When workers at Boeing went on strike in September, it was just one of many serious problems the company faced in 2024. Starting in January, a door plug tore off of one of its planes at 16,000 feet, leaving a massive hole and causing an emergency landing. As a result, Boeing pled guilty to criminal fraud charges and must allow federal monitors to oversee future plane construction. At the same time, airlines around the world are impatiently waiting for Continue reading
Last month, we wrote about the global technology meltdown that impacted more than 8.5 million computers and caused at least $10 billion in financial damage. Triggered by the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, a faulty software update crashed Microsoft products around the world and in the process revealed how fragile our global technology infrastructure can be. Air transportation was one of the sectors affected most by the outage as airlines were unable to scan boarding passes or track crew members. Carriers canceled Continue reading
Last week, passengers on an Alaska Airlines flight endured a disaster that every traveler fears as a door blew wide open while the plane was 16,000 feet in the air. Fortunately, pilots performed an emergency landing that ultimately kept the number of injuries low. Once the plane reached the ground, however, airline regulators demanded an explanation of how this incident could occur. Then they found out the make and model of the faulty plane: the Boeing 737 Max 9, a Continue reading
Last year’s Thanksgiving was an unusual one: with travel restrictions largely in place and mass vaccinations still months away, fewer people traveled home to see their families for the holiday. According to AAA, however, that will not be the case in 2021 as the transportation agency expects 6.4 million more people to travel than in 2020. Lifted restrictions as well as clearly defined safety procedures for air travel have made many Americans confident about taking a trip for Turkey Day, Continue reading
At the beginning of summer, major airlines had plenty of optimism that rising vaccination rates would entice Americans into traveling again. Initially this hope seemed to be well-placed as demand for flights increased and prices surged accordingly, with the Consumer Price Index finding that airfares rose by 7 percent from April to May 2021. While prices stayed around that level through July, sales started to sag by August as carriers saw the impact of the Delta variant on their bottom Continue reading