- The FAA has ordered the inspection of all wing slats on newer Boeing 737s based on findings about a fire that destroyed a China Airlines plane in Japan last week. Investigators have discovered that a bolt from a right wing slat had pierced the fuel tank. Thus, within 24 days, all US planes must have the downstop assembly inspected, and the process must be repeated at least every 3000 takeoffs and landings A fuel leak through the hole likely caused the problem. A spokesperson for Boeing said they had received four reports of the nut coming loose from the downstop assembly and issued a service letter in December 2005, a letter that has been updated several times, most recently in July.
- American Airlines will be offering curbside check-in for international flights from Miami International Airport. American operates more international flights out of Miami than any other airport.
- American is growing its international service at New York’s JFK airport. Beginning April 7th, American will launch a second daily flight to London’s Stansted Airport. American will begin service to Stansted on October 28th. On May 1st, American will launch service to Milan’s Malpensa Airport and Barcelona. American will fly the routes using 767-300 aircraft with 221 seats, 30 of them Business Class.
- Delta announced it will end its Delta Connection service from Atlanta to Naples, FL as of October 1st, leaving the airport without a commercial carrier. The decision is attributed in part to Connection partner Atlantic Southeast replacing its 40 seater aircraft to 50-seat models. Naples may have difficulty bringing in another carrier with its short runway, which the 50-seat model cannot serve. Their only solution may be a project to lengthen the runway, or another regional carrier. Naples had previous service was to Miami on American.
- Virgin America is adding Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish programming to its in flight on-demand entertainment system, giving them the most foreign language entertainment of any U.S. domestic airline. We salute them for their innovation.
- Horizon Airlines has rebranded its Portland-Seattle service as a Shuttle. We can see why:
- They offer 31 flights every business day on the half hour. With their fleet upgrades, effective September 9th, half of these flights will be operated with new 76-seat Q400 turboprops, and the other half with 70-seat CRJ-700 regional jets. The replacement of their old Q200 37-seat turboprops with the more fuel-efficient Q400s is allowing them to increase available seats as well as lower fares.
- New fares on the route will be $59-79 purchased in advance, and $99 walk-up. Horizon has simplified its fares in most Northwest markets to just three regular fares…an unrestricted fully-refundable walk-up fare, and 7 and 14 day advance purchase fares that are more restricted. Horizon is lowering fares in almost all markets.
- All Shuttle flights from Portland depart from a newly expanded and remodeled gate facility, including business amenities such as stand-up desks with outlets, free wi-fi, increased seating, and video news monitors.
- A passenger on a Frontier Airlines flight to New York tried to open the plane door on Saturday morning. Passengers said the man had been acting strangely and had attempted to open the cockpit door as well. The man was subdued and restrained and was taken into custody upon arrival. A spokesman for Frontier insists he would not be able to open the door, as this requires “special training.” We are unsure what special training this is, as doors are designed to be opened quickly in the event of an emergency. The man was taken to a local hospital after being deemed emotionally disturbed.
- Frontier will be canceling its once-daily Reno to Denver service on September 5th, saying the flights have never been profitable.
- Southwest returned to San Francisco International Airport today with 18 daily nonstop flights to the following cities: Chicago Midway (three daily), San Diego (eight daily), and Las Vegas (seven daily). The airline will offer direct or connecting service to 46 other destinations such as Boston (via Manchester and Providence); Washington, DC (via Washington Dulles and Baltimore/Washington); and Orlando.
- On November 4th, Southwest will begin eight daily nonstops from SFO to LAX, expanding its new SFO operations. Other discount airlines have tried to enter this market, most recently Frontier, which tried five daily flights last June, which ended up being discontinued last month. If anyone can be successful in this market…Southwest can.