Numbers from the Allied Pilots Association show that 461 pilots retired in 2011, with the bulk of them leaving between mid-summer and late fall. You could say that all of them retired early, since none had reached the mandatory retirement age set by the Federal Aviation Administration, age 65. That won’t come until December 2012, […]
Posted on January 25th, 2012 by admin
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Our winners and losers in the 2011 traffic wars: • Among the big carriers, Alaska Airlines repoted an 11.0 percent increase in traffic. Hawaiian Air, a smaller carrier, showed a 17.0 percent increase. Two regionals, SkyWest and Pinnacle, showed even bigger increases, but we can attribute much of that to SkyWest’s full-year ownership of ExpressJet, […]
Posted on January 21st, 2012 by admin
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We all remember the terrible year of 2008 when soaring jet fuel prices brought huge losses for airlines in the United States and across the world. Well, the Energy Information Administration is out with its 2011 update. Guess what? Jet fuel prices were higher in 2011 than in 2008. Year Price per gallon 1990 $0.762 […]
Posted on January 7th, 2012 by admin
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So far, 2011 is on track to be the safest year ever for commercial aviation — setting records for the lowest post-war rate of passenger fatalities and the lowest total number of passenger deaths, The Wall Street Journal has reported. However, aviation officials warn that improving accident statistics mask lingering dangers. The article stated roughly […]
Posted on December 31st, 2011 by admin
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It was a great source of pride and accomplishment for AMR/American Airlines chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey that AMR stayed out of bankruptcy when all its major competitors went through Chapter 11 proceedings. Of course, AMR and American went through what amounted to a bankruptcy in early 2003 when unions and employees had to accept […]
Posted on December 31st, 2011 by admin
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This was also a 2010 story, dating from the Sept. 27, 2010, announcement that the two low-cost carriers would be joining forces. But Southwest didn’t close the deal until May 2, 2011, shortly after the U.S. Justice Department gave its blessing or, more accurately, didn’t put a big frown on it. With the addition of […]
Posted on December 31st, 2011 by admin
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Even the most prepared job candidate can be thrown off if the interviewer asks a wacky question. Career website Glassdoor culled through more than 150,000 questions it has collected from job candidates to come up with a list of the top 25 “oddball” interview questions of 2011. American Airlines made the list with the question […]
Posted on December 30th, 2011 by admin
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Airlines in 2011 have had to wade through high fuel prices, a so-so economy, an earthquake and tsunami in Japan, natural disasters elsewhere, unrest in a number of Arab countries and a host of other negative factors. But, with the exception of American Airlines and parent AMR, most are expected to make money in 2011. […]
Posted on December 29th, 2011 by admin
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Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport had to say goodbye in 2011 to AirTran Airways in November as new owner Southwest Airlines would have faced penalties from a 2006 deal if it kept flying out of that airport. But offsetting the loss of AirTran was the May arrival of another low-fare carrier, Spirit Airlines. Spirit began service […]
Posted on December 26th, 2011 by admin
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Gerard Arpey, the son of an airline employee, had worked for American Airlines for more than 29 years, ever since he graduated with his master’s from the University of Texas in 1982. At age 53, he was still young to be a chairman and chief executive officer of a major carrier. We say all this […]
Posted on December 25th, 2011 by admin
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