Archive: December, 2009
Tom Belden
The pitched battle between American and Delta to keep, or acquire, Japan Airlines as an alliance partner seems to get more frenzied by the day, AMR chairman Gerard Arpey is in Tokyo making the latest offer, and more detail is available here.Tom Belden
As we've reported here before, airlines are on an intensive hunt for alternatives to petroleum to power their jets, and yesterday the industry announced a memorandum of understanding that could lead to greater use of fuel made from weeds and coal. Read a little more here.Tom Belden
Boeing Co.'s 787 Dreamliner long-haul jet made its maiden flight today from the plane maker's Everett, Wash., field,two years after it was scheduled. Read a brief first report here.Tom Belden
Two years after it was first scheduled, Boeing's 787 Dremliner jet is set to take off on its first flight this morning. Here is a story about the plans and the plane. You can watch the flight live, scheduled for 11:45 a.m. Philadelphia time, on Boeing's Web site.
Tom Belden
Yikes! Just when we thought airlines were seeing signs of recovery from the recession, the International Air Transport Association trade group says a loss of $5.6 billion is expected next year. At least that's better than this year's $11 billion in red ink. Read on at this link.Tom Belden
Since Scrooge was a character created by Charles Dickens, one of England's greatest writers, it's ironic that the cabin-crew union at British Airways is poised to ruin some holiday travel plans. The union, confronted with a draconian series of proposed cuts in pay and benefits from a beleagured, money-losing employer, have voted by 9-1 margin to strike for 12 days over Christmas. BA officials say the vote was full of irregularities and asked a court to stop it. Cabin crew in the UK, by the way, translates to flight attendants in this country. Read more about it here.
Tom Belden
The Buffalo News, the closest major newspaper to the site of last February's crash of a Colgan Air commuter plane, has a good story today about different views of the cause of the accident. In reports they submitted to the National Transportation Ssfety Board, Colgan blames the crew of the flight and the Air Line Pilots Association blames the airline. Read it all here.Tom Belden
In the UPDATE below, I left out a key word: No one has yet to say they are in favor of LIFTING the ban on cell phone calls during airline flights. In other words, all my readers are in favor of keeping it in place.Tom Belden
I'm having trouble updating individual blog posts today so here are UPDATES on two recent ones:
On today's Winging It column, I now have more than 30 e-mails and calls from readers responding to my column. No one has yet to say they favor the ban on cell phone talking during airline flights. Obviously, this is no scientific sampling, just a reflection of what my readers think.
On Friday's post on a new PHL-Anchorage service next summer, the flight will operate June 1-Sept. 7.
Tom Belden
The United States and Japan have signed a tentative open-skies agreement, allowing for a freer flow of airline traffic between the countries and opening the way for further alliances between airlines. Good for travelers? U.S. officials think so but remember alliances generally do airlines more good than their customers because of their ability to limit competition. Read more about the treaty with Japan at this link.
