Hartsfield’“Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is the busiest airport in the world. Yet, they don’t have a heck of a lot of large aircraft flying in and out. You might catch an Air France Boeing 747-400 or Lufthansa Airbus A340, but you will mostly see smaller Delta Air Lines aircraft, like the Boeing 767 down to regional jets. This video was shot from the balcony of my hotel room while down in Atlanta last week. Originally it was about 15 minutes long, but sped it up 700%. Check out that DC-10 being towed near the end.
Brand new United Airlines Boeing 747-400 (N174UA) at Paine Field in 1989
This is a photo of a brand spanking new Boeing 747-400 outside of Boeing’s hangars at Paine Field. The photo was taken in 1989 with probably my favorite United Airlines Livery. She was given the registration number N174UA and had an interesting incident shortly after delivery.
In 1990 the nose gear did not extend all the way and BAM, the aircraft’s nose ended up hitting the tarmac (photo1 & photo2). There was minor damage and she was quickly back out flying. In fact, she is still flying for United Airlines today. She will be flying today from Narita International Airport to Los Angeles. A lot has changed as far as technology and the equipment inside, but she is still the beautiful bird she was back in 1989.
Full sized image or 91 Photos of N174UA on Airliners.net
Photo by EuroNorb (Dave)
This chart shows job changes compared to last year. Original data from Airline Biz Blog
Terry Maxon over at the Airline Biz Blog posted a very similar chart this morning and I wanted to share the data. This chart looks at the job changes from June 2009 to June 2010. Even though there is a total loss of about 7,300 jobs, some airlines have been adding quite a few new ones. This data comes from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics and includes the date with the Northwest and Delta merger.
Knowing about the recession and the issues that have been facing the airline business, I am actually surprised there are so many new jobs at some airlines. Delta might have a big bump, but that is most likely still from the Northwest merger.
Not surprisingly, Delta-owned Comair has the most cuts. Over the last year, they have cut about half their employees and my guess is there will be more cuts. They have announced eliminating their smaller CRJ200 fleet by 2012 and replacing them with the larger CRJ700 and CRJ900.
United Airlines aircraft at LAX. Photo by AirlineReporter.com
If you keep up with my opinions, you know I am not a huge fan of the three hour tarmac delay rule. I am all for passengers being treated correctly, but not for forcing airlines to do what is not always best for passengers. What happens when an airline honestly thinks they break the three hour tarmac rule and reports it to the Department of Transportation (DOT)? They get fined, that’s what. Dan Webb on his blog, Things in the Sky, took a look at recent incidents involving United, the DOT, the three hour fine, and craziness.
Remember, this is still a new rule that went into affect in April. If an airline violates the rule, it could mean huge fines. How huge? Like $27,500.00 per passenger huge. With the rule being new and the consequences being severe, airlines are going to be cautious to not only obey the rule, but be sure to properly report when they break it.
On May 26th of this year, four mainline (non-United Express) flights bound for Denver had to be diverted to Colorado Springs due to poor weather. After hitting the two hour mark, flight attendants made sure that passengers were being fed (via snack foods), which is following the proper procedure of the three hour rule. But feeding passengers stuck on the tarmac is not something new for United…it is something they would have normally done even before the rule.
Not too long after, air stairs and buses were pulled up to allow passengers to get off, if they wanted to. Some decided to de-plane, but most stayed on board. Since the aircraft was away from the gate for more than three hours, United reported the incidents to the DOT.
The DOT reviewed the report, looking to see if they needed to issue a hefty fine. They realized that even though the aircraft were sitting on the tarmac for more than three hours, United fed the passengers and gave them the choice to get off the plane. Cool…no harm, no foul, no rules broken. Oh but wait! The DOT decided to fine United $12,000.00 for filing a false report…say what?
I might not agree with this tarmac rule, but I understand where it is coming from. The goal is to make sure that those “evil” airlines don’t hold passengers captive in an airplane for entirely too long. United followed the rule, giving passengers a choice. One way or another everyone safely made it to their destination. The last plane left after a 4hr 40min delay, but all four made it to Denver that day. It seems crazy that the DOT would issue a fine for United being overly cautious on a very new rule that has big consequences.
I agree if an airline had no reason to issue the report and genuinely wasted the DOT’s time, they should be fined. However, United was trying to be transparent. Luckily for them, they only have to pay $6000.00 of the fine as long as they behave themselves and don’t do this again.
I spoke with United about this situation and they told me, ’œIt is unfortunate that our effort to be fully transparent with the DOT resulted in our inadvertently reporting four flight delays where we complied with regulations and with our own procedures to ensure the comfort and safety of our customers and employees.’
There are a lot of people out there saying the tarmac rule is so far a success. I entirely disagree and await this busy winter season to see how the rule works out.
While I was hanging out with United Airlines at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) a while back, I was invited to go on top of the old FAA tower to get one of the best views of the airport. Words can’t really describe it, nor can photos, so I took a video.
United uses the top part of the tower to guide their aircraft from the gate to the taxi way and back.
Be sure to check the Qantas Airbus A380 parked off to the side.