Much like the lazy, hazy,
crazy, dog days of summer, the waiting can be the hardest part. With all due
respect to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, of course.
Waiting for federal
regulators to officially decide on the merger acquisition of Alaska Airlines of
Hawaiian can be painstakingly slow. It still isn’t over, but
it took
a big turn toward the finish.
That was the major theme
for the month of August in aviation. Here are some other
headlines from the month.
There’s strength in
numbers. A group of travelers has filed a lawsuit against crowd strike for
being responsible for
the global power outage that affected travel all over the
world.
The United States
government has done a diligent job of trying to keep the aviation industry in
check. Now, members of Congress have
sent a letter to the Department of Transportation
regarding the refund policy adopted by the airlines.
There are all-you-can-eat buffets. Now, a similar concept has come to aviation. Frontier Airlines has introduced a pass that allows you to fly as much as you want for $299.
The Transportation Safety
Authority said it is reviewing the limits on liquids that can be brought on a
plane, but it doesn’t have the technology to scan the amounts right now and
probably won’t until 2040.
This is news that everybody will love. Delta announced it is planning to roll out free Wi-fi on international flights.
Some people just didn’t
want the merger to happen between Alaska and Hawaiian at all. In fact, a
consumer lawsuit was filed. It was
rejected by a judge.
And what would a month be without news from Boeing? Only this time it’s good. A vote of confidence.
Boeing in the News, as
Usual
These things go in
stages, and the potential merger
cleared a major hurdle with the Department of Justice.
In the meantime, Alaska
still has an airline to run, and
it decided to utilize one of its partners to start a route
to Taipei.
While inflation might be
growing, airfares
are plummeting.
As war in the Middle East
gets ready for its first anniversary, Delta Air Lines announced
it was suspending flights to Israel through October 31.
See above. American
Airlines did
the same thing when it suspended flights to Tel Aviv
through March of next year.
With changing times, the
Federal Aviation Administration has to become more savvy. That’s why the
government agency is
proposing changes and updates to its cybersecurity.
When in doubt, bring in
the big guns. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, in an agreement with the
Federal Aviation Administration, is investigating
more than 40 cases of unruly airline passengers.
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