At a daylong investors conference in February, United Airlines spelled out big and small steps the carrier believed could lead it back to profitability.

At a daylong investors conference in February, United Airlines spelled out big and small steps the carrier believed could lead it back to profitability.

Not since the days when once-legendary Varig Airlines was a major international player has there been nonstop service from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Brazil. Now, Korean Air is reviving the LAX-Sao Paulo (GRU) route, with thrice-weekly Boeing 777-200...

Say so long to the paper ticket. Today (Saturday, May 31) is the last day for the venerable documents. “We say good-bye to an industry icon,” says Giovanni Bisignani, Director General and CEO of the International Air Transport Association (IATA)....

Frontier Airlines has reached an agreement with First Data Corp. on the handling of proceeds from ticket sales, an issue that had forced the airline to file for bankruptcy protection, the airline said Friday.

Discount carrier AirTran Airways says high fuel costs have forced it to defer an order for 18 Boeing 737-700 aircraft.

American Airlines' regional carrier American Eagle has announced plans to add a seventh flight between Midland International and Dallas-Fort Worth International. Scheduled to start on Monday, June 2, the new service will depart Midland at 8:30am daily and arrive at...

JetBlue has announced that high fuel costs are forcing it to delay the procurement of 21 new Airbus A320 jetliners for four to five years. "In the face of escalating fuel costs, we believe it is essential to take a...

Reuters is reporting that the CEOs of United Airlines and US Airways have shelved plans for the carriers to merge. Reuters quotes separate messages to United Airlines' and US Airways' employees from their respective corporate chiefs. Labor, especially many pilots,...

The CEOs of United Airlines and US Airways formally shelved their effort to create the world's largest airline, telling employees on Friday that a combination won't happen "at this time."

A lot of very bright people are taking seriously the idea that pond scum (algae to be precise) could play a role in easing the energy problems besetting the airline industry. “Algae have shown significant potential to address some of...

Unless Silverjet is able to summon substantial financing to restart operations, the era of all-Business Class, stand-alone air service from the United States to London may be at an end, at least for now. In a prepared release, Silverjet, which...

Even as airlines shrink their domestic route networks, they’re expanding overseas. Delta Air Lines' new thrice-weekly nonstops from its New York Kennedy (JFK) gateway to Georgetown, Guyana (GEO) is a case in point. Flights are set to take wing on...

If time is money, time spent on the road (as on the highway) can be particularly stressful. It’s not just the traffic, it’s what the trip takes out of you. For all the hassle associated with airport security, and despite...

United Airlines has announced that its last scheduled flight from Ted Stevens Anchorage International to Denver will take place on September 20. "Earlier this year we announced we would have to take the steps to resize our business because of...

American Airlines has agreed to remove the $2-per-bag charge for curbside check-ins throughout the U.S. The decision comes after skycaps at Boston Logan International complained that the $2 per bag charge and the banning of tips have affected their business....

 

In the interest of total disclosure, I have been a David Letterman fan since the early 1980s when his show used to be on NBC after Carson.  At the time, I worked the late shift, and on the West Coast, his show came on at 12:30 a.m.  Dave and his off-the-wall humor were a great way to unwind from a “hard night’s day.”

My loyalty remained when he moved to CBS in 1993, and even though his current show airs much earlier at 10:30 p.m., I usually can only stay awake to watch the Friday edition because I get out of bed at 4:30 a.m.  on workdays.  Yes, I think Leno is funny, but Dave is like an old friend because he isn’t afraid to be grumpy, or a smart aleck, or funny—just like a longtime friend would be.  When I found out that Blog Girl Paula Berg and I had been asked to make a presentation in New York City, I immediately went to the “Late Show” web site to request tickets.

I didn’t hear anything until about a week before the trip.  During my drive home, Kate from the Late Show was on the phone.  She shared the news that tickets were going to be held for us on the May 14 taping.  Woohoo!

Our presentation on Nuts About Southwest was over before lunch, so we had the opportunity to walk from the hotel to the heart of Times Square on a day with absolutely perfect weather.  The Ed Sullivan Theater is at 53rd and Broadway, and the Late Show audience coordinators could teach the Disney folks a thing or two about managing a crowd of people.  We picked up our tickets inside, and we were told to return at 3:45 and to line up in the order of the number written on our ticket.  (Hmm, maybe the Late Show staff learned a thing or two from my favorite airline?)

When we returned, the staff came outside to warm up the audience, and they were pretty funny (a little raunchy, but hey, this is Times Square).  Once we went inside, it was nonstop entertainment until we walked out the door.  The “CBS Orchestra” with Paul Shaffer played until the show started and all through all the commercial breaks—what a fantastic band!  The guests were Jack Hannah and his menagerie of unusual animals and Kid Rock who played a song from his latest album.  Aside from all the fun, the thing that struck me most is how small the theater is in real life.  The camera makes it look huge, but it is a very intimate setting. 

According to the folks watching back home, we didn’t make it on the screen, but it was a fantastic time.  Now, if I can just get tickets to Saturday Night Live…

Silverjet, the all Business-Class airline, which operates flights from New York Liberty International to Dubai and London Luton, has announced the suspension of its services. In a statement, the company said it had failed to secure funding and therefore had...

Been busy lately tossing ideas around with our curator about a new permanent exhibit at the Delta Air Transport Heritage Museum to celebrate Delta’s 80th anniversary next June. That means looking at a lot of Delta’s early images, and here’s an interesting one. You see a Delta porter loading passenger bags into a compartment in the nose of a Lockheed 10 Electra, ca. 1937:

Click on this birds-eye view of a Lockheed 10 Electra and you can see how the bag bins were located under the wings and in the nose. You also see that the plane’s interior held 2 pilots, 10 passengers and a rear lavatory.

The Lockheed 10 Electra was a big step forward in modernizing Delta’s aircraft fleet. Delta’s second CEO Charles Dolson, who was a pilot in the 1930s, commented years later that the Electra brought Delta out of the barnstorming era for the first time and raised it to the status of a full-fledged airline.

This was Delta’s first all-metal aircraft. Earlier Delta planes were metal frames covered with a skin of fabric and epoxy. It carried the most modern instrumentation of its day and was faster (cruise speed of 190 miles per hour), larger and more comfortable than the Stinson A and T models it replaced.

To learn more about the Model 10 Electra, including the most famous one owned by Amelia Earhart, visit Lockheed’s website.

Marie Force

Archives Manager

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