Yesterday American Airlines flight 31 to Honolulu had to make an emergency landing at LAX after smoke was detected in the cabin.
Everyone was able to get out of the Boeing 757 safely, although six passengers had to be checked out for minor injuries.
Fire crews were preparing for the arrival of the Emirates A380 (which was arriving at LAX to promote the new route from JFK to Dubain), but the water show was scrapped and the A380 was delayed for 45 minutes due to the emergency.
Also check out:
Airlines are reporting millions of dollars in new revenue with the charges for checked baggage, but how long can this last? Will there be a backlash from consumers? I am thinking so.
Southwest and Delta still hold true that they will not charge for bags. Southwest has even started advertising with slogans, “Fees Don’t Fly With Us” and “Bags Fly Free.”
Source: The Street Video: YouTube
United Airlines Boeing 777
From July 19th to July 27th of this year, United Airlines has had to cancel 329 flights, causing issues for over 36,000 passengers. United has filed suit against the Air Line Pilots Association and four pilots stating that they are purposely causing “slowdowns” with United and pressuring pilots to take more sick leave and not fill in for pilots that do take sick leave.
I am all for people protesting not being treated correctly, but first off is this the proper way to do it? Secondly is this the proper time to be doing it? Already airlines and passengers are strapped for cash and patience. These actions hurt with both.
Source: NYTimes Image: Thomas Becker
Global airline ridership has increased about 7% from last year to about 4.8 billion passengers. Above are the top 10 busiest airports, but you can see the Top 30 here. Although there is a large increase in the Middle East (11.3%) and Africa (11.2%) I am sure we will be seeing declining numbers in America and Europe next year.
Although not directly airline news, I feel this falls under “future airline news” since who knows, boarding a plane (or spaceship?) might just be as easy and cheap as it is now to fly (hopefully they won’t charge for peanuts).
Anyhow, Virgin Galactic has shown to the world (and galaxy?) what White Knight Two “Eve” Mothership will look like (hmm maybe pick a name?). This aircraft would take SpaceShip2 up to about 48,000 feet before it takes the six wealthy folks 300,000 feet in only 90 seconds.
For a mere $200,000 you can book your seat to fly into space. Even though going to the ends of Earth for $200k might not seem like a good deal to most people, I think it is great since it will pave the way for private space exploration. There are enough wealthy people to support this — 100 have already paid full price and another 170 have put down deposits.
THANKS BEN FOR THE TIP!
Source: The Washington Post Image: The Washington Post