aviationbuzz

It is another sad tale of once complimentary items that are now for sale, as American Airlines moves to charging for pillows and blankets on select flights; a move that almost parallels US Airways’s $7 “power-nap sack” and JetBlue’s blanket-pillow set. For those seated in coach on domestic flights and select international flights greater than 2 hours, American will charge $8 for a pillow and blanket. The select international flights include routes to and from Canada, Mexico, Hawaii, the... Read Full Story

Boeing did it again! Today, the new Boeing 747-8 freighter took to the sky for the very first time. The day started off with fog and the usual Seattle / Washington-esque weather. Yet, it did clear up, and the airplane lifted off at 12:39 PM PST. So what’s different about this 747? It’s longer, beating the previous 747 by 18 feet, has new engines, outfitted with the same type of engines available for the 787, and has brand new wings. The freighter can carry 30 more tons of cargo than the... Read Full Story

This Tuesday, February 9, 2010, at 9 P.M. ET, PBS will air a segment on the regional airline industry. Frontline investigators interview pilots and industry experts to learn how the regional airline industry is weathering safety concerns. Program description: One year after the deadly airline crash of Continental 3407 in Buffalo, NY, FRONTLINE investigates the accident and discovers a dramatically changed airline industry, where regional carriers now account for half of the nation’s... Read Full Story

Japan Airlines has decided to maintain its alliance with American Airlines and will end talks with Delta Air Lines, Japanese media reported early Monday. American and Delta are competing for JAL’s alliance loyalty, as the Japanese carrier flies significant routes both inside Japan and to other parts of Asia. JAL recently declared bankruptcy with 26 billion dollars of debt. Early reports within the past two months suggested the carrier would chose Delta Air Lines and its SkyTeam alliance... Read Full Story

The New York Times recently put out a video on the relief efforts of private aircraft owners and pilots. Read Full Story

Southwest Airlines reported a rise in its revenue per passenger (RPM) numbers this past January, up 7.1 percent from January of 2009. The airline flew 5.5 billion RPMs last month, and 5.1 billion in January of 2009. Southwest’s chief executive Gary Kelly said the carrier’s “Bags fly Free” policy has picked up hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues from passengers picking Southwest. Mr. Kelly said Southwest has shifted 1 percent of the estimated $80 billion domestic market to itself... Read Full Story

David Parker Brown, founder of AirlineReporter.com , took this video of the 787’s flight-deck – from his tour with other journalists, bloggers, and news reporters: You can read his full post at the Seattle-PI (including 120 photos) Read Full Story

Japan Airlines chairman Kazuo Inamori said he would like to made a quick decision on which alliance JAL will go forward with. The airline will choose between American Airlines’s and Delta Air Lines’s offers, as the recently bankrupt carrier seeks to turnaround its operation. “We have to rapidly come up with a conclusion,” said Inamori. Delta and American are fighting hard to win-over JAL, since the carrier offers vast codeshare opportunities in Japan and other parts of Asia. “We’re neutral... Read Full Story

It’s the first podcast of 2010! This Saturday Connections episode includes: Southwest Airlines’s move towards WiFi, security and flight diversions, the Boeing 787 flight test program, and other hot news topics from this past week. Read Full Story

Unfortunately I was not able to dedicate the amount of time I would have liked to towards writing posts this week. However, this weekend I will re-launch podcasting. After spending two years of testing, Southwest Airlines unveiled plans to begin outfitting its Boeing 737s with Row44 Wi-Fi capability by the second quarter of 2010. Chicago Tribune European plane-maker Airbus raised the list prices of commercial jets by an average of 5.8 percent. This raise in price is intended to battle... Read Full Story