A Boeing 737 before the livery is actually put onto the plane. Will be going to Shenzhen Airlines.
Image: BFIguy
The FAA sees this week’s software glitch that disrupted about 600 flights and 60,000 passengers to be a wake up call that things need to change for American’s outdated air traffic control system.
The two computers (amazing only two) that help disrupt flights to controllers are updated multiple times per day. One of the files in one of the updates was corrupted and caused it to crash.
Saying that in one 24-hour period the FAA controls over 300,000 flight plans, only having 600 affected isn’t too bad (unless you were one of those passengers).
It might be getting harder to have a guaranteed seat on your airline. I have personally been lucky and never have been bumped from my flight, but I would imagine it being a horrible experience.
Due to airlines cutting back flights and having fuller flights, the chance of being bumped is getting greater. The NYTimes reports that 343,000 passengers have been bumped so far this year. That is a lot of comp flights, meals and hotels that airlines have to pay for, wouldn’t seem to make economical sense.
Instead of going the negative route, I am happy that currently there are 19 survivors from the crash today of Spanair Flight JK5022. It is sad that so far 153 are reported dead, but anytime we have a crash like this, it is nice to see there are some survivors.
It appears the airliner sped off the end of the runway and broke apart. More details of the crash are not currently known. It has been reported that the flight was delayed an hour for technical problems.
Of course our thoughts go to those who have lost someone in this crash and this is always the negative part of having an interest in the airline business.
Almost feel like should call this “The Airline Cutback Blog” but that is what keeps popping up in the airline news. This time United Airlines is stopping some free meal services on international flights. Meal cutbacks has not been anything new, but for a domestic airline to start cutting back on international flights is something new and not improved.
Also expect prices for buying food on United to increase by the end of the year.
Source: Bloomberg Image: Salt&Vinegar