Top Stories
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FlightCar and airports argue over what’s innovation and what’s just cheating
TransportInnovative startups will always run smack into dissension from existing companies and old regulations. But there’s a difference between creating a new market and cheating the system, and FlightCar is walking a thin line. On June 7, the San Francisco city attorney’s office filed a lawsuit against the airport car rental and parking service on behalf of [...]
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French air travel is crippled by air traffic controller strike
TransportAir France-KLM Group, EasyJet Plc and Deutsche Lufthansa AG are among airlines forced to slash services into France today as they endure a three-day strike by French air traffic controllers that cut 1,800 flights in total. Air France SA said it aims to transport all long-haul passengers by reducing frequencies on key destinations such as [...]
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Handguns at NYC airports are illegal no matter how they’re packed
TransportA subset of visitors to New York City looks, on the surface, just like the rest. Some are high profile, like the boxer this year, and the football player, and the Tea Party leader from California. They are joined by the anonymous: the military wife from Minnesota, and the hazardous waste expert. There was a [...]
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Disney to save LA’s oldest airport terminal, convert it into offices
TransportAfter more than a decade of research and negotiation with local authorities, Disney recently got the greenlight for its plans to renovate the Grand Central Air Terminal. Located just north of Los Angeles in Glendale, California, the rundown terminal is a relic of the region’s oldest commercial airport, and the departure point for the country’s [...]
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Animated Cleveland airport ad campaign leaves travelers’ cares behind
TransportCleveland Hopkins International Airport targets business travelers with its newest ad campaign. The ads, created by Cleveland-based digital agency Brokaw, are colorful and cheerful. Unique for an airport campaign, the ad shows no images of the present day airport, but relies on cartoons and creative graphics to send its message. The airport portrays itself as still offering [...]
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World’s most beautiful airports welcome flyers with innovative design
TransportDramatic entries are a given with air travel, and airports should convey a sense of welcome and arrival to travelers landing in a new city, like the great train stations of yesteryear, says architecture critic Paul Goldberger. That doesn’t usually happen. “An inspiring grand welcome to a place is not something you get in most [...]
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Cafés at Madrid-Barajas go dry as workers stage first successful walkout
TransportThe first day of strike at Madrid-Barajas airport, called by employees of several cafés in this facility, has been backed ‘by an overwhelming majority’ of workers beyond those forced to attend their posts compulsory to deliver certain services set the authorities, unions say. Staff are protesting agains a job cuts scheme affecting 136. This is [...]
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Republican bill to kill all TSA funding gets killed in House
TransportThe House on Wednesday afternoon defeated a Republican proposal to kill all funding for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the 2014 Department of Homeland Security spending bill. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) brought up the idea during amendment debate, and said that by eliminating the bloated and ineffective TSA, taxpayers would immediately save about $5 [...]
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TSA drops plan to allow small knives on planes, bows to pressure from airline execs
TransportThe top U.S. transportation security official said on Wednesday that he had decided not to permit passengers to carry small knives on airplanes, after receiving a drumbeat of criticism from flight attendants and the public that easing restrictions would increase flight dangers. Transportation Security Administration head John Pistole, who had proposed to loosen rules put [...]
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After $900 million spent on TSA’s behavioral screening program, it isn’t working
TransportThe U.S. Transportation Security Administration can’t justify expanding a $878 million behavior- detection program because it isn’t objective, a U.S. audit concluded (full audit embedded below). The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general said TSA hasn’t developed adequate training for its 2,800 full- time behavior-detection officers or been able to assess the program’s effectiveness. The [...]
