TSA Reminds Summer Travelers to be Prepared for Security

WASHINGTON, July 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — As the 4th of July approaches and summer travel heats up, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) reminds travelers to be prepared and plan ahead for airport security procedures.
To prepare for summer travel, TSA is working with the aviation industry to ensure the highest levels of security for all travelers. TSA also has Family Lanes at every security checkpoint, designed to allow infrequent travelers or those with special needs more time to process through the security checkpoint. In addition, our highly trained security officers are also prepared for your travel and are dedicated to ensuring your safety. Resources for travelers are available at www.tsa.gov, including travel tips and a detailed list of prohibited items, like fireworks.

“TSA encourages passengers to be ready for summer travel by taking a moment to think about airport security procedures,” said TSA Acting Administrator Gale Rossides. “Passengers can help improve security for everyone and allow our security officers to perform their vital security mission effectively, simply by coming prepared.”

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vroute.mobile now available on iPhone (free!)

Having vroute.premium on the desktop or laptop computer is nice, but have you ever been stuck in a boring meeting or school class, looking forward to some online flying on VATSIM in the evening? Trying to find out where to fly tonight, what events are out there or what are your friends up to?

vroute.mobile is a portable tool to check what is happening on VATSIM. All online activities, both present and future (booked/scheduled) are displayed in a convenient view, organized by regions, countries and FIRs. Our goal was to create a light, easy to use application to answer one simple question – what’s up?

To help you find out what your others are doing, you can create your list of friends (by simply flicking a “Friend” switch when you see someone online). Then you can instantly check who is online right now and who is planning to fly or do air traffic control later. There’s also an event calendar lookup, showing you the articles for the next 24 hours, in case you’d like to join a good party already taking place somewhere.

Visit the iTunes App Store now to download vroute.mobile to your iPhone or iPod Touch!

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Frost & Sullivan Looks at the Current State and Future Growth of IFE Hardware and Content Markets in a Challenging Environment

IFE Markets have seen a list of new product introductions over the last 5 years, ranging from high capacity portable media players, to mobile telephony enabling technologies and fiber optic-based embedded systems. Nonetheless we are now at the bottom of a global recession that has affected all airlines and has pushed the implementation of far-reaching cost cutting measures, effectively restraining any growth potential for IFE suppliers.

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Finnair’s Vice President appointed to IATA’s Environment Committee

The International Air Transport Association IATA has appointed Finnair’s Vice
President, Sustainable Development Kati Ihamäki a member of its Environment
Committee. The committee currently has 15 members from major airlines around
the world.

“This was the first time that Finnair’s representative had applied to become a
member of the Environment Committee, and we hadn’t previously been chosen as an
external observer member either. The appointment is partly recognition of our
successful environmental work,” explains Ihamäki.

IATA selects as members of its Environment Committee experts who have achieved
a prominent position in environmental work in their own field. The Environment
Committee acts as an advisor to IATA’s management bodies, and implements IATA
strategies relating to environmental issues. At the moment the committee has an
important role monitoring the position of the sector in relation to climate
change and emissions trading.

Finnair has been engaged in environmental work for two decades. Finnair’s
environmental organisation was founded in the early 1990s and the company
published an environmental report for the first time in 1997. Since then the
report has been published regularly each year. This year, however, Finnair
published a GRI report covering corporate social responsibility as a whole -
one of the first airlines to do so. Finnair’s first Vice President Sustainable
Development, Kati Ihamäki, was appointed to the post at the beginning of 2008.

In addition to Finnair, IATA’s Environmental Committee has representatives from
Air France, All Nippon Airways, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Continental,
Delta Air Lines, Etihad, Federal Express, Lufthansa, Qantas, Qatar Airways,
Singapore Airlines, TAP Air Portugal and Virgin Atlantic.

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Frontier Airlines Announces Codeshare Partnership With Midwest Airlines

DENVER, June 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc. (Pink Sheets: FRNTQ) today announced its wholly owned subsidiary Frontier Airlines, Inc., has reached a codeshare agreement with Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines. The agreement will allow customers of both airlines to travel to more destinations while enjoying a seamless ticketing and customer service experience.

The agreement, which is scheduled to begin by late summer, will allow Frontier Airlines to sell tickets under a Frontier code and expand their networks to additional destinations currently served by Midwest. Frontier customers will now be able to reach more cities by connecting on Midwest through its Milwaukee hub. Midwest customers will also see an expanded network by connecting on Frontier and Lynx Aviation flights in Denver.

“This partnership allows us to broaden our network and provide even more destinations to our loyal customers,” said Frontier Vice President for Strategy and Planning Daniel Shurz. “We also look forward to showcasing our airlines to many new customers who may be flying Frontier and Lynx for the first time by connecting from Midwest.  We believe the synergy between our two airlines will serve the traveling public well.”
[Read more]

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OpenSkies Celebrates First Anniversary

NEW YORK, June 29 /PRNewswire/ — OpenSkies, the unique all business airline, operating nonstop flights between New York (Kennedy and Newark) and Paris (Orly) and between New York (Kennedy) and Amsterdam (Schiphol), celebrates the first anniversary of its inaugural launch. Since OpenSkies first took flight on June 19, 2008, the airline has surpassed all expectations.  OpenSkies has now transported more than 92,000 passengers* total on both routes.  Through the airlines’ appealing two business class options (BIZ BED and BIZ SEAT), combined with accessibility from major airports and unbeatable pricing in business class, OpenSkies has quickly established itself as a unique, innovative travel experience for customers flying between New York and Paris or Amsterdam.

In a short period of time since its inception, OpenSkies has continued to remain meticulously focused in its commitment to provide unsurpassed service and value for travelers. Highlights of the company’s performance include:

–  On-time departure/arrival (Punctuality) rate of 92% for the New
York/Paris and New York/ Amsterdam route for May 2009

–  Reliability (regularity) rate of 99% on the New York/Paris and New
York/ Amsterdam route for May 2009

[Read more]

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Boeing Joins the Wing to Body for First 747-8 Freighter

EVERETT, Wash., June 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Boeing (NYSE:BA) has completed another milestone in the assembly of its first 747-8 Freighter by joining the wing to the fuselage. Workers attached the 40-foot (12 m) fuselage section to the center wing box in the final assembly bay at the factory in Everett, Wash. The wing and center section are now being prepared for final body join, when the assembly will be connected to the forward and aft fuselage sections.

“We continue to gain momentum on the assembly of the first 747-8 Freighter,” said Mo Yahyavi, vice president and general manager of the 747 Program. “The airplane is coming together well and will be ready to fly later this year as planned. This will be a great freighter, which will build on the 747 family’s leadership in the cargo market.”
[Read more]

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Yemeni plane crashes, 150 people on board

An airliner belonging to Yemeni state carrier Yemenia crashed into sea as it came in to land to Comoros.

“The plane has crashed and we still don’t know exactly where. We think it’s in the area of Mitsamiouli. There were 150 passengers on board,” Comoros Vice-President Idi Nadhoim told Reuters from the airport at the main island’s capital Moroni.

A Paris Airport spokeswoman said a Yemenia flight left Paris on Monday morning before landing in Yemen and then taking off for Moroni.

Read the rest of the news here

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Reservations available to other oneworld flights through the Finnair Internet site

It is now possible to make reservations to flights operated by all oneworld
airlines on Finnair’s Internet site www.finnair.com.

“The variety of destinations widens significantly and the number of city pairs
increases considerably, up to 160,000″, says Outi Koponen who manages oneworld
relations at Finnair.

The booking engine shows the oneworld flights in all 11 language versions of
the Finnair website; however, the fare rules of oneworld flights only in
English. In the fields for departure and destination city you may enter either
the name of the city, the three-letter code of the city or the name of the
country, in which case the system gives as alternatives all oneworld
destinations in that country.
[Read more]

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American Airlines Begins ‘NYC Challenge 10,000′ Campaign on Facebook

NEW YORK, June 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — If actors, rock stars and sports figures can all have fan clubs, then why can’t an airline?

American Airlines posted the “NYC Challenge 10,000″ to its friends in New York, one of the airline’s focus cities.  In “NYC Challenge 10,000,” American is reaching out to New Yorkers to become a fan of American’s Facebook page. When the number of American’s New York Facebook fans reaches 10,000, the airline plans to offer a Facebook-exclusive promotion.

American began the “NYC Challenge 10,000″ by posting the following message on Facebook: “We love the Big Apple and are calling upon our wonderful friends to help us spread the word about American Airlines fan page to everyone you know who lives in New York City and loves to travel. Big things await, if we can get to our goal of 10,000 NY Facebook fans!”

To sign up, log onto www.facebook.com/aa and click on “Become a Fan” at the top of the page to complete the process.  Visitors will then be able to encourage their friends to become Facebook fans of American Airlines, as well.

“American Airlines is a devoted fan of New York,” said Jim Carter, Vice President -Eastern Sales Division for American Airlines. “Now, we’re reaching out to all our New York friends to become fans of American Airlines on Facebook. With the social media so vital to the way we communicate today, what better way to create a tighter bond with our followers than to ask them to join us on Facebook?”

American is also using Twitter to draw attention to its NYC Challenge 10,000 campaign.  While the campaign is New York-focused, the surprise benefit will be for all U.S. Facebook fans of American Airlines.  To be counted towards the 10,000 total, Facebook fans must list a New York metropolitan city as their “Current City” in their profile.

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