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AIRPORT NEWS
The federal
government is finally beginning to take over the
job of comparing U.S. airline passengers
against its terrorist watchlist, more than six
years after it announced its post-9/11 plans to
relieve airlines of that duty. Now four unnamed
small airlines are uploading passenger lists to
the Transportation Security Administration for
comparison against the approximately 16,000
names on the TSA's two watchlists, the agency
announced this week. The rest of the nation's
airlines will continue to compare passenger
names themselves using the lists provided to
them by the feds, until they too switch to the
new method in the coming months and years. The
program, known as Secure Flight, will require
all passengers to provide more information when
booking a flight, including their date of birth
and gender. Seventy-two hours before a flight,
airlines begin sending that information to the
TSA, which compares the data against lists of
people suspected of being threats to aviation.
The TSA then notes each person as a match,
no-match or unsure. Now the TSA plans to roll
out the program to cover all domestic flights,
and eventually all flights to the United States.
The change will be expensive for airlines and
travel agencies which will have to re-configure
their systems to collect the extra data when
booking flights. Apr 3, 2009
The U.S. Border Patrol
is erecting 16 more video surveillance towers in
Michigan and New York to help secure parts
of the U.S.-Canadian border, relying on
technology to assist agents stationed along the
4,000-mile northern stretch. The government
awarded the $20 million project to Boeing Co.,
the same company responsible for the so-called
"virtual fence" along the U.S.-Mexican border
that has come under criticism for faulty
technology. Eleven of the towers are being
installed in Detroit and five in Buffalo, to
help monitor water traffic between Canada and
the United States along Lake St. Clair and the
Niagara River. At present, Border Patrol agents
are posted along the river to keep an eye on
water traffic. Apr 2, 2009
The Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) announced today
the implementation of the Secure Flight
program, which shifts pre-departure watch list
matching responsibilities from individual
aircraft operators to TSA and carries out a key
recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. To date,
TSA has assumed the watch list matching
responsibility for passengers on domestic
commercial flights with four volunteer aircraft
operators and will add more carriers in the
coming months. Apr 2, 2009
Air Canada
Air Canada said it will launch the only daily
service between Vancouver and Paris to meet
seasonal travel demand. Between July 1 and Sept.
29, 2009, the carrier will operate daily
one-stop same plane flights linking Vancouver
with the French capital during the busy summer
season. This service complements Air Canada’s
daily non-stop services between Toronto-Paris,
and Montréal-Paris using brand new
349-seat Boeing 777-30ER aircraft. In addition,
effective June 1, Air Canada is introducing new
Montréal-Geneva service also providing
easy access to a number of popular destinations
in France served by train such as nearby Lyon,
Annecy, Dijon and Grenoble. Geneva flights are
timed to offer Vancouver customers easy and
convenient connections in Montréal. For
more information, visit www.aircanada.com. Mar
30, 2009
Alaska Airlines
Alaska Airlines will sponsor free Wi-Fi at the
Oakland airport: The service will be free from
13 April to 5 July, and seems intended to raise
the awareness of Alaska's Wi-Fi trial with Row
44, currently underway. Alaska seems likely to
put Wi-Fi on its planes if it gets a good
response from passengers to the in-flight
Internet service. Many of Alaska's routes pass
over water, and a satellite-backed service is a
good fit if passengers are willing to pay for
the privilege. It's also a way for the no-extras
airline to bring entertainment onboard without
installing seatback systems. Apr 4,
2009
American
Airlines
American Airlines has opted to install Aircell's
Gogo in-flight Internet system on more than 300
domestic aircraft over the next two years, as a
growing number of operators commit to keeping
their passengers connected during flight. The
Oneworld alliance member began trialling Gogo
last summer on its 15 domestic Boeing 767-200s
operating primarily on nonstop flights between
New York JFK and San Francisco, Los Angeles, and
Miami. Mar 31, 2009
Chicago O'Hare
International
Fifty new computer tourism "kiosks" will be
installed throughout O'Hare International
Airport, Mayor Richard Daley announced Monday.
Travelers at the airport will be able to use the
touch screen-computers to access the city's
2-month-old tourism site, explorechicago.org.
The computers, which provide information in
several languages, will provide many functions
once performed by the red-jacketed greeters the
Daley administration recently laid off to help
address the city's budget deficit. Apr 1,
2009
Delta Air Lines
Travelers walking into Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport are seeing the Delta name
splashed across a terminal that was once
dominated by Northwest Airlines. Delta Air Lines
bought the Minnesota-based airline last year.
But the Northwest name is going away, and the
new airline is run out of Atlanta. Delta has
pulled down the old Northwest signs and replaced
them with the Delta logos across the main
terminal. Gate agents are all wearing Delta
uniforms, too, although some still work for
Northwest and some work for Delta. Apr 2,
2009
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