Sky Talk

American to offer "flagship check-in" at JFK airport

American Airlines announced on Wednesday that it will offer "flagship check-in" at its terminal 8 at JFK Airport in New York.

The service, which provides passengers with a private check-in and expedited security line, is already offered by American to its premium customers at Los Angeles and Miami airports.

"We remain focused on modernizing and building an exceptional travel experience for our premium customers at every step of their journey," said American's chief commercial officer Virasb Vahidi.

The check-in service is available to ConciergeKey members, first class customers on three-class transcontinental aircraft and first class passengers on international American or select Oneworld alliance aircraft.

-Andrea Ahles

FAA announces 149 airport tower closures including two Dallas towers

The Federal Aviation Administration announced it will close 149 airport towers on April 7 as part of the budget cuts required by sequestration.

Two Dallas towers - Dallas Executive and Collin County Regional airports - will be shut down under the plan.

Under a previous plan, Fort Worth Spinks, Arlington municipal and Grand Prairie's airport towers had been scheduled to close, however, the FAA reconsidered its decision since "doing so would have a negative impact on the national interest."

"We will work with the airports and the operators to ensure the procedures are in place to maintain the high level of safety at non-towered airports," said FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.

-Andrea Ahles

Arlington Municipal Airport celebrates 50 years

ARLINGTON -- 2012 marks the 50th Anniversary of Arlington Municipal Airport, airport manager Karen VanWinkle said Thursday.

The full-service corporate airport has 100,000 operations a year, she said. That includes 19 business partners and flight-test facilities for Bell Helicopter and AgustaWestland. This year, the airport opened its west parallel taxi-way.

VanWinkle soon hopes that the airport clientele and staff will be able to celebrate the anniversary. Staff has been so busy with development of the westside of the airport that it hasn't had time to organize a party.

"We're excited,'' she said.

Yamil Berard

 

Southwest to add Wichita, Kan. to its route map

From personal experience I know that residents of Wichita, Kan., particularly business people, have been wishing and hoping and praying for Southwest Airlines to serve the self-proclaimed Air Capital of the known universe for a very, very long time.

It's finally going to happen.

Southwest announced at a press conference Monday that beginning in June it will operate five departures daily out of Wichita Mid-Continent Airport. The routes will include two to Dallas Love Field, two to Chicago Midway and one to Las Vegas. The Wichita Eagle has the story.

“Folks, the wait is over,” said Bob Montgomery, Southwest’s vice president for airport affairs, during the news conference, which included state and local dignitaries.

The five flights will utilize 143-seat Boeing 737s to Dallas and Chicago, Southwest officials said, and a 137-seat 737 to Las Vegas. One-way rates will range between $94 and $178 to each destination.

The addition of Southwest is a boon to the city’s economic development and tourism efforts, Mayor Carl Brewer and Sedgwick County Commission Chairman Tim Norton said following the announcement.

“As far back as 1980, when I moved here with Target, affordable, dependable air service has been a need of this community,” Norton said. “We’ve had air service, but when I flew to Denver years ago and the cost was so prohibitive that we drove to Kansas City to fly, that’s a dynamic we knew we had to change.

“And in talking with Pizza Hut, Rent-A-Center, the companies that left here, part of the conversation was that airfares are too high here for companies that travel a lot. Fast forward to today, and a dependable, affordable carrier that changes the dynamic of our air travel, our businesses and certainly our community.”

Wichita has long been a spoke in a number of airlines systems and leisure travelers booking well in advance could get pretty good fares most of the time. But for business people travelling on short notice the fares were typicaly very high, a situation that has only gotten worse with airline economics and mergers. A 21-day advance purchase round trip fare on American Airlines from Wichita to Dallas-Fort Worth is $629.60 today

Southwest officials indicated they may initially take advantage of subsidies that Wichita and the state of Kansas had get low cost Air Tran service to Atlanta, which is going away. But they also said there Wichita routes would not be based on receiving a subsidy.

“We are here with no conditions, no demands," Montgomery said. “We ask that y’all fly Southwest, because this is a tough business.”

- Bob Cox

 

 

 

 

Alliance Airport receives $15.6 million FAA grant for runway extension

Alliance Airport received a $15.6 million grant from the federal government for its runway extension project at the industrial airport.

The airport, located in north Fort Worth, will use the grant to extend its 16R/34L runway to 11,000 feet. Alliance is currently extending both of its runways, giving the airport the runway space needed to allow fully loaded cargo planes to make non-stop flights to Europe or Asia.

Earlier this year, Alliance was awarded $15.1 million in grants from the FAA for its runway extension project. So far, Alliance has received $215 million from the FAA, Texas Department of Transportation and Tarrant County, and has secured 80 percent of the funding it needs for the project.

"Grant funding from the FAA brings us one step closer to realizing our master plan for Fort Worth Alliance Airport," said Tim Ward, president of the airport.

Alliance expects the runway extensions to be completed by 2016.

-Andrea Ahles

Hurricane Sandy flight update: 19,000 flights canceled since Sunday

Over 19,217 flights have been canceled in North America due to Hurricane Sandy, according to FlightStats.com, a website that tracks flights.

On Wednesday, 2,820 flights were canceled and only 238 flights are canceled for Thursday, FlightStats.com said.

American Airlines resumed operations at all of its airports impacted by Hurricane Sandy except Newark and New York LaGuardia airports. It planned to resume limited operations at New York's JFK airport late Wednesday. From Sunday to Thursday, American and its regional carrier American Eagle canceled 2,088 flights due to the storm's impact.

Southwest Airlines said it is operating across most of the East Coast by midday on Wednesday. However, it does not have any plans to operate flights from either New York LaGuardia's airport or Newark airport in New Jersey on Wednesday. Southwest and its subsidiary AirTran Airways have not canceled anymore flights since its flight operations update on Tuesday night.

-Andrea Ahles

Flight cancellations over 17,000 due to Hurricane Sandy

For those who are keeping track of how many flights have been cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, we're now up to 17,062 since Saturday.

According to Flightstats.com, a website that tracks flights, carriers have cancelled 6,444 flights today in North America and another 1,021 flights are cancelled for Wednesday.

Here's a look at flight cancellations by day:

Wednesday, Oct. 31	1,021
Tuesday, Oct. 30	6,444
Monday, Oct. 29	7,944
Sunday, Oct. 28	1,501
Saturday, Oct. 27	152

-Andrea Ahles

DFW Airport becomes parking lot for airlines wanting to keep planes away from Sandy

Photo courtesy of David Magaña, DFW Airport

With its expansive tarmac and runways, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport is the ideal place for airlines to park their planes out of Hurricane Sandy's wrath.

On Monday, DFW Airport had about 30 planes from American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Airlines, sitting on various runway aprons and near terminals that were parked by the carriers, said airport spokesman David Magaña.

Airlines typically will move airplanes out of the path of a severe storm, such as a hurricane or snow storm, so the aircraft are not damaged while on the ground. With the weather sunny and clear at DFW, plus its ample tarmac space, aircraft avoiding Sandy have a perfect parking place.

American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said the carrier had at least ten aircraft parked around DFW on Tuesday morning.

-Andrea Ahles

Southwest: conditions improving, except at New York/New Jersey airports

Southwest Airlines said conditions were improving across the East Coast and that it anticipated returning to normal operations by midday Wednesday except in the New York/New Jersey area.

"The airlines are still evaluating damage incurred by Hurricane Sandy in those areas," the Dallas-based carrier said referring to New York LaGuardia, Newark, Philadelphia and Long Island MacArthur airports.

So far, Southwest has cancelled 1,300 flights from Sunday to midday Wednesday with its subsidiary, AirTran Airways, cancelling 400 flights during that same time period.

UPDATE 5 p.m. CDT: Southwest said it expects to have "normal operations" across most of the East Coast by mid-morning on Wednesday. However, it does not anticipate any flights to or from New York's LaGuardia airport or Newark on Wednesday. Southwest's total flight cancellations have reached 1,350 with AirTran maintaining 400 cancelled flights.

-Andrea Ahles

American: late start at 7 airports Tuesday afternoon, Chicago impacted by wind

American Airlines said it will have late starts at seven airports affected by Hurricane Sandy while operations at eight airports on the East Coast will stay closed until at least Wednesday.

The carrier, which has canceled 1,687 flights due to the storm between Sunday and Wednesday, said it is also having operational delays at its Chicago O'Hare airport hub.

"Our operations in [Chicago O'Hare] are significantly impacted," American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said. "Wind is the issue."

The seven airports that will reopen later today include: Bradley International in Connecticut, Boston, Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio, Dayton, Ohio, Pittsburgh and Richmond, Va.

The eight airports that remain closed include: Norfolk, Va., Baltimore, Washington D.C.'s Reagan National, Dulles Airport in Washington D.C., Newark, Philadelphia and New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports, Huguely said.

"We're hopeful that operations will resume in most cities on Wednesday, but it's possible that the aftermath of the storm may force some additional delays and cancellations," Huguely said.

-Andrea Ahles