Aviation

Bloomberg Our perpetual smartphone texting is strictly personal: Friends, family, and maybe an ex. We almost never text the myriad businesses we patronize in daily life, though some of them are starting to text us. Now, airlines—an industry not known for stellar customer interactions—are joining the party, and not just to break the bad news about your flight. They’re inviting ...

Bloomberg Airlines are continuing to pull out of Venezuela, and this time it’s not just about trapped cash but a whole series of grievances including staff held up at gun point, luggage theft, poor runway maintenance and low quality jet fuel. United Airlines, Avianca and Delta Air Lines have either stopped flying to Venezuela or said they would leave the ...

Bloomberg Aimia Inc. bondholders are betting the loyalty-programme company can ride out the short-term turbulence caused by the loss of its key partner. Shareholders aren’t so sure. The Montreal-based company’s C$250 million ($197 million) of May 2019 bonds have bounced back from their initial drop after Air Canada, the country’s largest airline, said in May that it will withdraw from ...

Bloomberg A raft of airline policy changes prompted by the high-profile case of a man who was injured while being dragged off a plane in Chicago earlier this year have had a dramatic result: airlines reported the lowest level of in- voluntary passenger bumpings in history. Ticketed passengers who were refused a seat on flights fell to 44 per million ...

Bloomberg Boeing Co. and NASA have found an inexpensive way to cut airline fuel bills by borrowing a trick from the world’s greatest long-distance aviators: migratory birds. By lining up cruising aircraft in a V-shaped formation favoured by Canada geese, carriers would be able to produce a leap in efficiency without investing in structural makeovers or futuristic technology. The idea ...

EMIRATES BUSINESS How many stories can you consume in a 21-hour, 37-minute flight from Sydney to London? Now you can find out, with more than 50 hours of original Sydney Opera House available to the 18 million passengers who travel Etihad Airways worldwide each year. Two of the Sydney Opera House’s most popular podcasts, This Kid Life and It’s A ...

Bloomberg Frontier recently jolted the US airline industry by issuing a press release that brimmed with boldness. Given the implications of the scrappy carrier’s news, the superlatives were arguably a harbinger of war. A fare war, to be exact. The ultra low-cost carrier (ULCC) that sports wild animals on its tails plans to double its footprint by next summer, adding ...

Bloomberg The US Air Force reached a deal with Boeing Co. for two 747 jets to serve as Air Force One, taking advantage of an unusual limited-time discount on planes once bound for Russia. “We got a really good deal,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said Friday in an interview. “I’m pleased with that.” The service said the jets, which ...

Bloomberg Now on opposing sides, Kevin McAllister and Tom Gentile spearheaded talks that over the past few days broke a contract deadlock pitting Boeing against Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., a supplier that used to be part of the Chicago-based planemaker. Spirit surged to a record on news of the tentative pact, which may lead to an even closer tie between ...

Bloomberg The US Federal Aviation Administration is implementing recommendations it rejected six years ago that could have prevented pilots from nearly landing last month on a taxiway crowded with jetliners awaiting takeoff in San Francisco. The National Transportation Safety Board in 2011 recommended a software upgrade to ground radar systems that would warn when a plane is landing in the ...