FAA to propose new rules on airline pilot hours
June 16, 2009 ·
Obama administration officials said Monday they will propose new limits on how many hours airline pilots can fly in an effort to curb pilot fatigue, an issue safety officials have been urging action on for two decades. Randy Babbitt, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration, said he will propose the new rule in the [...]
Airline capacity cuts may lead to higher fares
June 12, 2009 ·
Plans by major U.S. airlines to slash the number of seats they sell may bolster fares this fall, further stabilizing prices that tumbled this year as economic weakness drained travel demand. Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) and AMR Corp’s (AMR.N) American Airlines said they would cut their capacity deeper than previously predicted. The capacity reductions are [...]
Lawmakers seek to fix pilot fatigue, training
June 11, 2009 ·
Members of Congress said Thursday they will try to force regional airlines to fix problems with pilot training and fatigue highlighted by an investigation into an air crash in upstate New York in February. Rep. Jerry Costello, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s aviation subcommittee, told a hearing Thursday he’s fed up with [...]
Continental CEO says business travelers hold key
June 11, 2009 ·
Continental Airlines Inc. is pressing its corporate customers to step up their travel because business traffic holds the key to recovery in the slumping airline industry, Chief Executive Larry Kellner said Thursday. Business travel slumped several months ago as turbulence rocked the financial industry, and that led to cascading problems for airlines. For starters, business [...]
Southwest CEO says June looking worse than May
June 11, 2009 ·
The chief executive of Southwest Airlines said Thursday that June looks weaker than May, judging by a key measure of revenue, and he doesn’t yet see signs of a turnaround. “It’s a very, very difficult time, and earnings are going to be very stressed until the economy changes,” CEO Gary Kelly said. Kelly said that [...]
Airline got replacement sensors days before crash
June 11, 2009 ·
Air France received replacement airspeed sensors for its Airbus 330s three days before the fatal crash of Flight 447, but the airline’s chief executive said Thursday that he is not convinced faulty monitors were the cause. As storms bore down on the crash zone off Brazil, a French submarine searched the depths of the Atlantic [...]
FAA missing inspections at airlines
June 10, 2009 ·
A government watchdog told a Senate panel Wednesday that the Federal Aviation Administration has missed safety inspections at major airlines. The Transportation Department’s inspector general, Calvin Scovel, said that the cozy relationship between FAA inspectors and Southwest Airlines that he warned Congress about last year extends to more offices within the agency and more airlines. [...]
