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The company employs 750 people inside the corporate headquarters, but the airline has nearly 9,000 workers who are based in Phoenix. Depending on who you talk to, what will happen with those positions is unclear at this point. A source who works inside the company tells CBS 5 News he expects 80 percent to 90 percent of positions at the Tempe corporate headquarters to shift to American Airlines' headquarters in Fort Worth, TX.

Kristin Chenoweth says she was the victim of a screaming, angry gate agent who bullied her and embarrassed her when she tried to board an American Airlines flight with her emotional support dog ... and now the airline is begging for her forgiveness. TMZ has learned, the altercation went down this week as Kristin boarded a flight from Dallas to L.A.. We're told Kristin had her emotional support dog in tow -- as she always does -- when she was confronted by a gate agent supervisor who claimed Kristin didn't have the proper paperwork to bring the dog on board.

United Airlines, which has a hub at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, said Thursday it would cut 600 jobs companywide. United Continental Holdings Inc. officials said management and administrative staff positions were being cut to save money, in an industry that has seen declining passengers. "In December, I announced a 7 percent reduction in our officer headcount," Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smisek told employees in a statement. "Today, we announced a difficult but necessary 6 percent reduction in our management and administrative staff that will begin in early February...

American Airlines today unveiled a new design scheme for its fleet. The new logo and livery are the first fleet-wide update in 40 years. The nation’s third-largest airline is in merger talks with US Airways. Should the airlines merge, the new airline will be called American Airlines, so there won’t be a need to repaint to match US Airways. If the airlines do merge, the new airline will be the world’s largest.

Dave Schneider's vintage Gibson guitar was worth close to $10,000. Thanks to Delta, it's now worth considerably less. Schneider, lead singer of the hockey-themed band The Zambonis, begged airline staffers to let him carry his 1965 Gibson ES-335 onto the plane, even offering to buy a separate seat for the guitar. Delta refused, forcing him to check it. When he reached his destination, he heard a "crazy sound [of] metal on metal," and you know this story is going to end poorly, right? That was the sound of his guitar being crushed in a service elevator, sustaining almost $2,000 in...

A woman died on an international flight Wednesday. The flight was American Airlines flight 962 and originated from Sao Paulo, Brazil. According to police, the 25-year-old woman made her way to the airplane’s lavatory then collapsed and died after walking from the lavatory. The plane was headed to the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport but was diverted to Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport; it landed around 6:30 a.m. Officials are scheduled to perform an autopsy on the woman who was not identified at the time of this report. After several hours later, the flight continued onto Dallas and landed there just before before...

Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, Inc., (NYSE; DAL) received 22,000 applications for about 300 flight attendant jobs after posting the positions outside the company last week. Reuters reports that Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson told workers in a weekly recorded message that applications arrived at a rate of two per minute. “We are experiencing a phenomenal response to the job posting,” Anderson said. Applicants will be interviewed in January. New employees will begin flying in June in time for the company’s peak travel season...

ANOTHER piece of evidence we are living in a world of sissies: watching the NFL today, just saw a commercial for Southwest Airlines that showed their ticket sellers and flight attendants PLANTING STRAWBERRIES or something like that. What the hell? How about boasting about better service? Or a great new lower fare structure? Nope. In the age of the fruitiest Oval Office occupant since James Buchanan, we see businesses talking about their green thumbs. Pathetic.

European parliamentarians next week are to debate a controversial draft law that would create massive national police databases of flight passengers entering or leaving the 27-nation European Union, including everything from addresses to meal preferences. The proposal for a “passenger name record” (PNR) would require airlines and booking agencies to hand over passenger data to national authorities, which would then routinely search for anything conspicuous. The data would be saved for five years and would include names, seat assignments, travel destinations, phone numbers, hired travel agencies and potential re-bookings, among other details. …

Police seek identity of man who fell from sky LONDON — Police believe he was from Africa, probably from Angola, but they don't know his identity. The mystery began in September when residents of a suburban street in the Mortlake neighborhood of West London woke up on a quiet Sunday morning to find the crumpled body of a black man on the sidewalk of Portman Avenue, near a convenience store, an upscale lingerie shop and a storefront offering Chinese medical cures. Detectives believed at first the man was a murder victim and cordoned off the area. Within a day, however,...

President Barack Obama signed a bill yesterday (27 November) shielding US airlines from paying for each tonne of carbon their planes emit flying into and out of Europe, despite a recent move by Europe to suspend its proposed measure for one year. The bill was the first piece of legislation debated on the House floor after the US Congress returned from recess on 13 November, and had been cleared by the Senate in September in a rare unanimous vote. It gives the American transportation secretary the power to shield US airlines from Europe’s Emissions Trading System (ETS). … “It never...

Flying Japan Airlines in the near future? Colonel Sanders will be joining you as the airline rolls out Kentucky Fried Chicken meals onboard flights from Tokyo to the U.S. and Europe. Japan Airlines and Kentucky Fried Chicken Japan are collaborating for the seventh installment of the airline's Air Series in-flight meal program - temporary restaurant promotions for in-flight catering. Past featured meals have included traditional Japanese fare from Taimeiken and Yoshinoya. The fast-food meals, which will include a drumstick, boneless chicken breast, coleslaw, lettuce leaves and bread, will be served on flights from December 1 to Feb. 28, 2013. KFC's...

Obama quietly signs bill shielding airlines from carbon fees in EuropeBy Keith Laing - 11/27/12 02:02 PM ET President Obama has signed into law a bill that requires U.S. airlines be excluded from European carbon emissions fees. Environmentalists had framed the bill as the first test of the president's commitment to fighting climate change in his second term and urged him to veto it. Obama quietly signed it Tuesday over their objections. "The Obama administration is firmly committed to reducing harmful carbon pollution from civil aviation both domestically and internationally, but, as we have said on many occasions, the application...

Sydney – A new partnership between Australia's national airline Qantas and Emirates Airlines is causing turbulence in the company's relations with the Jewish community, prompted by fears for the safety of Jews and Israelis who purchase seats on the "Flying Kangaroo." The 10-year deal, announced in September, will mean Dubai will now replace Singapore as the major hub and layover spot for customers flying to and from Europe. As part of the United Arab Emirates, Dubai prohibits Israeli passport holders from entering its territory. The UAE and Israel do not have formal diplomatic relations.

U.S. airlines are facing what threatens to be their most serious pilot shortage since the 1960s, with higher experience requirements for new hires about to take hold just as the industry braces for a wave of retirements. Federal mandates taking effect next summer will require all newly hired pilots to have at least 1,500 hours of prior flight experience—six times the current minimum—raising the cost and time to train new fliers in an era when pay cuts and more-demanding schedules already have made the profession less attractive. Meanwhile, thousands of senior pilots at major airlines soon will start hitting the...

'World's worst airline' launches online booking Air Koryo, the North Korean carrier described as “the world’s worst airline”, has finally moved into the digital age with its first online booking service. The state-owned airline, which is the only one in the world with just one star according to the ranking service Skytrax, now sells flights from Pyongyang to Beijing and Shenyang in China, and Vladivostok in Russia, on its website. The website (www.airkoryo.com.kp/en), which launched in August, promises “easier, quicker, reliable booking and ticketing services.” Early reports seems to suggest the website is unlikely to help the North Korean flag...

I’m reading the Constitution and I do not see a “Grope or Scan” clause. The TSA is unconstitutional. Let’s eliminate the TSA. If you read my columns regularly, you know that I consider the TSA to be a carcinogenic petting zoo. I nearly always opt out. I object to the scanners on principle of their unconstitutionality. And I am concerned about the possibility of a scanner malfunction (thousands of service calls have been made to the backscatter X-ray machines)—which medical experts warn can result in extremely high radiation exposure. Last week, I was traveling to New Jersey to speak...

Europe’s aviation safety regulator today (1 October) recommended 30 new regulations that agency officials say would make flying safer but acknowledged would not make either airlines or trade unions happy. The proposed changes to a 2008 EU regulation deal broadly with the hours pilots and flight crews can work. The results cap three years of studies by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), which was under pressure from struggling airlines for flexibility and trade unions for tougher limits on duty hours. … Amongst its main recommendations, EASA calls for reducing the time pilots can be on duty if their shift...

O.C. man, others restrain erratic airline passenger with belts Arash Durrani, 26, a model and actor, will be charged with interference with a flight crew in connection with incident on flight to John Wayne Airport.

Allied Pilots Assoc. wants judge to turn down American Airlines' cost-cutting plan The American Airlines management will attend a hearing in New York on Tuesday and ask a judge for permission to end its pilots' union contract, impose pay cuts and alter working conditions. The airline’s actions and expenditures must be approved by a judge while the company is in the Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The Allied Pilots Association hopes to persuade a bankruptcy judge to turn down American Airlines' plan to throw out the union's contract. The union hopes the judge will require the airline to give fresh reasoning...