Sky Talk

Bomb threat on American Airlines flight from Boston to Miami

The Associated Press is reporting that Boston authorities did not find a bomb on an American Airlines plane at Logan Airport after a flight attendant found a bomb threat note in the plane's bathroom.

The note read "Bomb on board, Boston-Miami," and was found on a bathroom wall.

The plane had come from Dallas and the note was found during the pre-boarding process in Boston. Passengers were transferred to another plane heading for Miami.

-Andrea Ahles

APA tells FAA to consider pilot fatigue in proposed rule changes

The Allied Pilots Association says the Federal Aviation Administration needs to consider pilot fatigue when it reviews proposed rule changes this fall.

The pilots union, which represents American Airlines pilots, said that reducing pilot fatigue will enhance safety in the airline industry.

"Any increase in the amount of time pilots are scheduled to be at the controls in a given duty day will only serve to exacerbate pilot fatigue," said APA president Captain Lloyd Hill.

The FAA is currently considering rule changes in current flight-time and duty-time regulations. Over the summer, a committee came up with recommendations to change current rules following the fatal Colgan Air crash in Buffalo, New York, earlier this year which was partly caused by pilot fatigue.

"Sometimes what may sound like a reasonable plan within the confines of a conference room just isn't suitable for the unforgiving world of commercial aviation, where split-second decisions can make the difference between life and death," Hill said.

-Andrea Ahles

US Air Captain Sullenberger to fly again on Oct. 1

Captain Chesley Sullenberger, who famously landed US Airways flight 1549 safely in the Hudson River, will be flying for th effirst time on October 1.

Earlier this week, US Airways announced Sullenberger would return to work in a new role as a management pilot and as part of the carrier's flight operations safety management team.

Sullenberger will pilot US Airways Flight 1427 from LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte, N.C. on Thursday, the same flight route as the January flight he piloted that suffered a double-engine loss from a bird strike.

-Andrea Ahles

American Airlines Chicago to Beijing route set for May 10

Another airline blog, www.airlineroute.net, is saying that American Airlines' inaugural service for Chicago to Beijing will start on May 10, 2010.

According to a GDS (global distribution system) timetable posted on Tuesday, the new service is being postponed from April 4, 2010 to the May date.

-Andrea Ahles

Double parking at D/FW Airport will cost you more

Don't get caught double parking or blocking the crosswalk at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, unless you want to fork over some cash.

An airport board committee passed a motion that raises the civil fines for parking violations at the airport. For example, the fine for blocking a roadway has increased to $58, up from $28.

The steepest fee jump is for illegally parking in a handicap space. Instead of paying a $63 fine, violators will pay a $293 fine.

According to operations committee' agenda, the parking fines have not increased since they were adopted by the board in 2001.

The full airport board will consider the fine increases on Thursday. However, any fine increase will not go into effect until both the Dallas and Fort Worth city councils approve the increases.

Here's a look at the fine increases:

Violation	Current Civil Fine	Proposed New Fine
No Parking Zone	$28.00	$58.00
Double Parking	$28.00	$68.00
Blocking Cross Walk	$28.00	$58.00
Blocking Roadway	$28.00	$58.00
Limited Parkway	$28.00	$58.00
Unauthorized Zone	$28.00	$58.00
Failed to Park in Marked Space	$28.00	$58.00
Boot Fee	$25.00	$100.00
Fire Lane	$38.00	$68.00
Handicap Space	$63.00	$293.00
Other	$28.00	$58.00

-Andrea Ahles

AMR completes its stock and debt offerings

AMR Corp. said it has completed its stock and debt offering, generating $830 million in net proceeds.

The parent company of American Airlines said it sold 48,484,849 shares and $460 million of its 6.25 percent convertible senior notes which are due in 2014.

"We believe AMR has been able to secure these strong votes of confidence from our strategic partners and the investment community by honoring our financial obligations in the past and looking out for the long-term interests of our stakeholders - and we believe these recent financings reflect that history," said Gerard Arpey, AMR chief executive.

AMR has announced several financing deals this fall for a total of $4.2 billion in additional liquidity and new aircraft financing. Those deals include a private sale of $450 million principal amount of senior secured note which was used to pay back a $432 million bank term loan.

By the end of the third quarter, AMR expects to have $4.4 billion in cash and short-term investments.

The full press release is here.

-Andrea Ahles

Southwest launches a fare sale

Southwest announced this morning that it is launching a fare sale with some one-way trips as low as $59, the Dallas-based carrier's press release said.

The tickets must be purchased by Oct. 15 and can be used for travel between Oct. 13 and February 11, 2010. The company also warns that the really cheap fares may not be available on flights during the holiday travel season.

In my quick perusal of the Southwest website this morning, I found one-way fares out of Dallas-Love Field starting at $96 to Denver and as low as $49 to Houston Hobby.

We'll wait to see this afternoon if its competitors, like AirTran, and the legacy carriers like American follow suit.

-Andrea Ahles

IATA August traffic numbers

Passenger traffic was down 1.1 percent in August compared to the same month last year while load factors went up 1.2 percentage points to 80.9 percent, the International Air Transport Association said on Tuesday.

The decline in August is the smallest drop seen since August 2008 when the industry posted a 1.3 percent year-over-year gain.

"Fares have stabilized, but at profitless levels," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's chief executive. "Meanwhile, cost pressures are mounting from reduced aircraft utilization and rising oil prices. The industry is not out of the woods yet."

The IATA report says that average fares continue to be depressed, down 22 percent for premium seats and 18 percent for economy.

North American carriers posted a passenger traffic decline of 2.5 percent in August, an improvement over July's 3.2 percent drop.

For 2010, IATA said it expects the average international passenger traffic to grow by 4.0 percent and that in 2009, the industry will report a full-year decline of almost 5 percent.

The full release can be seen here.

-Andrea Ahles

Neutralizing stealth technology

One of the prime arguments for the F-35 and F-22 jets built by Lockheed Martin is their stealth design, the purported ability to avoid detection by radar. Now Steve Trimble of The Dew Line reports that a Marine pilot has written that technology is eroding the stealth advantage the U.S. has held over the last two decades is slipping away.

In an article in the current edition of Joint Force Quarterly, Lieutenant Colonel Arend G. Westra, USMC, argues that "ongoing advances in passive radar will deny traditional means to defeat enemy air defenses, make air superiority difficult to achieve against a passive radar opponent, and require changes in thinking to maintain U.S. power projection capability.

--Bob Cox

Headlines from the weekend

Here's a look at some of the airline-related articles from over the weekend.

-The Associated Press examined the high cost of checked bag fees for international flights out of the U.S.

-British Airways launches a business-class only flight from London to New York.

-And of course, from the Star-Telegram, here is my quick take on holiday travel, reminding consumers who may not fly as often about the fees to expect when flying. And here is columnist Mitch Schnurman's look at American Airlines trying to bail out JAL.

-Andrea Ahles