A Spirit Airlines flight diverted after being shot on approach to Haiti. JetBlue and American flights were also found to have been struck by bullets.

Traveling is so much fun but it brings some hefty challenges too.  As a frequent flyer I’ve compiled a short list of tips to help stay on track while away from home.  Some of these are lessons I live by.  Others I’ve learned the hard way and hope to spare you the same pit falls. […]

The Missouri Court of Appeals overturned a denial of Second Injury Fund benefits to a long-time aircraft mechanic with a multitude of injuries. James Eckardt spent over 40 years working as…

Ed Bastian, CEO of Delta Air Lines, leads a company that has been on the front lines of pandemic challenges.

Your restoration company could find itself in a PR disaster of its own in your local community should something go awry. Are you ready?

If hybrid cars can cut CO2 emissions on the road, can hybrid-electric planes do the same in the air? 

NASA is exploring that possibility, announcing this week two contracts to aviation startup Electra. The company claims it can meet NASA’s goal of reducing airliner fuel use by 60% to 80% by 2035 with a hybrid design that features generators powering motors to drive a large number of propellers. While this may sound like a convoluted way to power an airliner, the company claims it ultimately requires far less fuel than a traditional plane. 

Electra is already flying a two-seat test plane with this kind of system and will debut a nine-seater with a 380-mile range this week. It’s now partnering with American Airlines, Honeywell, Lockheed Martin, MIT, and the University of Michigan to guide the design and scale up the tech to airliners.

Electra’s grants, totaling about $3.5 million, are part of the $11.5 million, to four companies and one university for the first phase of its Advanced Aircraft for Sustainable Aviation (AACES) 2050 program. First announced in August 2023, AACES challenges companies to propose aircraft concepts that could help bring passenger and cargo plane emissions to zero by 2050.

The aviation industry has long touted zero-emission fuels (for example, jet fuel made from biomass, or hydrogen produced with green electricity) as the ultimate climate solution. It’s easier to make enough of these fuels if new planes need a lot less of them—hence NASA’s challenge to Electra and the other winners to develop radically more-efficient designs.

The case for electric-powered planes

A number of companies are developing electric airplanes, but most are for short-range air taxi services. Toyota-backed Joby Aviation, for example, promises to put a four-passenger plane into service as soon as 2025. Powered 100% by heavy batteries, packing about 1/40th as much energy per pound as jet fuel, Joby’s plane can fly 100 miles per charge.

Electra stands out as one of the few companies, alongside Sweden’s Heart Aerospace and Ampaire and Whisper Aero out of the U.S., testing different hybrid concepts to dramatically extend range. (NASA has also been testing hybrid tech with other companies.) Electra and its allies’ initial concept for NASA is a 114-seat airliner that can fly nearly 3,300 miles, says Electra’s vice president and general manager, JP Stewart. But he says the tech can scale to NASA’s largest target: carrying about 300 people up to around 8,600 miles.

Electra’s take on hybrid technology is called a “series hybrid.” On a traditional plane, each propeller (or jet engine) requires a big, expensive turbine that burns jet fuel. By using turbines to power generators instead, Electra can run more props using lightweight electric motors. Electra’s initial sketch has five propellers across each wing (plus three in the tail), which the company says can improve airflow and boost the wing’s ability to lift the plane—tech that’s already working on its two-seat prototype. For its NASA proposal, Electra envisions an airliner that uses this hybrid tech and a new design of the fuselage (the tube carrying passengers) to take off with smaller wings, which will produce less drag and save fuel in flight.

Another benefit of hooking a turbine to a generator, says Stewart, is that the turbine can run at its most-efficient speed throughout the flight. Airplane engines have to be very flexible, gunning it on takeoff and landing and running less intensely when the plane is cruising in the air. Turbines that power the propellers directly don’t have the flexibility to do both tasks efficiently; electric motors do. Finally, by adding batteries to the mix, the plane can use a smaller turbine that needs to produce just enough power for cruising, says Electra. For takeoff and landing, battery packs join in to provide the extra oomph only when needed.

Electra’s concept is just one of several ideas NASA has given the green light to. Another contract winner, JetZero, has proposed a liquid hydrogen-powered, “blended wing body” concept for a jetliner or cargo plane that ditches the traditional design of a metal tube with wings and a tail. Instead, it has a tail-less, triangular shape that looks a bit like a B2 Stealth Bomber and promises major fuel savings. 

Other winners include Georgia Institute of Technology, Pratt & Whitney (part of the RTX conglomerate), and Boeing-owned Aurora Flight Sciences, which are working on several engine and body technologies. (Aurora founder John Langford went on to found Electra in 2020.)

The task now for Electra, JetZero, and other winners is to produce a final airplane design in 18 months. Getting real planes in the air will take many more years.

Is technology improving airline customer service?  PhocusWire

[New Times] Ethiopia's national flag carrier and largest Airbus operator in Africa, Ethiopian Airlines, has taken delivery of its first of four A350-1000 from Airbus in Toulouse, France, it is reported. The first of its kind to be operated by an African based operator, the A350-1000 will enable Ethiopian Airlines to enhance its premium service on key destinations including Washington D.C., London, Paris and Frankfurt.

The new feature was ostensibly designed to help airlines find lost luggage and items during travel. #apple #findmy #airtags

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College Park, GA United States Description Menzies Aviation is seeking a full time diligent Ramp Agent to join our International and Domestic Team. The Ramp Agent plays an important role in ensuring that flights run on time by maintaining detailed records of shipped goods moving baggage and cargo from aircraft and guiding aircraft to and from their gates. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: + Comfortably and continuously lift/move 70 lbs. of cargo and baggage on and off aircraft and transport it between aircraft airport terminals and air cargo facilities. + Frequent bending stretching push/pulling stacking and kneeling in small confined locations. + Operate motorized equipment. + Read and interpret aircraft weight and balance loading instructions hazardous material identification labels aircraft loading manifests and baggage and carg

College Park, GA United States Description Menzies Aviation is seeking a full time diligent Ramp Agent to join our International and Domestic Team. The Ramp Agent plays an important role in ensuring that flights run on time by maintaining detailed records of shipped goods moving baggage and cargo from aircraft and guiding aircraft to and from their gates. Essential Duties and Responsibilities: + Comfortably and continuously lift/move 70 lbs. of cargo and baggage on and off aircraft and transport it between aircraft airport terminals and air cargo facilities. + Frequent bending stretching push/pulling stacking and kneeling in small confined locations. + Operate motorized equipment. + Read and interpret aircraft weight and balance loading instructions hazardous material identification labels aircraft loading manifests and baggage and carg

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An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to return to Portland, Oregon, on Friday, after a window on the Boeing blew off midflight.

Violence continues in Haiti, despite the appointment of a new prime minister. The international airport was shut down after shots were fired at a landing commercial flight.

United plans to connect all of its roughly 1,000 airplanes to Starlink.

The government deregulated the airline industry in 1978. Since that time, the basic pricing in the industry, as well as airline fortunes, have been more or less continuously on the downward slope. It has been a very long trip down.

The industry may be heading up again, though. In the third quarter of 2010, the average domestic airfare was 11% higher than a year earlier. Profits returned to the industry in 2010 behind higher prices. In some part, these higher prices were the result of the additional fees that most of the domestic carriers charged passengers for checked baggage, better seating, rerouting and so forth. Still, the industry was able to hold its higher prices.

These prices are holding because the major industry players are less enamored of discounted flying. All of the big airlines are finding ways to extract prices from industry customers. Now that airline capacity utilization is high, the industry is more careful about capacity additions. Higher prices are here to stay.

The consumer still is far ahead. Even at these higher prices, ticket prices are a bargain. In fact, ticket prices, adjusted for inflation, are 20% below the levels of 1995. The industry has continuously stripped benefits from the base product in order to save costs. In 2010, the industry added back a few of those benefits (for example, economy plus seating) for an additional charge. We may see more of that over the next few years.

Shares of the company were down 39% at $1.8 after the bell. The stock has fallen nearly 80% this year, while the S&P 500 passenger airlines index jumped 52%. The ultra-low cost carrier is in advanced discussions with bondholders to hammer out a bankruptcy plan that would have support from a…

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Brunei (Reuters) -- Vietnam Airlines will issue a request for proposal to aircraft manufacturers next year to purchase 50 narrowbody jets, its CEO said on Wednesday. The carrier last year signed a provisional deal with Boeing BA for 50 737 MAX planes that has yet to be…

US prohibits airlines from flying to Haiti after planes were shot by gangs PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The Federal Aviation Administration prohibited U.S. airlines from flying to Haiti for 30 days after gangs shot three planes and the United Nations also Tuesday temporarily suspended flights to…

Passengers who bug airline staff by breaking boarding protocol will be met with an alarm

One flight attendant was injured when gang gunfire struck the Spirit Airlines flight to Port-au-Prince on Monday

A recent article on Chow.com identifies a trend in American aviation catering: The surprisingly high demand for ginger ale on America’s planes. Why ginger ale, and not Coke, 7UP, or Bloody Mary mix? The most popular theory among flight attendants is that it relieves nausea. “If [passengers] have motion sickness, it settles their stomach,” says Elizabeth […]

Sure, some airlines let you work in a free stopover. But Turkish Airlines goes one step further and offers up a free city tour on a stopover as short as six hours. Maybe getting into a shuttle bus and tooling around Istanbul after seven hours on an Airbus isn’t your cup of tea, but if […]

A flight of Florida-based Spirit Airlines was hit by gunfire while attempting to land in Haiti with a crew member that sustained "minor injuries."

Apple's update for Find My in iOS 18.2 will let users share the location of AirTags with other people, which could help airlines track down your lost luggage faster.

At least three airlines cancelled flights between Australia and Bali this week after a volcano eruption in eastern Indonesia spewed a vast plume of volcanic ash into the air.

At least three airlines cancelled flights between Australia and Bali this week after a volcano eruption in eastern Indonesia spewed a vast plume of volcanic ash into the air.

Apple now lets you share location of lost items with third parties via Find My accessories and AirTags.

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has warned flight crew members, especially pilots against working for multiple airlines concurrently with their approved privileges simulators and proficiency checks endorsed on their licence. The authority stated that such action posed a serious threat to safety and would be treated as a serious violation of the NCAA Regulations. This

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The Federal Aviation Administration announced Tuesday that it will prohibit U.S. airlines from flying to Haiti for 30 days after gangs shot a Spirit Airlines flight. The United Nations also said it will suspend flights, "obviously limiting the flow of humanitarian aid and humanitarian personnel into the country."  The bullets hit the plane when it was about to land Monday in the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, injuring a flight attendant. It was part of a wave of violence that erupted in Haiti as the country swore in its new prime minister after a politically tumultuous process.  Life in much of Haiti's capital was frozen after the wave of violence, which came to a head when gangs shot the Spirit Airlines airplane Monday, forcing the airport to shut down. Photos and videos obtained by The Associated Press show bullet holes dotting the interior of a plane. A number of airlines suspended flights to Haiti through Thursday, but it was unclear how long closures could drag on.  Neither the former interim prime minister, Garry Conille, nor the newly inaugurated Alix Didier Fils-Aime commented on the violence.  But Luis Abinader, who as president of the neighboring Dominican Republic has cracked down on Haitian migration, called firing on the airplane terrorism.  "This was a terrorist act; the countries that are following and helping Haiti should declare these armed gangs as terrorist groups," Abinader said in a news conference.  On Tuesday, heavily armed police in armored cars outside the airport checked trucks used for public transportation passing by.  Schools were closed, as were banks and government offices. The streets, where just a day before gangs and police were locked in a fierce firefight, were eerily empty.  The sound of heavy gunfire was heard in the streets in the afternoon — a reminder that despite political maneuvering by Haiti's elites and a strong push by the international community to restore peace, the country's toxic slate of gangs kept its firm hold on much of the Caribbean nation.  The United Nations estimates that gangs control 85% of the capital. A U.N.-backed mission led by Kenyan police to quell gang violence struggles with a lack of funding and personnel, prompting calls for a U.N. peacekeeping mission.