The southwestern Illinois county that runs a 12-year-old airport that’s never turned a profit will spend $3.5 million to convert a warehouse into what Boeing Co. plans to make a 75-job manufacturing site. Get the full story »
Filed under: Airports
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Aug. 31, 2010 at 8:48 a.m.
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Filed under: Airplanes, Airports, Jobs/employment, Manufacturing County to help fund Boeing site at SW Illinois airport
Troubled airline Mexicana to shut down Saturday
Mexicana de Aviacion, one of Mexico’s two major airlines, will cease operations by midday Saturday while unions and new owners attempt one more time to find fresh cash to keep the ailing company alive.
“At midnight, a gradual shutdown will begin,” Transport Minister Juan Molinar said at a news conference Friday. “By Saturday at noon, operations will definitively cease.” Get the full story »
Aug. 27, 2010 at 6:05 p.m.
Filed under: Airlines, Airplanes, Airports, Labor, Litigation, M&A, Transportation, Travel, Unions, Updated Justice Department OKs United-Continental merger
Passengers at the United and Continental kiosks at O'Hare International Airport, May 3, 2010. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
The Justice Department approved the proposed merger of United and Continental airlines Friday, closing an unexpectedly speedy four-month investigation that paves the way for the mega-deal to close by Oct. 1.
To win the blessing of federal antitrust regulators, United and Continental agreed to lease slots for 18 round-trip flights to Southwest Airlines at Newark Liberty International Airport, beginning in March 2011.
Justice officials said the slot transfer was struck in “response to the department’s principal concerns” regarding the merger, which critics have warned will speed consolidation and eventually leave the three largest U.S. carriers with a lion’s share of the market. Get the full story »
Continental to give up Newark slots to Southwest
Continental Airlines will give up 36 slots at its Newark hub to Southwest Airlines in a bid to address antitrust concerns for its deal with United Airlines, the airlines said Friday.
The deal gives low-cost carrier Southwest the right to operate up to 18 daily roundtrip flights with some flights starting in March 2011. A full schedule is expected by June 2011.
The deal is contingent on the closing of a merger between Continental and United, a unit of UAL Corp, by November 30. Get the full story »
Boeing to open first Illinois manufacturing site
Chicago-based Boeing Co. says it plans to open a manufacturing facility at a long-struggling airport in southwestern Illinois.
In a release Thursday, Boeing says that it will lease space at MidAmerica Airport for assembly work and that the facility will initially employ 75. Officials at a ceremony at the airport suggested there would be more. Get the full story »
Rick Bayless to open 2 restaurants at O’Hare
Chicago celebrity chef Rick Bayless is cooking his way from the White House to the terminals at O’Hare International Airport. The Chicago Department of Aviation said today that the expert in contemporary Mexican cooking will open two new restaurants at the airport, one in Terminal 1 and the other in Terminal 3.
Aug. 13, 2010 at 12:23 p.m.
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Filed under: Airlines, Airplanes, Airports, Transportation, Unions Southwest looks at adding larger 737s to fleet
Southwest Airlines Co. is considering including Boeing Co.’s 737-800 aircraft in its domestic fleet, with a decision expected before year’s end, as the discount carrier plans a push to win more business travelers and restore capacity slashed during the economic downturn.
The largest carrier of domestic U.S. passengers said the company still needs to discuss the plans with its labor units, as well as look at issues such as network flow and scheduling. Get the full story »
Strike vote threatens to close British airports
Ground staff at British airport operator BAA have voted to strike in a dispute over pay, the union Unite said, a move which could shut many of the country’s busiest airports.
Unite said Thursday that its members at BAA, owned by Spanish group Ferrovial, had voted 3-1 to walk out. Get the full story »
3 United flights at O’Hare June’s only long tarmac waits
Only three commercial flights among the thousands that operated nationwide in June sat on the ground loaded with passengers for three hours or longer, the Obama administration said Tuesday, touting the effect of a controversial new consumer-protection rule that threatens stiff fines against airlines for excessive tarmac delays.
The bad news for Chicago was that all three overly tardy flights involved the home-town carrier, United Airlines, at O’Hare International Airport. Get the full story »
Virgin America CEO says trail ‘cold’ for Chicago service
After failing for more than two years to secure airport gates in Chicago, Virgin America will begin flights to and from Dallas, its first mid-continent destination and a rare foray by a low-cost carrier into the “fortress hubs” dominated by network airlines.
Virgin America has also been trying to start services from Chicago O’Hare — a hub dominated by American and United–for more than two years, but David Cush, Virgin America’s chief executive, said he was less optimistic than ever that it could reach a deal with the city. Get the full story »
United post-merger team named; execs shuffled
United CEO Glenn Tilton, left, with with Continental Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek after a news conference at The Willis Tower in Chicago, May 4, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)
The new United Airlines is starting to take shape — and there are some surprises.
On Tuesday, Continental Airlines CEO Jeff Smisek announced the senior management team who will lead United after its financial merger with Continental closes in two months.
As promised, the executives reporting to Smisek, who will be United’s post-merger CEO, come from both carriers, and include a cadre of veterans who helped turn Continental around during the mid-1990s. Get the full story »
Spirit adds flights to Vegas, carry-on bag fees
Controversial low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines is rolling the dice in Chicago, adding new daily flights from O’Hare to gambling havens Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J.
Spirit plans to begin flying to Las Vegas on Nov. 11, 2010, and Atlantic City on March 3, 2011.
The discounter is kicking off the service with a blue-light special: Introductory fares of $9 and $39, each way, for round-trip tickets purchased Thursday or Friday. Get the full story »
Boeing announces $13B in new orders
Boeing CEO James McNerney in front of a 787 which made its international debut at Farnsworth. (Reuters)
Planemaker Boeing Co. unveiled $13 billion in new aircraft orders during the first day of the Farnborough International Airshow, besting the $9 billion in orders reported by rival Airbus SAS as thousands of airplane suppliers and buyers gathered at the largest aerospace trade event of the year.
The flurry of aircraft orders came after two lean years for aircraft manufacturers Chicago-based Boeing and France-based Airbus and signaled that a rebound in the global airline market is well under way.
“The market is clearly coming back and I feel very confident about how we are positioned to regain — and retain — leadership in this business,” Jim Albaugh, CEO of Boeing’s commercial airplane business, told reporters Monday. Get the full story »
United had four extreme tarmac delays in May
Chicago-based United Airlines will put to the test new rules that threaten airlines with fines of up to $27,500 per passenger for planes that idle on an airport’s tarmac for more than three hours.
United operated four of the five flights in the U.S. during May that were delayed on the tarmac beyond the new limit mandated by the U.S. Department of Transportation, including one flight that was delayed for nearly five hours. Get the full story »
Boeing reports drop in 2Q deliveries
Boeing Co. said it delivered 114 commercial aircraft during the second quarter, six more than in the previous quarter but 11 fewer than a year earlier.
The disclosure, coming several weeks before the aerospace giant releases second-quarter results, compares with the 128 delivered by rival Airbus. Boeing’s first-half figure of 222 also trails Airbus’ 250 and was down from 246 last year. Get the full story »
