American Airlines has canceled more than 1,000 flights to inspect their MD-80 aircraft. Over 100,000 people will have their flights disrupted because of these inspections.
AA Information
And a choice quote from American Airlines:
“We have obviously failed to comply with the airworthiness directive to the standards that the FAA requires,” AMR Chief Executive Gerard Arpey said at a press conference in Los Angeles. “I take full responsibility.”
Fortunately, these inspections are more of a ‘paperwork’ issue rather than a ’safety issue’.
Fox Business Article
Written by tb_neg on April 9th, 2008 with no comments.
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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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Along with Aloha Airlines earlier this week, ATA is also calling it quits after 35 years. Turbulence Forecasts reminds you to always put airfares on a credit card, for maximum leverage and protection (and free travel insurance).
ATA Airlines
We at Turbulence Forecast suspect that more airlines in a marginal position will probably go the same route given recent fuel prices. Southwest signed a codeshare with them a while ago, but look for Southwest to expand operations at MDW now that ATA is gone.
After filing for Chapter 11 on April 2, 2008 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis, IN, ATA Airlines has discontinued all operations and cancelled all current and future flights. Following the loss of a key contract for our military charter business, it became impossible for ATA to continue operations. Unfortunately, we were not in a position to provide our customers or others with advance notice.
We apologize for the disruption caused by the sudden shutdown of ATA and regret the impact on passengers, employees, suppliers, and other parties. ATA customers should seek alternative arrangements for current and future travel. A list of other airlines serving ATA’s destinations is available
Written by tb_neg on April 3rd, 2008 with 1 comment.
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United has canceled over 31 flights flown by their Boeing 777 aircraft to do a safety inspection on cargo hold fire suppression. Because these planes tend to have large numbers of passengers and also fly internationally, this is a fairly big deal in terms of impact.
So far, Southwest, American, Delta, and now United have recently inspected planes for potential safety issues.
New York Times Article
Written by tb_neg on April 3rd, 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.
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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.
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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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