Air Travel News 4.05.11

Air, Air Travel News, Health & Safety — By Nancy Y on April 5, 2011 at 6:00 am

by Nancy Yeomans

LG Air Travel News Editor

Look up in the sky! It’s a bird….it’s a plane! No….it’s your weekly air travel news! Here’s what’s happening in the world of aviation, from the ground up.

Not Asleep This Time…

Just about a week after the air traffic supervisor fell asleep during the overnight shift at Washington National Airport, another air traffic supervisor made a major lapse in judgement. This time the supervisor made the dubious decision to have a passenger jet check on the status of another flight in it’s vicinity. Just for the record…we controllers don’t do that! The supervisor in this incident has been suspended. Source: ABCNews

More Than Just Airsickness

An American Airlines flight from Washington National Airport to Chicago had to make an emergency landing in Dayton, Ohio last week. It appears that a loss of cabin pressure occurred causing dizziness among the flight attendants. The oxygen masks were dropped and donned by the crew and passengers. Four passengers who had not been able to put their masks on lost consciousness, but there were no other injuries. Source: USAToday

Better Safe Than Sorry

After the ‘hole in the roof’ event endured by passengers on a Southwest flight last week, the airline grounded 600 of their flights over the weekend. The hole in the aircraft is indicative of pre-existing fatigue cracking and Southwest is working to diligently inspect it’s fleet. Source: Yahoo

Best Of The Bunch

As we all know, there are major differences between air carriers when it comes to airline seats. The one measurement that can make or break your comfort on a flight is seat pitch. Defined as “the difference from any point on one seat to the exact same point on the seat in front or behind it” it’s why some flights are just easier to to take than others. Here’s a rundown on some of the roomiest in the skies. Source: Chicago Tribune

No Big Surprises Here

According to a hush-hust report by the London Times, their Heathrow Airport isn’t the place to be. Singapore’s Changi Airport is. The report ranks the world’s 146 principal airports based on customer satisfaction (or dissatisfaction). The report is rarely made public, but gives the industry some valuable insight as to how passengers feel. Asian airports seem to dominate the top of the list, while some major European airports are hanging at the bottom. Source: FOXNews

Quickie

New Routes

This week’s new routes are announced by Air France, British Airways, Lufthansa and Delta. Source: Jaunted

Photo credit: Monika Thorpe, Friar’s Balsam/flickr