Top Stories
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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 [...]
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Flybe may sell off its London Gatwick slots, citing challenges for small operators
TransportFlybe Group Plc rose as much as 21 percent, leading advancing stocks on the FTSE All-Share Index, after Europe’s biggest regional airline said it’s in talks to sell take-off and landing slots at London Gatwick airport. Negotiations are taking place “with a number of parties,” the Exeter, England-based airline said in a statement today. “Discussions [...]
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Dallas-Fort Worth airport raising millions to build American Airlines a bigger hub
TransportDallas-Fort Worth International Airport is selling $366.5 million of debt this week as its primary carrier, American Airlines, prepares to merge with US Airways Group Inc. to create the world’s largest airline. The offering of bonds with maturities from 2026 through 2050 would help pay for capital projects such as the $2.05 billion initiative to [...]
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Dublin Airport now using biometric gates to quickly process passengers
TransportThis pilot program is for Dublin Airport passengers, some of whom are navigating automatic border control gates to get through immigration control as quick as 7.5 seconds, authorities say. The new program, which processes up to 1,000 passengers per day, is powered by SITA’s iBorders biometric gates. In Dublin, the system uses facial recognition and [...]
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Air traffic control towers on FAA hit list to stay open for now
TransportTower(s) to the people. Some 149 air traffic control towers, initially slated to be shuttered in April because of sequester-manadated budget cuts, will remain open at least through the end of the year, the DOT announced. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced that there is enough funding in the recently enacted Reducing Flight Delays Act of [...]
