Sky Talk

Heading north with Southwest

Southwest Airlines today announced that it has begun discussions with Canadian airline WestJet aimed at producing a code share agreement.

Southwest spokesman Beth Harbin said all of the details still have to be worked out between the two airlines and approved regulators in the two countries, but the goal is to complete a code-sharing arrangement by late in 2009.

The benefit for the two airlines would be each could book passengers on the other, presumably using connecting flights. Harbin said the goal would be to create a linked frequent flier system as well, with passengers allowed to earn or use miles on either airline.

-- Bob Cox

A step forward for the Dreamliner

Boeing says it has completed the "power-on" sequence for the first 787 Dreamliner flight test airplane, a major milestone in bringing the world's most advanced airliner closer to its first flight. Boeing's press release says

Power On is a complex series of tasks and tests that bring electrical power onto the airplane and begin to exercise the use of the electrical systems. The 787 is a more-electric airplane ith the pneumatic, or bleed air, system being totally replaced by electronics.

"The team has made great progress in bringing the bold innovation of the 787 to reality," said Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager of the 787 program. "There is plenty of work to be done between now and first flight, but with every step forward we grow more and more confident."

The Power On sequence began in early June with a series of pretest continuity checks to verify that the wiring installed in the airplane had been connected properly. Upon completion of those checks, the Boeing team plugged in an external power cart and slowly began to bring full power into each segment of the system, beginning with the flight deck displays. From that point forward, the pilot's controls were used to direct the addition of new systems to the power grid.

At each step of the testing, power is allowed to flow into one additional area and gauges are used to verify that the right level of electrical power reached the intended area. "We are very methodical in ensuring the integrity of the airplane's systems," said Shanahan. "In completing the Power On sequence, we have verified both that the electrical power distribution system is installed as designed and that it functions as intended."

An inside look at the Power On testing sequence will be featured on www.boeing.com and newairplane.com beginning Monday at 5 a.m. PDT.

Planning your summer vacation? Plan on extra fees

Planning your family vacation for the summer? Haven’t flown in a few years? Be prepared for sticker shock, Trebor Banstetter reports in Monday's Work & Money section.

The cost of air travel has risen substantially in the past few years, with fares increasing steadily and, more recently, airlines slapping fees on various services that were free, Trebor reports. The fees can come as a surprise to those who haven’t flown in a while.

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“Most consumers aren’t aware of them until they show up at the airport,” said Brent Bowen, a professor at the Aviation Institute at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, and co-author of the annual Airline Quality Rating survey. “That’s the real problem.”

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Trebor takes a non-scientific look at how a host of fees charged by various airlines could affect the travel costs for a family of four flying from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to Orlando in late July.

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Compared to 2006, our imaginary family faced additional costs as high as $502, an increase of almost 35 percent of the total cost of the trip. The extra expense came from higher fares combined with charges for luggage, curbside check-in, in-flight food and a reserved aisle seat.

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Check Monday's S-T for the complete story.

-- Scott Nishimura

Flexjet expands fractional service area, cuts fees

Dallas-based Bombardier Flexjet, the fractional business jet ownership program of Bombardier Aerospace, has redrawn the lines of its secondary service area to include all of Central America and Canada.

The expansion will allow Flexjet fractional aircraft owners to travel to and from any location within Central America and Canada without incurring ferry (or repositioning) fees that are normally charged to cover the cost of repositioning an aircraft back to the U.S.

Flexjet says it is the first fractional business jet ownership service  to remove its re-marketing fees, which cover the maintenance and administration costs needed to place a jet back into inventory after the conclusion of a contract, typically constitute as much as four to seven percent of the fair market value of the jet.

- Bob Cox

Passenger activist: Airline service getting worse

Airline passenger activist Kate Hanni says that service on the major airlines has gotten worse in recent months despite lots of bad publicity during the past year about stranded passengers stuck in airports and on diverted airplanes.

She cites recent moves to unbundle services and charge extra fees, like United's decision to begin charging for a second checked bag, or Northwest's new policy of charging a fee to reserve certain seats in coach, such as roomier exit rows.

Hanni tells the San Jose Mercury News that she's also concerned about reports she's heard from pilot unions. "We're already getting calls from pilots saying that the FAA sleep rules are not being followed," she said. "They're so tired that they're falling asleep in the cockpit."

- Trebor

Why weren't they thinking?

Flight International spotted this one. Gonna cost a lot to repaint those planes!

Merger mania is madness

Great column by business travel columnist Joe Brancatelli of Portfolio magazine on the likely outcomes of the airline mergers Wall Street is eager to promote.

Recalling his own experiences beginning with the 1987 Continental takeover of Peoplexpress the author says of airline mergers:

"They are never good for travelers. Airline bosses do what is expedient for them. Customers, airports, employees, and the communities they serve are just inconvenient distractions along the way."

- Bob

Friday stripper special on Southwest

We just saw this over at Flight International's blog. Another story involving Southwest and, well, sex, or at least nudity.

"A story has broken about a (some say mythical) Southwest airlines flight that occurs every Friday between LA and Las Vegas. This aircraft isn't filled with gambling hungry tourists but rather strippers, ready to do a weekend's work.

"This flight is so popular that you have to book month's in advance and admittedly it sounds more of a myth than anything else. Even so, it is a journey that many men would love to be on."

- Bob

Airlines might have to disclose data on complaints

US airlines would be required to disclose data on passenger complaints and how often flights are late, under proposed rules aimed at curbing delays and improving service, Bloomberg News reports.

-- Scott

More on proposed NYC flight cuts

Federal regulators want to limit air-traffic congestion at New York's JFK Airport to 80 flights per hour, Bloomberg News is reporting.

That would result in a 63 percent decrease in the delays that are stuck near the runways for more than an hour, Bloomberg said. The airport had as many as 120 flights in an hour on Aug. 30m but the summer average was 80 flights per hour.

Officials with the Federal Aviation Administration, the Transportation Department, airlines and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey kicked off the first of two days of meetings in Washington this morning in hopes of trimming JFK's schedule to aleviate congestion.

But Port officials said in a statement released Monday that the proposed limit of 80 flights per hour would have forced the airport to turn away about 3.4 million passengers in 2006, Bloomberg said.

-David