Air traffic

Washington, D.C. -- Nov 5, 2009 – U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar, Al Franken, and Byron Dorgan today sponsored legislation to prohibit the use of personal wireless communication devices by the flight crew while operating commercial aircraft.

Klobuchar, an Aviation Subcommittee member, and Franken joined Commerce Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Byron Dorgan to introduce the legislation in response to the recent Northwest Airlines incident in which pilots claimed they were distracted by working on their computers and did not respond to radio calls for 91 minutes. The plane flew 150 miles past its destination of Minneapolis-St. Paul.    » read more »

Oct. 28, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Data from NASA's National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (NAOMS) project, a survey administered to pilots in order to track safety-related incidents during air travel, should not be used to measure rates or trends in safety in the National Airspace System, says a new report from the National Research Council. Deficiencies in several aspects of the survey design make the data gathered unreliable.    » read more »

Pilots cited laptops as distraction that caused error

October 30, 2009 -- WASHINGTON – The pilots of Northwest Airlines Flight 188, which overshot its destination by 150 miles while carrying 147 passengers from San Diego to Minneapolis last week, have told authorities that they were at least partially distracted by laptop computers in the cockpit.

In the wake of this incident, U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) today announced that he will introduce “distracted flying” legislation to prohibit the use of non-essential portable electronics in the cockpit.    » read more »

August 26, 2009 -- Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced more than $240 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding for new in-line baggage handling systems at 10 additional airports across the country.    » read more »

Effort encourages customers and employees to ‘Go Zero’

CINCINNATI, July 8, 2009 – Delta AirElite Business Jets announced a comprehensive effort to offset the annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of its headquarters offices in Cincinnati and a complementary initiative to help address the CO2 emissions associated with customer travel. The program was developed with The Conservation Fund, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting land and water resources.    » read more »

Airlines will offer more destinations and improved service in the US-Australia and US-South Pacific markets

Jul 08, 2009 -- ATLANTA, and BRISBANE, Australia, July 8 -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and the Virgin Blue Airlines Group (ASX: VBA) announced today they plan to seek regulatory approval to form a joint venture that will expand both carriers' reach between the U.S. and Australia and the South Pacific.

The alliance will allow Delta and the Virgin Blue Airlines Group to compete more effectively in those markets by collaborating on route and product planning, codesharing on their respective networks and extending frequent flyer program benefits and lounge access to customers of both airlines.    » read more »

Introduces legislation mandating airline carrier disclosure on travel websites; Legislation will require online travel websites to alert passengers if the tickets are for regional airline carriers

June 23, 2009 -- Washington, D.C.- U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer introduced new legislation requiring online travel websites to notify customers, on the first page after they enter in a search for airline tickets, as to what carriers will be running their flight. Some travel websites already provide this information to customers when they book online, but many do not.    » read more »

The Report Supports the Delegation’s February 2009 Letter Objecting to TSA’s Proposed Large Aircraft Security Program as Disproportionate with the Actual Threat

June 23, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. –The Alaska Delegation responded today to a recent finding by the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security that General Aviation poses little risk to aircraft security.

In a report entitled “TSA’s (Transportation Security Administration) Role in General Aviation Security,” the Inspector General’s office concluded, “We determined that general aviation presents only limited and mostly hypothetical threats to security.”    » read more »

HOUSTON, June 17 -- Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) today announced the results of its Jan. 7, 2009, biofuel demonstration flight, which was conducted in partnership with Boeing, GE Aviation/CFM International, and Honeywell's UOP. The biofuel blend performed as well as or better than traditional jet fuel, displaying an approximately 1.1 percent increase in fuel efficiency over traditional jet fuel in different stages of the demonstration flight.

Overall life cycle greenhouse gas emissions related to using a biofuel of the nature used on the Continental demonstration flight are estimated to be reduced by 60 percent to 80 percent as compared to traditional jet fuel.    » read more »

US Airways Announces Results of 2009 Annual Meeting of Stockholders

TEMPE, Ariz.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 10, 2009-- US Airways (NYSE: LCC) announced the results of its annual meeting of stockholders held today in New York. Stockholders voted to re-elect Herbert M. Baum, Matthew J. Hart, Richard C. Kraemer and Cheryl G. Krongard to three-year terms on the Board of Directors, expiring at the annual meeting of stockholders in 2012.    » read more »

Gillibrand Giving Voice to Buffalo Crash Families - Raising Their Questions to Top Aviation Officials; Senator To Get Answers From DOT, FAA, NTSB

June 10, 2009 -- Washington, D.C. - At today's Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Aviation Safety & FAA Oversight, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will submit questions from the family members of victims in the Flight 3407 crash in Buffalo about fundamental failures in our aviation system.    » read more »

June 9, 2009 -- The nation’s largest airlines had a rate of on-time flights this past April that was higher than both the same month last year and the mark posted in March 2009, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), the 19 carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 79.1 percent in April, better than both the 77.7 percent on-time rate of April 2008 and March 2009’s 78.4 percent.    » read more »

Schumer To Make New Push To Pass Legislation Making Bird Strike Reporting Mandatory - Only 20% Of Strikes Are Currently Reported

June 9, 2009 -- Today, United States Senator Charles E. Schumer announced he will make a renewed push to pass his legislation, The Wildlife Strike Act, S. 1162, requiring the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to make bird strike data mandatory in the wake of a new report that reveals that only 20% of bird strikes in New York are reported. Schumer will push to have his legislation included as part of the FAA Reauthorization Bill which has already passed the House and is now moving through the Senate.    » read more »

June 09,2009 -- WASHINGTON, DC – On Monday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced the Air Medical Service Safety Improvement Act of 2009, which aims to improve safety for flight crews, flight nurses, and passengers aboard emergency air medical service helicopters.    » read more »

PARIS, June 8 -- When American Airlines Flight 63 departs Paris for Miami at 10 a.m. local time on Thursday, June 11, it will embark upon a journey that aims to prove that trans-Atlantic flights can be operated a bit greener and leaner.

Through the Atlantic Interoperability Initiative to Reduce Emissions (AIRE), American will be the first U.S. airline to test next-generation technology and procedures that will significantly reduce carbon emissions and save fuel on trans-Atlantic routes. The testing will be conducted during a normally scheduled flight so American can obtain real-time benefits.    » read more »