Delta and Northwest are set to merge, if approved by regulators; they will keep the Delta name, thus ending the legacy of the Northwest name (1926-2008). You can read their spin on the merger here: Delta Northwest, and even see their combined effort at a site designed to present the merger in a positive light.
Turbulence Forecast has always been a proponent of Northwest Airlines for many reasons. First and foremost of interest to site visitors is their turbulence avoidance strategy, as seen in previous blog posts here: one, two, three, four.
Despite those blog posts, Delta never stood out to me one way or another in terms of avoidance. Since their respective route structures essentially do not overlap much at all, I never really had a chance to evaluate Delta very much in those aforementioned posts, but I will be watching next time the opportunity presents itself.
Delta did, and still may participate in a program related to turbulence, although the current status of that program is unknown and information is hard to come across. If anyone knows (Delta representatives especially encouraged to contact us), please post a comment or contact the site.
While I’m very familiar with Northwest’s web site for ticketing and other management features, a quick glance at Delta’s offering makes me hope that they retain Northwest’s ticketing system and self management features, as well as the features of the Elite program that Northwest offers.
Sadly, due to the raising cost of fuel, the merger was probably inevitable and it certainly makes sense just given their route structure, very little overlap. I hope that new Delta will maintain the best features of the old Northwest (large planes on many routes, and the points mentioned above) and turn the merger into a positive. Only time will tell.
It is Turbulence Forecast’s opinion that the merger will be permitted to go through. The retirement of the DC-9 fleet will probably accelerate due to fuel costs. The Northwest Airlines DC-9 fleet has an average age of 35 years, which is amazing if you think about it; they don’t build them like that anymore.
Links: Airliners.net thread, Flyertalk Delta thread, Flyertalk Northwest thread.
Written by tb_neg on April 14th, 2008 with 1 comment.
Read more articles on Delta Airlines and News and Northwest Airlines.
Skybus Airlines becomes the fourth victim of high fuel prices and has decided to shut down this week. Customers should know the drill by now, call your credit card company and ask for a refund. Skybus joins Aloha, Champion, and ATA.
What’s interesting to me is the vitriol that Skybus had going for it. Read this Airliners.net thread for some choice quotes from posters taking pleasure in the shutdown of Skybus and other airlines.
- The story is in the columbus dispatch. feel sorry for the employees, but I’m glad this stupid concept of an airline is gone.
- Good bye and God riddance, rot in hell SkyBus, serves the employees right, they took below standard wages undercutting their peers in the industry!
- The fact is that when SkyBus opened the airline industry in the US was in its largest hiring boom in recent times, there was an extreme shortage of pilots all around, people that went to SkyBus were the ones that didn’t want to wait a few more months flying a CRJ and hopped at the opportunity to fly that shiny A319, in the process accepting wages that would have been spat on by pilots in all other airlines, they wanted the big jet now, and now they are paying for it, most reasonable pilots waited and got on with CO, DL, UA, FL, US, etc, but some always have to undercut there fellow pilots.
Karma is a bia….
- I’m neutral on Skybus, but I am so glad to see TZ(do feel for the employees) gone. Anything related to WN, I can’t stand.
- We can only hope Mesa suffers a downward spiral that ends in flames and a shutdown but with enough warning for the majors they serve to be able to cope. It would at least make what they did to Aloha a little easier to swallow.
TZ=ATA Airlines, WN=Southwest Airlines
Written by tb_neg on April 5th, 2008 with no comments.
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Orlando Sentinel Article
A Jamaican planning to board a flight at Orlando International Airport was detained and questioned by FBI agents Tuesday after they found components for pipe bombs and explosive and flammable liquids in his checked luggage.
The suspect was identified late Tuesday as Kevin Brown, 32, a Jamaican national who was scheduled to fly on Air Jamaica Flight 80 to Montego Bay at 2:55 p.m. Transportation Security Administration officers spotted him acting suspiciously about noon, TSA and law-enforcement officials said. Several officials said the man was “acting strange” and questioned his mental stability.
Written by tb_neg on April 2nd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Air Jamaica and Incidents and News.
Six days after the now infamous opening of Terminal 5 at London’s Heathrow airport, more than 20,000 bags are piled up, waiting to be reconnected with owners. British Airways has canceled 13% of flights today in order to relieve pressure on the brand new terminal in order to catch up with the baggage problem.
The new baggage handling system cost nearly $8.5 billion, a staggering amount to spend on something that just doesn’t work properly. This interruption in service is estimated to cost British Airways nearly 50 million pounds, or almost $100 million US Dollars (or $5,000 a bag, which seems strange at first, unless you count potential backlash.)
Sadly, this is not an April Fool’s joke, although the joke is on the hapless passengers of British Airways, which already has a horrible reputation for baggage handling.
Fortunately, FedEx, someone who definitely knows how to handle lots of packages going to disparate places, is being brought in to help sort the mess. It’s also amusing to think about how FedEx flies planes as well (672 vs 235 for British Airways). Maybe they should buy out British Airways?
Bloomberg Article.
Written by tb_neg on April 1st, 2008 with no comments.
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Aloha Airlines, a staple in Hawaiian travel for over 50 years, will cease passenger operations March 31st, 2008.
Crankyflier has more information on this sad day.
Aloha is famous for an incident in which the roof ripped off a 737 causing the loss of life of one flight attendant, who was not buckled up. Everyone else survived.
Written by tb_neg on March 31st, 2008 with 1 comment.
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Poorly executed planning at Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 has left many travelers in misery as over 15,000 pieces of luggage pile up due to a multitude of factors:
- Lack of parking for baggage handlers
- Computer systems that did not allow baggage handlers to login
- Poor training of baggage handlers on procedures regarding new baggage system
Sky News Article
Written by tb_neg on March 31st, 2008 with 2 comments.
Read more articles on Incidents and Interesting and Links and News.
American Airlines has canceled hundreds of flights as it inspects its fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft. The MD-80, a very distinct aircraft by virtue of its rear mounted engines and T-tail is the workhouse of the American fleet, comprising nearly half of the fleet (300 out of 655 aircraft).
CNN Article
Meanwhile, Boeing 737 aircraft are being inspected for a separate issue for older models, comprising of a bolt problem that may have caused the fire of the China Airlines 737 in Japan.
China Airlines Incident
Written by tb_neg on March 26th, 2008 with no comments.
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Story
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it has initiated action to collect a $10.2 million civil penalty from Southwest Airlines for operating 46 airplanes without performing mandatory inspections for fuselage fatigue cracking. Subsequently, the airline found that six of the 46 airplanes had fatigue cracks.
While Southwest has a great safety record, it is somewhat sad that even the possibility of not properly taking care of safety issues still happens in this era of excellent flight safety. If the fine is a done deal and Southwest was possibly negligent, this will cost them a lot more than $10 million in fines.
Other articles on the matter:
WSJ, Business Week, Airliners.net Post, CNN Money, WFAA w/ Video.
Written by tb_neg on March 6th, 2008 with no comments.
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Be sure to watch this incredible video of a Lufthansa A320 attempting to land in a strong cross wind on March 1st. Fortunately, there were no injuries and the plane is back in service.
Full Article.
Written by tb_neg on March 3rd, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Incidents and Links and News and Turbulence.
British Airways Flight 38, despite losing power to both engines, was saved by an incredibly skilled flight crew, and managed to land the plane short of the runway with only minor injuries and no fatalities at London’s Heathrow airport. There is no official cause to the incident yet, but an official report and findings can take years of investigating. Some might call it a miracle, but I think that it takes away from the skilled crew that saved everyone’s lives.
Turbulence Forecast reminds you to pay attention during safety drills and help the flight crew do the job by following all instructions.
Article
Graphic
Statement
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Photographer’s Statement
Written by tb_neg on January 18th, 2008 with no comments.
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