Has the FDA Inspected the Aircraft on Which You Are a Passenger?
Did you know that the Food and Drug Administration — an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services of the United States tasked with protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety, amongst other responsibilities — has jurisdiction over certain aspects of the inspection, compliance, certification, enforcement and criminal investigations over interstate carriers and their support facilities? Interstate carriers includes commercial airlines — and their past history with…
Are Worse Times Ahead for Airline Passengers?
Both Gerry Wingenbach of The Tarmac and Tim Winship of FrequentFlier.com reported earlier today about the state of commercial aviation worldwide financially as announced in Cape Town by Tony Tyler, director general and chief executive officer of the International Air Transport Association. Although overall profits are expected to increase for commercial airlines worldwide in 2013…
“All You Can Fly” Concept About to Finally Take Off?
Surf Air — whose concept is to offer its customers the opportunity to be a passenger on as many flights as they want for one monthly membership fee which purportedly will not be significantly more expensive than typical airfare prices — recently received permission by federal regulators in the United States to begin passenger service between four cities in California. For that monthly membership fee, you receive such benefits as…
Do You Remember When the Airlines Needed YOUR Help?
While doing some research for an article for The Gate, I stumbled across a short article I wrote back on July 9, 2008 called An Open Letter to All Airline Customers. The letter — which basically asked for your assistance to restore and enforce regulations and limits to “control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation” pertaining to oil contracts which supposedly fueled a rise in oil prices per barrel — was signed by the chief executive officers of 12 domestic airlines based in the United States at that time. You were to have…
Will There Be a Shortage of Commercial Airline Pilots?
A combination of new requirements being imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration of the United States and commercial airline pilots expected to retire this year has analysts of the commercial aviation industry predicting a shortage of pilots — especially if…
Kreeger Named CEO of Virgin Atlantic
Effective as of February 1, 2013, American Airlines executive Craig Kreeger is slated to be the new chief executive officer of Virgin Atlantic Airways. He will replace Steve Ridgway, who announced his retirement or resignation — depending on which news story you believe — on September 9, 2012. FlyerTalk members are…
Iberia, SAS Restructure in “Fight for Survival”; Other European Airlines Cut Jobs and Assets
International Airlines Group — which was formed by the merger of Iberia and British Airways — has announced a restructuring of Iberia which will eliminate a minimum of 4,500 jobs, downsize its fleet of aircraft by 25 percent and reduce capacity by 15 percent; while SAS Group plans to eliminate greater than 7,000 jobs and sell off assets of Scandinavian Airlines System, or SAS. Both airlines are struggling just to survive. International Airlines Group cites…
Another Defunct Airline: This Time, It is WindJet
The list of defunct airlines in 2012 keeps on growing — and this time, it is WindJet, which ceased operations due to financial troubles in August of 2012, nine years after the Italian airline was launched. There was speculation by FlyerTalk members that…
Defunct Airlines: Air Nigeria Becomes the Latest Casualty
Air Nigeria has reportedly shut down its operations earlier this month primarily due to labor issues and financial issues, including being unable to pay for fuel. In fact, there are reports that on a flight from London to Lagos earlier this month, passengers were asked to contribute an extra £40.00 each for the purchase of fuel and — to add insult to injury — they were unable to retrieve their luggage immediately after the flight. While four domestic airlines will still serve Nigeria, one of them is Dana Air. The Gate reported on June 3 earlier this year of a devastating crash…
Still Waiting For a Trip Report on Palestinian Airlines…
A reader brought to our attention that Palestinian Airlines is resuming airline service with two Fokker aircraft between el-Arish in Egypt near the Gaza crossing — whose airport was destroyed — and…
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