Gunfire in Philadelphia Airport?!?!

Gunfire rang through the security checkpoint at the Philadelphia International Airport on last weekend.  This isn’t the only scare the airport had suffered this month.  Earlier this month a fraudulent bomb threat was called in on a flight from Dallas to Philly by the jilted lover of a passenger.

On Sunday a TSA Officer was called over to the security scanner as a gun was found in a piece of carry-on luggage.   The TSA Officer ACCIDENTALLY fired the weapon when attempting to remove the bullets from the gun.   Thankfully, no one was in the line of fire.

To make matters worse the gun was in the carry-on luggage of a flight attendant for Republic Airlines.  When questioned, she replied that she merely forgot it was in there. 

I don’t know about you, but I would have been on the floor covered in my morning mocha….

American Airlines Cancels More Flights…..

Still in financial woes, American Airlines is finding creative ways to cut costs.  Most of the cut backs are aimed at the pensions and benefits of the pilots.  As of right now American is not contributing to pension plans.  The airline is considering freezing or terminating it.  American also is planning on implementing longer flight days. 

Because of these actions more pilots have been calling out sick more than usual.  Flight crews have issued more maintenance reports than usual as well.  Both of these instances cause flights to be delayed or cancelled.

DFW Airport (Dallas, Texas) saw 43% of American Airlines flights severely delayed or cancelled last week.  This location is the primary hub for American Airlines and counts for more than 75% of the flights from that airport.  It really leaves travelers in a bind as they really don’t have many other airline options departing that airport. 

Airline CEO Calls Passengers Stupid

You can truly appreciate when a CEO gives some candid (or-not-so-candid) truth.  That is, unless they say how they feel by questioning their customer base level of intelligence as the CEO of Ryanair was so inclined to. 

For those that don’t know, Ryanair is an Irish airline primarily based out of Dublin and London Stansted Airports.  It is known for some of the lowest ticket fares in Europe, but plenty of secondary charges much in the vein of Spirit Airlines domestically.   The argument made is that their airline is the best value for customers that don’t require “extras” like baggage.  Unfortunately for most travelers, they are surprised with the weighty fees that accumulate when checking in and are left feeling like they have had a “fast one” pulled on them. 

This was the case for a British mother who ended up paying about $380 so that her family could get their boarding passes to fly home from Spain.  After Ms. McLeod’s complaint received some worldwide attention on Facebook the CEO of Ryanair, Michael O’Leary, had this to say:

“We think Mrs. McLeod should pay 60 Euros for being so stupid.  She wasn’t able to print her boarding card because, as you know, there are no Internet cafes in Alicante, no hotels where they could print them out for you, and you couldn’t get to a fax machine so some friend at home can print them and fax them to you.”

A couple days later, the brazen CEO stated, “I was not calling her stupid, but all those passengers are stupid who think we will change our policies or our fees.”

Lufthansa On Strike!

It seems to be that this week the cabin staff of Germany’s largest airline, Luftansa, went on strike.  This is a strike that looks like it will go on for weeks.  Currently it is projected that the airline is losing three to five million Euro per day on the strike.

It doesn’t look as though Lufthansa is interested in bending.  Unfortunately, the main party losing out are the customers.  They are being stranded and having to look for other airlines as most small – medium haul flights are being cancelled.  A third of the long haul flights were cancelled as well, including major U.S. flights arriving and departing from Los Angeles International, Houston’s George Bush International and Chicago O’Hare.

With the given state if the EU economy, maybe they should just be happy for a stable well paying job?! After all, I do not think they are being paid below the poverty line.

Good thing Alaska Air took note, literally

This story happened about a month ago, but is too comical to not post.  Over the summer Alaska Airlines had repaired a damaged wing flap on one of their Boeing 737 planes.  The repair had been approved as flight worthy by the FAA.  However, Alaska Airlines had not finished the cosmetic repairs before sending the plane airborne leaving the wing flap looking unfinished.  

Before each flight pilots will do a walk around their aircraft to report any exterior issues.  Pilots would see the repair as unfinished and submit it to their pre-flight report.  Maintenance workers, to stop receiving reports concerning the wing flap, physically wrote “WE KNOW ABOUT THIS” on the damaged looking wing flap with an arrow pointing to the questionable looking repair.

Unfortunately, this note scribed in permanent marker was visible from a window seat of the cabin.  This was noticed by an Alaskan Airline patron midflight flying from Burbank, California to Seattle Washington.  A photo was taken with a camera phone and sent to reddit.com where it was displayed.

An Alaskan Airlines representative responded stating, “We apologize for any alarm it may have caused.  It is not the best way to report an issue.  We have since removed the writing and the flap will go in for a full repair in October.”    

Despite a failed demonstration flight, Russian airline still receives order for 30 planes

Russian aircraft manufacturer, Sukhoi, failed to deliver earlier this year in spring with a demonstration flight for Indonesian carrier PT Kartika Airlines.  The plane was carrying 45 people when it disappeared in Bogor, West Java. 

Sukhoi was originally established in 1939 and since have been known for their attack and fighter aircraft.   The aircraft manufacturer only started designing commercial style planes in the last five years.  This is the first time commercial airplanes have been produced out of Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Despite this set back, the Indonesian carrier has no plans on cancelling their order of 30 Superjet.  Kartika Airlines remain interested as the Superjet 100 model is known for its capability of landing on shorter runways.  Nothing is known at this time about the cause of the crash.  It will be interesting to see the results of the investigation of the Transportation Safety Committee.  

 

Only 1 in 5 American Small Businesses Plan To Hire in 2013

A recent survey by the US Chamber of Commerce shows that 82% of small business owners feel that the economy is not going in the right direction, and that only 20% of small businesses plan to hire any employees over the next year.

Dr. Martin Regalia, the Chief Economist of the Chamber, feels that Washington’s decision making and policies are keeping small business owners unsure of the economic future. 72% of participants felt that the health care law effects ability to grow and potentially hire new employees. 78% of participants simply feel that Washington should stop making policies that effect small businesses and “get out of the way”.

The general sentiment seems to be that there needs to be either less involvement by the government or a change in Washington in order to instill policies that will benefit small businesses. Until those changes come, the job market will remain dry for those seeking employment in small businesses.

Michael Patton, CEO of POTHOS and small business owner, sees things a bit differently. “I tend to believe that government policies need to continue to support small business, which, as stated by President Obama, is the engine of the economy,” Mr. Patton says. “I support increased legislation to spend a larger amount of public monies with SDVOSB & SB as well as revision of tax code”.

The US Chamber of Commerce represents 3 million small businesses in the United States, making it the largest federation of small businesses in the world. The poll was conducted through an online survey involving both US Chamber members and non-US Chamber members, making a sample size of 1,225 participants. The US Chamber of Commerce defined small businesses as companies with less than 25 million dollars in revenue and fewer than 500 employees. The participants were tailored to represent the small business market of the United States.