It looks like United Airlines will finally be emerging from bankruptcy. The company announced that it will be leaving the courts protection on or about February 1st. This is a positive sign for the airline industry as it is hard to keep a competitive landscape for the industry when such a large player is under bankruptcy protection for so long.

The company obtained an agreement for the six-year exit loan last fall from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc., with GE Capital to act as syndication agent.

The loan is to be secured by the airline’s existing assets and is comprised of a $300 million revolving credit facility and a loan of as much as $2.7 billion. UAL said it will use the loan to pay off the remainder of the debtor-in-possession loans that have financed its restructuring since December 2002 and for other bankruptcy-related expenses, working capital and other general corporate purposes.

Standard and Poor’s assigned the exit loan a B-plus rating, while Moody’s gave it a B2 rating - both with stable outlooks. via  Forbes.com.

For the OOPS category. This driver is lucky that no one got hurt or worse. Seriously, how can you not see a 737 in front of you?

A fuel truck hit an engine on a full United Airlines jet waiting to leave a gate at the Boise airport, causing millions of dollars of damage but no injuries, officials said.
A Western Aircraft fuel truck failed to stop while approaching the Boeing 737 about 3:30 p.m. MST Sunday, and both the engine and the truck were damaged, airport police Sgt. Bruce Gard said. OregonLive.com

As airlines fight to stay out of bankruptcy, or remove themselves from bankruptcy, we are going to see more novel ways of generating revenue on the flights. The airlines are going start taking some of the things we expected, free sodas and snacks, and putting a price tag on them. They may also start charging for new things as The Houston Chronicle explains:

“The biggest news I see for 2006 will be extra charges for things like assigned seats, aisle seats, emergency-row seats, checked luggage, carry-on bags, snacks and soft drinks,” says Minneapolis-based Terry Trippler, a 30-year industry veteran and consumer advocate who now surveys airline developments and trends for Cheapseats.com.
Sodas for sale
Before you scoff, consider that American Airlines is testing sales of soft drinks and snacks for $1 with its American Eagle affiliate on selected routes in California. Several carriers already charge economy-class passengers for meals, but diet sodas and peanuts have been free until now.
“And United is allowing you to buy your way into the elite seats,” Trippler says of another test policy that allows non-elite frequent flyers to pay a surcharge for unsold window or aisle seats closer to the front of the economy-class cabin.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen something tested by an airline that wasn’t eventually established fleetwide,” Trippler says.
Trippler doesn’t anticipate airlines charging customers extra Chron.com

With the demise of Independent Air, other airlines have provided alternatives for their ticket holders.

Visit these Airlines Sites to see how they can help you with your ticketing if you are holding an Independence Air ticket.

• AirTran Airways
• American Airlines
• ATA Airlines
• Continental Airlines
• Delta Air Lines
• Frontier Airlines
• JetBlue Airways
• Northwest Airlines
• Southwest Airlines
• United Airlines
• US Airways

I hope this helps travelers who are holding Independence Air tickets get to where they need to.

It is amazing how dependent on technology airlines are. United had an issue with it last night snarling traffic for them, but Delta and Continental also have had their issues. You would think that redundancy would be a priority

Travelers holding United Airlines tickets were greeted with long delays at O’Hare Airport and across the globe as a computer system outage forced the airline’s reservations and passenger check-in to be done manually.
By late evening the computers were up and running, but not before 200 cots had been set up at O’Hare — United’s hub. Airport officials anticipated travelers spending the night as a result of the outage, according to the Chicago Aviation Department.
United’s “Apollo” system, which manages reservations and check-ins, went down about 5 p.m., said Jean Medina, a spokeswoman for the Elk Grove Village-based airline. The computers were up and running by 9 p.m., and in the end, 200 flights worldwide were delayed, Medina said. via Chicago Sun Times.

We’re not saying things are hunky-dory,” said John Heimlich, chief economist for the Air Transport Association, the trade group representing U.S. airlines. “All we’re saying is that some of the indicators we look at and some of the recent trends are promising, and that’s the first time I’ve used that word in a long time.”

With these words, we may see the airlines pull out of their free fall. The industry has been pummeled since September 11th, 2001 with fear of terrorism, high fuel prices, and unprecedented competition.

Responding by cutting back on flights, lowering labor costs, and raising prices, the major airlines are starting to get out from under the billions of losses that they have been facing. Adjusting to the new playing field that the low cost airlines such as Southwest, JetBlue, and Airtran have created has been hard for the majors, as seen by almost all of them entering into bankruptcy.

But hopefully, blue skys will be ahead for the airlines.  

A 5.5 million dollar upgrade at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport will be making a big difference in its ability to get flights in and out of the airport in bad weather.

The upgrade announced by Federal Aviation Administration officials on Tuesday will help steer pilots toward runways at one of the nation’s busiest airports even when severe weather hampers visibility. The equipment is to be installed next month and will immediately reduce flight delays, the FAA said.

Congestion at O’Hare can quickly cause gridlock in the U.S. commercial aviation system. Transportation Department officials said last month that backups at O’Hare affect 40 percent of U.S. flights a day.

New navigation equipment at O’Hare had been suggested as long ago as 1991. But it wasn’t until late last year that the federal government secured enough money for the updates.

The navigation upgrade, which will allow planes landing on autopilot to be directed by transmitting devices buried in the runways, will save airlines about $40 million a year, the Transportation Department said.

The FAA on Tuesday also announced plans to add new arrival and departure routes at O’Hare. The agency also plans to install a backup radar system and build two more air traffic control towers at the airport. Via CBS 2

And people are not happy about it. This loophole is starting to capture the attention of the flying public and more importantly. I use skype on a regular basis for talking to people throughout the world, and it is a wonderful tool. The clarity is better, and the cost is free if you are talking to another skype user, or very cheap if you are calling a telephone number.

However with this being said, I would go crazy if I was on an international flight and the person sitting next to me was talking on the phone the whole time.

But these days, there is a new wrinkle. Say you’re on El Al or maybe SAS or Lufthansa — one of the airlines that offers broadband Internet during flights for about $30 a trip. There are a lot of positives. You can do e-mail. You can get some Christmas shopping done. You can watch videos of curling.

But then the guy next to you boots up Skype. This is software that lets people make free or cheap phone calls over the Internet. Other software does this, too, including Yahoo Messenger.

Your seatmate connects to someone and starts talking. Maybe he has a headset — or maybe he doesn’t, and you have to hear both sides of the conversation as the other person crackles out of the laptop’s speakers.

There are no rules against this. It’s not a cellphone conversation. He is not using a BlackBerry or any unapproved electronic device. He’s on a laptop, on the plane’s Internet service, using software to make a phone call.

There’s not much you can do. You’re trying to read, but the guy is inches away from you in your coach seat. You feel the bile rising in your gullet. You read the same sentence six times, but all your brain takes in is the conversation next to you. And then the guy breaks out a webcam.

(more…)

Wheelchairs service at airports have caused over two-thirds of the the complaints that were recieved by the Department of Transportation last year. The report cited poor assistance, the complaints also told of incidents of damaged chairs, bad seating arrangements, long waits and difficult accessibility.

Northwest, American, Delta, and United were responsible for over 60% of the complaints. Delta has started a new program to help train employees who interact with the disabled passengers to help reduce these complaints. via Cheapflights