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New York - America's aviation system could be at risk of collapsing by the beginning of next year. --snip- .. there is agreement among airline officials and analysts that Washington and the two presidential candidates need to recognize the severity of the crisis and take some action now to avert an economically crippling collapse in the near future. "Unless something is done to move toward some kind of fix, we're going to see every one of our major airlines in bankruptcy," says Robert Crandall, former chairman of American Airlines. ... As a result of the spike upward in oil prices,...

An American Eagle flight taxiing to a Raleigh-Durham Airport runway was turned around Monday, but not because of a terrorist threat. The crew was kicking an autistic Cary toddler and his mother off the plane. As the American Eagle flight headed down the taxiway, two-and-a-half-year-old Jarett Farrell wasn't a happy traveler. His mother says she was doing all she could to calm the autistic boy, but got no sympathy from the flight crew. "If they just would have been a little more understanding I think that none of this would have been a problem," Mother, Janice Farrell said. But it...

Continental Airlines said Thursday that it will switch global alliances, joining United Airlines in a deal giving customers full access to both carriers' networks while allowing them to earn frequent-flier miles. The companies described the deal as more than a traditional code-sharing arrangement, saying cooperation on "frequent-flier programs, lounges, facility utilization, information technology and procurement" will boost revenues and cut costs. Shares of both airlines, burdened like their peers by soaring jet-fuel costs, rose sharply Thursday. Houston-based Continental plans to partner closely with Chicago-based United and join the global Star Alliance, a 20-airline group that includes Lufthansa and Air Canada....

The airline industry and embassies of 34 countries, including the members of the European Union, are urging the U.S. government to withdraw a plan that would require airlines and cruise lines to collect digital fingerprints of all foreigners before they depart the United States, starting in August 2009. Their opposition could trigger a battle with Congress and the Bush administration, which want the new plan established quickly. Airlines said the change would cost the industry $12.3 billion over 10 years, not $3.5 billion as the Department of Homeland Security estimated in unveiling the proposal in April. Representatives of the nations...

Airlines To Require Minimum Stays NEW YORK (AP) ― United Airlines said Friday it will start requiring minimum stays for nearly all domestic coach seats beginning in October. It is also raising its cheapest fares by as much as $90 one-way. The second-largest U.S. carrier said the moves are among a number of changes, including flight and job cutbacks, it is making to combat record high fuel prices. The Chicago-based airline has been among the industry's most aggressive in pushing fares and fees higher in recent months, and those efforts have often been matched by other carriers. The industry is...

U.S. military personnel and Defense Department employees won’t have to pay new fees for checked baggage as long as they’re traveling on official government orders in most instances, according to military officials. The fee exemption applies to permanent-change-of-station and temporary-duty travel, according to Staff Sgt. Erica Hix, Transportation Management Office passenger travel specialist at Yokota Air Base, Japan. "As long as you have a set of orders and present it at the counter, they’ll waive the baggage charges," she said. Several U.S. carriers charge or will soon charge a fee for checked bags. This month, American and United airlines began...

A Queens woman was arrested by federal authorities after a JetBlue flight was forced to make an emergency landing because she allegedly lit and refused to extinguish a cigarette on the plane and punched a flight attendant in the face, according to KUSA.com. The plane was en route from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to San Francisco, Calif., on Tuesday when officials said passenger Christina Szele, 35, lit a cigarette in her seat and starting smoking, the Rocky Mountain News reported. Smoking is forbidden on all domestic flights, but the Rocky Mountain News reported that when a...

Air fares could rise by 40 per cent because of the soaring cost of oil, industry experts warned yesterday. The increase threatens to put holidays abroad out of reach for thousands of families. It comes on top of fuel surcharges which have already added up to £872 to the cost of a long-haul flight for a family of four.

Several large carriers will likely be forced into bankruptcy by the end of the year, according to a new study.

US Airways is imposing new passenger fees in the face of rising jet fuel prices, but it's going even further than some other airlines have recently. The Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier (NYSE: LCC), which has a large presence at Reagan National Airport, will start charging $2 for nonalcoholic beverages in coach class on all domestic flights. The fee covers sodas, juices, bottled water and coffee. The charge for alcoholic beverages in coach will increase to $7. Following the lead of several other airlines, US Airways also will charge $15 for the first checked bag for tickets purchased beginning July 9 for...

In a major change of policy, the Transportation Security Administration has announced that passengers refusing to show ID will no longer be able to fly. The policy change, announced on Thursday afternoon, will go into force on June 21, and will only affect passengers who refuse to produce ID. Passengers who claim to have lost or forgotten their proof of identity will still be able to fly. As long as TSA has existed, passengers have been able to fly without showing ID to government agents. Doing so would result in a secondary search (a pat down and hand search of...

THE fleshier air hostesses of India's state airline are too fat to fly, according to a ruling by the country's High Court. Judges yesterday dismissed a case brought by five Air India employees against the airline over its decision to suspend staff more than 3kg over their maximum weight allowance. The airline introduced the limit two years ago when it estimated that more than 10 per cent of its 1,600 cabin crew were overweight. Staff guidelines recommended different weights according to height and age. For an 18-year-old with a height of 152cm (5ft) the maximum weight is 50kg (almost 8st);...

United and Continental Airlines say they will ground fuel-guzzling jets, lay off employees and -- most critical to consumers -- cut domestic capacity before then end of the year. American announced drastic cutbacks last week, as legacy carriers face ruinous increases in the cost of fuel. United said it will remove a total of 100 aircraft from its mainline fleet, including the 30 previously announced Boeing 737s, and reduce its mainline domestic capacity in the fourth quarter 2008 by 14 percent year over year. The company expects to retire all of its 94 B737s, provided it can work out terms...

As the airline industry has run into turbulence prompted by high fuel costs, Amtrak and its Northeast Corridor service that connects Providence, Boston, New York and Washington have kept chugging along. Amtrak said increases in ridership and ticket revenues resulted from increasing gasoline prices, competitive advantages over the airlines and improved service on trains. Recently released figures for the month of March show the national passenger railroad had an overall 12.9-percent increase in ticket revenues over last year, beating the company’s budget by 10.5 percent. Ticket revenues totaled $143 million in March. The Northeast Corridor’s gains for the same period...

When Air Canada [AC.A-T] fills up a new Boeing 777 in Toronto with jet fuel for a one-way flight to London's Heathrow Airport, it now costs $68,948. While the airline is stronger than many rivals, that kind of sticker shock underscores why global carriers are finding it hard to avoid red ink, even with the introduction of hefty fuel surcharges. Monday, the industry itself forecast at least $2.3-billion (U.S.) in combined losses this year. The International Air Transport Association's (IATA) dim projection is based on a conservative average oil price this year of $106.50 a barrel. The airline sector's 2008...

Imagine two scales at the airline ticket counter, one for your bags and one for you. The price of a ticket depends upon the weight of both. That may not be so far-fetched. "You listen to the airline CEOs, and nothing is beyond their imagination," said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, a Washington, DC-based trade group. "They have already begun to think exotically. Nothing is not under the microscope." He declined to discuss what any individual airline might be contemplating, including charging passengers based on weight. With fuel costs almost tripling since 2000, now accounting for...

Basing Airfare On Passenger's Weight Possible Given Surging Fuel Costs Setting passenger airfares the same way air freight charges are calculated -- by weight -- may not be so far-fetched as the airline industry grapples with surging fuel costs. Bloomberg.com reports an Air Transport Association official says airline CEOs are considering everything in efforts to cut costs and increase revenue. That's because airline fuel costs have nearly tripled since 2000. U.S. airlines had combined first-quarter losses of one-point-seven-billion-dollars and could end up with losses totalling six-point-one-billion-dollars in 2008.

A Long Island woman has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines claiming the carrier endangered her 4-year-old son by serving peanuts on her flight, Newsday reported. Tehmina Haque says she was assured several times that peanuts would not be served, but flight attendants changed the plan without notice during her April 18 flight to Los Angeles. Her lawsuit claims she was “tense and fearful .. that her son would have an anaphylactic reaction while imprisoned 35,000 feet in the air,” according to Newsday. An American Airlines spokesman would not comment on the lawsuit. The carrier’s peanut allergy policy reads: “American...

The aging planes of United, American, and Delta guzzle more gas and make the U.S. carriers more vulnerable to soaring oil prices—and to their global competitors For a look at one of the biggest headaches facing U.S. airlines, head out to Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport any day and watch the big jets taking off for the U.S. There goes United Airlines to Chicago, American Airlines to Boston, Delta Air Lines to Atlanta, and Air France to New York's John F. Kennedy airport. What's the big deal? Many of the U.S. carriers' planes are Boeing 767s, a model that dates...

So, America isn't sue-crazy, eh? Last Christmas, a Manhattan man arranged to fly his family and several cousins to Argentina for his mother's 80th birthday. With the free tickets he got with his frequent-flier miles, the family flew to Atlanta, but missed their connecting flight because their plane from New York left almost two hours late. For the sake of brevity: Their vacation was interrupted and they had to drive to Miami to catch a plane for Buenos Aires on another airline. Oh, yes; Delta lost their luggage. In between, Mr. Roth said, he encountered Delta employees who were nasty,...

Back when I was just a naïve youngster -- I say “No comment” to the rumor that I turned 50 last week -- I thought that using the world “airline” as an adnoun to create the phrase “airline movie” told you nothing about the movie itself. It appeared to be strictly a geographic designation, a movie that happened to be shown in a particular locale. We knew that erotic scenes were removed, but otherwise assumed it was the same flick. I learned just how wrong I was back in the early Nineties when I saw Al Pacino in Scent of...

A Grupo TACA airplane overshot a runway and slammed to a stop on a city street Friday in the Honduran capital, leaving a pilot and a passenger dead and injuring several others. Television images showed the plane's fuselage buckled and broken apart in places. The cockpit was smashed under a billboard, and firefighters hosed down at least two cars trapped under the Airbus 320's left engine.

Boy who hopped 2 flights last year tries it again Wednesday May 28, 11:05 am ET Boy who hopped 2 flights last year caught this time -- at Seattle-Tacoma airport gate SEATAC, Wash. -- A 10-year-old boy who last year talked his way onto airline flights to Texas tried another getaway but was stopped at a boarding gate, authorities said. Security tapes show Semaj Booker passing through a metal detector and other procedures before 5 a.m. Tuesday at a checkpoint operated by the Transportation Security Administration at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. His mother had reported him missing to Tacoma police at...

FORT WORTH, Texas - American Airlines will start charging $15 for the first checked bag, cut domestic flights and lay off workers as it grapples with record-high fuel prices. ADVERTISEMENT The nation's largest carrier said Wednesday the fee for the first checked bag starts June 15 and that it would raise other fees for services ranging from reservation help to oversized bags. The other fees will mostly range from $5 to $50 per service, the airline said. Last month American announced it would join other carriers in charging $25 for second bags checked for some passengers, but it wasn't immediately...

The brand spanking new Airbus 340-600, the largest passenger airplane ever built, sat in its hangar in Toulouse, France without a single hour of airtime. Enter the Arab flight crew of Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies (ADAT) to conduct pre-delivery tests on the ground, such as engine runups, prior to delivery to Etihad Airways in Abu Dhabi. The date was November 15, 2007. The ADAT crew taxied the A340-600 to the run-up area. Then they took all four engines to takeoff power with a virtually empty aircraft. Not having read the run-up manuals, they had no clue just how light an...

A flight attendant angry about his work route set a fire in an airplane bathroom, forcing an emergency landing, authorities said. The Compass Airlines flight carrying 72 passengers and four crew members landed safely in Fargo on May 7 after smoke filled the back. No injuries were reported. The plane was flying from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan, authorities said. Eder Rojas, 19, appeared in court Thursday, following his arrest a day earlier in Minneapolis, and ordered held without bail, prosecutors said. The charge of setting fire aboard a civil aircraft carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

A New York City man is suing JetBlue Airways Corp. for more than $2 million because he says a pilot made him give up his seat to a flight attendant and sit on the toilet for more than three hours on a flight from California. Gokhan Mutlu, of Manhattan's Inwood section, says in court papers the pilot told him to "go 'hang out' in the bathroom" about 90 minutes into the San Diego to New York flight because the flight attendant complained that the "jump seat" she was assigned was uncomfortable, the lawsuit said. Mutlu was traveling on a a...

NY man sues airline over flight spent in toilet Mon May 12, 2008 6:52pm EDT NEW YORK (Reuters) - A New York man who says he was denied a seat on a five-hour jetBlue flight and was instead told to "hang out" in the plane's bathroom has sued the airline for $2 million, saying he suffered "extreme humiliation." When Gokhan Mutlu arrived to check in for a jetBlue flight from San Diego to New York in February he was told the flight was full, according to the lawsuit filed in New York State Supreme Court. But Mutlu was allowed to...

A New York City man is suing JetBlue Airways Corp. for more than $2 million because he says a pilot made him give up his seat to a flight attendant and sit on the toilet for more than three hours on a flight from California. Gokhan Mutlu, of Manhattan's Inwood section, says in court papers the pilot told him to "go 'hang out' in the bathroom" about 90 minutes into the San Diego to New York flight because the flight attendant complained that the "jump seat" she was assigned was uncomfortable, the lawsuit said. Mutlu was traveling on a a...

Following the news regarding British Airways no longer carrying in-flight meals containing beef so not to offend Hindu's, U.S. flag carriers have decided to also offer non-offending foods on their international flights. Said a spokesperson, "U.S. flag carriers will no longer carry pork products so not to offend muslims, beef products so not to offend Hindus, fish or chicken so not to offend vegetarians, no milk or dairy products so not to offend vegans, salads so not to offend those who believe plants have rights, or any other type of meal that has a remote chance of offending anyone for...

British Airways takes beef off the menu to avoid offending Hindus Last updated at 16:37pm on 09.05.08For decades the national dish has been a staple meal on the national carrier. But now British Airways has taken beef off the menu for economy passengers amid concerns about its "religious restrictions". The airline has instead switched to a fish pie or chicken dish option for the so-called "cattle class" passengers. BA's second-biggest long-haul market is to India, where the majority Hindu population do not eat beef because of their beliefs. Scroll down for more... In-flight food: BA passengers will be served a...

For decades the national dish has been a staple meal on the national carrier. But now British Airways has taken beef off the menu for economy passengers amid concerns about its "religious restrictions". The airline has instead switched to a fish pie or chicken dish option for the so-called "cattle class" passengers. BA's second-biggest long-haul market is to India, where the majority Hindu population do not eat beef because of their beliefs.

Airlines in the U.S. have ordered their pilots to slow down to reduce fuel consumption. They say the move will add minutes to journey times yet save millions in fuel costs. The tactic will not be adopted by British airlines, however, although the price of jet fuel has risen by more than 70 per cent in the past year. British Airways and Virgin said they have already introduced fuel-saving measures which they believe are more efficient than those adopted by the Americans. Scroll down for more ... U.S. airlines are introducing slower cruising speeds on both domestic flights and long-haul...

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Unless the government watches closely, the airlines will kill you. That seems to be what many reporters and politicians believe. "The result of inspection failures and enforcement failure [by the Federal Aviation Administration] has meant that aircraft have flown unsafe, un-airworthy and at risk of lives," says Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation Committee. "The FAA has clearly displayed a dangerous and cavalier lack of regard for tough safety enforcement," says Sen. Hillary Clinton. And Lou Dobbs of CNN wondered "whether airlines are putting profit ahead of passenger safety." Let me get this straight. The only reason airlines...

A pilot's laptop, filled with top secret security information was reported missing at Dulles Airport and the ripple effects were felt across the country. The Mesa Airlines employee couldn't find the personal laptop he brought with him while co-piloting a United Express flight from Birmingham, Alabama to Dulles International Airport. 17 airports were forced to make emergency changes to access codes at Dulles, Atlanta, Phoenix, Chicago's O'Hare and San Antonio. Various officials within the airline industry admit that with these access codes, someone who went though security could, with the touch of a few buttons, get onto a plane or...

Continental Airlines Inc., rumored to be in advanced talks to merge with United Airlines Inc. parent UAL Corp., told its employees Sunday that it has decided not to merge with any other carrier. In a message from chairman and chief executive officer Larry Kellner and president Jeff Smisek, the Houston-based carrier said it has decided that it should go it alone in the troubled airline industry. "We want you to know that our Board of Directors met today and has unanimously supported management's recommendation that, in the current industry environment, the best course for Continental is to not merge with...

Sole survivor of 1972 attack on airliner uses celebrity to fight nationalist forces BELGRADE: Thirty-six years ago, Vesna Vulovic plummeted from the sky in temperatures of 60 degrees below zero after a bomb ripped apart the Yugoslav Airlines DC-9 plane on which she was working as a flight attendant. Then 22 years old, the native of Serbia crashed into a wooded, snow-capped hill in Srbska Kamenice, Czechoslovakia. Miraculously, she lived - the sole survivor among the 28 people aboard. Now she says she fears the political situation in Serbia will kill her. "I am like a cat - I have...

The latest political crusade is the crusade to replace ordinary light bulbs with the new CFL light bulb that is supposed to save electricity, reducing the need for fossil fuels and helping the fight against global warming. Since crusaders seldom stop to weigh the cost of what they are advocating, it is especially important that the rest of us do so before we get swept along by rhetoric and emotions. With the CFL light bulb, the initial cost -- several times that of a regular light bulb -- is only the financial cost. A bigger problem is what to do...

As luck would have it, AMR Corp. couldn't have picked a worse time to reward its top people with company stock. American Airlines Inc., its principal subsidiary, is coming off a week with 3,300 flights canceled due to inadequate inspections and modifications. And Wall Street analysts expect AMR to report a quarterly loss of around $300 million Wednesday, the parent company's worst first quarter in five years. On top of all that, the company's stock price is trading near four-year lows – less than one-fourth the price 15 months ago. Still, the company this week is set to distribute around...

Rival US companies Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines have agreed to merge in a $5bn deal that would create the world's biggest carrier. The directors of the two companies agreed the stock-swap deal on Monday. The combined airline, which will be called Delta, will have an annual revenue of more than $35bn and employ more than 75,000 staff. The merger could trigger similar moves by other US carriers struggling with rising oil prices, correspondents say.

Delta to Join Northwest to Form World’s Largest Airline By JEFF BAILEY The boards of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announced a deal late Monday that will create the world’s biggest airline and probably trigger other airlines to pursue mergers of their own. Directors of the two airlines approved the deal in telephone conference calls. If they approve the deal, shareholders of Northwest would receive 1.25 Delta shares for every Northwest share that they own, a person with direct knowledge of the arrangement said Monday evening. Seven board members from Delta and five from Northwest would join the board...

Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines this week are expected to announce a long-anticipated merger, The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday. The merger may to be unveiled as early as Tuesday, The Journal reported, adding that the deal could go through without support of Delta's 6,000 pilots. Delta and its pilots were holding separate talks this weekend on a post-merger contract, while negotiations with Northwest's 5,000 pilots were to be held at a later date, the daily reported. Last week, US authorities gave tentative approval for Delta, Northwest, and four of their international partners to combine their transatlantic routes in...

The government crackdown on airlines over alleged safety lapses fits a familiar storyline: Conscientious regulators saving the public from heartless corporations that put lives at risk to fatten profits. It's a tale that would be perfect for a movie -- since movies are famous for taking liberties with the truth. In real life, this story may not have a happy ending. By forcing the cancellation of thousands of flights, the Federal Aviation Administration most likely did not prevent fatalities but caused them. Commercial aviation, after all, is by far the safest form of travel. When people can't fly, many will...

Regulation: The chairman of the House Transportation Committee is threatening a federal takeover of the airline industry. That's typical Washington, where arrogance and ignorance are frequent running matesRep. James Oberstar, a Democrat from Minnesota, said Thursday that the leash on domestic carriers "is a very short one." "Public patience is running out," he said during hearings on flight delays and other customer service problems. We agree. Flying in this country has become a trial. But the problems, aside from the government's duty to be a competent traffic cop for air travel, are not Oberstar's, or Washington's, to fix. The federal...

ATLANTA - Air traveler angst was sure to continue Friday as American Airlines grounded hundreds more flights. The financial toll and loss of goodwill likely would grow as well, as the inspection-related mess spread further to other carriers and hurt an industry already bleeding cash thanks to high fuel costs. Lawmakers were asking questions and some fed-up air travelers headed for trains. Others gave the airlines a pass, saying the companies were doing the best they could. "If somebody's got a choice between being in a plane crash and being late, is there a choice?" Jane Bernard, a writer from...

NEW YORK: Denver-based Frontier Airlines said on Friday it had filed for bankruptcy after a credit card processor said it would start withholding receipts from the sale of the airline's tickets. Frontier said in a statement it would continue to operate without disruption during the bankruptcy proceedings, offering its full schedule of flights, honoring reservations and paying employees and suppliers. The company said it was forced to file for bankruptcy protection in a New York court "following an unexpected attempt by its principal credit card processor to substantially increase a 'holdback' of customer receipts, which threatened to severely impact Frontier's...

Journal readers tend to get around, so there's a good chance that the person reading this editorial has been among the hundreds of thousands of travelers stuck on a tarmac or waylaid in a hotel by the recent wave of flight cancellations. And if you're wondering where to point the finger, we'd suggest Capitol Hill. Allow us to explain. After the Federal Aviation Administration fined Southwest Airlines more than $10 million last month for inspection lapses, Congress rounded up the usual scapegoats for some hearings. FAA officials told the House Transportation Committee that the Southwest situation was "an isolated problem,...

Air travelers in the United States, whose plans have already been disrupted by thousands of canceled flights recently, may face continued chaos in coming weeks as the Federal Aviation Administration and the airlines expand their scrutiny of passenger planes. The groundings at airlines like American, Alaska, Delta and Southwest resulted from a broader round of inspections, ordered by the FAA, to determine whether the airlines have complied with past directives to check airplane structures, wires, electronics and other components. A second wave of audits began on March 30 and will continue through June 30. Laura Brown, a spokeswoman for the...

Aloha cancels 7 round-trip cargo flights due to 'sick' pilots Lender GMAC agrees to put in $3 million in new financing despite an impasse in labor talks David Segal dsegal@starbulletin.com Nearly half of Aloha Airlines’ cargo flights last night were canceled after pilots called in sick amid “deteriorating” labor talks between the union and the company. All U.S. Mail and time-sensitive goods were delivered, according to Aloha spokesman Stu Glauberman, who said the company was calling up reserve pilots today to assist with the flight schedule. Aloha was forced to cancel seven of 16 round-trip nighttime flights, but reported that...