airline industry

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Congress Goes Home Without Ending FAA Shutdown

GOP, Dems disagree about subsidizing service to rural airports

(Newser) - Congress has gone home for the summer without reaching a deal to end a partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration . Some 4,000 FAA employees and around 70,000 construction workers have been put out of work by the shutdown, caused by a partisan standoff, the Washington Post reports....

JetBlue Offers New Unlimited Flight Package

BluePass is catered toward business travelers

(Newser) - JetBlue introduced several new three-month, unlimited flight plans today in an attempt to snare more higher-paying business travelers. BluePass is available only for departure from Boston Logan International Airport or Long Beach Airport for travel between Aug. 22 and Nov. 22. The offer is a more focused version of its...

Rolls-Royce Paying $100M to Qantas for Engine Blast

Engine maker agrees to $100M compensation deal

(Newser) - Rolls-Royce has agreed to compensate Qantas for the mid-air disintegration of an Airbus A380 engine last year. The Australian airline grounded all of its A380s for weeks after the incident last year, which investigators blamed on an oil fire caused by a manufacturing defect. The disintegration triggered an emergency landing,...

Airbus Shows Off Transparent Jet of the Future

Imaginary jet features bar, video game area

(Newser) - Someday, Wonder Woman won’t be the only one with an invisible jet. Airbus has been showing the media a virtual “Concept Cabin” of what it imagines its passenger jets will look like in 40 years. The showiest feature: The jets' walls can turn see-through at the touch of...

Airlines' 2010 Checked-Bag Haul: $3.4B

They raked in billions more in reservation and change fees

(Newser) - You may want to take a deep breath before reading this one: Airlines collected a whopping $3.4 billion in baggage fees last year, up 24% from 2009. Reservation and change fees accounted for an additional $2.3 billion, down 3% from the year prior. The add-ons are one of...

Delta Backs Down On Soldiers' Baggage Fees

Policy changed after returning troops stung with excess charges

(Newser) - Delta, facing a firestorm of bad publicity after hitting soldiers returning from Afghanistan with excess baggage charges , is changing its policy on military baggage. Military personnel traveling on orders will now be able to check four bags free of charge, according to the airline's blog . A YouTube video of...

DoT: Oops, We Can't Ban Peanuts on Planes

Allergy sufferers are out of luck

(Newser) - The Department of Transportation has been publicly considering banning or restricting the distribution of peanuts on airplanes, in deference to those with severe allergies. But when it issued its latest airline rules yesterday, it revealed that it literally couldn’t do anything—thanks to a 12-year-old law specifically preventing them...

Minutes After Takeoff, Flight Returns to New Orleans

United Airlines pilot reported smoke in cockpit

(Newser) - And the airline mishaps continue —luckily, with more safe endings. United Airlines Flight 497 to San Francisco returned to New Orleans minutes after takeoff today after the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit, the FAA said. As soon as the plane was on the ground, flight attendants shouted "...

NTSB: Southwest Jet Had Fatigue Cracking

Meanwhile, airline grounds 79 planes, cancels hundreds of flights

(Newser) - Fatigue cracking has been found along the entire 5-foot section of a Southwest Airlines jet that ripped open on Friday, forcing an emergency landing in Arizona. The NTSB says that mechanics will cut a 9-foot by 3-foot section of the plane and send it to Washington, DC, for testing. Southwest...

EasyJet Offers Israeli Fliers Choice of Ham or Bacon

Budget carrier sorry for pork-only mix-up

(Newser) - Just months after launching a Tel Aviv-London service with a kosher menu, EasyJet found itself with nothing to offer hungry Jewish passengers on a 4.5-hour flight but ham melts and bacon baguettes. The airline apologized for the blunder, saying the wrong food canisters had been supplied, the Daily Mail...

Winter Cancellations May Cost Airlines $600M

Record number of flights grounded by weather

(Newser) - If you’ve had to deal with a flight cancellation recently, rest assured that the airlines most definitely feel your pain. A seemingly never-ending string of winter storms has forced airlines to cancel a record 89,884 flights since Nov. 1, Bloomberg reports, costing them more than $629 million according...

No One Died on a US Flight in 2010

Fatal crashes 'on the brink of extinction' thanks to advanced technology

(Newser) - US airlines didn’t have a single fatality in 2010—a feat that’s at once rarer-than-you’d-think and becoming more common. Fatality-free years have not historically been unheard of in aviation, but they’ve been sporadic occasions—until now. This is the third time in the past four years...

Tech-Savvy Travelers Rebook Flights Via Twitter

It beats waiting in line

(Newser) - An extra twist of the knife for the poor souls waiting in line for ticket agents to rebook flights: Some of their fellow travelers got it done with a tweet. Delta, for instance, has had several employees focused mainly on handling direct-message Twitter requests from tech-savvy passengers since the East...

Investigators Pinpoint Airbus Engine Fault

Qantas starts legal action against Rolls-Royce

(Newser) - Following a Qantas engine explosion last month, investigators have isolated a major fault in some Airbus A380 engines, the BBC reports. Rolls-Royce’s Trent 900—the kind used on the Qantas flight—had a misaligned part that weakened an oil pipe wall, resulting in “fatigue cracking,” which led...

Qantas: Half of World's A380s Need Engines Replaced

Airbus to seek compensation from Rolls-Royce

(Newser) - The chief of Qantas Airways has chilled the hearts of nervous fliers—and Rolls-Royce shareholders—by saying up to half of the world's fleet of Airbus A380 jumbos using Rolls-Royce engines need to have their engines replaced. The CEO says the engines need to be replaced because of a faulty...

British Airways Boss Slams US Security Checks

UK should stop 'kowtowing' to US demands

(Newser) - Britain should stop "kowtowing" to America's demands every time it steps up security for incoming flights, the chairman of British Airways complains. Martin Broughton told an industry conference that many of the security checks are "redundant" and that Britain should only comply with the same checks that the...

Airline Changes Coach to 'Cuddle Class'

Couples can book a row and sleep

(Newser) - It’s not “economy” seating—it’s “cuddle class.” That’s the genius innovation cooked up by Air New Zealand, which is fitting its Boeing 777s with new “Skycouches,” rows of three regular seats that can convert into something vaguely resembling a bed. (Aol has...

Southwest Airlines to Buy AirTran for $1.4B

Will help it compete with Delta in Atlanta

(Newser) - Southwest Airlines will buy AirTran for about $1.42 billion, the companies announced today. The move will put Southwest in head-to-head competition with Delta in Delta's home base of Atlanta. The buyout, funded mostly with debt, will also give Southwest a bigger slice of the market in cities like Boston...

Two Planes Escape Disaster&mdash;Barely
Two Planes Escape
Disaster—Barely
Sep 23, 2010 6:13 PM CDT

Two Planes Escape Disaster—Barely

US Airways jet, cargo plane nearly collide over Minneapolis

(Newser) - Way too close for comfort: A US Airways jet with 90 passengers came within 50 to 100 feet of colliding with a cargo plane over Minneapolis. The NTSB is investigating the near collision, reports the Minneapolis Star-Tribune , which points out that it occurred over a residential neighborhood and two busy...

American Airlines Faces Record $24.2M Fine

FAA says it didn't correct faulty wiring

(Newser) - The FAA is apparently trying to prove it can't be bulled by the airlines. It plans to fine American Airlines $24.2 million—that's more than twice the size of the current record fine—over maintenance violations, reports USA Today . The agency alleges that American flew thousands of unsafe flights...

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