Top Stories
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Gatwick boss decries state of airport shuttle while ignoring state of airport
TransportRemember that time you took the Gatwick Express into town, only there weren’t any seats left, so you had to sit on the roof? Or the time you were delayed for two hours because a farmer was herding his cows across the line at East Croydon, and all the local traders popped up to sell [...]
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Will American Airlines new boarding process lead to free-for-all at the gate?
TransportGive American Airlines credit for trying a new method to board passengers more quickly. Airlines constantly tinker with the boarding process, and this time American says it has found a way to cut an average of two minutes from the 40 minutes to 45 minutes that it takes to board a narrowbody aircraft. American narrow [...]
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Salt Lake City Airport set for $2 billion makeover
TransportMountain views, faster takeoffs and workout equipment are a few things Salt Lake City officials are considering as they draw up plans for a nearly $2 billion remake of the city’s airport. The bulk of the budget for construction comes from fees airlines pay to use the facility and from passengers buying tickets, among a [...]
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Summer travel up in the air: Cramped seats, rising fees and delays
TransportCall it the spring of uncertainty: The government says you can travel with little pocket knives, then decides no, you can’t. Budget sequester trims air traffic controllers’ hours, resulting in airport backups, then Congress restores schedules — for now, anyway. Homeland security curbs airport security checkpoint overtime and says lines aren’t longer, but some travelers [...]
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U.S. airlines trade group blasts customs agency on Abu Dhabi Airport program
TransportArlines for America, the U.S. airline trade group, lashed out at the way U.S. Customs and Border Protection allocates resources considering its goal of speeding the clearance of 90 million passengers who arrive on international flights annually. In the A4A’s crosshairs is the recent CBP agreement with Abu Dhabi Airport to establish a preclearance facility [...]
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Boston airport employees indicted for accepting bribes from line-cutting cabbies
TransportA grand jury has indicted five employees of the Massachusetts Port Authority for allegedly taking bribes from cab drivers and letting them cut ahead of other taxis to pick up passengers at Logan International Airport. The five men face charges including soliciting or accepting a bribe as a public employee and soliciting or accepting an [...]
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United CFO defends competitive response to Virgin America at Newark
TransportUnited Airlines CFO John Rainey said today allegations that the airline engaged in anticompetitive behavior last month when Virgin America debuted San Francisco and Los Angeles service from Newark Airport were “absolutely false.” Answering questions after making a presentation at the 2013 Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference in Boston, Rainey said United lowered [...]
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Google and ITA Software abandon airline reservations business
TransportEight years after signing a deal to power Air Canada’s reservations system and two years after Google acquired ITA Software, the company is withdrawing from the airline reservations business. ITA Software’s website states: “We’re discontinuing the Passenger Services System (PSS) for airlines. We’re doing this to enable our team to focus on other travel solutions [...]
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Jilted airport disses Southwest Airlines but now engages in sweet-talk
TransportSarasota-Bradenton International Airport is keeping an open dialogue with Southwest Airlines despite its marketing encouraging travelers to not fly with the carrier. Rick Piccolo, president and chief executive officer of the airport, told his Sarasota Manatee Airport Authority board Monday morning that the two sides are talking again. “We reinstituted contact with them, all we’re [...]
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Midsize airports hit with large-scale flight cuts
TransportAirline mergers, a deep recession and surging fuel prices have led to sharp cuts in airline service around the country. Hardest hit: medium-size airports. In California, Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, LA/Ontario International Airport and other mid-size airports lost an average of 26.2 percent of their flights from 2007 [...]
