Aviation

  AGENCIES Indonesia, an aviation market with one of the world’s worst safety records, had its air-safety rating upgraded by the US Federal Aviation Administration, a move that may add momentum to flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia’s expansion plans. The Southeast nation’s transport ministry said it received a letter from the U.S. embassy saying Indonesia got elevated to Category 1, ...

  Bloomberg Millions of flyers in China may soon see their wish come true: authorities are considering lifting restrictions on the use of mobile phones on planes, paving the way for wider in-flight connectivity that is now available only in developed markets. A legislation to amend regulations that limit the use of electronic devices on board is underway and the ...

  Bloomberg Fatalities in crashes of small private planes have fallen to the lowest levels in decades as industry and government work to address an area of aviation that has lagged behind jetliners in dramatic safety improvements. While aviation crash analysts caution that it’s still too early to say for sure that the data represents a long-term trend, the declining ...

  Bloomberg It’s been a messy summer for US airlines and their passengers, with half the Big Four carriers suffering technology meltdowns over the past month. July and August are peak season for airlines in terms of passenger loads, making the type of systemwide glitches that befell Delta Air Lines Inc. and Southwest Airlines Co. all the tougher to navigate ...

  Bloomberg United Continental Holdings Inc. won approval for a new contract with flight attendants and reached an “agreement in principle” with mechanics, setting the stage for labor peace for the first time since the 2010 merger that created the airline. The Association of Flight Attendants voted 53 percent in favour of a five-year pact that raises top pay rates ...

  Bloomberg Airline tycoon David Neeleman is seeing signs of a turnaround in his two main markets after months of struggle, with a massive recession in Brazil and a management shakeup in his European foothold. Neeleman, the founder and chief executive officer of Brazilian carrier Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras SA, said a measure of pricing power known as revenue per ...

  Bloomberg Contract talks between Delta Air Lines Inc. and its pilots have been suspended for three weeks by a federal mediator because of a lack of progress. The two sides were notified of the break August 3 by the National Mediation Board, according to a letter posted on the union’s website from John Malone, chairman of the Air Line ...

  DALLAS/ AP Twice in less than a month, a major airline was paralyzed by a computer outage that prevented passengers from checking in and flights from taking off. Last month, it took Southwest days to recover from a breakdown it blamed on a faulty router. On Monday, it was Delta’s turn, as a power outage crippled the airline’s information ...

  Bloomberg India has just plowed $50 million in a new 102-meter (335 feet) air-traffic control tower in New Delhi. Now comes the hard part: finding qualified flight controllers to operate it. Designed by HOK, the same firm that drafted Apple Inc.’s research headquarters in California, the tower will be operational in about six months. Yet, it may struggle to ...

  Bloomberg The failure of Delta Air Lines Inc.’s worldwide computer network this week spotlights the vulnerability of the information systems sustaining the biggest US carriers, each of which has contended with major disruptions during the last year. Complex networks cobbled together over the decades need major overhauls requiring significant new investments, said Bob Edwards, a former chief information officer ...