PlaneBuzz

I'm leaving tomorrow for a short hop on Southwest Airlines (LUV:NYSE) over to Dallas. Wednesday is Media Day at Southwest -- and the airline always makes it worth our while to come over and visit. They give full access to top management folks at the airline and sometimes they even make us play flight attendants, pilots, baggage handlers, and gate agents.

Heh.

That has been a few years ago.

But the airline actually had members of the press load and unload a 737 one year. Willing employees played passengers, and members of the media drew pieces of paper that had employee job functions on them. Whatever you pulled, that was your job. We had a short session with actual employees, who told us what we had to do and how to do it -- and then we had to load and unload an aircraft. Quickly.

And yes, those employees who were playing passengers were one tough crowd, I tell you.

Me? I picked the alpha flight attendant. This meant I got to clean up the cabin, I got to make the PA announcements, and I got to bump butts with Jim Wimberly, former Southwest COO, who was doing his best to get in my way as he played "provisioning agent," loading cans of soda into "my" galley.

That was a pretty cool deal. I think most of us who went through the drill that year did get a much better appreciation of the infamous Southwest "20-minute turn."

Posted by Holly at 2:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If one of the things on your "Must Do" list was to fly one of the old Northwest Airlines' DC-10s across the Atlantic, I'm afraid you waited too long to do so.

Sunday marked the final Northwest scheduled trans-Atlantic DC-10 flight. Ironically, (or fittingly?) the flight was cancelled due to maintenance issues.

All of Northwest's trans-Atlantic flying is now done on Airbus A330s.

You forget how big these things are, and how huge that tail section is, until you're taking off behind one.

Leaving Dallas-Ft.Worth International a couple of weeks ago, I was in a Maddog that was taxiing behind a FedEx DC-10. Got to watch it rumble down the runway and finally go airborne before we made the turn.

Big mothers.

Posted by Holly at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Reports today say that Emirates has canceled its order for 10 A340-600 aircraft from Airbus.

Emirates will, instead, go with Boeing 777s.

In addition, Emirates is apparently also talking to Boeing about a new passenger version of the 747 -- a stretched 747-8, according to President Tim Clark.

Could Clark's words be a not-so-subtle warning message to Airbus in regard to Emirate's current order of 43 Airbus A380s? If I were a betting person, I'd say yes.

Meanwhile -- it was also announced today that Qantas has agreed to buy eight more of the A380s and four more A330-200s.

Given the money Qantas is already going to receive from Airbus because of delays in the delivery of the A380 and confirmed delivery date assurances in this new order -- I'd be willing to bet that the net cost to Qantas of its A380s is going to be, er, quite reasonable.

Posted by Holly at 2:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mesaba and the Association of Flight Attendants have come to terms on a new tentative agreement. The deal was reached by both sides on Sunday, and will be reviewed by the union's MEC this week. The deal will then go to the general membership for a vote.

The airline and the Air Line Pilots Association also announced they had come to terms on a new agreement Saturday.

This leaves only the mechanics, who are represented by AMFA, without an agreement with the airline.

Posted by Holly at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Talk about politics gone off the deep-end.

Thanks Jonathan for the update, but this is just a part of the story.

Friday Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) apparently decided it was better to use Christopher Soghoian's website as an excuse to fire a shot across the bow of the Bush administration than to stop and think long enough to consider the effects of his hystrionics on Mr. Soghoian.

Friday, Markey issued the following as part of a statement, on Friday,

"The Bush administration must immediately act to investigate, apprehend those responsible, shut down the website, and warn airlines and aviation security officials to be on the look-out for fraudsters or terrorists trying to use fake boarding passes in an attempt to cheat their way through security and onto a plane.

"There are enough loopholes at the back door of our passenger airplanes from not scanning cargo for bombs; we should not tolerate any new loopholes making it easier for terrorists to get into the front door of a plane."

What had this guy been smoking?

First of all, we all know that manipulating boarding passes is nothing new. Period.

Second, we also know there is an election less than two weeks away.

But wait, Mr. Markey is not a Republican. He wasn't calling on his administration to smite down this threat to our security.

He's a Democrat.

So what gives?

Re-reading the statement that Markey's office issued on Friday it's clear that someone thought it would be cute to jump on the posting of the boarding pass as an example of the weakness in the administration's airport security programs.

But that is not how I took the statement when I read it. And neither did anyone else.

No, I read it as the Congressman accusing Christopher as essentially being in the same league as a terrorist.

And apparently that is exactly what the FBI thought as well.

The FBI apparently first visited Soghoian on Friday and told him to take the site down and Soghoian complied. That following morning shortly after midnight, his home was once again raided by the FBI and his computers along with other important items were gone.

Oh, and for his part, Markey put his tail between his legs in a statement Sunday, backing off his earlier bulldog stand, as he said, "Subsequently I learned that the person responsible was a student at Indiana University, Christopher Soghoian, who intended no harm but, rather, intended to provide a public service by warning that this long-standing loophole could be easily exploited. The website has now apparently been shut down."

Yeah, now what? Okay Mr. Markey. Does this mean you are going to pay Christopher's legal bills? Are you going to pay for his computers, all of which the FBI apparently took with them Saturday?

Speaking of, if any of you would like to contribute to Christopher's legal defense fund, (and remember the whole reason behind all this was to show how lame current TSA procedures are) you can click here for more information.

Posted by Holly at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Posted by Holly at 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An update to Holly's post, "Fun with Boarding Passes" from Friday...

The arrest of author of the site and PHP program was called for by Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., then the FBI visited Christopher Soghoian's home, and subsequently a search warrant was issued and his home was ransacked sometime after 2 AM.

You can read more about Christopher's harrowing 48 hours at his blog. Google also has the original page that touched off this firestorm (of government stupidity) cached, though you cannot access the actual PHP script that generated the fake boarding pass.

Another sad day for the aviation industry and civil liberties. Let's not bother with fixing the gaping hole in security, covering up the hole with a pretty rug should take care of everything.

Warrant: Page 1 Page 2.

Posted by Jonathan at 8:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Christopher Soghoian is a Ph.D student in the School of Informatics at Indiana University. His courses this semester range from "Cryptographic Protocols" to "Social Informatics of Security."

When Christopher is not pursuing his education in the ways of electronic privacy and security, or securing dirt cheap "mistake" fares on FlyerTalk, he seems to have the most fun playing with the TSA.

You can read about his various exploits at his blog.

I say "playing" because you get the impression that Christopher feels that is what the TSA Is doing with its responsibility to airport security -- playing with very inadequate tools and laughable procedures.

To prove his point, Christopher has now posted a "Fake Northwest Airlines Boarding Pass Generator." Yes, that's right. Just fill in the blanks and you'll have your very own.

He also explains quite clearly two ways to get into secure airport areas using fake boarding passes. Take your pick.

As for the fake Northwest boarding pass, I'm not sure that Northwest will not try to have him remove this because it does have their logo on it -- but the fact remains that all he has done is gone public with what we know is already being done anyway.

Then again, as someone on an airline email list I belong to commented -- all one really has to do is make a copy of a real life boarding pass, save it into Word, or even better a full-blown design program such as Quark or Illustrator, and then make changes to flight numbers after the fact.

This method would certainly work if you wanted to walk onboard with one pass, and "upgrade" yourself into business class, for example.

Although, I have a question for the airline operations geeks out there. Wouldn't a fake upgrade be easily detected when the passenger count per cabin was taken onboard?

As I have written in PBB before, because the TSA does not use bar code readers to scan passenger boarding passes when a passenger enters the screening areas in concourses -- the whole idea of "checking IDs" before one is screened is ridiculously useless.

And Christopher is all too happy to help make that point.

Posted by Holly at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We were writing and editing PBB today, so unfortunately this afternoon I didn't have a chance to get caught up on some of today's news. While I wrote this week about Boeing's (BA:NYSE) earnings results, which were better than expected, I did not have a chance to listen to the company's earnings call.

So guess what Boeing said in its call today?

First three guesses don't count.

Yep. That's right.

Boeing said today that the 787 is still too heavy. Not only that but more than one supplier is falling behind schedule.

While Boeing CEO Jim McNerney said in the call that the company was confident that the problems involved will not cause a delay with the plane's entry to service, you know how silly those folks on Wall Street are.

Yep, given what we've seen with Airbus -- you can understand why shares of Boeing were under the gun today. It's not just a matter of being late, it's also a matter of increasing costs. Wall Street doesn't like hearing that costs to get the aircraft in the air could increase -- but by a still undetermined amount.

For a pretty good summary of what McNerney said during the call, along with other comment, here's an article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from this afternoon.

As we said earlier this year -- this is not unexpected. It's a new plane for cryin' out loud.

But certainly the extent of the problems and delays with the Airbus A380 does nothing but raise the anxiety level about the 787's delivery schedule as well.

Posted by Holly at 8:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted. If you are a subscriber, (and if you aren't, shame on you) you can access it here.

Posted by Holly at 7:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We're pretty much on schedule this week. Look for PlaneBusiness Banter to be posted in the next couple of hours or so. I'll let you know when it's ready for subscriber scrutiny.

Posted by Holly at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Next time you need those "must-have" tickets for that Lakers game --just call up the new VP of corporate communications for Ticketmaster in LA and use your airline industry pull to try and get the big guy to give in.

Yes, that new big guy for Ticketmaster will be Ed Stewart, a fixture at the corporate communications department of Southwest Airlines for so long I can't remember when he wasn't there. But actually he was at American before making his way across town.

Ed, who has been known to call himself the "one black guy surrounded by all these blondes" has, from what we've heard, resigned from his position as Senior Director of Public and Media Relations at Southwest and will be making LA his new home.

Ed, you dog. Talk about a job that sounds like it has primo bennies!

Posted by Holly at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had five airlines report earnings for the quarter before today -- American (AMR:NYSE), Southwest (LUV:NYSE), Continental (CAL:NYSE), JetBlue (JBLU:Nasdaq), and Alaska Air Group (ALK:NYSE). Today they were joined by AirTran (AAI:NYSE), Republic (RJET:Nasdaq), and US Airways (LCC:NYSE).

Here's how the profit and loss parade shapes up as of today.

Those airlines that have reported a loss for the third quarter: JetBlue, AirTran, Alaska Air Group.

Those airlines that have reported a profit for the third quarter: American, Southwest, Continental, US Airways, Republic.

The airline that came in substantially under analysts' forecasts: AirTran.

Not surprisingly, shares of AirTran are taking a beating today. Trading volume here is already heavy, just a little more than an hour into the day, with the stock now down about 3% -- hovering around 10.66.

Will be interesting to see how these shares weather the storm before the close.

For PlaneBusiness Banter subscribers, look for our in-depth report on Southwest, Continental, JetBlue and Alaska in this week's issue.

Posted by Holly at 9:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From Crate and Barrel,

"Let the Holidays Begin!"

Oh my. Do we really have to? I mean, it's not even Halloween yet.

Posted by Holly at 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This morning it was reported that MAIR Holdings, Inc. (MAIR:Nasdaq) had been granted its request for a preliminary injunction against potential strike action by three unions representing employees at Mesaba.

The request for a preliminary injunction was granted by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gregory Kishel.

This list includes the Association of Flight Attendants, the Air Line Pilots Association, and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association.

John Spanjers, president and COO of Mesaba said today that the airline will continue to try and work out agreements with the three unions, but that the company intends to impose terms on the three groups on Thursday, if no agreements are reached.

Posted by Holly at 12:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, well, last week was kind of a bust around here at the Buzz. We got home late Monday night from our recent trip to the Valley of the Sun, earnings started, my niece came in town for a lovely visit (albeit too short), Wednesday we were listening to AMR's call and began writing PBB, and then Thursday my mother decided to "go crazy" as she put it -- as she got mad and threw a fit in the nursing home, during which she somehow managed to fall out of bed and onto the floor.

After that, she ended up in the emergency room.

Not sure if this was a one-time thing, or some type of further deterioration in her Parkinson's dementia decline -- but she came through it without breaking any bones. Sunday she seemed pretty normal. Well, except for some nasty black and blue reminders of her adventure on the linoleum.

So anyway, pardon my lack of posts last week. It was the proverbial three-ring circus around here.

Looking across the vast sea of airline tidbits today, I note an interesting research note from David Strine, analyst with Bear Stearns. Interesting because he suggests an airline merger that actually makes sense.

In anticipation of JetBlue (JBLU:Nasdaq) announcing third quarter earnings tomorrow, Strine writes that he believes the best thing that could happen to both JetBlue and the not-yet-certificated Virgin America would be for the two airlines to combine forces.

There are two very big reasons for this suggestion by Strine. One, JetBlue needs a lot of money, roughly $200 million by Strine's estimation, over the next year to fund the airline's growth plans.

But this means another equity deal is probably in the works. And this means there is further stock dilution coming, and this, on top of all the other issues facing JetBlue, is going to continue to hang over the stock.

On the other hand, Virgin America desperately needs an operating certificate.

As we all know, JetBlue was originally going to be Richard Branson's U.S. entity. But that deal fell apart when an apparent rift developed between JetBlue CEO David Neeleman and Branson, and Branson took his marbles and went home.

As David Strine said today in his note,

"In our view, if JetBlue and Virgin America were to join forces within the U.S. and simultaneously establish a code sharing agreement with Virgin Atlantic (the London-based international carrier, 49% owned by Singapore Airlines), which happens to serve JFK (JBLU's hub) they would solve some of their respective problems. The domestic network would quickly become more defendable and they could garner international connections. Further, JBLU could get a much needed capital injection and dVirgin could get around its "citizenship" issue. And, of course, both would eliminate a tough competitor. (Given that Virgin does not even had any service yet, antitrust considerations should not be a hindrance to a deal.)"

Then there is also the potential alliance considerations that could come about with Virgin Blue, Virgin Nigeria, and Virgin Express. Not to mention Virgin Galactic, which eventually hopes to book your flight into outer space.

Could Neeleman and Branson put aside the disagreements they've had in the past, kiss and make up, and in the process give both airlines what they need?

I think it's a good idea. 'Cause my gut feeling is that Virgin America is not going to get its okay from the DOT anytime soon.

Meanwhile the flow of cash out the door at Virgin is getting out of hand.

As for JetBlue, they need a shot in the arm. Of some type. From somewhere.

Posted by Holly at 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Come and get it. This week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted for subscribers.

Oh, and PlaneMom is still in the hospital, but at least it appears she didn't break a hip or anything else when she decided to climb out of her bed at the nursing home.

We're happy for that.

Posted by Holly at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey guys. Today is posting day for PlaneBusiness Banter. Our intention is to get this week's issue published later today. However, PlaneMom was admitted to the hospital this afternoon and things are a little dicey around here.

I'll update everyone later.

Thanks!

Posted by Holly at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hey guys. Yeah, it's pretty much been a zoo around here since returning to the Worldwide Headquarters late, late, Monday evening. Or rather early Tuesday morning.

Lots to talk about, but for now I've got one timely thing to remind you of that you might be interested in catching tonight.

CNBC is presenting a two-hour look at American Airlines tonight. "Inside American Airlines: A Week in the Life" airs at 9 p.m. EDT.

The program was apparently shot during one week in August. The only objectionable thing I see about the program, after reading the promos for it, is that Peter Greenberg is the reporter and the host for the program.

Sorry, but I think Mr. Greenberg, who can be seen on a regular basis on NBC's Today Show telling passengers how to nab lower fares, has an ego the size of the Pacific Ocean.

But hey, we've put up with worse. I mean, after all, this is the airline industry.

Tonight. 9 p.m. CNBC.

Posted by Holly at 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know, I've just been a travelin' fool of late. Well, that will end tonight when I finally get home at about 1 AM. Yes -- I'm not looking forward to this long day. And oh, yes, if I get service like that when I fly today, I promise I will write about it tomorrow. Actually that graphic looks kind of Jetson-esque, doesn't it?

Before I'm out of touch for a bit -- just a couple of updates on stuff going on with the things with wings.

One -- Friday Aloha Airlines filed suit against Mesa Airlines (MESA:Nasdaq). We figured this was a done deal -- especially considering the comments made by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris in conjunction with his ruling the week before on the Hawaiian Airlines' (HA:AMEX)request for an injunction against Mesa's go!.

If you are bored and would like a little reading material to pass away the time, you can download the entire Aloha lawsuit by clicking here. It's in .pdf format.

Secondly, we have news from both Mesaba (MAIR:Nasdaq) and Comair.

In the case of Mesaba, the airline says today that it will not impose pay cuts on its unions until at least tomorrow, when its request to block a strike goes before U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Gregory Kishel.

Reports this morning said that Mesaba and its three main unions negotiated until late Sunday and resumed talks Monday morning.

Kishel had given the airline and its unions until this afternoon to try and negotiate deals -- before he rules on whether Mesaba has the right to impose terms on the unions. Tuesday, Kishel is scheduled to rule on the airline's request for an injunction to block work action by any of the airline's union -- if it does impose terms.

If you haven't already heard, Friday the flight attendants at Comair and the airline announced a tentative agreement had been reached.

Finally -- earnings start this week. It should be a good quarter for most of the airlines -- but fourth quarter could actually be better -- if oil continues to hover around the $60 mark for the bulk of the quarter and demand stays healthy.

And finally, since it is Monday -- how 'bout 'dem Saints?

Another heart stopper from the Bless You Boys yesterday as they outplayed, outlasted, and outwitted the Philadelphia Eagles.

5-1.

If Saints head coach Sean Peyton doesn't win Coach of the Year, I'll buy a PC. (Said convincingly as the loyal Mac person I am -- knowing it just isn't going to happen.)

As for the SEC this weekend, what a fiasco that was. Vanderbilt upset Georgia, Alabama squeaked by Ole Miss in overtime, and unfortunately for Florida Gator fans, Auburn handed Florida its first loss in a wild game at Auburn.

As I said last week in PBB, I think this year everyone in the SEC is going to beat up on everyone else -- leaving Ohio State and, oh, maybe Michigan to fight it out for all the marbles.

Have a good one guys. I need to get packed and off to the airport.

Posted by Holly at 7:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those of you who are subscribers, this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted.

Posted by Holly at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yep. I'm still on that dratted West Coast clock. I'll let you know when it's finally posted for public consumption.

Posted by Holly at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sources say that the aircraft that crashed into a high-rise condominium in New York City this afternoon was owned by pitcher Corey Lidle of the New York Yankees.

It is also reported that Lidle was piloting the plane at the time of the crash.

The aircraft was apparently a Cirrus SR20, which was capable of carrying four passengers.

It is not clear how many people were onboard the aircraft.

Posted by Holly at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Breaking news from New York City, where a small fixed-wing aircraft has apparently crashed into the Belaire Condomiums -- located at 524 E. 72nd Street -- close to the intersection of York Street.

The FBI says at this point there is no indication of any terrorist links to the crash.

Posted by Holly at 4:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

AV8OR posted a comment to our last post, and I'm pretty sure it is his entry in the Virgin "Name That Plane" competition.

Yes, the airline has named its first aircraft Jefferson Airplane. (Just in case that point was missed with our last post.)

Now you too can suggest names for the rest of the airline's still-grounded Airbus fleet by visiting the airline's website.

One of our PBB subscribers just sent me another suggestion -- (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.

I think Virgin CEO Fred Reid would find that one most appropriate.

Posted by Holly at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

San Francisco-based Virgin America unveils its new livery tomorrow. Unfortunately as we all know, they still don't have authority to fly the new Airbirds.

But that's just a small niggly thing.

What's really important is that The Govinator is going to be there.

Cool invite. Bill Graham would be so proud.

Posted by Holly at 6:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The good news? This morning Delta Air Lines announced that it was going with full-flat personal sleeper suites in its BusinessElite class. The seats are made by Contour Premium Aircraft Seating -- the same guys who make Virgin Atlantic and Air Canada's lie-flat seats.

The best part of these new seats? Not only are they truly flat, but they allow for each passenger to have free and unfettered access to aisle.

The bad news? Like too many Delta news tidbits of upgrades to service, this one comes more than a year before implementation, as the new seats are not expected to be installed until "early 2008."

We've already seen what American has trotted out for its "C" class customers -- and we were not that impressed.

United -- it's your move.

From the airline's release,

"Delta Air Lines invites international customers to stretch out and lie flat, as the first U.S. airline to announce fully-horizontal personal sleeper suites in BusinessElite. Delta will introduce seats by Contour Premium Aircraft Seating in early 2008, when the airline takes delivery of two new Boeing 777 Long Range (LR) aircraft. The sleeper suites will also feature Delta's industry-leading entertainment system offering on-demand, digital video and music at every suite."

Posted by Holly at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Would that be like a tree falling in the forest when no one was around to hear it?

Monday Northwest Airlines and AMFA, which represents the still-striking mechanics at the bankrupt airline, announced they had come to another tentative agreement.

If the deal is accepted by the mechanics, workers who struck the airline will be able to resign or go to furlough status. Northwest will also stop fighting union member's efforts to get unemployment benefits in Minnesota.

According to the Associated Press, the company offered up to 10 weeks of severance pay for those who leave, or up to five weeks for those who switch to layoff status.

And yes, in case you're wondering, that does mean that at some point those AMFA members who crossed the picket line and went to work for Northwest could be working alongside an AMFA member who struck the airline.

As I have said in the past, AMFA leadership did a horrible disservice to its members with this debacle. It was clear that Northwest had the plans and the resources to weather a potential strike -- but AMFA national refused to acknowledge the obvious. AMFA'S past history with other unions also hurt them here -- as no other organized labor group at Northwest joined in the AMFA strike against the airline.

You can click here for a copy of the strike settlement agreement.

Posted by Holly at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Comair, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines Inc., said Monday it will impose wage cuts and changes in work rules for the regional airline's 970 flight attendants beginning Nov. 15.

The action comes more than two months after a federal bankruptcy judge gave Comair permission to throw out its contract with the flight attendants. Comair was seeking concessions of $7.9 million a year as part of a package of cuts from its flight attendants, pilots and mechanics.

The flight attendants have threatened to go on strike if Comair imposed concessions, and the company said Monday that it will seek an order to prevent the union from engaging in any type of work action, such as a strike or a work slowdown.

Full story here.

Posted by Holly at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I used to work in New York I never could figure out why bond traders got Columbus Day off but the stock market didn't.

Anyone know the reason why?

Well - anyway, if you're a bond trader, happy holiday.

For the rest of us, unless you're out shopping the Columbus Day sales, it's a normal day at the office.

Today we're in Phoenix, having had an opportunity to go down and visit with friends in Tucson this past weekend. For those of you familiar with this part of the world, I have to say I was amazed at how green everything was in Tucson. Even along side the Interstate, everything is green. Not brown. Should make for some spectacular cactus blooms next spring.

On the airline front this week, a look at the headlines this morning tells us that Asian airline customers are not happy with the situation at Airbus -- as they "review" their options.

Shame too for Singapore, which unrolled one of the best interactive online promotions for its A380 service we'd seen last month. It promoted the growth of a contest through the use of "get a friend to join" ploy. Meanwhile you answered a series of questions concerning the aircraft and Singapore Airlines for a chance for various goodies, including tickets on the first A380 Singapore put into service.

Unfortunately -- that date is now in another galaxy -- far, far, away.

In other Airbus-related good news as a result of the additional delivery delays announced last week for the A380, Christian Streiff, the CEO of Airbus is now in the unemployment line. This brings to an end an extended tenure of only 3 months.

Streiff resigned both his CEO spot, and his position on the EADS Executive Committee.

Replacing Streiff will be Louis Gallois. He is also co-CEO of EADS, the parent company of Airbus.

Posted by Holly at 5:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PBB subscribers, this week's issue of PlaneBusiness Banter is now posted.

Posted by Holly at 2:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hi there guys. It's Thursday. I'm writing. But yes, big news today with Ryanair making a hostile bid for Aer Lingus. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Michael O'Leary is not a man that takes "no" for an answer very easily -- so let the games begin.

Look for PBB to be posted later today. But remember that I am working on Valley of the Sun time this week, so for our East Coast readers, that means it is going to be posted fairly late.

Talk to you later.

Posted by Holly at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, so what did my flight from Seattle to Phoenix last night have in common with this aircraft?

We both arrived in Phoenix at about the same time. He was 20 minutes behind me.

I knew you'd be soooooo impressed.

I'm not sure if it was all because of "security" concerns (and there was a slew of motorcycle cops, cops in cars, cops on foot, and whatever all hovering around the executive GAO terminal where the Prez was apparently going to make his exit) -- but from touchdown to gate arrival took us 14 minutes.

Granted, there does seem to be a lot of apron and taxiway construction work going on at PHX as well.

But this was ridiculous. We could have taxied to Scottsdale in the same amount of time it took us to get to the gate. It seemed to me we went around in a huge circle.

Flight from Seattle to PHX was fine. Was in a bulkhead seat. We were more than a half hour late taking off though. According to the pilot on Alaska Airlines, "We have a small problem -- a burned out light bulb that can only be replaced using a special tool that only a mechanic can use."

I thought that was kind of amusing.

Other than that -- the flight was uneventful -- except for the spectacular sunset last night.

For PBB subscribers, we should post this week's issue late tomorrow. (Remember too that I'm on left coast time this week.)

I'll keep you posted. Literally.

Posted by Holly at 12:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The New York Times' business travel columnist Joe Sharkey was on the Embraer Legacy 600 jet that was apparently involved in a midair collision with a GOL 737 as both aircraft flew above the Amazon jungle this weekend. That's what Joe gets for doing a freelance assignment for Business Jet Traveler magazine.

If you have not read his account of what it was like, it's a good read. (The NYT requires you to register to read, but it's free.)

Posted by Holly at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm posting this from the Alaska Airlines' Boardroom at Sea-Tac. The folks at ALK were nice enough to give me a day pass because I have a fairly lengthy layover before my next flight out.

My initial reaction is quite favorable. Granted, there's not all that Stephen Wolf-era purchased expensive artwork that adorns the walls of the US Airways' club in Charlotte, (my last airline club adventure) -- but I think I prefer having the options of free high-speed cable or wireless, tasty snacks, complimentary premium drinks, and plenty of plugs to recharge my various electronic paraphernalia.

I can't remember what kind of chairs were in the US Airways' club, but the Aeron I'm sitting in as I type this is primo.

There are two levels to the club -- and the lower level appears to be the noisier of the two. But not only are there the inevitable Windows and Mac start-up chimes going off every so often (not to mention those annoying Beethoven symphony ring tones on people's cell phones).

No, I have a dog and his owner behind me, ("Stay, stay. Rockie....do you want a treat? STAY Rockie") and a meowing cat in a carrier and her owner one divider over.

Cruised the Pacific Marketplace here at Sea-Tac before coming in here, and couldn't resist getting some fried clams at Ivar's. And I've got to tell you, they were pretty darn good. No frozen tough pieces of rubber. Nope. Nice fresh big clam strips fried when you order.

Have I said lately how I love the Pacific Northwest?

Posted by Holly at 6:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Looks like Virgin America has a new North American Industry & Public Affairs Manager.

And he is someone we are very familiar with.

Gareth Edmondson-Jones, who was with JetBlue for a number of its formative years as its head of corporate communications and PR and who told all of us he was off to Australia when he packed up and left -- has resurfaced and he's at Virgin America.

Posted by Holly at 6:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week yours truly is on the road. Sunday I flew from New Orleans to Blaine, WA. To put it another way, I could have flown to Europe quicker. I think. Well, almost. I left the house at 10:30 a.m. and got here at the hotel at 10:15 p.m. my time.

American from New Orleans to Dallas. Alaska from Dallas to Seattle and Horizon from Seattle to Bellingham, WA. From there it was a 30 minute car ride to Blaine. I'm told I'm only two miles from the Canadian border. Think I should try out the border security?

So what the heck am I doing up here? I was honored to have been asked to speak at Alaska Air Group's management planning session. Actually this was the third year in a row I was asked to speak, but only the first year I've actually made it.

Let me explain.

Two years ago I had to cancel because my recovery from hip surgery was not as fast as my surgeon had predicted. (Then again if he hadn't broken my leg in the process, I might have made it up here just fine.)

Then last year in September, there was the little matter of Katrina. Yep. Those tickets flying me out of New Orleans became pretty useless the third week of September.

So this year was the third attempt to get up here and hey, what do they say? The third time was definitely the charm.

Big excitement this trip. I got to fly on a new aircraft I had never flown before. No, not a Maddog. And not a 737-700 with winglets. Nope, it was a Bombardier Q200 operated by Horizon. And right at sunset no less.

More later. Meanwhile tonight it's dinner with the folks from Alaska and Horizon and some folks with Boeing. Tomorrow I hit the skies again, as I travel down to Phoenix. Although, as always happens when I come up to the Seattle or Portland area, I really don't want to leave.

Thanks to more than one PBB subscriber who wrote to me last week extending an invite to visit with you at Boeing while I was out here. Unfortunately I will just pass through Seattle tomorrow. Alas, this means no Museum of Flight and no Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit.

But I do need to get an issue out this week. And to do that, I can't rely on hotel internet connectivity.

But I don't need to be home either.

I'll keep you posted on my further escapades.

Posted by Holly at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)