Winging It

Forecasts of how much money airlines, both U.S. and worldwide, will make -- or lose -- this year have popped up in the last two days. The global outlook from the International Air Transport Association can be found at this link. One analyst's prediction that U.S. carriers could lose as much as $1 billion this year can be found here.

Look for serious disruption to United' Airlines' international schedules today and probably tomorrow after the airline grounded 52 widebodied 777 jets because maintenance tests weren't performed properly. Read more on this developing story and stay turned if you're flying. This is the fourth major airline in the last month that has had to ground some of its fleet to meet its legal obligations to perform maintenance tasks when they're supposed to be done.

This development comes the day before an important hearing in Washington, by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chaired by Rep. Jim Oberstar. His committee is examining the whole issue of airline maintenance and FAA's oversight record. Oberstar today received a letter from the Radnor, Pa., based Business Travel Coalition, signed by more than 100 companies and other organizations -- airlines included -- that expressed frustration at the FAA's seeming inability to perform its mandated functions well or in a timely way. We will have more information on testimony at the hearing tomorrow.

ATA Airlines, which didn't fly from PHL, filed for bankruptcy court protection and quit operating today. ATA did have a code-share agreement with Southwest that allowed for sale of joint tickets on ATA flights to Hawaii, Mexico and some other destinations from PHL. Read details of that story here. In Europe, a plan for KLM-Air France to buy Alitalia, the Italian carrier, has fallen apart and leaves Alitalia on the verge of bankruptcy. The little we know about that can be found at this link.

We listened and watched online yesterday to more than seven hours of testimony before the House Transportation Committee in Washington about airline maintenance practices and the FAA's oversight of them. What we heard still wouldn't deter us from flying on Southwest or any other major carrier, but it certainly put the spotlight on the FAA's inspection process and what may happen within the agency when inspectors or their bosses develop a close relationship with a carrier's maintenance officials. Read a little about what was said here, but try to ignore the sub-headline on the print version: the whistle-blowers didn't say "the carrier," Southwest, threatened them. They were accusing their bosses of that.

We wrote today about what the drooping dollar vs. the euro means to travelers. Read the details here.

We look at getting nonrefundable ticket refunds. Read the column here.

Oh, you regular readers of this space say, you're not surprised with the results of the annual Airline Quality Ratings? 2007 was the year everything went up, fares, lost bags, complaints, according to a report from the AP.

We wrapped airline developments -- Skybus disapears, airline quality ratings, high oil -- from today and the weekend into one story. Find it here.

The European Union says it will allow airlines to offer a service that lets passengers use cell phones during flights. Be sure to read down into this AP story to see what at least once airline, Lufthansa, says. In this country, federal regulators last year reviewed the ban on cell phone use and decided again that it was a bad idea, not only because of lingering questions whether it could interfere with aircraft navigational equipment but also because of public opposition. Airline customers and flight attendants are solidly in opposition to any change that would allow passengers to yak away during one of the few places where they're now free of the annoyance.

American Airlines canceled hundreds of flights last night and today to do more inspections of wiring in its MD-80 jets. At PHL, at least five late afternoon and evening arrivals or departures to and from DFW and O'Hare had been annulled last night and 15 flights for today were canceled. (check www.flightstats.com or www.phl.org for the latest). Read the updated story from this morning here.

American canceled 900 more flights for today -- as anyone watching, listening or minding other Web sites knows by now. Read about that here. Here in PHL land, we're paying less attention because AA has only 21 flights a day, and we've heard from exactly one frustrated local traveler who spent a day getting to Texas We'll give you more if it becomes relevant.

Do you get the impression Boeing's Dreamliner may not fly in our lifetime? Here's the latest Dreamliner deferred story from the AP.

Frontier Airlines became the latest casualty of high fuel prices, recession and tough competition by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The good news: The little Denver-based airline is still flying and expects to reorganize, unlike the other three carriers that have gone belly up in the last two weeks. Frontier has faced particularly tough times since Southwest started flying to its Denver base. Read more here.

In our other continuing saga, here's the latest on American cancellations.

Some folks in Washington think so. Read more here.

The six major network airlines -- American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, United and US Airways -- have raised their base airfares for the seventh time this year, according to www.bestfares.com. The prices went up from $10 to $30 roundtrip, depending on the length of a flight. The latest round means that a refundable coach ticket now has gone up $170 roundtrip in the last four months, according to Bestfares CEO Tom Parsons. Fares have not gone up as much on routes where there's low-cost competition. The culprit here is the price of oil.

We looked at the confusing state of the airlines this morning in the Road Warrior column. We're also seeking comments on a European proposal to allow cell phone calls in flight.

Sources say it's time to brace yourself because it's really happening this time. Read an AP story from this morning.

We did the PHL-centric story we mentioned last night. Find it here. This is from yesterday: Our apologies to those who come here first for airline news. We have been hung up today trying to do our own PHL-centric take on what a Delta-Northwest merger means. In the meantime, here's the big industry picture in an AP story,

US Airways will hold back some of the best coach seats on each flight and offer them to those willing to pay extra. Read more here.

For years, the first welcome to Philadelphia travelers saw at PHL as they approached baggage claim was a warning: "Don't be a victim" of unlicensed taxi and limo operators. In fact, we've heard no complaints recently about unlicensed cabs or limos (only about the condition and cleanliness of some of those that are licensed). But the mayor thought it would be better if the first sign visitors or residents see is a little friendlier. So here's what's now hanging at the bottom of the stairs and escalators.

Pilots at US Airways voted out one union and will be represented by a new one, in hopes of doing better at integrating the seniorty lists of the old airline with those of the former America West. Find out more here.

We've had such a hectic day we're just now getting to posting this morning's Road Warrior column, and guess what? Since we wrote it last Friday, United raised its fee for making a change to a domestic ticket from $100 to $150. We saw scattered news reports on it today, but nothing yet from our usual source, Associated Press. And United has nothing on its Website that's easy to find. We will try to add more information this week. Find today's column here.

Find a link here to today's story about what investigators have found about a US Airways jet that lost part of a wing panel over Maryland during a flight from Orlando to Philadelphia last month.

How much is it possible for an airline to lose in one quarter? Here's what happened to Delta in an AP report..

Not exactly a surprise: US Airways reports a first-quarter loss, all of it, the airline said, because of soaring oil prices. Otherwise, the airline's doing better with operations.

The CEOs of Delta and Northwest made their pitch to House and Senate committees today on their proposed merger, and faced some tough questioning. Read down in this AP story to find what the objectors say, including a local resident, Kevin Mitchell of the Business Travel Coalition, who also represents the International Air Travelers Association.

Continental told employees yesterday that it would not pursue a merger with United at this time. Read the latest on that one here. We did a story based on an AP report that US Airways and United want to merge. Read that one here.

Today's Road Warrior column focuses on what record oil prices are going to do next to airline cusomers. Find it at this link.

As we promised two weeks ago, we asked you what you thought of the idea of allowing cell phone calls on airlines while in flight. You answered with a resounding "Absolutely Not!" Read the report from the Sunday Inquirer here. You can read comments from your fellow travelers that helped form the basis for yesterday's story using this link.

Airlines settled on yet another increase in basic fares. In addition, American Airlines said it would match the $25 fee already imposed by other carriers for checking a second bag. American was the last holdout among big airlines in adding the fee as a way to cope with higher fuel costs. Read about the fare increase at this link.

Rina Cutler, Philadelphia's deputy mayor for transportation and utilities, talks mostly about the city improving its relationship with SEPTA in this story from today's paper. But read down to the middle to find a couple of paragraphs about what she also wants to do, and has already done, to make the airport more traveler friendly. It's another signal from Mayor Nutter's administration that PHL needs to pay attention to both service issues as well as big long-term plans. We reported two months ago, soon after the mayor took office, of the need for the airport and US Airways to embark on a new era of cooperation.. Looks to us like Cutler wants to move ahead on that vision.

There's nothing new we know of today on the airline merger front but an AP story we found on another Web site makes some interesting observations, quoting two of the thinkers we also talk to on airline issues and who were quoted in Monday's story. Read what they say here.

And in case you were wondering why all the airline writers seem to only talk to a handful of industry observers, the answer is simple: They're the ones who return our phone calls and are willing to go on the record by name. Experienced writers also happen to know that they know what they're talking about.