Southwest Airlines fined $150,000 for slow response to complaints

Southwest Airlines, the nation's largest domestic carrier, agreed to pay a $150,000 fine for failing to give timely responses to passenger complaints. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced the fine Wednesday, saying Southwest did not respond in writing within 30 days to complaints related to access for the disabled, as required by federal regulations. Southwest officials said the airline inadvertently missed the complaints because of a technical glitch. The Department of… (www.latimes.com) More...

Caught on video as jet crashes and explodes in huge fireball at Madrid airshow (Photos)

At an airshow at the Cuatro Vientos airfield in Madrid, Spain on Sunday at least 3,000 people watched in horror when according to the New York Daily News, a vintage plane was seen plunging to the ground and then exploding into a huge fireball as it crashed into a hangar. The pilot Ladislao Tejedor Romero, 35, was taken to a hospital in Madrid after sustaining serious burns where he later died. He was an experienced jet pilot who was an assistant to Defense Minister Pedro Morenes. Eighteen… (www.examiner.com) More...

Emirates plans to replace 777s with new Boeing model

Dubai airline Emirates plans to replace "a large chunk" of its Boeing 777 aircraft with a new model launched by the planemaker, Emirates' President Tim Clark said on Monday. Boeing announced earlier in May that it had begun selling an upgraded aircraft family code-named 777X, launching a race against Airbus for sales of long-haul jets. Fast-growing Gulf carriers are expected to be the first and biggest customers for Boeing's latest offering. "I'm looking to replace… (uk.reuters.com) More...

Why Delta Pays More Than Emirates for Boeing Planes

WASHINGTON (TheStreet) -- Once again, let's review the lingering puzzle of why Boeing (BA) gets a private bank to finance aircraft purchases by wealthy foreign airlines to the detriment of U.S. airlines, and why that bank won't follow the rules Congress and the courts have made for it. The Export-Import Bank of the United States is our country's official export credit agency. Its mission is to assist in financing the export of U.S. goods and services to international markets. Last… (www.thestreet.com) More...

PHOTOS: American Airlines Set to Get a New Livery Soon

American Airline’s first Boeing 777-300ER has shown up at Paine Field, and not many were expecting to see a gray body with a white tail. Where is the polished aluminum? Is this a special livery for the 300ER or is this American moving to a completely new design? It looks like that they are in the process of updating their livery. “It’s no secret by now that AA will be taking delivery of new fleet types in the coming months/years, and that includes composite aircraft,”Andrea Huguely AA… (www.airlinereporter.com) More...

Emirates ‘Massive Engine Failure’ in Zambia Jolts Passengers – Report

“…we heard a bang…it was so loud and suddenly the plane started shaking…” An Emirates Airline Airbus A330 suffered a ‘massive engine failure’ Sunday night shortly after taking off from Lusaka Airport in Zambia forcing pilots to return for an emergency landing. The story originally broke on Monday when some Zambia news sources reported that an Emirates flight had crash-landed at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka. Although that report was false, Emirates Airline themselves refuted the… (airnation.net) More...

Wary airlines preemptively ax 6,800 flights as Sandy nears and could reach 14,000 flights

Hurricane Sandy is still more than 24 hours away from making landfall in the U.S. Northeast, but already travelers from as far away as Europe and Asia are feeling the storm’s wrath. Airlines have preemptively canceled nearly 7,000 flights in advance of the storm, affecting not only big U.S. airlines like United and Southwest but also international carriers such as Qatar Airways and Lufthansa. Flight operations will grind to a trickle — if not outright halt — tomorrow (Oct. 29) at major airports… (tucsoncitizen.com) More...

Google's Shiny New $82 Million Airport Terminal In Silicon Valley

A few years ago I taxied past a hangar at San Carlos airport. The door was open to the immaculate interior and I could see an array of jets and aerobatic light aircraft. My instructor said it was Larry Ellison’s private plane collection. Not for nothing is the airport known to IATA as SQL, after Oracle ORCL -0.31%’s database language. From my little Diamond Katana, I looked on in envy. Now Google GOOG +1.29% executives are putting Oracle in the shade, at least when it comes to impressive… (www.forbes.com) More...

United Bucks Industry in Keeping First-Class

United to Keep First-Class Cabins Jeff Smisek, chief executive officer of United Continental Holdings Inc., points to a Boeing Co. 737-924 extended range jet bearing United Airlines livery and the Continental Airlines logo (unseen) following its arrival as the inaugural flight for United Continental on Oct. 1, 2010. Photographer: Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg United Airlines will keep three-class cabins on some wide-body jets, separating itself from some peers switching to two tiers of service, as… (www.bloomberg.com) More...

Single-pilot jumbo jets just around the corner

It's official: the industry is working toward an airline flight deck that can safely be operated by a single pilot. And if it's extended long-haul, an augmented crew would be two pilots: one on the flight deck and the other resting. A team led by Thales Avionics, consisting of many other high-profile European companies plus Boeing and Jeppesen from the USA, is working toward an advanced airliner cockpit that can be managed by a single pilot backed up by high quality communications… (www.flightglobal.com) More...