Your Aviation Weekend Reads for July 8, 2016

EDITOR’S NOTE: Because I will be on travel next week, there won’t be a July 15 edition of this column. I’ll be back on July 22.

In the second part of its Cuba flights decision, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced that eight U.S. airlines were tentatively awarded prized flights to Havana, reports USA Today.

American Airlines won four flights out Miami and one from Charlotte. JetBlue won two flights out of Fort Lauderdale, and one each from JFK and Orlando. Delta Air Lines won three daily flights from Atlanta, JFK and Miami. Alaska Airlines won a single flight from Los Angeles and United won a single flight out of Houston George Bush. “Interested parties” have until July 22 to submit comments or objections to the DOT, which will release its final decision later this summer.

It was a busy week for the world’s commercial aircraft manufacturers. First, Skift wrote this piece on how the end seems to be coming closer for double-decker, four-engine jets — the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A380. The article notes that there’s been no orders for the A380 in 2016, and the 747 is only holding on because of freighter orders. Boeing is shopping a stretch, 450-seat version of its 777 that could replace both jumbo jets, according to Bloomberg.

A British Airways Airbus A380 at Washington Dulles International Airport. Photo by Benét J. Wilson

But despite dimming prospects, Airbus is in the process of developing a nine-abreast premium economy cabin on the A380 to airlines as a way to help boost revenue, reports the Runway Girl Network. “The 3–3–3 premium economy cabin comes in the context of noteworthily varied messaging from the airframer as it balances both the #PaxEx appeal of B2B2C aspirational marketing in its Airspace cabin and the need to sell A380s in the very real world of airline economics,” writes contributor John Walton. “There is obvious tension between these two often divergent requirements.”

The airline industry has been clear that it wants Boeing to come up with the next generation of the long-haul, single aisle 757, which ended production in 2004, but the manufacturer has been hedging over the possibilities for the past few years. But now the Chicago Tribune reports that Boeing is looking at midrange jets that would fit between the single-aisle 737 and the small widebody 787. The pressure was on Boeing after Airbus announced the A321neoLR In January 2015 and customers clamored for an option from the Seattle-based manufacturer. It predicts that sales could reach 5,000, with Mike Delaney, general manager of airplane development saying “when,” not “if,” while discussing the prospects, according to the Tribune.

I started my aviation journalism career in 1992, and in that time, I have seem more than my fair share of air service/air taxi on demand companies came and go. — and mostly go. I’ve written here about companies that failed in their attempt to become the Uber of the skies. But Skift writes about one company — California’s Surf Air — that seems to have hit on a winning formula. For a $1000 initiation fee and around $2000 a month, travelers can fly on the single-engine Pilatus PC-12 turboprop out of smaller airports around Los Angeles, San Francisco, Truckee, Palm Springs and Napa.

A United Airlines stroopwafel. Photo courtesy of United

Airlines are using unique amenities to build brand loyalty among those flying in all three classes, according to the Airline Passenger Experience website. United Airlines did it with its delicious stroopwafels (the box sent to my house went over very well). Etihad is offering a Scaramouche + Fandango comfort kit for those in long-haul economy, while Singapore Airlines provides old-school playing cards and writing kits.

I look forward to the time when I don’t have to include news about the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in this column, but this isn’t the week. But this time, it’s good news for travelers who have been trapped in nightmarish airport checkpoint lines. TSA is working with American Airlines to test a system that promises faster lines, reports Gizmodo. The system features larger bins with RFID tagging for better tracking, along with automated bin belts that will separate items that need further screening. But this is not new technology. It was tested by TSA at Baltimore-Washington International Airport as far back as 2007, and is currently being used at airports around the world, including London Heathrow and Amsterdam Schiphol.

In October 2014, I got the chance to attend my first Routes World conference, hosted in Chicago. For the uninitiated, it’s been described as speed dating between airlines and the airports that want their service. Airports from around the globe set up amazing displays, usually in conjunction with their local conventions and visitors bureau, set up to attract new business. Austria’s Vienna International Airport set up a pastry shop, Seoul, Korea’s Incheon International Airport offered silk fan painting and design and Milwaukee’s General Mitchell International Airport offered photos on a Harley Davidson motorcycle and the swag to go with it.

Justin Bachman of Bloomberg got to take an inside look at the balance of power in speed dating as airlines take advantage of an ability to match seat supply and demand with razor-sharp precision — assuring profits and giving them unprecedented power over how to price and where to fly. He notes that airlines can choose the most profitable cities to serve, leaving many hustling hard for limited flight opportunities.

Photo courtesy of Mav/Wikipedia

The aviation geek in me loves seeing the inside of airlines’ and airports’ inner workings. When I started working for Delta Air Lines in 2004, a group of us spent the day touring the carrier’s campus and operations at its Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. One of the coolest places I saw was Delta’s command center, which is highlighted in Wired’s new Flight Mode site. The magazine got access to “missions control,” where the airline has 300 employees tracking every flight around the world. They monitor everything from weather to air traffic control.

Last October, I took Amtrak’s Capitol Limited from Washington, D.C., to Chicago, then the Hoosier to Indianapolis for a train convention. I had an eight-hour layover in the Windy City, and because I bought a sleeper car, I had access to the station’s Metropolitan Lounge. I didn’t stay long because it was so unappealing, from the furniture from the 1970s, to the dirty carpet to the limited food options (bad coffee/tea and packaged pastries) and the dark interior.

Under a $60 million modernization program Amtrak has opened the new 13,000 square-foot, two story lounge, reports Curbed. Travelers now have street access to taxis and lots of natural light on both levels. It also offers a new elevator, bathrooms with shower facilities, faster Wi-Fi and more places to charge electronics.

The bedroom in a Boeing Business Jet. Photo by Benét J. Wilson

We’ll end the week with this story about a side of air travel that few people see. In 2010, I attended a business aviation show in Geneva, Switzerland, where I got to take a tour of a Boeing Business Jet, a converted 737, that had been used by the CEO. It featured a dining area, office space, a bathroom, a kitchen and a bedroom. Fortune magazine did this profile of Stephen Vella, founder of Kestrel Aviation Management, which turns commercial jets into luxury homes in the sky for customers including European billionaires, Arabian heads-of-state, and CEOs.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m a freelance aviation/travel writer based in Baltimore who’s available for your writing and branded content projects. I’m the Air Travel Expert for About.com. You can follow my travel-related magazines on Flipboard: Best of About Travel, a joint curation venture with my fellow About Travel Experts; and Travel-Go! There’s Nothing Stopping You, all about the passenger experience on the ground and in the air. Click here to subscribe to my weekly aviation newsletter. Finally, you can see my travel-related boards on Pinterest and follow me on Twitter at @AvQueenBenet and on Instagram at aviationqueen.