft sales, leases, and/or assingments. That means in 2007-2011, instead of 18 aircraft delivered, Jetblue will take delivery of 10 aircraft, with options for additional ones…
Today in the Sky reports that Porter Air, centered at Toronto’s downtown airport, is looking closely at flying to New York’s LaGuardia and/or Newark Liberty Airport. We commented on Porter’s service-based philosophy and hope that it can succeed in putting competition onto the New York-Toronto route. Porter may also try service to Chicago Midway.
Reuters reports today that the United States withdrew a proposal to ease restrictions on foreign involvement in U.S. airlines. It is the second time Congress has prevented the Bush administration from changing those laws. Opponents of the process say giving foreign interests more decision-making powers could compromise security and cost jobs. Currently, they are limited…
Reutrers reported last week that Airbus is bidding to outsource half of the basic skeleton for the A350. The A350 is Airbus’s answer to the 787 Dreamliner and it, as well as its attempts to improve the less than successful A340, have suffered due to the massive financial losses taken due to problems with the…
Effective February 15, Delta is increasing its service between Chicago and New York. Delta’s domestic routes of late seem to be paralleling their competition. Jetblue expands to Chicago, Delta follows. US Airways makes a bid for Delta, they announce first New York to Phoenix service and then Salt Lake City to Charlotte service. Delta will…
The Registered Traveler Program allows travelers to submit biometric information and thus allow them to speed through security lines for a fee. Part of that fee is given to the TSA and the other part to the private industry managing the program. The TSA’s portion includes a security threat assessment for each applicant and misc.…
If you thought, the TSA was only interested in confiscating your hairspray or other little seemingly innocuous things, have a look at the picture above, courtesy of Gridskipper.com. The Louisville Slugger factory gives out these foot-long mini-bats as a free gift if you take their factory tour. It seems many people forget that carrying a…
A new French airline, L’Avion, began taking reservations today and will be operating daily round-trip service from Paris’s second-largest airport, Orly, and Newark’s Liberty Airport. A roundtrip flight would cost $2118(EUR1600). The business class fare on Air France between Paris and New York is about EUR2700. More details can be found courtesy of Reuters.
Not long ago, we commented on Air Canada’s innovative simplified ticketing system. Now TAM is launching a new fare platform, five new Fare profiles: Promo, Light, Flex, Max, and Top. Like Air Canada, each level presents clear characteristics and rules so that a passenger can make a choice based on their needs. We have blasted…
Suspiciously, the day Jetblue inaugurated its service to Cancun, American Airlines issued a press release celebrating 25 years of service to Cancun…it inaugurated service from Dallas in December 1, 1981. American has served Cancun for a quarter century, and Mexico for sixty years. A fairly good way to remind people who else flies daily from…
Yesterday, Delta continued to fend off a merger attempt by US Airways, and announced it would inaugurating service on March 1 from its hub at Salt Lake City, UT to a US Airways stronghold…Charlotte, NC. We can’t help but wonder about the timing of this announcement, considering the merger issues.
Yesterday, US Airways made a presentation concerning its proposed acquisition with Delta. Doug Parker, US Airways’ Chairman and CEO said, “We were pleased to have made a presentation to both Delta and its creditors about what we believe are the compelling and unique benefits of our plan. We reviewed our offer and had a chance…
We opted not to report on the Fake Boarding Pass Website created by Indiana University student Christopher Soghoian. Soghoian’s website could generate Northwest Boarding Passes close enough to pass a visual inspection, but not a machine inspection. While Soghoian created the site to call attention to security issues originally raised by Bruce Schneier and other…